Buy Points Calculator

Methodology

total points = points bought × (1 + bonus ÷ 100) total cost = price + price × tax ÷ 100 + fees cost per point = total cost × 100 ÷ total points advertised rate = price × 100 ÷ total points break-even bonus = (total cost × 100 ÷ (cents × points bought) − 1) × 100

The third line is the output that matters, and it is a cost, not a return — the same shape of number the welcome offer calculator produces from the other way of acquiring points. Set the price you are paying per point beside what the publishers say the currency is worth, and the promotion stops being a percentage and starts being a number.

Two terms, moving in opposite directions

A promotion is quoted as a bonus percentage, which is not a price. Two adjustments separate the headline from what you are charged, and it is not an accident that only one of them is advertised:

• The bonus — always shown, because it makes the rate look better. A 100% bonus halves the price per point.
• The federal excise tax — never shown until checkout, because it makes the rate look worse. 26 U.S.C. §4261(a) imposes 7.5% on amounts paid for taxable air transportation, and §4261(e)(3)(A) extends that to “any amount paid … to an air carrier … for the right to provide mileage awards.” Buying miles from a US airline is squarely inside it.

Both are shown here, side by side, because publishing only the second one would assert a discrepancy the reader cannot see. On the worked example the page opens with — 60,000 miles at $35.00 per 1,000 with a 100% bonus — the promotion advertises 1.75¢ a mile. The $157.50 of tax makes it 1.88¢, a difference of 0.13¢ a mile on $2,257.50 spent.

What the worked example actually shows

The uncomfortable part is not the tax. Every publisher that values Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards prices it between 1.55¢ and 1.60¢, and the advertised 1.75¢ is already above the top of that range before any tax is added. A 100%bonus is about the strongest promotion this market runs, and at this base price it still buys miles for more than either publisher says they are worth — losing between $337.50 and $397.50 against their figures. The tax does not break the deal. It widens a gap that was already there.

Put the other way round: this promotion would need a 143% bonus, not 100%, before the miles cost what the least generous published figure says they are worth. Or, at the bonus actually offered, the base price would have to fall from $2,100.00 to $1,730.23 — both measured against that same 1.55¢figure. Those two numbers are the reason the tool exists — a bonus percentage is meaningless without the price it is a bonus on, and no promotion page prints the combination.

When buying points is the right call anyway

A purchase that fails against a published valuation can still be a good purchase, and the honest version of this page has to say so. A publisher's figure is an average over competent redemptions. The case for buying points is a specific redemption: an award in front of you whose cash equivalent exceeds what the points would cost. At 1.88¢ a mile, any booking returning more than 1.88¢ pays for itself, whatever the averages say. Price the booking with the cents-per-point calculator and compare the two figures directly. The same is true of topping up a balance you are a few thousand points short on, where the real alternative is not travelling.

What does not follow is buying points speculatively because the bonus is large. That is the case this arithmetic is against, and it is the case the promotions are written to encourage.

We store no promotions, deliberately

There is no list of current offers on this page. Buy-points promotions run for two or three weeks, the bonus is often tiered by purchase size, and many are targeted to individual accounts— two people opening the same program on the same day are routinely shown different offers. Any stored table would be wrong for a large share of readers and wrong invisibly. It is the same call the transfer partner calculator makes about transfer ratios, for the same reason.

Each publisher stands alone

One row per publisher that values the currency, each with its name and as-of date, never averaged into a single figure. The valuation reference sets out who covers what and why their numbers differ. Note that Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards is valued by 2of the three publishers we track, not all three — a program with fewer figures has a narrower range for a reason that is not agreement.

What this tool does not do

• It does not know what promotion you are offered. Availability, purchase caps, tiered bonuses and account targeting are all outside it. Every term comes from you.
• It assumes the tax is a cost. The excise tax is refundable on claim for miles not ultimately used for domestic air transportation, but that is an IRS filing rather than a checkbox, so the default treats it as paid. Set the field to 0 to model the best case.
• It prices points, not the award. A purchase that clears against a published valuation can still be a bad idea if you never find award space, and one that fails can be a good idea for a specific booking. The comparison that decides it is with your own redemption.
• It ignores what the money would otherwise have done. Cash spent on points is cash not earning rewards elsewhere, and not in your account. That term is real and is nowhere in this arithmetic.
• It cannot price devaluation. Purchased points sit in a program that can reprice its awards without notice, and unlike a redemption you have already made, a balance is exposed to that. The longer you intend to hold them, the more this matters.

Sources

• The excise tax — 26 U.S.C. §4261. Subsection (a) imposes the 7.5% rate on amounts paid for taxable transportation; subsection (e)(3)(A) treats amounts paid to an air carrier for the right to provide mileage awards as exactly that; subsection (e)(3)(C) authorises rules excluding amounts attributable to miles used other than for air transportation, which is the basis of the refund described above.
• The Points Guy — points and miles valuations. Figures as of 1 July 2026. Refreshed monthly.
• CardRatings — points and miles valuations. Figures as of 10 June 2026. Updated periodically; no published schedule.
• Upgraded Points — points and miles valuations. Figures as of 1 July 2026. Refreshed monthly.
• Promotion terms are not sourced, by design. Every figure describing the purchase itself — points, price, bonus, tax and fees — is entered by you from the promotion in front of you. This site holds no promotion data to cite, because these offers run for weeks, are commonly targeted to individual accounts, and change without notice.
• The worked example is a shape, not an offer. 60,000 miles at $35.00 per 1,000 with a 100% bonus is a common structure at the strong end of this market, used here so the page opens on real arithmetic. It is not quoted from, and does not refer to, any particular promotion.

Last reviewed: July 2026