The History of Points and Miles Devaluations

By Bryce Casson, Founder · Cardocrat · Updated June 2026

The short answer: For two decades, airlines and hotels have steadily devalued their currencies, mostly by replacing fixed award charts with dynamic, demand-based pricing that ties award costs to cash rates. Delta led the way in 2015, and United, American, Marriott, Hilton, and others followed. The lesson is permanent: points are a depreciating asset, so earn and burn rather than hoard.

The big trend: charts to dynamic pricing

The defining move of the last decade was the death of the fixed award chart. A published chart let you know exactly what an award cost and plan years ahead. Programs replaced it with dynamic pricing that floats award costs with cash demand, which removes the predictability and, over time, raises prices. Delta dropped its chart in 2015, Flying Blue in 2018, United in 2019, Marriott in 2022, and American for its own flights in 2023, with Hilton and IHG long gone to ranges and dynamic rates. See award charts vs dynamic pricing.

Chart-based programs raised prices too

Even programs that kept a chart have devalued by simply printing higher numbers. British Airways Avios took a major hit in 2019 and another roughly 8 to 14 percent rise in late 2025, Air Canada Aeroplan raised premium-cabin awards by 20 to 67 percent in its 2026 chart update, and World of Hyatt moved its categories up in 2026. Hotel programs like Marriott and Hilton have seen standard-night caps balloon, with Hilton standard rooms now reaching 250,000 points at some properties. The direction is one way. See the program histories below and our Hyatt 2026 chart study.

What it means for you

Treat points as a currency that loses value, not a savings account. The winning behavior is to earn toward a specific trip and burn promptly, rather than banking miles for years while the program quietly raises prices. Favor transferable bank points, which let you move to whichever program has not yet devalued your route, and value every currency at a flat cent as a baseline so a devaluation is obvious. See earn and burn and what points are worth.

The devaluation tracker

Every major devaluation we have documented, newest first. Each program links to its full history. The throughline is one direction: programs keep replacing fixed award charts with dynamic pricing, which lets them raise award costs continuously, so treat this as a living record, not a finished one.

When	Program	What changed
Sep 2026	Wyndham Rewards	Added a fourth, higher tier, raising top hotels up to 50 percent to 45,000 points
Jun 2026	Aeroplan	Premium-cabin awards raised 20 to as much as 67 percent
Through 2026	World of Hyatt	Category creep every year since 2023; a May 2026 five-tier chart raised some awards up to 67 percent
2024 to 2026	Air India Maharaja Club	Rebranded Flying Returns; 2026 chart cut economy but raised premium economy about 35 percent and first about 48 percent
2023 to 2026	Emirates Skywards	Business and first nearly doubled in 2023; Amex transfer ratio cut from 1 to 1 down to 2 to 1
Dec 2025	British Airways Avios	Across-the-board 8 to 14 percent rise, the latest of several distance-chart hikes
2024 to 2025	SAS EuroBonus	Left Star Alliance for SkyTeam in 2024; Dec 2025 raised business 20 percent and intra-Europe partner business 33 percent
Nov 2025	Singapore KrisFlyer	Saver chart raised 5 to 20 percent; added a dynamically priced Access award
Through 2025	Hilton Honors	Killed its award chart in 2017; standard-room cap since lifted to 250,000 points
May 2025	Iberia Plus	Removed its chart and raised Avios rates up to about 20 percent; killed the 34,000 off-peak business sweet spot
Ongoing	Aer Lingus AerClub	Quietly reclassified city distances so some Avios awards jumped a zone
Aug 2025	Qantas Frequent Flyer	Three increases since 2019, the latest a broad 15 to 20 percent
2024 to 2025	ANA Mileage Club	Own premium cabins up 50 percent in 2025; partner chart up about 33 percent in 2024
Jun 2025	Lufthansa Miles and More	Moved Lufthansa Group flights to dynamic pricing and axed its Mileage Bargains discounts
2018, 2025	Japan Airlines Mileage Bank	Partner awards up in 2018; June 2025 raised own premium cabins, first class up to 80 percent
2024 to 2025	Avianca LifeMiles	Three cuts in 15 months, business class up to 77 percent, plus new fuel surcharges
2018, 2025	Air France KLM Flying Blue	Dropped its fixed chart in 2018; minimum award rates up 14 to 25 percent in 2025
2024	Choice Privileges	Serial unannounced hikes; top Preferred Hotels awards went from 55,000 to 118,000 points
2024	Qatar Privilege Club	Joined Avios in 2022, then quietly added peak pricing in 2024; peak Qsuite about 94,500 Avios
2023 to 2024	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club	Repeatedly cut its ANA sweet spot without notice, first class up to 42 percent
Mar 2024	Alaska Mileage Plan	Scrapped individual partner charts for one distance chart, gutting premium sweet spots
Mar 2024	Finnair Plus	Converted points to Avios at 3 to 2, went revenue-based, added per-segment award pricing
Feb 2024	Turkish Miles and Smiles	Key awards up 30 to 90 percent; switched to costly segment-by-segment pricing
Jan 2024	Frontier Miles	Switched to revenue-based earning, so cheap fares now earn a fraction of the old distance-based miles
2019 to 2025	IHG One Rewards	Moved to dynamic pricing; caps raised so top hotels can exceed 160,000 points
Oct 2023	Cathay Asia Miles	Distance chart raised, premium cabins up 20 to 30 percent, after five stable years
2016 to 2023	American AAdvantage	Sharp chart hikes in 2016 and 2019, then dynamic pricing on its own flights in 2023
Mar 2023	Etihad Guest	Unified partner chart sent American Flagship First from 62,500 to 200,000 miles
Mar 2022	Marriott Bonvoy	Eliminated award charts; fully dynamic with no caps since 2023
2021 to 2022	Aeromexico Rewards	Rebranded Club Premier to revenue-based earning and dynamic pricing, killing partner sweet spots
2021 to 2025	Southwest Rapid Rewards	Value trimmed in 2021 and 2024, then dynamic pricing in 2025, down about 19 percent
Ongoing	JetBlue TrueBlue	No chart to cut, but Basic Blue fares raised point prices 7 to 20 percent
Announced 2019	Korean Air SKYPASS	Announced a steep distance-based devaluation, then postponed it indefinitely
Nov 2019	United MileagePlus	Removed its published award chart, switching to dynamic, demand-based pricing
Oct 2019	Thai Royal Orchid Plus	Switched to one-way pricing that sharply raised many premium round-trip awards; quiet since
Feb 2015	Delta SkyMiles	First major US airline to abolish its award chart, pioneering dynamic pricing
Stable	Accor Live Limitless	The exception: a fixed value of 2,000 points to 40 euros that has not devalued
Quiet	Hainan Fortune Wings Club	Niche distance-based program with no major publicized devaluation, but opaque
Quiet	Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles	Niche SkyTeam distance-based program with no major publicized devaluation

Frequently asked questions

Why do airlines and hotels devalue their points?

Because points are a liability on their books and demand for awards is high, so raising prices, usually by switching to dynamic pricing tied to cash rates, costs them little and reduces what they owe. It happens steadily and often without announcement.

What is dynamic award pricing?

A system that floats the points cost of an award with cash demand instead of a fixed chart, so popular flights and high cash rates mean more points. It removes predictability and, over time, tends to raise award prices.

How do I protect myself from devaluations?

Earn and burn rather than hoard, favor transferable bank points so you can move to a program that has not devalued your route, and value points at a flat cent as a baseline so any devaluation is obvious. Book when you find good value.

Which programs have devalued the most?

Hilton and Marriott among hotels, with standard-room caps soaring, and Delta among airlines, whose dynamic SkyMiles can demand 300,000 miles for a business seat once bookable for 60,000. United, American, Avios, Flying Blue, and Aeroplan have all devalued too.