The Deal Award Charts Used to Make
Whether a seat still has a published price in miles, or that price moves whenever the cash fare moves, is the award chart vs dynamic pricing question. The old chart was a table the program updated a few times a year. You could see the price before you moved any points.
Availability was still the hard part. The price itself was not a surprise on the day you booked.
How Dynamic Pricing Actually Works
Dynamic pricing throws out the table. The program looks at the cash fare for that flight and date, and the mile price moves with it. A quiet Tuesday and a holiday week are not the same ask, and there is no chart left to memorize.
The miles already in the account are the same currency. What changed is that the price of one seat is no longer something you can look up in advance. Check the live ask in the search tool before you transfer.
Who Still Has Charts
On the transatlantic rows in our data, these programs are marked dynamic, so the stored figures are not a fixed chart: United MileagePlus, American AAdvantage, Delta SkyMiles, Avianca LifeMiles, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, and Lufthansa Miles & More.
These are not marked dynamic in that file. ANA Mileage Club prices its own awards round-trip only. Singapore KrisFlyer still publishes Saver and Advantage charts, and those two tiers are not the same price. Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles keeps a partner matrix for trips that do not start in Turkiye, separate from its own-metal table. Atmos Rewards still publishes a chart for each partner.
British Airways publishes no numeric Avios chart. Iberia Plus uses peak and off-peak bands, and the public table could not be reached when that row was audited, so a remembered number is not something to plan on.
Winning Under Each System
Where the file still stores a fixed figure, treat it as a target and book while the seat is there. ANA prices Europe business at 88,000 miles round-trip in that table, and the booking has to be a round trip.
Where the program is dynamic, compare the cash fare with the mile ask on that exact trip. Run the numbers in the CPP calculator, then confirm the seat in the search tool. If the miles buy a poor return, pay cash or use a different program.
Protecting Yourself from Devaluations
Keep the balance in more than one currency, so a change at one program does not trap all of it. Redeem while a chart price is still the price in the file.
Watch the transfer-bonus feed for a temporary uplift, and use the weekly newsletter for chart changes.
Booked the award flight? Need a cheap cash segment to position for the award — CheapTickets is one of our booking partners — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Bottom Line
A chart gives you a number you can plan around. A dynamic program makes you price the fare. Compare the two on your own route before you move the points.