By Joseph Hellman-Benjamin, Founder and CEO of The Points King. Last updated: October 26, 2026. Editorial Policy
Can you turn airline miles into cash? Not through the airline: no major US airline pays cash for miles. There are 5 ways to get cash or cash value out of them. Use miles as cash toward a flight (about 1 cent a mile at Delta, United and American), redeem them for gift cards (about 0.3 to 0.7 cents), spend them on travel extras such as upgrades, seats and hotels (about 0.7 to 1 cent), move them to someone who will fly them (you pay a fee), or sell them to a mileage broker. Selling is the only route to actual cash, and it breaks the airline’s terms.
I am Joseph Hellman-Benjamin. I have run The Points King since 2017, and buying miles and points for cash is what we do, so I have an interest here and you should read this page knowing that. There are no affiliate links on this site. I have set the official options next to the sale option so you can compare them on the same terms, and in some cases the official option is the better one.
The 5 Ways to Turn Airline Miles Into Cash, Ranked
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Use miles as cash toward a flight. This is the best official cash value. Delta’s Pay with Miles takes 1 cent a mile off a Delta fare, in blocks of 5,000 miles, but only for the primary cardmember on a Delta SkyMiles American Express card. United’s Money + Miles gives about 0.75 cents a mile, and about 1 cent for Premier members and holders of United cards with an annual fee. American launched cash and miles bookings on US domestic flights in October 2026; it has not published the rate, and The Points Guy expects about 1 cent.
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Redeem miles for gift cards or merchandise. American added retail gift cards from $10 to $500 in March 2026, worth up to about 0.7 cents a mile. United’s MileagePlus X gift cards are worth about 0.3 cents and its merchandise about 0.66 cents. Delta has no option here any more: the SkyMiles Marketplace has closed.
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Spend miles on travel extras. Upgrades, seats, lounge passes and hotels usually return 0.7 to 1 cent a mile. At United, hotels are about 1 cent and a United Club pass about 0.8. At American, upgrades are about 0.91 cents, seats about 0.96 and Admirals Club about 1 cent (The Points Guy, September and October 2026). It is not cash, but it replaces money you would spend anyway.
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Move the miles to someone who will fly. If a family member will use them, a transfer keeps their value. You pay a fee: at Delta, 1 cent a mile plus $30 a transaction; at American, $5 per 1,000 miles; at United, $7.50 per 500 miles plus $30, so check united.com for the current price before you send. United and American also have free family pooling.
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Sell the miles to a broker. This is the only way to end up with cash in your bank or PayPal account. It is against the terms of Delta, United and American, and the airline can close the account and cancel the miles. We buy miles in balances of 50,000 or more at a price agreed in writing by email; see sell airline miles and read the risks of selling miles and points first.
One more case: if your points are still in a bank program, take cash there before you move them to an airline. Chase Ultimate Rewards pays about 1 cent a point as cash back, Citi Strata Premier about 0.75 cents since August 2025, and Amex about 0.6 cents as a statement credit. Transfers to airlines are one way: airline miles cannot be turned back into bank points.
What 50,000 Miles Is Worth Each Way
| Way | Delta SkyMiles | United MileagePlus | American AAdvantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Miles as cash on a flight | $500 (Delta Amex primary cardmembers only) | About $375; about $500 for elites and United cardholders | About $500 expected; rate not published |
| 2. Gift cards | Not offered (Marketplace closed) | About $150 | Up to about $350 |
| 3. Travel extras | Not published as a rate | About $350 to $500 | About $450 to $500 |
| 4. Cost to send 30,000 miles to someone | $330 | About $480 (check united.com) | $150 |
| 5. Sell to a broker | Written quote by email | Written quote by email | Written quote by email |
| For reference: award flights at The Points Guy’s October 2026 value | $600 (1.2 cents) | $600 (1.2 cents) | $725 (1.45 cents) |
Values for American vary by source: The Points Guy says 1.45 cents, Frequent Miler 1.4 and NerdWallet 1.7. You can run your own balance through our miles to dollars calculator.
Airline Miles to Cash: Every Option at a Glance
| Program | Pays cash? | Closest official option | Value per mile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delta SkyMiles | No | Pay with Miles on Delta flights, for Delta Amex cardmembers | 1 cent |
| American AAdvantage | No | Gift cards | About 0.5 cents; about 0.7 for elite members with an AAdvantage card |
| United MileagePlus | No | Money + Miles on flights; gift cards in the MileagePlus X app | 1 cent or less; about 0.3 cents for gift cards |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | No | Cash + Points on flights | About 1 cent |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | No | Cash + Points on flights | About 0.9 to 1 cent |
| Alaska and Hawaiian Atmos Rewards | No | Hotels, booked with points or points and cash | Not published |
| Any of the above, sold to a broker | Yes | Not an official option: it breaks the program terms | Set by quote; I do not publish a rate here |
Sources: Delta, AwardWallet (American, March 2026), The Points Guy (United, October 2, 2026), AwardWallet for Southwest and JetBlue (both updated April 2026).
Rates as set out on this page: Delta Pay with Miles at 1 cent a mile (Delta Amex cardmembers only); United Money + Miles at up to 1 cent; American gift cards about 0.5 cents; United gift cards about 0.3 cents. Selling to a broker is not an official option and breaks the program terms.
What Changed in 2026
- October 2, 2026: American announced cash and miles bookings, rolling out on aa.com and in the app. American has not published the rate.
- March 2026: American’s gift card redemptions went live at about 0.5 cents a mile, AwardWallet reported.
- April 2, 2026: United cut base earning for members without a United card from 5 miles to 3 miles per dollar, per The Points Guy. Miles are getting harder to earn without a card.
- June 2026: United’s free family pooling was extended so pooled miles can be used on partner airlines, One Mile at a Time reported.
- By June 2026: Delta’s SkyMiles Marketplace, which sold merchandise and gift cards for miles, had closed, according to NerdWallet.
- March 26, 2026: the Protect Your Points Act was introduced in the Senate as S. 4244. It would require a year’s notice before a program cuts the value of points. It has not passed.
Delta, American and United: What Each One Lets You Do
Can you cash out Delta SkyMiles?
Not for cash. The best fixed-value option is Pay with Miles: 5,000 miles take $50 off a Delta flight booked on delta.com, in steps of 5,000 miles. You have to be the primary cardmember on a Delta SkyMiles American Express card. That is 1 cent a mile toward a ticket, which is below the 1.2 cents The Points Guy puts on a SkyMile, but the rate is fixed and you know it before you book. More on the program in my guide to redeeming Delta miles.
Can you convert American Airlines miles to cash?
No. American offers gift cards at about half a cent a mile, so a $25 card costs 5,000 miles. Elite members who hold an AAdvantage credit card get a better price, about 0.7 cents in AwardWallet’s example. The new cash and miles option applies miles to a flight, not to your bank account. I cover every use in how to redeem AA miles.
Can you convert United miles to cash?
No. Money + Miles takes miles off a United fare at 1 cent or less. Gift cards through the MileagePlus X app return about 0.3 cents a mile, the weakest of the three airlines. The arithmetic is in United miles to dollars.
What 50,000 Miles Gets You Through Official Channels
| Program | Option | What 50,000 miles returns |
|---|---|---|
| Delta | Pay with Miles | $500 off Delta flights |
| American | Gift cards at about 0.5 cents | About $250 in gift cards |
| United | Gift cards at about 0.3 cents | About $150 in gift cards |
| United | Money + Miles at up to 1 cent | Up to $500 off United flights |
For comparison, The Points Guy’s October 2026 valuations put a mile at 1.45 cents for American, 1.2 for Delta and United, 1.25 for Southwest, 1.35 for JetBlue and 1.55 for Atmos Rewards. Those figures assume you book award flights well. They are not cash prices, and nobody will pay you that much in cash. My guide to what airline miles are worth explains how the numbers are built.
Bank Points Are Different: Most Do Cash Out
If your balance is in a bank program and not with an airline, check this table before you do anything else. Several banks pay cash with no risk to the account.
| Program | Cash or statement credit | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Chase Ultimate Rewards | 1 cent a point | NerdWallet, September 2026 |
| Wells Fargo Rewards | 1 cent a point | Upgraded Points, September 2026 |
| Citi ThankYou | 0.5 to 1 cent, depending on the card; Strata Premier fell to 0.75 on August 24, 2025 | Doctor of Credit, May 2025 |
| American Express Membership Rewards | 0.6 cents; 1.1 cents with the Schwab Platinum card | NerdWallet, July 2026 |
| Capital One miles | 0.5 cents as cash; 1 cent against travel purchases | The Points Guy, June 2026 |
Once you transfer bank points to an airline they become airline miles, and the cash option is gone. Do not transfer until you have a booking in mind.
Giving or Moving Miles to Someone Else
If the goal is to get miles to a relative, the airlines sell that service, and two of them pool miles for free:
- American: $5 per 1,000 miles to another member, per The Points Guy (October 2026).
- Delta: $10 per 1,000 miles plus $30 per transaction, up to 150,000 miles out of an account a year, according to Delta.
- United: $7.50 per 500 miles plus a $30 fee, per AwardWallet. United also offers free pooling for up to five members.
- JetBlue: free pooling for up to seven people, per The Points Guy (June 2026).
You can also book an award ticket in another person’s name without moving any miles. The reverse case, buying miles from another person, is covered in how to buy airline miles from someone.
Trading Miles for Cash With a Broker: How It Works
A mileage broker pays you for your miles and uses them to book travel for its own customers. That is the business I run. This is how a sale works at The Points King:
- You send the program and the balance through the form on the sell airline miles page. Our minimum is 50,000 miles or points.
- We reply by email with a price. The price agreed by email is the price paid.
- You complete the transfer as agreed by email.
- We pay by PayPal once the transfer is complete, usually within 15 minutes.
We have paid more than 1,000 customers since 2017. I do not print a rate on this page, because rates move with demand and a number in a blog post goes stale. A broker cannot pay more than the airline charges for new miles, which is about 3.5 cents before tax at Delta, and in practice a cash offer sits far below the value of a well-booked award. That gap is the trade: less value, paid now, in money you can spend on anything.
The programs we buy most are listed on the sell page, including Delta SkyMiles, United MileagePlus and American AAdvantage. We do not buy every program. Programs I have written up that we do not buy: Copa Airlines miles, Air China miles, AIR MILES in Canada (now Blue Rewards) and Choice Privileges hotel points. Payment is by PayPal only; the question of crypto is answered in can you sell airline miles for Bitcoin.
The Risk: What the Airline Can Do
Brokers, including The Points King, buy airline miles for cash. Selling miles is against the terms of the programs on this page, and a program can take the miles back or close the account of a member who sells them. I cannot promise that an airline will leave an account alone, and nobody who buys miles can. Here is what two of the largest programs say in their own rules:
- American (AAdvantage terms, updated January 13, 2026): members may not sell or barter miles. Miles transferred for payment are void. American can take back all miles, cancel bookings, close the account, refuse boarding or charge the full fare, and seek damages and its legal costs.
- Delta (SkyMiles program rules, updated January 1, 2026): selling or bartering miles is prohibited. Tickets from a prohibited sale are void and can be confiscated. Delta can close the account, deduct miles, and bill the member for the fair market value of the tickets.
Both programs also state that members do not own their miles. As for the law, One Mile at a Time described selling miles in August 2025 as a breach of the program’s terms and not a crime. I am not a lawyer and that is not legal advice. Read the risks of selling miles and points before you ask for a quote, and see what each airline program says about selling miles for more programs.
How to check a buyer
- The price is in writing before you do anything.
- The company gives a street address and a phone number you can call.
- Payment comes through a service you already use and can check.
- The buyer tells you the sale is against the program terms. A buyer who says there is no risk is not telling you the truth.
Do You Owe Tax on Miles You Sell?
Probably, and you should ask a tax professional. The IRS said in Announcement 2002-18 that it will not pursue tax on frequent flyer miles earned from business travel, but that relief does not cover miles converted to cash. On reporting, the IRS page on Form 1099-K, reviewed June 28, 2026, says payment apps must send the form when you receive more than $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, and that income is reportable whether or not a form arrives.
Do Miles Expire Before You Decide?
| Program | Expiry |
|---|---|
| American AAdvantage | After 24 months with no earning or redeeming; members under 21 are exempt |
| Delta SkyMiles | No expiry |
| United MileagePlus | No expiry |
| Southwest Rapid Rewards | No expiry |
| JetBlue TrueBlue | No expiry |
| Atmos Rewards | Points do not expire, but an account idle for two years can be locked, then closed a year later |
Sources: American, Delta, and NerdWallet on mileage expiry (August 2026) and Atmos points (December 2025). No expiry does not mean no loss: programs raise award prices, and a balance with no plan buys less each year.
Which Option Fits: 5 Cases
- You will fly in the next year. Keep the miles and book an award. That is where the 1.2 to 1.55 cent values come from.
- You hold a Delta Amex card. Pay with Miles gives a fixed 1 cent with no account risk.
- Your balance is in bank points. Start from the bank’s own cash rate: 1 cent at Chase and Wells Fargo, 0.6 cents at American Express. A sale has to beat that number by enough to be worth the risk. We buy bank points as well, listed on the sell points page.
- You have under 50,000 miles. Use cash and miles on a flight, pool with family, or take gift cards if nothing else works. We do not buy balances that small.
- You have 50,000 miles or more and no trip to use them on. A sale is the one way to get cash. Get the price in writing and weigh it against the risk above.
To see what your own balance is worth, program by program, use our airline miles to dollars calculator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you redeem United miles for cash?
No. United does not pay cash for miles. The closest options are Money + Miles on a United fare at about 0.75 to 1 cent a mile, merchandise at about 0.66 cents, and MileagePlus X gift cards at about 0.3 cents.
Can you redeem AA miles for cash?
No. American does not pay cash for AAdvantage miles. Since March 2026 you can redeem them for retail gift cards, worth up to about 0.7 cents a mile, and since October 2026 you can pay part of a US domestic fare with miles.
Can you trade airline miles?
You can move miles to another member through the airline for a fee, pool them for free at United and JetBlue, or book a ticket in someone else’s name. Trading miles for cash with a third party is against the terms of the major programs.
How much is 50,000 miles worth in cash?
Through official channels, 50,000 miles is $500 off Delta flights with Pay with Miles, about $250 in American gift cards, or about $150 in United gift cards. A sale price depends on the program and the day, so it comes by quote.
Does any airline pay cash for miles?
None of the six largest US programs does. American, Delta, United, Southwest, JetBlue and Atmos Rewards all limit miles to flights, upgrades, partner bookings and similar rewards.
Is it better to redeem miles or sell them?
Redeeming for a flight you would have paid for almost always returns more. Selling makes sense when you will not use the miles and want money now, and you accept the risk to the account.
Can I turn credit card points into cash?
Often, yes. Chase and Wells Fargo pay 1 cent a point. American Express pays 0.6 cents as a statement credit on most cards, and Capital One pays 0.5 cents as cash.
What happens if the airline finds out I sold miles?
It depends on the program. American and Delta both reserve the right to take back miles, cancel tickets and close the account, and both can bill the member.
How long does payment take when I sell to The Points King?
We pay by PayPal once the transfer is complete, usually within 15 minutes.
Sources as cited in the table on this page: NerdWallet (September and July 2026), Upgraded Points (September 2026), Doctor of Credit (May 2025) and The Points Guy (June 2026). Citi’s Strata Premier fell to 0.75 cents on August 24, 2025. Capital One pays 1 cent against travel purchases.
Sources
- Delta, Pay with Miles, read October 11, 2026
- Delta, buy, gift and transfer miles, read October 11, 2026
- Delta, SkyMiles program rules, updated January 1, 2026
- American Airlines, AAdvantage terms and conditions, updated January 13, 2026
- American Airlines, cash and miles announcement, October 2, 2026
- AwardWallet, AAdvantage miles for gift cards, March 13, 2026
- The Points Guy, how to redeem United miles, updated October 2, 2026
- The Points Guy, monthly valuations, October 1, 2026
- The Points Guy, United MileagePlus changes, April 2, 2026
- NerdWallet, Delta SkyMiles Marketplace, updated June 4, 2026
- AwardWallet, Southwest Cash + Points, updated April 8, 2026
- AwardWallet, JetBlue Cash + Points, updated April 8, 2026
- NerdWallet, Chase Ultimate Rewards, updated September 22, 2026
- NerdWallet, Schwab Platinum card, updated July 13, 2026
- The Points Guy, Capital One miles, updated June 25, 2026
- Doctor of Credit, Citi Strata Premier cash rate, May 19, 2025
- Upgraded Points, Wells Fargo Rewards, updated September 28, 2026
- The Points Guy, transferring American miles, updated October 7, 2026
- AwardWallet, transferring United miles, updated April 8, 2026
- One Mile at a Time, United miles pooling, June 14, 2026
- The Points Guy, airlines that allow family pooling, June 26, 2026
- One Mile at a Time, selling airline miles, August 13, 2025
- US Senate, S. 4244, Protect Your Points Act of 2026, introduced March 26, 2026
- IRS, Understanding your Form 1099-K, reviewed June 28, 2026
- IRS, Announcement 2002-18, March 11, 2002
- NerdWallet, when frequent flyer miles expire, updated August 6, 2026
- NerdWallet, do Atmos points expire, updated December 5, 2025