Which airlines still publish an award chart in 2026

Chart, calendar or demand: three ways programs price a seat

Award pricing falls into three broad shapes. A published chart fixes a points price for a defined trip: a zone pair, a distance band, a season, a cabin. You can read it before searching and know what a seat should cost if one is released at that level. A date-tiered model publishes the rule but not a single price: each date is assigned to a tier, such as peak or off-peak, and the tier sets the price. A demand-based model publishes neither a chart nor a rule; the points price moves with the cash fare, with demand, or with both, and the search screen is the only authority.

Many programs mix the shapes. Aeroplan's 2026 chart prints a starting price and a median for Air Canada and select partners, which is a chart with a demand-based upper end, and a single flat price for all other partners, which is a pure chart. Hotel programs show the same split: World of Hyatt says it remains committed to fixed point thresholds rather than dynamic pricing, while IHG says the points for a Reward Night vary up and down just like cash rates.

None of this makes one shape better in general. A chart is only useful when seats are released at the chart price; a demand-based program can occasionally price a seat lower than any chart would. What the shape changes is how much you can know before you search, and therefore how you plan a transfer. The flight points budget guide uses these shapes to set a budget for one trip.

The dated table: what each program's own page says

The table covers only programs whose official pages could be read on October 22, 2026, and records only what those pages say about how award prices are set. Programs whose pages did not load, or did not describe their pricing, are left out rather than guessed at. The final column lists which bank currencies reach each program, from each issuer's own page the same day. The Atmos row also uses a Wayback copy of Atmos's award-chart page saved May 18, 2026 and checked October 31, 2026, because the live page could not be read.

Reading Aeroplan's two-column chart

Aeroplan's Flight Reward Chart, dated August 2026, divides the world into four travel zones: North America, Atlantic, Pacific and South America. For each zone pair it gives distance bands, and for each band and cabin it prints two kinds of number. For Air Canada and a list of select partners it prints a 'starting at' price and a median. For all other partners it prints one price. Those bands also price a flight to Africa: Africa on points sets 24 US to Africa pairs against them.

The two kinds of number mean different things. The chart says the median is based on member redemptions with Air Canada and select partners from January 2025 through December 2026, and that starting-at amounts are not guaranteed with all carriers. The flat partner price is the price the chart sets for that band. In the within-North America zone, for example, a 501 to 1,500 mile economy trip shows Air Canada and select partners starting at 10,000 points with a median of 15,000, and all other partners at 10,000. A 2,751 mile or longer business trip shows a start of 35,000 and a median of 57,300 for Air Canada and select partners, and 35,000 for all other partners.

The select partners named on the chart are United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin Airlines and PAL. That list matters more than it looks: a United seat booked through Aeroplan is in the variable column, not the flat one, and pricing a United seat in four programs works the band rows into bank points. The chart also notes that points are based on the actual distance flown between origin and destination, and that the number required varies with the itinerary and with travel during high-demand periods. The full Aeroplan pricing walk-through in bank points prices one award from each column.

ANA's zone and season charts

ANA's international flight award page says the miles required depend on which zones the departure and arrival airports are in, the ticket's seasonality and the class of service, and it points to its Seasonality and Required Mileage Charts for the figures. It says required mileage starts from 6,000 miles for a one-way flight and 12,000 miles for a round trip, with one-way awards available on reservations and tickets issued from June 24, 2025, and that required mileage was revised from that date except for certain classes and seasons.

Two rules on the same page change how the chart is read. When a journey mixes classes, ANA applies the mileage for the higher class to that direction; if outbound and return are in different classes, each class's round-trip requirement is halved and the halves are added. When the outbound destination and the return departure point sit in different zones, ANA halves the requirement for each zone pair and adds them. Its own example is Tokyo to Honolulu, then Los Angeles back to Tokyo, priced as half the Japan to Hawaii figure plus half the Japan to North America figure.

ANA also restricts which flights the chart covers. Its page says international awards cannot be used for codeshare flights carrying ANA flight numbers but operated by other airlines; those must be booked as partner awards with the partner's own flight number. For a US traveler, the practical reading is that ANA is reachable from Amex at 1,000 to 1,000 on Amex's transfer page, and the chart can be used to set a budget before any search.

British Airways: a date rule instead of a price list

British Airways sits between a chart and dynamic pricing. Its Reward Flights page says the Avios and cash price depends on date, destination and class of travel, and that your chosen date dictates whether you pay a peak or off-peak Avios amount, with bookings allowed on all peak dates, all off-peak dates or a mixture. It gives examples correct as of May 2026: from 10,000 Avios plus £2.50 each way within Europe, the UK and Ireland, from 55,000 Avios plus £150 return to destinations further afield, and business class from 154,000 Avios plus £350 return.

For partner flights, the same page says the number of Avios may vary from British Airways' own pricing depending on route and distance, and it links a separate table for itineraries on two or more oneworld partners. On changes, it notes that moving from an off-peak to a peak date may require additional Avios, and that moving from peak to off-peak refunds the difference in Avios.

The useful consequence for planning is that the date matters as much as the route. Two travelers flying the same city pair a week apart can face different Avios prices, by rule rather than by demand. The guide to transfer ratios by issuer shows how Avios from Amex, Chase, Capital One and Bilt arrive in the British Airways Club.

Delta and Atmos: demand wording, and the floors Atmos prints

Delta's Travel with Miles page describes its pricing in terms of tools rather than tables. It says the flexible award calendar shows the lowest price options for the dates you select, that awards are subject to capacity controls, and that awards may require higher prices depending on routing rules and restrictions. No award chart appears on the page. The practical reading is that the calendar is the price list, and a booking budget can only be set by searching.

Atmos Rewards, the program Bilt's partner list describes as covering Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines, carries similar wording in Bilt's transfer terms for it: the number of points required for a destination might be higher, including for travel during high-demand periods and depending on the itinerary, and points for itineraries combining Alaska and partner flights may vary. A partner booking fee also applies to flight rewards that include a partner airline. Atmos's own award-chart page, in a copy saved May 18, 2026, does print starting prices for partner awards by region and distance band; they are floors rather than fixed prices, and they are priced route by route in what Bilt points buy on Atmos partner awards.

The absence of a chart is not the same as an absence of rules. Both programs still publish change and cancellation terms, booking fees and partner lists. What they do not publish is a price you can rely on before you search, which changes how much the stop signals in the when-not-to-transfer guide matter: with no chart, there is no way to know a transfer is worth making until the seat and price are on screen.

Does a published chart change the decision?

A chart changes three things about a booking, and leaves one thing alone. It lets you set a points budget before searching, so you know whether your balance can plausibly cover the trip. It lets you spot an unusually high price, because the chart tells you what the band should cost. And it makes the cost of a date change predictable, because the same band costs the same on another date if a seat is released.

What it does not change is availability. A chart price is only real when the airline releases a seat at that level, and the chart itself says so: Aeroplan's notes say seats are subject to availability, and its starting-at amounts are not guaranteed. A chart therefore sets a ceiling on your expectations of price, not a floor under your chances of a seat.

The decision rule that follows is simple. Use a chart program to budget, then search it like any other. Use a date-tier program to choose dates before choosing programs. Use a demand-based program only once a specific seat and price are on screen. In all three cases the transfer waits for the seat.

A worked comparison: one route, three shapes

To see why the shape matters, take one economy trip and price it three ways as an arithmetic illustration with stated inputs. The route is about 1,200 flown miles within North America, one way, one traveler, and the cash fare is $260. In a chart program with a flat partner price for that band, assume the chart price applies: 10,000 points plus $25 in surviving fees, which is ($260 minus $25) divided by 10,000, or 2.35 cents per point. You knew that number before searching; the only question was whether a seat existed.

In a date-tier program, assume the off-peak price is 9,000 points and the peak price is 11,000, with the same $25 in fees. On an off-peak date the value is ($260 minus $25) divided by 9,000, or 2.61 cents per point; on a peak date, ($260 minus $25) divided by 11,000, or 2.14. You knew both numbers once you knew the dates.

In a demand-based program, assume the search shows 18,000 points for the same flight on the day you look, with $11.20 in fees. The value is ($260 minus $11.20) divided by 18,000, or 1.38 cents per point. You could not have known that until you searched, and the next day it might have been 12,000 or 25,000. For the same trip, the chart program offered predictability, the date-tier program offered a rule, and the demand-based one offered a number that only exists on screen.

Charts change too, and how to tell

A published chart is a snapshot, which is why every chart reference on this site carries a date. Aeroplan's current chart is labelled 2026-08. ANA's page records that required mileage was revised from June 24, 2025. British Airways labels its Reward Flight examples as correct as of May 2026. A chart number without a date is not a planning tool.

Hotel programs show how chart changes are announced when a program keeps one. World of Hyatt's February 25, 2026 announcement said its chart would expand from three to five redemption levels within each of eight categories beginning in May, with limited hotels moving a limited number of nights into the higher levels in 2026, annual category changes announced in April, and reservations made before a change honored as booked. Airline programs do not all give that kind of notice, which is one reason not to hold a partner balance on the strength of a chart price you have not yet booked.

The save or spend decision for a bank balance covers what a chart change means for points still at the bank, which can still go anywhere.

Using this table to plan one booking

Start from the operating airline and alliance of the flight you want, then find which programs in the table can book it and which of your bank currencies reach them. If one of them publishes a chart, read the band price first: it tells you whether the trip is in range of your balance. If the program prices by date tier, settle the dates. If it prices by demand, go straight to search.

Then price the actual seat, with the cash that survives, in every program your bank reaches, and choose by cents per point on the bank points that would leave your account. The airline programs hub collects the program-level guides as they are added. The natural next step is the search itself, and the free award search order, matched to each bank's partners is where that begins.

Checklist

• Identify the operating airline, alliance and flown distance of the trip.
• List the programs that can book it and the bank currencies that reach each.
• For chart programs, read the band or zone price and note the chart's date.
• For date-tier programs, check whether your dates are peak or off-peak.
• For demand-based programs, search before setting any budget.
• Price the actual seat with surviving fees in each program.
• Transfer to the program with the best cents per point on your bank points.