National parks on points: which airport to fly into

Aeroplan: four bands inside North America, priced on miles flown

Air Canada's Flight Reward Chart, dated 2026-08, prices a flight inside its North America zone by distance: 0 to 500 miles, 501 to 1,500, 1,501 to 2,750, and 2,751 and over. Every band has two rows. The first covers Air Canada and its select partners, which the chart's footnote lists as United Airlines, Emirates, Flydubai, Etihad Airways, Canadian North, Calm Air, Bearskin Airlines and Provincial Airlines. A United flight to a park gateway therefore prices on the starting-at and median columns. The second row, all other partners, prints one flat price per cabin.

Starting-at is a floor, not a quote. The chart's own notes say starting-at amounts are not guaranteed with all carriers, that the points required vary with the itinerary and during high-demand periods, and that medians come from member redemptions. In the 501 to 1,500 band the economy floor is 10,000 points and the median is 15,000, so the typical redemption there costs half as much again as the floor. Every economy figure in this guide is a floor, and the gap between floor and median is what a popular day costs.

Two rules decide how a gateway is priced. The chart bases the points on the actual distance flown between origin and destination, so a connection counts both legs, not the straight line between the two cities. And the Flight Reward Policy lets one reservation carry open-jaw travel while barring stopovers inside the United States, so a domestic park trip can add a second airport but not a stopover. Any flight not operated by Air Canada, Air Canada Express or Rouge adds a C$39 partner booking fee per ticket, which on a United flight is the main cash line apart from government taxes.

Which gateways United serves from your city, and on which days, is a search result and not a chart fact. The guide to booking United flights with partner miles covers that side of the booking, and the Aeroplan partner awards guide covers the chart's other rows and the points that reach them.

Atmos Rewards: one chart for Alaska and Hawaiian planes, another for partners

Atmos prices a flight flown wholly on Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines on its North American chart, in five distance bands. Economy starts at 4,500 points under 700 miles, 7,500 from 701 to 1,400, 10,000 from 1,401 to 2,100, 12,500 from 2,101 to 3,500 and 20,000 from 3,501 miles up. The heading above the table says it applies to awards 'wholly on Alaska Airlines or Hawaiian Airlines', and the terms under it add that itineraries with several segments may price at higher levels and that the lowest levels are not offered on every flight or date.

Partner flights sit on a different chart. The Americas chart on the same page carries the line 'Includes travel from US to Americas and within Americas' and starts economy at 4,500 under 700 miles, 7,500 from 701 to 1,400, 12,500 from 1,401 to 2,100, 17,500 from 2,101 to 4,000, 25,000 from 4,001 to 6,000 and 30,000 beyond. Whether a given domestic partner flight prices from it is something only the Atmos search screen shows, so the Atmos figures in this guide describe itineraries flown wholly on Alaska or Hawaiian. Any partner segment adds a $12.50 per person fee each way, and taxes and carrier fees start from $5.60 each way.

The two programs draw their lines in different places, Aeroplan at 500, 1,500 and 2,750 miles and Atmos at 700, 1,400, 2,100 and 3,500. A 600-mile hop costs 10,000 points on Aeroplan's select row and 4,500 on Atmos's own planes. A 1,450-mile trip costs 10,000 on both. A 2,000-mile trip costs 12,500 on Aeroplan and 10,000 on Atmos. Atmos's lines would split some of the same airport pairs differently, but those splits only describe itineraries flown wholly on Alaska or Hawaiian, which not every pair has, so the count of airport splits in this guide is for Aeroplan's chart alone.

These rows are those on the Wayback Machine copy of Atmos's chart page saved May 18, 2026, and Atmos can change point requirements without notice, so confirm them on the live chart page or a search screen. The Atmos Rewards guide covers how bank points reach that program, and when not to transfer covers the order: find the seat, then move the points, because a transfer is usually irreversible.

How every mileage figure here was measured

Each distance is a great-circle distance between two reference points, from the haversine formula: a = sin²(Δφ/2) + cos φ1 × cos φ2 × sin²(Δλ/2), then distance = 2 × R × asin(√a), with R = 3,958.8 statute miles and angles in radians. Airport coordinates come from the OurAirports public-domain data file, downloaded November 3, 2026, and spot-checked for six airports against the FAA's airport layer, where the positions agree within 0.01 degrees, under a mile. The Yellowstone entrance points come from the coordinate list on the park's NPS maps page. Distances are rounded to whole miles before a band is read.

One pair worked by hand. O'Hare sits at 41.9786 north, 87.9048 west and Las Vegas at 36.083361 north, 115.151817 west. The latitude difference is 0.102891 radians and the longitude difference is 0.475550. Then sin²(Δφ/2) is 0.002644, cos φ1 × cos φ2 is 0.600783 and sin²(Δλ/2) is 0.055480, so a = 0.002644 + 0.600783 × 0.055480 = 0.035975. The square root is 0.18967, its arcsine is 0.19083 radians, and 2 × 3,958.8 × 0.19083 comes to 1,511 miles. The spherical law of cosines on the same inputs gives 1,510.9. That puts the pair 11 miles past the 1,500 line.

A great-circle figure is the shortest possible flight, and Aeroplan prices the distance actually flown, which for a real nonstop is a little longer. Atmos does not say how it measures. So any pair that falls within about 25 miles under a band line is marked as unresolved wherever the text discusses it (the grid cells print the straight-line figure alone), and the program's own search decides it; a pair over a line is unlikely to fall back under it on Aeroplan, because the flown distance is unlikely to be shorter than the straight-line figure. The grids price distance, not flights: a gateway can be booked on Aeroplan's select row only if United or Air Canada serves it from your hub, and on Atmos's North American chart only if Alaska or Hawaiian does, and this guide does not check either. A connection uses the same formula one leg at a time, with the legs added: the total, not the straight line from origin to gateway, picks the band. The 42 comparisons quoted in this guide pair six departure cities (New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, Dallas Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Seattle-Tacoma) with seven sets of competing gateways: Yellowstone and Teton (five airports), Glacier (three), the Grand Canyon (three), Zion and Bryce Canyon (four), Yosemite (four), Acadia (two) and the Smokies (two).

Ten parks, the airports NPS names and the distances it prints

NPS pages state airport access three different ways. Zion, Bryce Canyon, Glacier, Acadia and the Great Smoky Mountains give mileage. Yosemite gives drive times by airport. Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain name airports and leave most of the distance out, and Grand Teton names none. The table prints each figure against the reference point NPS uses, because 'Denver' is not the airport, Wawona is not the Valley, and the Gatlinburg entrance is not the other side of the park.

Two rows deserve a second look. Zion and Bryce Canyon share both big airports but not equally: Las Vegas is 170 miles from Zion and about 270 from Bryce, while Salt Lake City is 300 from Zion and about 270 from Bryce. And Grand Teton's directions page names no airport at all, yet Jackson Hole Airport is, in NPS's words, "the only commercial airport within a national park in the country" (NPS places page, updated August 21, 2026).

Several pages are old. The Smokies page was last updated August 11, 2022, Rocky Mountain's May 24, 2023, Yosemite's airport page April 12, 2024 and Bryce Canyon's May 1, 2024. Distances do not change, but a service list in the NPS text, such as which cities fly to St. George, is a snapshot; Zion's was updated September 14, 2026.

Yellowstone: where each airport sits against the five entrances

NPS lists five airports with year-round airline service near Yellowstone and a sixth, West Yellowstone, that runs from early May to mid-October with flights from Salt Lake City. It prints no airport-to-entrance distance, but it does publish the latitude and longitude of the five entrances and of Old Faithful, so a straight line can be drawn from each airport. The table gives that line, which is a ranking and not a drive.

The ranking shifts once the in-park times are added. NPS averages 30 minutes from the West Entrance to Madison Junction and 35 to 45 more to Old Faithful, so West Yellowstone's airport, 2 miles from that entrance, still leaves 65 to 75 minutes on park roads before the geyser. From the South Entrance NPS gives 50 minutes to Grant Village and 40 more to Old Faithful, so Jackson Hole, closest of the year-round airports to an entrance, is about 90 minutes of park road from Old Faithful after the drive to the gate. The speed limit is 45 miles per hour unless posted lower.

The seasonal airport has a price catch. NPS names Salt Lake City as the source of West Yellowstone's flights, and Chicago to West Yellowstone by way of Salt Lake City is 1,520 miles flown, which is a 12,500-point band on Aeroplan's select row, if United or Air Canada flies that leg; NPS names Salt Lake City as the origin but not the airline. Chicago to Bozeman is 1,183 miles in a straight line, at 10,000. So the nearest airport to the West Entrance costs 2,500 points more each way from Chicago, and exists for about five and a half months of the year.

A Jackson arrival that continues north runs into the NPS warning that two parks mean two fees. Yellowstone's South Entrance route passes through Grand Teton, each park charges its own entrance fee, and the two vehicle fees add to $70.

Yellowstone, Teton and Glacier from six cities: which airports tie

Every Yellowstone and Teton airport prices the same from a given city in the table: 10,000 points from Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Seattle, and 12,500 from New York and Atlanta. Atlanta to Cody is 1,510 miles and to Billings 1,523, both past the 1,500 line, but Bozeman, Jackson Hole and Idaho Falls are past it too, so nothing is lost either way. With the price tied, the choice is entrance, season and which airport a carrier actually serves from your city.

Glacier is where distance changes the price. From Seattle, Kalispell is 378 miles away and Missoula 388, both in the lowest band at 6,000 points. Great Falls, at 511 miles, is 11 miles past the 500-mile line and starts at 10,000, so the airport NPS places 130 to 165 miles from the east-side entrances costs 4,000 points more each way. Kalispell is about 30 miles from the West Entrance, and NPS gives West Glacier to St. Mary as 50 miles and 2 hours on Going-to-the-Sun Road, about 80 miles to the east side against 130 to 165 from Great Falls. Seattle's Great Falls pair is 11 miles over the line, a margin Aeroplan's own distance data could in principle close, so confirm it on the search screen.

Most of these airports are reached by connection, which the straight-line table cannot show. Chicago to Bozeman through Denver totals 1,410 miles and prices at 10,000; through Salt Lake City it totals 1,594 and prices at 12,500. Seattle to Bozeman is 541 miles in a straight line, and a Denver connection flies 1,546, past Aeroplan's twice-the-nonstop-distance routing limit of 1,082 miles for that pair.

Zion, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon against the 1,500-mile line

From Chicago, five of the six airports in the table price at 10,000 points: Salt Lake City at 1,247 miles, Flagstaff at 1,363, Cedar City at 1,364, St. George at 1,401 and Phoenix at 1,437. Las Vegas, at 1,511, is the exception: 11 miles past the line and 2,500 points higher at 12,500. It is also the nearer of the two big airports to Zion, 170 miles against 300 for Salt Lake City in the NPS figures, so from Chicago the cheaper big airport is the one 130 miles farther from the park.

From Los Angeles the pattern turns over. Las Vegas (236 miles), St. George (349), Phoenix (370), Flagstaff (392) and Cedar City (395) all start at 6,000, while Salt Lake City at 590 starts at 10,000. The Utah airport that NPS puts 300 miles from Zion costs 4,000 points more each way than three airports that are 49, 60 and 170 miles away. From Dallas and Seattle all six airports tie at 10,000, and from New York and Atlanta all six tie at 12,500, so from four of the six cities the gateway choice costs no points at all.

For the Grand Canyon, NPS gives Flagstaff at about 90 minutes from the South Entrance and Phoenix at about four hours, and prints nothing for Las Vegas. Chicago to Flagstaff is 1,363 miles and prices at 10,000 where Las Vegas prices at 12,500, so from Chicago Flagstaff, about 90 minutes from the South Entrance against about four hours from Phoenix, also prices 2,500 points below Las Vegas. From New York, Flagstaff is 2,084 miles, 16 under Atmos's 2,100 line and inside the margin where the program's own distance decides, and Phoenix is 2,148, 48 over it: on a flight flown wholly on Alaska or Hawaiian that is 10,000 points against 12,500, while on Aeroplan both are 12,500. NPS also says there is an airport in Tusayan, the town 6 miles south of the South Entrance. Its page names no airline and no destination for it, so it appears here as geography only.

Bryce Canyon is the far corner. NPS gives about 270 miles from both Las Vegas and Salt Lake City, 80 from Cedar City and 125 from St. George, so Cedar City and St. George are the airports to price first. Cedar City's flights come from Salt Lake City according to NPS, which makes a Cedar City award a Salt Lake City connection by construction. From Chicago that connection totals 1,468 miles, 32 under the line, and prices at 10,000.

Connections: ten itineraries measured on the miles actually flown

A gateway reached by connection prices on both legs. Chicago to St. George is the cleanest case, because NPS says St. George has flights from Salt Lake City and from Denver. Through Denver the legs are 886 and 516 miles, 1,402 in all, which prices at 10,000. Through Salt Lake City the legs are 1,247 and 272, 1,519 in all, which prices at 12,500, the same as a straight-line Chicago to Las Vegas trip. Same origin, same gateway, 2,500 points apart, decided by the hub.

Detours cost nothing until they cross a line, and the routing rule closes the door before long. Aeroplan allows a circuitous routing only up to twice the nonstop distance, and inside that limit the miles set the price. Seattle to Bozeman is 541 miles by the same straight-line measure, so the limit is 1,082. Routed through Salt Lake City the trip flies 1,035 miles, fits with 47 to spare, and still prices at 10,000. Through Denver it flies 1,546 miles, far past the limit, so that routing falls outside the policy's general rule and should not price as one award (the policy notes exceptions for some pairs, so the search screen decides).

Two rows sit close to a line. New York to Fresno through San Francisco totals 2,737 miles, 13 under the 2,750 line, so a routing that flies about 14 more miles than the straight line prices at 17,500 on the select row; through Los Angeles it totals 2,679, 71 under. And Los Angeles to Bar Harbor by way of Boston, the service NPS names for Hancock County, totals 2,801 miles against 2,731 straight across, so the Boston stop adds about 70 miles and carries the award from 12,500 to 17,500 points. On Aeroplan's all-other-partners row that top band is 22,500.

Search screens return several routings for one gateway. Write down both legs of each, add them, and compare the total with the nearest line. The five-minute sum often removes the cheapest-looking airport from the list before a single point moves.

Yosemite: four west-side gateways and a Tioga Road warning

NPS ranks its airport list by drive time to Yosemite Valley: Merced at 2 hours, Fresno at 2.5, Sacramento at 3.5 and San Francisco at 4, with Fresno only 1.5 hours from Wawona. On Aeroplan's select row those four price the same from every one of the six cities in the table: 12,500 from New York, Chicago and Atlanta, 10,000 from Dallas and Seattle, 6,000 from Los Angeles. From the three 12,500 cities the difference between landing in Merced and landing in San Francisco is two hours of driving each way and no points.

The Atmos lines split them. Atlanta to San Francisco is 2,134 miles, 34 past the 2,100 line, so on a flight flown wholly on Alaska it starts at 12,500, while Fresno at 1,993, Merced at 2,034 and Sacramento at 2,088 (12 under the line, inside the margin where the program's own distance decides) start at 10,000. From Seattle the Atmos split runs the other way: Sacramento falls under 700 miles at 4,500, as does San Francisco at 679 (21 under the line, inside the margin where the program's own distance decides), while Fresno and Merced fall over it at 7,500. The Aeroplan side has its own edge: Dallas to Fresno through San Francisco prices at 12,500, but through Los Angeles at 10,000.

The east-side airports are summer airports. NPS gives Mammoth Yosemite as 2.5 hours from the Valley when Tioga Road is open and about seven hours when it is closed, and Reno/Tahoe as 4.5 hours open and 5.5 closed. Tioga Road opens late May or June and closes by about November according to the same page, so an award to Mammoth or Reno for a shoulder-season Yosemite trip builds in the longest drive on the list.

For 2026 NPS announced on February 18 that Yosemite would not use a timed reservation system, which removes one fee from the arithmetic, and its fee page says America the Beautiful annual passes cover park entrance fees but not reservation requirements or reservation fees if they are in place. The announcement covers 2026 only; NPS had posted nothing for 2027 on the page. The last row of the table below is Denver, the only airport NPS names for Rocky Mountain.

Rocky Mountain: one airport, so the variable is the timed-entry window

NPS names Denver International as the closest major airport and says there is no public transportation from it to the park, only commercial shuttles to Estes Park. Denver to Estes Park is 66 miles via US 36 and 71 via Highway 66, 1.5 to 2 hours either way. With one airport there is no gateway to choose, and the points question narrows to distance flown. Dallas to Denver is 641 miles, which is 10,000 points on Aeroplan's select row and 4,500 on a flight wholly on Alaska or Hawaiian. Chicago (886), Los Angeles (861), Atlanta (1,197) and Seattle (1,022) all price at 10,000 on Aeroplan, and New York at 1,622 miles prices at 12,500.

The timed-entry system is the planning variable. NPS says a timed entry reservation was required in 2026 from Friday, May 22 to Monday, October 12 between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., and the Bear Lake Road corridor needed a Timed Entry+ reservation from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sunday, October 18. The only cost NPS lists is a non-refundable $2 processing fee on Recreation.gov. Visitors can enter before 9 a.m. or after 2 p.m. without a reservation.

That window is why the arrival time on the award matters. A plane that lands before 9 a.m. and then needs a rental car and a drive of up to two hours puts the car at the gate inside the window, where the reservation is required, while a plane that lands after noon puts it there after 2 p.m., when the general reservation is no longer required (the Bear Lake Road corridor still needs Timed Entry+ until 6 p.m.). The page covers the 2026 season and had no 2027 dates when checked, so a 2027 trip needs the current page before the flight is booked.

Acadia and the Smokies: short flights, and the cheap band on both programs

East of the Mississippi the flights are short. New York to Bar Harbor is 381 miles and to Bangor 382, which is 6,000 points on Aeroplan and 4,500 on Atmos's own planes. Chicago and Atlanta land both Maine airports in the 501 to 1,500 band at 10,000. NPS says direct flights from Boston Logan land at Hancock County Airport, 10 miles from Acadia, and that Bangor International is about an hour away, so Hancock County, if a flight to it can be booked, trims the drive to about 10 miles and costs nothing in points. The one edge is Los Angeles, 2,731 miles to Bar Harbor, 19 under the 2,750 line, inside the margin where the program's own distance decides, and a Boston connection pushes it over.

In the Smokies the two airports sit on opposite sides of the park. NPS puts McGhee-Tyson, near Knoxville, about 45 miles west of the Gatlinburg entrance and Asheville about 60 miles east of the Cherokee entrance. From Chicago, Knoxville is 475 miles, 25 under the 500-mile line at 6,000 points (at the edge of the margin where the program's search decides), and Asheville is 536 miles at 10,000, so the entrance side also sets a 4,000-point difference each way. From Atlanta both are under 200 miles and tie at 6,000.

The Smokies also change what a pass does. NPS's fee page for the park sells a parking tag, $5 a day, $15 a week or $40 a year, and states that America the Beautiful passes are not accepted in place of it. The park does not appear on NPS's list of 11 parks that charge the nonresident fee.

Entrance fees: what is the same and what differs

Nine of the ten parks charge $35 for a private vehicle for seven days, $20 per person on foot or bicycle at 16 and over, and sell a $70 park annual pass; the resident America the Beautiful pass is $80. At $35 a park the pass loses on the second park ($70 against $80) and wins on the third ($105), so Yellowstone with Grand Teton costs $10 less in fees than the pass. The Smokies are the exception, with a parking tag instead of an entrance fee ($5 a day, $15 a week, $40 a year) that America the Beautiful passes do not replace.

A few details change the sum. Glacier charges $25 per vehicle and $15 per person from November 1 to April 30. Rocky Mountain sells a $30 one-day vehicle pass beside the $35 seven-day one, and its timed-entry reservation carries a $2 Recreation.gov processing fee. Acadia requires a $6 vehicle reservation to drive Cadillac Summit Road from May 20 to October 25. Yosemite's page says annual passes cover entrance fees but not reservation requirements or fees, and announced no timed reservation for 2026. The NPS pages for Yellowstone, Grand Canyon and Glacier list no vehicle reservation requirement.

Seven of the ten pages say the park takes cards only: Grand Teton, Acadia, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Glacier say it does not accept cash, and Rocky Mountain says entrance fees are taken by debit or credit card, with cash buyers sent to the Rocky Mountain Conservancy Nature Store at three visitor centers. Cash is still taken at some off-gate outlets such as the Hulls Cove Visitor Center at Acadia. Yellowstone and Zion list cash among their payment options, and the Smokies sell tags by card at the machines. A rental-car trip to most of these parks needs a card at the gate.

When someone in the car is not a US resident

For 2026, each non-US resident aged 16 and over pays $100 on top of the entrance fee at 11 parks: Acadia, Bryce Canyon, Everglades, Glacier, Grand Canyon, Grand Teton, Rocky Mountain, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite and Zion. NPS calls it a per-person fee, and nine of this guide's ten parks are on the list; only the Smokies are absent. So a $35 vehicle fee that covers any number of US residents costs two nonresident adults $235. From 2026 the fee-free days apply to US citizens and residents only.

The nonresident annual pass costs $250 and covers the entire vehicle, two motorcycles, or the holder plus three adults where fees are charged per person. A valid America the Beautiful pass or park annual pass held by a US resident covers entrance fees and nonresident fees for the passengers in a private vehicle, so two nonresident adults riding with a resident pass holder pay nothing extra. The resident pass needs proof of residency, and someone ineligible for it is asked to upgrade.

The break-even sits at three adults at one park or one adult at two parks. Children under 16 never owe the $100, which keeps a family's total close to the single-adult figure.

Open jaw or round trip: a break-even rule from the Zion and Bryce drives

Aeroplan prices each direction of travel on its own distance (its chart amounts are one-way estimates), and the same is assumed for Atmos, so an open jaw changes the points only by swapping one leg's price for another's. What changes besides points is the rental: a one-way drop fee, which the rental company quotes at booking and which no NPS page lists, and the miles and hours driven. The rule that follows from that: an open jaw beats the round trip to its outbound airport when the points saved, valued at your target, plus the driving saved, valued at your cost per mile, exceed the one-way fee. Every input in that sentence except the fee is in the tables above.

Zion and Bryce show how little an open jaw can buy. NPS puts Las Vegas about 270 miles from Bryce and 170 from Zion, and Salt Lake City about 270 from Bryce and 300 from Zion. It gives the Bryce route through Highway 20 as roughly 150 miles and says that is 63 miles longer than the Zion-Mt. Carmel Highway route, so the direct Zion to Bryce leg is about 87 miles by subtraction. Drive Las Vegas to Zion to Bryce and back to Las Vegas and the total is 527 miles. Fly into Salt Lake City, drive to Bryce, then Zion, and out of Las Vegas, and the total is still 527. The open jaw bought no driving.

What it did change is points. From Chicago, Salt Lake City out costs 10,000 and Las Vegas back costs 12,500, so the open jaw is 22,500 per traveler against 25,000 for the Las Vegas round trip. For two travelers that is 5,000 points, which at an assumed target of 1.30 cents per point is $65. The open jaw beats the Las Vegas round trip only if the one-way fee is under $65. Against the Salt Lake City round trip it loses: the open jaw saves 130 miles of driving, worth $19.50 at an assumed 15 cents a mile, but costs 5,000 more points, worth $65, before any drop fee.

St. George settles the example if the search returns the Denver connection. NPS puts St. George 49 miles from Zion and 125 from Bryce, so the same Zion-and-Bryce loop drives 261 miles, and Chicago to St. George through Denver is 10,000 points each way. It ties the cheapest plan on points and cuts the driving to 261 miles, 266 fewer than the Las Vegas plans, and it loses that edge the moment the search returns only the Salt Lake City connection at 12,500. The price of an award is often one routing away from a different plan.

Cash fees on the award side are mostly fixed. Aeroplan charges its C$39 partner booking fee per ticket, so one open-jaw reservation should carry one fee per traveler where two separate one-way awards carry two; the booking screen shows it. Atmos charges $12.50 per person each way on any partner segment, whichever way the trip is shaped. A guide to renting the car with points is car rentals with points, and the drop fee belongs in that quote.

What to settle ahead of the seat search

• List the airports NPS names for the park, with the distance or drive time it prints for each and the reference point it measures from.
• Measure each from your departure city with the haversine formula, add the legs of any connection, and mark pairs within 25 miles of a band line as unresolved.
• Price the hub as well as the airport: one gateway can land in two bands depending on where the flight connects.
• Search the program's own award screen for your exact dates. The charts here are starting prices, and medians run higher.
• Total the entrance fees for the whole itinerary and compare with $80, or with $250 if non-US residents ride without a US pass holder. Add reservation, timed-entry and parking-tag charges on top.
• For an open jaw, get the one-way rental fee quote first and compare it with points saved at your target plus miles saved at your cost per mile.
• Move points only after the seat is visible at the price you priced, because a transfer is usually irreversible. The trip playbooks hub has the order of operations for family, premium-cabin and last-minute trips.