Let's be honest. When most of us book a flight, we sort by price, pick the cheapest one, and call it a day. I did this for years. It wasn't until I started actually tracking what I was getting from each booking that I realised how much value I'd been throwing away.

Flight value analysis is basically just comparing flights properly. Not just on price, but on everything: the points you earn, what's included in the fare, the cabin quality, how convenient the schedule is, and what that booking does for your loyalty status long-term. It sounds like a lot, but once you get into the habit it becomes second nature.

Why Just Looking at Price Doesn't Work

Here's a real example. Say you're looking at London Heathrow to New York JFK. Flight A is £450 on a no-frills carrier. Flight B is £520 on BA. Flight A looks cheaper, obviously. But Flight B earns you 4,500 Avios (that's about £45 worth of future travel right there), includes a checked bag (which would cost you £50 on Flight A), and throws in meals and drinks.

When you add all that up, Flight B is actually cheaper. And you get a better experience. This happens way more often than people think.

What Actually Goes Into Flight Value

There are a few things worth looking at every time you book:

Points and miles earned: This is the big one. Different airlines and different fare classes earn wildly different amounts. A business class BA ticket might earn 5x the Avios of a discounted economy fare on the same route. If you fly a few times a year, these differences really stack up.

Seat quality: Economy isn't just economy. There's a huge difference between 30 inches of legroom and 32 inches, especially on anything over 4 hours. Some carriers give you personal screens, USB charging, and decent food in economy. Others give you... a seat.

What's included: Full-service airlines usually include checked bags, meals, and seat selection. Budget airlines charge for all of that separately. I've seen cases where a "cheap" Ryanair fare ends up more expensive than BA once you add a bag and a seat together.

Schedule and connections: A direct flight for £80 more than one with a 4-hour layover in some random airport? That's almost always worth it. Your time has value, you'll spend less on airport food, and you avoid the risk of missed connections.

Tier points for status: If you're working toward Silver or Gold with an airline, the tier points from each flight matter a lot. Sometimes paying a bit extra for a higher fare class gets you double the tier points, which could mean the difference between qualifying for status or not.

How This Works Day to Day

It's not that complicated in practice. Before you book, just check what other airlines fly the same route. Look at what points you'd earn with each. Factor in bags and meals. And then make a call.

The effective cost of a flight is really: ticket price minus value of points earned minus value of included services. When you think about it that way, the "expensive" option is often the cheap one.

Who Gets the Most Out of This

Frequent business travellers, obviously. Even saving £30-50 in real value per flight adds up to thousands over a year. But it works for everyone. If you're booking a family holiday with 4 seats, a £30 per-ticket saving is £120 on one booking. Do that a couple of times a year and you've paid for an extra day of your holiday.

Why Tools Help

The annoying part of doing this manually is checking 4-5 airline websites, looking up earning rates, comparing bag fees... it takes ages. That's why we built The Arb Club. It does all the comparison automatically so you can see the real value of each option without spending half an hour on research.

Start Small

You don't need to overhaul how you book overnight. Just next time you're about to buy a flight, take 5 minutes to check one other carrier on the same route. Compare what you'd actually get. You might be surprised.