In a morning editorial meeting at The Points Guy a few weeks ago, the team discussed some easy ways still out there to help folks snag great award redemptions. Some are so basic that we sometimes forget them ourselves.
While we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the cost of award travel, there are still plenty of great deals to be found, and plenty of ways to save when redeeming your valuable points and miles.
Here are a few hacks to keep in mind as you book your next award flight.
Book a positioning flight
I’m writing this story from American’s Flagship Lounge at Philadelphia International Airport (PHL), where I’m about to board a flight to Václav Havel Airport Prague (PRG). But this is not my home airport.
Instead, I found a great business-class award using Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards points on American Airlines’ new nonstop flight from PHL to PRG. Total price? Just 55,000 Atmos Rewards points and $5.60 in taxes and fees. That’s a great deal, and it wasn’t available from New York City, where I live.
Sometimes, the cheapest trip starts with getting yourself to a different airport.
That’s why you should consider positioning flights. Sometimes you’ll find a much cheaper award by positioning to a major city. For example, if you live in Albany, New York, try searching from New York City instead of from your home airport. Often, you’ll find much better award deals if you start your search in a major city. An award from Albany might price out at 100,000 miles, but one from New York might be just 55,000 miles. The opposite can happen, too, so search around.
Of course, you’ll then need to get yourself to that positioning city, but you can usually find a cheap cash price or award, and why not spend a day in the city before your flight?
Search for one-way awards instead of always searching for round trip
Try searching for one-way flights instead of always booking round-trip. You’ll sometimes find a much better deal using your points for a one-way flight. A few examples? I booked a one-way flight from Tokyo Narita International Airport (NRT) to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) for just 90,000 United MileagePlus miles. If I had tried to book the whole trip in business class, I doubt I would have found a price that low.
Reward your inbox with the TPG Daily newsletter
Join over 700,000 readers for breaking news, in-depth guides and exclusive deals from TPG’s experts
Here’s another example from United: A one-way flight in business class from EWR to NRT for as few as 85,000 miles.
Note on the screenshot above, there’s also a pretty hefty discount because I’m a United cardholder. More on that in a moment.
I also just booked a one-way flight from Beijing to Tokyo for just 17,500 Delta SkyMiles on China Eastern instead of paying nearly $500 in cash. Score.
Add flexibility
By adding a day or two of wiggle room on either side of your ideal travel dates, you can save a ton of points.
Sometimes, there will be availability one or two days before or after your perfect date range that could mean the difference between a deal and no deal.
Related: The best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare
Here’s an award we found from Miami International Airport (MIA) to Cancun International Airport (CUN), using Alaska Airlines Atmos Rewards points to fly in business class for just 9,000 points on American Airlines. As you can tell in the screenshot below, those ultra-cheap awards weren’t available every day that week.
Earn transferable points and miles (with some exceptions)
Earn transferable points instead of airline or hotel points for maximum redemption flexibility. If you have a stash of credit card points, see if you can transfer them to a hotel or airline to get better value than booking through the credit card’s travel portal.
Related: How (and why) you should earn transferable credit card points
This means that instead of booking through Chase Travel, you will sometimes be better off transferring your Chase Ultimate Rewards points to World of Hyatt and booking directly with Hyatt.
Here’s a good airline example: Transferring your American Express Membership Rewards points to Singapore Airlines directly can often get you better award pricing. On Singapore Airlines, a round-trip journey from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) to Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport (SAI) in Cambodia is 245,000 Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles. The same trip booked on American Express Travel? Almost a million Membership Rewards points!
1 of 2
SINGAPORE AIRLINES
In this case, I would transfer 245,000 Membership Rewards points to Singapore Airlines rather than booking directly with Amex.
Related: Amex Membership Rewards transfer partners: Redeem your points with airlines and hotels
Most major credit card brands have a long list of transfer partners that can offer incredible returns. Just be sure to create any frequent flyer accounts you’re hoping to transfer to (if you don’t have them already) and link them to the transferable currencies you plan to use before you’re ready to transfer your points or miles, since there can sometimes be a delay in connecting the accounts.
All that being said, I do also keep a stash of points with various hotel and airline programs, because you never know when a flash sale might open up using Alaska points, American Airlines miles or even Delta SkyMiles. But if you don’t want to keep track of multiple loyalty programs and want the most flexibility, transferable currencies are the way to go.
Don’t dismiss foreign frequent flyer programs
As mentioned above, foreign frequent flyer programs can be a game changer. I often use Air France-KLM Flying Blue to book business-class flights from New York JFK to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for as few as 60,000 Flying Blue miles; those miles can be transferred from programs like Chase and American Express. But you can also earn them outright. I’ve opened several credit cards through foreign frequent flyer programs, earned points and then booked flights.
Here’s an award on KLM using Flying Blue miles.
Yes, that’s 60,000 Flying Blue miles for business class.
Don’t forget about partner airlines
Don’t forget about partner airlines, too, where you can sometimes book cheaper domestic (and international) awards on airlines than you can by using the actual airline.
Related: What are airline alliances, and who’s in them?
For example, I often book domestic Delta flights using Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles. When searching for a one-way flight from EWR to Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) on Delta, booking directly with Delta costs 23,000 Delta SkyMiles, but the same award is only 15,500 Flying Blue miles when booked through Air France.
It works in reverse, too.
I’ve used United miles to book flights with its partners, Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Be sure to look around.
Award search tools can be game changers
We are big fans of award search tools like Seats.aero, Roame.travel or Point.me. You can search for business-class availability and even set alerts to be emailed when the award you are looking for opens.
Another tool that we love is Points Path. Download it to lay on top of Google Flights to flag good deals on points. Points Path can also send you alerts on good award deals. Seats.aero also recently launched its own Chrome extension that also shows award pricing in Google Flights.
Consider opening a cobranded airline credit card
There’s another emerging hack. Sometimes, holding the airline’s cobranded credit cards can unlock special mileage awards. So far in the U.S., United and Delta offer this, but it may eventually spread to all programs.
For example, when I search for United flights from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), it shows me business-class redemptions starting at 85,000 United miles as a United cardholder. That same flight would cost non-cardholders up to 360,000 miles.
The lower award prices offered vary depending on which card and elite status you hold, but generally offer at least 15% savings on points redemptions.
Once you’ve booked, keep searching
Finally, monitor your flights. Once you’ve booked, keep an eye on award pricing with AI companies like Autopilot that will let you know if the cost of your award drops.
Related: These new tools will track your flights and get you refunds if the price drops
I track my flights with two other new tools. PAiback has gotten me back $148 this year alone. I’ve also been experimenting with Junova. Both companies will monitor cash prices and get you refunds if the price drops, charging you a commission on the money saved.
New users at Junova get a $25 credit when signing up through the TPG referral link (so you get a $25 credit — then when you pay the 20% commission, it comes out of your $25 “bank”).
Related: Reader success story: I saved $700 on flights I had already booked with this handy tool
Bottom line
This is just scratching the surface of the overlooked ways to find and book awards. You don’t have to be an expert to win at the points and miles “game.” You just need to learn a few basics.
Searching a little more thoroughly, staying flexible and overcoming any fears around partner airlines or transferable points can carry you far.
Related reading:
