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This is a beginners guide to explain how to travel using credit card points. There is an entire mentality that goes into this, it is not something you just do on a whim. The idea was to make a guide like we are sitting at a bar and you are listening to me while staring with a blank face. You kind of don’t understand it….but you kind of do. So yes, it will be long and unorthodox.
This will be separated into 6 different parts. All play a crucial part in properly booking a “free trip”.
Hopefully by reading all this you get a better understanding of HOW to use credit card points to travel, and what goes into the thought process.
Table of Contents
Part 1: THE MOTIVE
The first step is to figure out your objective. Are you trying to leave your own airport on a set date and go somewhere for free? Are you looking for a certain airline experience? Are you looking for a business class ticket? Are you looking for an economy ticket? In my opinion the best thing you can do is DICTATE YOUR TRAVEL TO THE AVAILABILITY. Dont just take January 1-7 off from work and pray you find something. Find availability first, then book January 12-19 or whatever magic works out. It’s much easier to find availability if you are flexible.
If you are planning around a certain date you will have a much more difficult time booking because there is no guarantee. It’s not as easy as you would think, you can’t just AUTOMATICALLY get a free flight, there is work to be done if you want to do it right.
The same goes for an “experience” type booking. A rare first class redemption is going to be a lot more difficult than your average 2 hour economy flight.
Part 2: EDUCATION
The next part is learning about points. If you are completely new, read my credit card guide (soon). Some examples would be: If you only want to travel in the USA, look into Delta, jetBlue, American Airlines cards. If you’re in the UK, look into a British Airways card. If you want to travel EVERYWHERE, look into a non branded Chase, AMEX, Capital One, etc card. This will make more sense soon.
But let’s say your friend already talked you into an Amex Gold Card and you have 100k points. Thats a great start, you will be able to do a lot of different things with that.
WHAT YOU SHOULD NEVER DO: go to the Amex travel portal, see a flight for $500, and redeem 50,000 points for that. That is a SCAM, you would be losing so much value. Yes its free, but a bad type of free. I’m aware that sounds crazy.
Many people can comprehend having points for their local airline and hitting “redeem” on the app. I know plenty of “non-techy” people who used Delta points for a free trip to Vegas without help. Channel that energy. That’s basically what we are doing except on another scale. Amex for example has A LOT of partners you can transfer your points to.
Aer Lingus, AeroMexico, Air Canada, Air France, ANA, Avianca, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Delta, Emirates, Etihad, Hawaiian, Iberia, JetBlue, KLM, Qantas, Singapore, and Virgin Atlantic.
In this game you can transfer your points to any of those programs.
Part 3: UNDERSTANDING
Part 3 is understanding the partnerships and destinations. This is the most important part of traveling with credit card points. I could give countless examples, but you really just need to use the internet and figure out WHO goes WHERE.
Literally just fool around on travel platforms and and look at the results. Hit “direct” and see what city goes to what part of the world. Get knowledge of the possibilities. Become familiar with what airlines exist, and how frequently they fly to certain destinations. Trust me when I say you will pick it up quickly, especially after your first big “win”,
Let’s say right now if you want to go from NYC to Bangkok, you have no idea what airline you will be on. You just want to get there, the airline was never a priority.
Soon you will go “Hmm ok i can go from NYC to Dubai to Bangkok with Emirates.”
Then you will go “Ok this is cool, I can go from NYC to Paris to Bangkok with Air France, I always wanted to stop in France. That’s a better option”
Finally you go “Ok i can go from NYC to Riyadh to Bangkok….but wait, that’s on Saudia and I can’t transfer my amex points to there 🙁 “
YOU ARE READY TO ADVANCE
Part 4: PARTNERS
Have you seen Inception? THERE ARE PARTNERS WITHIN THE PARTNERS. So if you want to book NYC to Bangkok but REALLY wanted to stop in Saudi Arabia. The best choice would be flying Saudia airlines. Knowing what you know now, you would go to Saudia’s website and look at their partners.
You can not transfer Amex points to Saudia, but you can still book them.
Aeromexico, Air France/KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic are partners and are transferable from Amex. So these are your targets. So you would search NYC to Bangkok on Air France’s website and see if Saudia has any openings. If not, check Delta. Are you starting to understand a little bit? You can book partners on an airlines points portal. IT’S NOT ALWAYS PRETTY, there’s a few tricky and stupid aspects that come into play, but we are just focusing on the basics right now.
It’s all trial and error. There’s no punishment for just researching online and see what is possible and what isn’t possible.
After a while you are starting to understand this! You realize with your leftover jetBlue points you can book an Etihad flight to Abu Dhabi. Where as before, you thought you could only use them for jetBlue. You’re feeling good, and you have a good grasp on the partners. That means you’re ready for part 5.
Part 5: OPTIONS
I lied. Part 5 might be the most important. UNDERSTANDING SOME POINTS AND PLATFORMS HAVE DIFFERENT VALUES! What do I mean? Let’s just say there is an ongoing joke online about calling Delta points “Delta Sky-pesos”. Sorry Delta, love your flights but unfortunately you have the worst points system on the planet.
All points are not created equal. And not only that, they will change them depending on availability. Since Riyadh was just trending above, I will use that as the example.
NYC to RUH on March 11 on Delta’s platform: 80k points
NYC to RUH on March 11 on Air France: 40k points
Why on earth would you transfer to Delta in that scenario? YOU WOULDN’T. Thats why part 5 is so crucial. CHECK ALL YOUR OPTIONS.
I can’t stress how important this is, you REALLY need to make sure you are not burning points. If you have messed up in the past, I wouldn’t be mad. You still got a free trip, you just didnt’t maximize your value.
Step 6: IS IT WORTH IT?
Step 6 is determining if the credit card points redemption is even worth booking. This is a tough variable because it’s different each time….and different to each person. It is a more personal step.
That NYC to RUH flight is about $500 if you book cash. So it’s up to you to figure out if you want that. That why many people generally go for business and first class, but it will depend on you. If your points are more scarce and you have cash handy, just pay the $500 and save the 40k points for a “better” redemption. If you have 200k points and don’t feel like spending money, book it and enjoy your free flight. Everybody is different.
I’m sorry but I don’t know how else to explain that. If the cash value “looks good” and you are able to pay cash while saving points for a more “aggressive” redemption…do that.
The amex portal scenario is probably making a lot more sense now, more so for the premier classes. Imagine spending 320,000 points on a $3200 flight when it is only 60k points elsewhere? Crazy right. That’s what I am trying to prevent.
You have learned a lot, but keep in mind we are just at a bar talking, I might’ve missed something. I will come back if i think of any more details.
BONUS ROUND:
- There are bonuses and promotions every month. For example “Send Amex points to British Airways in June and we’ll give you a 25% bonus.” LOOK OUT FOR THESE, sending 100k and getting 125k is awesome.
- Some airlines will require an account before you can “explore” and browse for award tickets.
- You can buy points for airlines. This is a more advanced step and not worth looking into until you understand the basics
- Generally, you can cancel and get all your points back (up to a certain date)
YOUR PREP IS COMPLETE
BOOKING YOUR TRIP WITH POINTS
Booking might actually be easier than the prep due to the help of all the tools online. I personally use seats.aero mixed with other search options. There is also points.me. Or you could do it the old fashioned way and just search on the airline you’re looking for.
“Understanding” the steps above is much more difficult than actually getting it done.
Step 1:
Find the Redemption you want.
Step 2:
Log into whatever credit card you have and go to “redeem points” or “transfer points”. You will see a list of their transfer partners.
Step 3:
Make an account for the airline you want to redeem on, and link that account number to your credit card app or site. Transfer the points you need for the flight you found. Majority of the airlies will have an instant transfer.
Step 4:
Book like you would any other flight. Since there will be a fee, you will still need a card to complete the booking process, but you will figure that out.
Step 5:
Sometimes if you are booking via a partner you will need to take the booking code to the airline you are using in order to pick your seat. For example, if you book on Air Canada for a ANA flight, you would take the booking code over to ANA and select your seat.
Step 6:
Enjoy.