My Process for Booking Travel with Points & Miles
All the Hacks: Money, Points & Life Podcast Recap
Published:
Duration: 54 min
Summary
Chris Hutchins provides strategies for maximizing credit card points and miles for travel. Key takeaways include using flexibility to find deals and knowing when to transfer points for optimal value.
What Happened
Chris Hutchins outlines the two main methods of using credit card points for travel: booking through travel portals or transferring points to airline or hotel loyalty programs. Travel portals like Chase Travel and Amex Travel typically offer points worth between 1 and 1.5 cents, but transferring them can yield significantly higher values, sometimes up to 5 cents per point.
He provides a practical example, showing that a business class flight from Boston to Amsterdam costs $2,700 or 240,000 Delta Sky Miles, but only 64,500 miles through Air France's Flying Blue program. This demonstrates the potential savings when transferring points, although it's emphasized that once transferred, points cannot be reversed.
Hutchins discusses the importance of flexibility in travel plans, highlighting that award seats are released far in advance or just before departure. He recommends using tools like Flight Connections and Award Tool to find available flights, and setting alerts to be notified when desired award space becomes available.
He shares a listener's experience of booking a flight for 8,000 miles after monitoring alerts, showing how alerts can lead to significant savings. Hutchins also mentions booking one-way flights with points as a strategy, noting that it can be more beneficial than round-trip bookings.
The episode addresses domestic flight bookings, pointing out that Delta is less generous with award seats compared to United and American Airlines. Hutchins advises diversifying points across different programs like Amex, Chase, and Citi to enhance booking options for domestic travel.
Hutchins cautions against using points to upgrade seats, as it's usually not cost-effective. Instead, he recommends booking business class directly with points if an upgrade is desired.
He discusses hotel point programs, noting that Marriott, Hilton, and IHG often offer less value for point transfers compared to using points in travel portals. However, Hyatt is an exception where transferring points can be more valuable due to its favorable program structure.
To maximize value, Hutchins recommends a process that includes defining flexibility in travel plans, setting alerts for deals, using one-way bookings, and avoiding point transfers until ready to book. He advises against hoarding points, as they devalue over time, and encourages regular use to take advantage of current deals.
Key Insights
- Chris Hutchins explains that transferring points to airline or hotel loyalty programs can offer significantly more value, sometimes up to 5 cents per point, as opposed to using travel portals where points are usually worth 1 to 1.5 cents.
- Flexibility in travel plans, such as being open to different dates, destinations, and cabin classes, can greatly increase the chances of finding good deals on flights or hotel stays.
- Award search tools like Award Tool and Points Yeah can help users find available award flights by allowing searches across multiple airports, date ranges, and cabin classes, although live search results are recommended for accuracy.
- Hutchins highlights that hotel point programs like Hyatt can offer more value when transferring points compared to Marriott, Hilton, and IHG, due to their program structure and favorable point transfer ratios.