That portal is the booking site your card issuer runs, and it prices each flight from its cash fare. Say a round trip costs $450 and the portal wants 45,000 points for it. Booked through a transfer partner, a frequent flyer program your points can move to, the same flight might cost 25,000 miles.
The gap exists because each frequent flyer program prices award seats, the seats it sells for miles, on its own terms rather than by the fare. Airlines release only some seats for miles, so a flight with seats left for cash can still show none.
Flexible points are the ones a card program can send to more than one airline. Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One miles, and Citi ThankYou points all transfer to a list of frequent flyer programs, usually at one point per mile.
Alliances widen each list. An alliance is a group of airlines, such as oneworld, whose programs book one another’s flights. British Airways and American Airlines both belong to oneworld. So the British Airways Club, which takes points from all four card programs, can book American Airlines flights with its miles, called Avios.
Try it on one trip:
- Pick a route and dates, and note the cash fare and the portal’s points price.
- Search each transfer partner’s site for award seats on those dates, alliance flights included, and note the miles plus the cash taxes and fees.
- Join or sign in to the frequent flyer program with the best price, then link it on your card’s rewards site under the same name as your card account.
- Transfer only the miles the booking needs, and book as soon as they land. Some transfers arrive in minutes, and others take days.
Until a seat you can book is on your screen, keep your points with the card. There they can still go to any partner, or to the portal when no award beats it.
Editorial & Advertiser Disclosure: The editorial content on this page is not provided, commissioned, reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any advertiser. Opinions expressed here are ours alone, not those of any advertiser. The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. That compensation may influence which products we cover and where and how they appear on a page – including the order in which they appear – but it does not influence our evaluations, ratings, or opinions. We do not include every company or offer available in the marketplace.
Related:
