Using Points
Many of us have dreamt of having enough points to travel to our destination in style. Flying first class across the world, being offered complimentary champagne to kick off the flight, followed by the meal of our choice and complimentary wine to accompany it, having a wide selection of entertainment to occupy our time, and being able to lie flat for a refreshing sleep, with ear plugs and a sleep mask to boot!
Well, it turns out that earning enough points for this is actually the easy part. Using the points efficiently is the challenge! Listed below are the steps required to find the best fares with points. If you would like assistance with this, please contact us at Max Your Plastic to see how our services can take the guesswork out of booking your dream vacation using points. Relax and let us do the work!
This page covers:
Assess your pain tolerance
Check with which travel partners you have sufficient points for your trip
Find which airlines fly to your destination (and make sure you have awards accounts with them)
Search/find acceptable one-way flights each way
Monitor for better flights
Assess your pain tolerance
Flying on points is much more palatable when discounted fares are available. I would not recommend flying at full points price unless absolutely necessary. What makes this particularly challenging is that the airlines change which flights have discount fare seats available almost daily. They may only release a few discounted seats at a time, so the savvy traveler must frequently monitor the offer, and act quickly when something becomes available.
Assessing pain tolerance is a self-assessment of how important the trip is, and how important it is for you to travel on your targeted dates. If you are traveling somewhere for a loved one’s wedding you may have some flexibility in dates, within reason, but missing the wedding may not be an option. Discounted seats may not be made available until weeks before the flight. Do you have the tolerance to wait that out? If you have the flexibility to scrap the trip altogether, you are in a better position to wait until the best possible discount is available.
The bottom line is, the more flexibility you have, the better the position you are in to get the best available rate.
Check with which travel partners you have sufficient points for your trip
This is an easy step using Max Your Plastic’s Point Transfer Tool. The tool takes in your current point totals from each source, determines to which travel partners points are transferrable, and quickly shows how many potential points you could use with each partner.
Find which airlines fly to your destination (and make sure you have awards accounts with them)
The Point Transfer Tool will have narrowed your search to several airlines. To find out which airlines are offering discounted point fares to your destination, you can check each of their frequent flier websites.
To do this, you must first create award accounts with each airline you wish to check. This is easy and free, should be done in advance with all potential travel partners. When it comes time to book flights, you may need to act quickly. Setting up an account at the last minute could make this impossible.
Search/find acceptable one-way flights
When we book flights with cash, one-way flights each way are usually more expensive than a round-trip flight, so one-way flights are usually not a good idea.
This is not the case with award travel. Discounted one-way award fares are usually ½ the cost of a discounted round-trip fare. The reason to look for one-way fares is to gain more flexibility. For example, the best option to fly to Paris might be Air France, but the best return option might be British Airways. Booking one-way flights enables you to take advantage of such options.
It may take weeks, or even months, for an acceptable one-way fare to be made available. As noted above, the amount of flexibility you have increases your chances of getting the best fares. Below are examples of increased flexibility:
Departure / return date flexibility: are you able to leave a few days early or a few days late? Do you have similar flexibility on the return flight?
Positioning: Can you fly out of another airport? Finding discounted fares from another airport, then positioning yourself at that airport by taking a short, one-way flight there also creates opportunities. You may have to pay a small fee for the connecting flight, but it might be worth the savings. This may require a little homework to learn from where else there are direct flights to or from your destination. This may help with both the outbound and inbound flights. In Europe, positioning might be done via train.
Connecting flights: Maybe there are direct flights to your destination, but the only discounted fares are connecting flights. It may be in your best interest to book a connecting flight at the discounted fare initially.
Book at a lesser discount: I don’t recommend ever paying full points for a flight, but airlines offer multiple levels of discounts. If you have found a fully discounted fare one way, a partially discounted fare for the other flight may be acceptable, even if only to get a seat on that flight. This can likely be changed for the better later.
Once you have decided on the first flight, book it. This is done by transferring points to the airline with the agreeable fare, then booking through their award site, and is described in more detail in the Transferring Points page.
If you’re fortunate enough to find an acceptable matching inbound/outbound flight at the same time, book it as well. If not, you’ll need to continue searching to see what opens up.
Monitor for better flights
If you found the flights you want both ways at fully discounted fares, congratulations! You’re ready to go!
If you used any of the above options for flexibility in either of your flights, you’re now in a position to monitor for better options. Whether it means flying on a more desirable date, avoiding a separate flight, flying direct, or getting a fully discounted fare, these options have value to you.
Keep in mind that the more desirable flight or fare may come with a change cost. Some airlines charge, some don’t. Knowing which do, and how much, is important to know before booking.
If you seek assistance in booking travel or in ongoing monitoring for more favorable terms, please contact us at email@maxyourplastic.com, or check out our services on our Services/Contact page. We’ll provide our expertise to help make your dream vacation happen!
