Summer Travel: How to Maximize Your Points

As the world emerged from the pandemic, eager travelers were ready to embark on new adventures using the points they accumulated during lockdown. With inflated points balances and limited supply, many airlines and hotels sent their reward prices soaring, and travelers were generally desperate enough to get out of the house that they paid those prices. Now that airlines and hotels have staffed up, travel is closer to an equilibrium. Still, when the moment arrives for travelers to redeem these hard-earned points, questions may creep in, like: Am I maximizing my points? What strategies can I use to unlock the full potential of my rewards?

The Venice canals / Photo: Angela Casto/Unsplash

From Birmingham to Venice

On a sunlit afternoon during a family road trip, Kate White found herself in this very dilemma. While driving and seeking a place to stay for the night en route from Pittsburgh to Birmingham, Alabama, she was dismayed by the steep hotel prices along the way. Remembering her brother’s advice, she quickly transferred 5,000 Chase points to her Hyatt account, securing a room at a Hyatt Place and saving hundreds of dollars on the nightly rate, or two-thirds of the points the hotel normally charges. As she pulled into the hotel parking lot, Kate felt triumphant. Smart thinking had transformed a potential frustration into a rewarding success.

But what about aiming higher? Imagine getting from Kate’s town in Alabama to the canals of Venice, Italy, ticking off that goal of a gondola ride while being serenaded by a gondolier. Research shows that the key to stretching your airline miles this summer boils down to one word: flexibility.

Travel has fully rebounded, with metrics such as TSA screenings hitting all-time highs. Airlines have scrambled to add more flights and destinations, but not all have been as popular as the airlines anticipated. This is leading to wild disparities, such as being able to book a business-class redemption to Australia for fewer miles than flying in economy class to some European destinations.

Say Kate has been saving American Airlines miles for that dream trip to Venice and has decided this is the summer she’s set on visiting the City of Canals. The good news is that American offers flights to Venice and she can redeem AAdvantage miles any day she wants to travel. However, if Kate’s dates are fixed, this trip might require more miles than she’d like.

At press time, you can pay as few as 70,500 AAdvantage miles each way for a business-class award to Venice this summer. But if you shift your dates by just one day, you’d need to shell out 400,000 AAdvantage miles—more than five times the mileage cost.

Instead of flying into Venice, you can fly American Airlines to Rome, Naples or Milan—just a 2.5-hour train ride from Venice. And you may save a substantial number of miles by flying into a different Italian city.

There are business-class awards from Chicago to Rome priced at 75,000 miles each way for almost every single day this July. New York to Rome is even cheaper, with more than two-thirds of July dates priced at an incredible 62,000 miles each way in business class—despite it being the peak of summer travel.

A United Airlines Boeing 757 departing Portugal / Photo: Courtesy of United Sirlines

Choosing Alternate Cities

You can have more booking options by being flexible about where you fly. For example, you can redeem Alaska Mileage Plan miles on Condor, and award pricing and availability can be appealing for flights to Frankfurt.

Spencer Howard, founder of Straight to the Points—an email newsletter that alerts subscribers to business- and first-class award space—says, “Subscribers have booked the flight to Frankfurt before jumping off to another destination such as Berlin, Vienna or Rome.”

But how do you find these deals? While you can search nearby cities, several new tools are available to help travelers find the best mileage deal. For instance, you can use a tool like Point.Me’s Explore engine. By entering your home airport, destination(s) you’re interested in visiting, and a date range, you can see the best mileage deals in recent live award-search results. Narrow your results by filtering for interests such as “beach,” “sightseeing” or “food & wine.”

Seats.Aero is another excellent tool for finding mileage deals across a range of dates or destinations. Travelers can browse recently found deals for their mileage program of choice or search award availability between airports or regions. Plus, Seats.Aero offers dedicated tools for finding award availability on hard-to-book airline products like Delta One, Qatar Airways Qsuites and Lufthansa First Class.

Stretching Points Is Key

In addition to being flexible with dates and routes, you can also stretch your points and miles by being flexible on how you earn and redeem points. Say you’re a fan of flying low-cost. Spending on a Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards credit card might seem like a straightforward way to earn more Rapid Rewards points toward your next redemption. However, you can gain more flexibility by earning points through a Chase Ultimate Rewards card instead of a Southwest credit card.

Although you can redeem Rapid Rewards points for hotels, merchandise and gift cards, Southwest points are only valuable for Southwest flight redemptions. That’s not the case with Chase Ultimate Rewards points—which can be redeemed for a slew of options, including cash back, gift cards or paying for a wide range of travel expenses.

“Choice is the ultimate luxury,” Wendy Vividor, chief marketing officer of Chase Travel, tells Business Traveler. “By accruing Ultimate Rewards and redeeming them through Chase Travel, travelers get a variety of choices across air, hotels, car rentals, cruises and activities.”

One of those choices is transferring Chase Ultimate Rewards points to airline and hotel partners. Southwest fans can transfer Chase points to Southwest Rapid Rewards at a 1:1 transfer ratio, or you could also transfer Chase points to United or JetBlue if one of those airlines offers cheaper redemption rates or better flight options. It’s all about making an informed decision.

Utilize Airline Partnerships to Your Advantage

Big-league points and miles collectors know to utilize international Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners such as Air Canada Aeroplan, British Airways Executive Club or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club. These programs offer incredible redemption options on United, American and Delta. By being strategic, you can often redeem fewer points for the same award by booking through the right partner.

Caroline Lupini, digital nomad and a managing editor of Forbes Advisor, utilizes Chase Ultimate Rewards partner Virgin Atlantic Flying Club to book Delta award flights. “During the winter holidays, I redeemed 8,500 Virgin points to fly between Michigan and my partner’s family in Quebec,” she says. Had she booked the same flight directly through Delta, she would have had to shell out more than double the miles or more than $250 per person for the same flights.

“Learn to leverage airline partnerships,” recommends Howard. “Many award tickets can be booked with at least a few airline programs. However, which program is best can vary depending on the class of service you’re booking and the route you’re flying. You can save a ton of points and miles by choosing the right program.”

Howard also points to one example of how this could work in practice. Consider a Swiss flight from Boston to Zurich. “Awards booked through United MileagePlus cost 44,000 miles each way in economy or 88,000 miles each way in business class. However, you can book the same award flight through Air Canada Aeroplan for 35,000 points in economy or 60,000 points in business class,” he says. In this case, travelers earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points can stretch their points by transferring them to Air Canada rather than United to book this award.

Save on Your Final Price

Not too long ago, flight bookings were practically book-it-and-forget-it. Once you booked a flight, you were stuck with that option unless you paid substantial change fees. But that’s not the case anymore. Most airlines have eliminated change fees on the majority of flights, including award redemptions. That means your first flight booking doesn’t have to be the flight you eventually take. “Flexibility is the name of the game when it comes to loyalty redemption, especially during what’s expected to be one of the busiest summers for air travel,” says Jill Doyle, United’s managing director for the MileagePlus program. Like most other U.S. airlines, United eliminated change fees for MileagePlus redemptions. That means it’s likely worth continuing to monitor award prices, even after you book. By activating award price alerts—such as through Seats.Aero—you may be able to rebook the same award for less or find a better routing for the same price.

In the end, it’s all about learning how to stay on top of the wave. Airlines constantly change their rules, availability and award redemption rates. But if travelers like Kate White sit down far enough in advance, they might spend relatively few miles on what could easily be the vacation of their dreams. No matter where you’re heading this summer, you can make your airline miles go further by being flexible on dates, destinations or even how you book your award flights.