You think you’ve cleared the hurdle by figuring out the card you want and earning that sign-on bonus. But now what?
This is the exciting but daunting part. It won’t come easy at first. Practice makes perfect, so it’s good to have a plan and start playing around.
Everyone has their own method.
Here’s ours:
Start with making frequent flyer/loyalty accounts with every single transfer partner for your credit card. For example, Chase, Amex and Capital One all transfer to our favorite transfer partner, AirFrance. You need these accounts up and running for when you’re ready to transfer in points. This is the boring part but it’s essential. Make an entry in your notes app on your phone and share with your significant other and family members. Include all your accounts and passwords to keep these all straight and make bookings easier.
Sign up for free emails from the major points bloggers to be alerted of a deal. Thrifty Traveler, Going and Roame are all favorites of ours.
If you have a particular trip in mind, start your search with flights.google.com to see which routes exist to your desired destination. Also, find out which carriers provide them. You can search with multiple starting airports and arrival airports if you’re open to more nearby options.
Flight Connections is another way to see what’s out there. Leave the “From” or “To” field blank and it will show you all the direct flights from a certain airport. Save these.
Then, go to the following points search sites:
pointsyeah.com (free)
seats.aero (free and paid, I prefer paid for searches for >2 months out)
amex.point.me (free for Amex card holders)
roame.travel (we use the free version)
awardtool.com (also free)
These are basically Google flights for award redemptions. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, I actually run the search on all of them (listed above in the order of my favorite). Personally, I only pay for the yearly subscription for seats.aero so I can search for a year in advance. I find the free version of the others adequate.
Another way to search is adding on the google extension “Points Path.” When you do a Google flights search on chrome, with the extension activated, it will also show the points values as well for the handful of airlines they track.
Once you find reasonable options, go directly to that airline’s website and search for the seats there.
– You’re looking for points redemption seats. These are seats the airline has released to alliance partners. This is not every seat or every flight.
– For instance, you may find a United flight but the search engine says to book with Aeroplan. So, you would go to the Aeroplan site to book. You wouldn’t go to the United site even though you’re flying on a United plane because Aeroplan is charging much less for that seat.
– Never completely rely on the search sites, as there can be mistakes. ALWAYS CONFIRM that seat and price is available on the actual airline website where you’re going to book. For most airlines and hotels, you need a loyalty account for a lot of airlines to even be able to search with points.
Once you find your redemption, transfer your points directly from the credit card site to the airline. Once the points have landed in the airline account you can freely book! (pun intended)
Be aware that sometimes we do a search and there are tons of great options. Other times, there’s nothing good and I keep checking back. Some allow you to set email alerts. Capitalize on that!