Reading Time: 3 minIf you're new to the world of points and miles, you might not realize that the value you get from your rewards varies drastically depending on how you redeem them.
All major transferable points programs — like Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou Rewards — let you redeem your rewards through a travel portal, trade them for gift cards, or cash them out for statement credits. But if you want the most value from your points, you need to leverage transfer partners.
Redeeming points through transfer partners provides considerably more value than redeeming through your card’s travel portal, since you can leverage their unique redemption sweet spots for things like business-class airfare and high-end hotel suites.
It might seem daunting if you've never done it before, but don’t fret! Here are three beginner-friendly tips for getting the most value with transfer partners.
Each travel loyalty program has its own way of pricing award flights and hotel nights — some use standard award charts. In contrast, others use dynamic pricing, wherein the price of an award can change daily.
For example, all the major transferable points programs transfer to Air France-KLM Flying Blue. This program uses dynamic pricing, so you can find some great (and not-so-great) deals.
Let’s look at an example. A one-way business class flight from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Amsterdam (AMS) in KLM business class can be booked for as few as 60,000 miles and $242.80 in taxes and fees. This is an excellent deal, especially considering the flight costs over $3,000 outright.
Meanwhile, the same route costs 182,000 miles on other dates. So being flexible with your travel dates can really help you score the best deals with dynamic pricing programs.
On the other hand, loyalty programs that use standard award charts often price by region or distance. You’ll always pay the same amount of points as long as award space is available — and if you’re flexible, this can lead to excellent deals.
Alaska Airlines, with its recently rebranded Atmos Rewards program, uses a distance-based award chart for partner flights within the Americas. In general, the longer you fly, the more points you’ll pay for your ticket — though pricing can also vary based on route and availability. You can transfer Bilt Rewards points to Alaska at a 1:1 ratio.
One of my favorite Alaska sweet spots is booking flights under 700 miles within the Americas. These flights cost just 4,500 points in economy when you fly partner airlines like American Airlines and Porter. For example, New York-JFK to Toronto (YYZ) falls into this price band, and it’s a historically expensive route.
The same goes for hotel programs. For example, World of Hyatt prices awards based on a chart — with off-peak Category 1 stays starting at just 3,500 points per night — while Marriott Bonvoy has a fully dynamic pricing model.
Transferable points are so valuable because of their ability to be transferred to various airline and hotel loyalty programs, so don’t lock them up before you’re ready to redeem.
Generally, you should only transfer points from your credit card to a transfer partner once you’ve found the flight or hotel room you’d like to book. Otherwise, you could be left with rewards you can’t use. Thankfully, most point transfers happen automatically, with only a few exceptions.
When you redeem points through transfer partners, you can leverage the transfer partner’s airline partners, too. So even though American Express Membership Rewards points don’t transfer to United MileagePlus, for example, you can redeem Amex points for United flights through Air Canada Aeroplan, ANA Mileage Club, and Avianca LifeMiles.
The same United flight may cost a different number of points depending on which program you redeem with. Do your own research and find the best deal before you book — it could save you thousands of points.
