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When it comes to travel, the biggest hurdle for most people is the cost. This is where points and miles can make a dream a reality. If you resolved to travel more in 2024 but are unsure how to make it happen, points and miles are the perfect vehicle to help you get there.
There are two main approaches to traveling with points and miles:
- Travel based on your current balance: The first option is to look at what rewards you have and choose your destination based on where your points can take you.
- Build a balance based on where you want to travel: The second option is to plan from the destination backward. First, select a destination, and then work out which points and miles can get you there.
Today, we're going to focus on the second option and demonstrate how to build a balance of rewards points around specific travel goals. We'll work backward from some sample destinations.
Page Contents
Taking Stock
When it comes to planning any trip with points and miles, you first need to ask yourself a few questions:
- What points and miles do I currently have? (start by checking your AwardWallet dashboard)
- Do I have elite status with any program that I can leverage? (learn about how to get airline elite status without flying)
- Do any of my credit cards offer travel credits or benefits that I can use? (see the best credit cards with travel credits)
- How much time do I have to plan and book this trip?
AwardWallet can be a great place to track your reward accounts. If you're already a user, then you can easily see how many points and miles you currently have in each program (and their expiration dates).
Knowing the balances of each of your accounts can help you understand how close you are to booking your trip. You can even set an account goal in AwardWallet to see when you have enough points or miles to book an award you want.
Choosing a Destination
This is the fun part. Where do you want to go? How many people do you need to get there? Regardless of the answers to these questions, your first step is the same. Start from the destination and work your way back.
Determine which airlines fly to your destination
One way to start researching how to get where you want to go is by using FlightConnections. Simply enter your destination in the “to” box to see all of the routes and airlines operating to that airport. Even better, enter your home airport to see a list and visual of all connecting options.
FlightConnections will even sort the options by travel time, helping you minimize — or maximize, if you'd prefer — your time in the air.
Find the best loyalty program for your trip
If you only collect miles with one program (e.g., United MileagePlus), you're limited to the award options that show up when you search with that one airline loyalty program. However, you have a lot more options if you collect transferrable point currencies like Amex Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
The challenge is then figuring out which partner mileage programs provide better award pricing and the flexible rewards currencies that transfer to those airlines.
A whole crop of tools has popped up over the past few years to help travelers find award availability and the best way to book awards. You can use free award search tools like Roame.Travel or PointsYeah to see the cheapest award options between your origin or destination. Just plug in your origin, destination, and travel dates to show you which awards are actually bookable now on that date — plus the best way to book them.
If you want even more award search results, use Point.me to search for the best way to book an award flight where you want to go:
Related: Point.me Review
What about using points for hotels?
The same strategy applies for hotels. If you have elite status or a great collection of points with a certain hotel group, start by going to its website to see if that program has properties where you're traveling. If not, do any of the major hotel groups have properties in that location? What about Airbnb or Vacasa vacation rentals?
Depending on your group size and length of stay, Airbnb may be a better value than a hotel. If there are chain hotels at your destination, but you don't currently have status or points with that loyalty program, is there a credit card that would provide elite status and a decent haul of points through the welcome offer?
These are some of the key questions that you'll want to ask as you prepare for a trip funded by points and miles.
Related: The Best Hotel Credit Cards
Collecting the Points and Miles Needed for Your Trip
You have two ways to build a balance of points and miles to use for your trip:
- Credit card sign-up bonuses
- Optimize your current spending
Credit card sign-up bonuses
Credit card sign-up bonuses are the easiest and most lucrative way to earn a lot of points quickly. It is important to have a good credit card application strategy. This is true whether you're brand new to the award travel community or you've been playing this game for years.
There's a lot to know about this topic including:
- Individual bank credit card application rules
- Why you might want to start with certain cards
- Strategies for meeting minimum spending requirements
- The power of business credit cards
But it's important to remember that the right card for you depends on what you're hoping to accomplish. What may be a great strategy for you may be completely wrong for someone else.
For example, sticking to Chase credit cards while you're still under the 5/24 limit may be important for many newcomers. However, it may not be the most efficient strategy if you need Delta SkyMiles to get to your destination. And that's okay.
The right answers will be different for different people, depending on your specific situation.
Optimize your current spending
We never recommend spending more than normal just to earn points. Instead, find ways to maximize your points earning on your current expenses. The main ways to do this include:
- Use credit card bonus categories efficiently
- “Stacking” your earnings on every purchase
- Taking advantage of shopping portals whenever possible
- Utilizing services to pay bills that don't accept credit cards
- Earning extra rewards through dining programs when going to restaurants
When you have credit cards that earn bonus points in the categories where you spend the most money, it's surprising how fast the points rack up. Stacking and shopping portals can also have a huge effect. It can impact not only your ability to earn points but also your overall financial health as well.
Booking Your Travel
Let's imagine you and your travel companion live in Houston and want to travel to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Using FlightConnections, you'll find that United is the only airline that flies directly to Rio from Houston.
Since fictional you lives in Houston, it's safe to assume you've flown United a time or two. Perhaps you already have a United credit card and have managed to save up a stash of United MileagePlus miles between flying and spending on your card.
So, let's go to United's website to see what award availability looks like.
It's a smart practice to take a look at what cash fares are like around the same time you want to travel. After all, it might be better to use credit card points to book flights through a travel portal than to transfer those points to book an award flight. I usually rely on Google Flights for this.
Related: How flight price tracker websites work and how they save you money
In this example scenario, the average price for a week-long round-trip ticket is around $1,000 per person. When I select the same dates that I searched for United award availability, I find that while the cheapest option is $1,026 round-trip, it includes two layovers and an itinerary length that's more than triple the direct route on United. Yuck!
To compare apples to apples, compare the cash fare for the same flight you want to book with miles. In this case, the nonstop flight between Houston and Rio de Janeiro is $1,434 round-trip for basic economy or $1,574 round-trip for standard economy. Since United award flights don't carry the same restrictions as basic economy, let's use the standard economy rate for comparison's sake.
One method of valuing your redemption is to subtract the taxes and fees from the cash cost and divide that by the number of miles the same itinerary costs. This is how the numbers would roll out:
- $1,574 cash fare – $34.20 taxes & fees = $1,539.80
- $1,539.80 / 90,000 = 0.0171 — or about 1.71 cents per mile
Alternatively, if you'd otherwise pay for the two-stop option, you're really only saving $1,026 round-trip on your redemption:
- $1,026 cash fare – $34.20 taxes & fees = $991.80
- $991.80 / 90,000 = 0.011 — or about 1.1 cents per mile
If you need to top off your United account to book, United is a transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards. Or you could apply directly for a card that earns United miles.
Explore using partner miles for cheaper redemption rates
If you read our beginner's guide to booking award flights, you know that one of the first steps after finding airlines that fly to your destination is to Google the best way to use points and miles to travel there.
In this case, you can redeem ANA Mileage Club miles on this route for only 60,000 miles + $34.20 taxes and fees:
ANA Mileage Club may seem like a completely random program at first. Why would you use the website of an airline from Japan to fly on a U.S. airline to Brazil? But, importantly, ANA is a transfer partner of American Express Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy points. And it's in Star Alliance with United, meaning you can book those same flights — sometimes at a much better price.
Earning points to book your flight
As we've seen, booking through ANA is a lot cheaper than booking directly through United. But how do you accumulate enough ANA miles?
One way to earn the points would be through a credit card welcome offer. We recommend focussing on flexible point currencies first. American Express Membership Rewards transfer to ANA at a 1:1 transfer ratio, so a Membership Rewards-earning card could be perfect for earning those miles.
Perhaps your monthly expenses consist mostly of groceries and restaurants. If that's the case, maybe the American Express® Gold Card would be a perfect choice for you — not only for this redemption but also going forward. With the 60,000-point welcome offer on the Amex Gold, 4X earnings on the first $50,000 spent each calendar year at restaurants worldwide and on up to $25,000 per calendar year at U.S. supermarkets (then 1X on both categories), you'll earn the rest of the miles in no time.
- Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points after you spend $6,000 on eligible purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- Earn 3X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on flights booked directly with airlines or on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 2X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on AmexTravel.com.
- Earn 1X Membership Rewards® point per dollar spent on all other eligible purchases.
- $120 Uber Cash on Gold: Add your Gold Card to your Uber account and get $10 in Uber Cash each month to use on orders and rides in the U.S. when you select an American Express Card for your transaction. That's up to $120 Uber Cash annually. Plus, after using your Uber Cash, use your Card to earn 4X Membership Rewards® points for Uber Eats purchases made at restaurants or U.S. supermarkets. Point caps and terms apply.
- $84 Dunkin' Credit: With the $84 Dunkin' Credit, you can earn up to $7 in monthly statement credits after you enroll and pay with the American Express® Gold Card at U.S. Dunkin' locations.
- $100 Resy Credit: Get up to $100 in statement credits each calendar year after you pay with the American Express® Gold Card to dine at U.S. Resy restaurants or make other eligible Resy purchases. That's up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually. Enrollment required.
- $120 Dining Credit: Satisfy your cravings, sweet or savory, with the $120 Dining Credit. Earn up to $10 in statement credits monthly when you pay with the American Express® Gold Card at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, and Five Guys. Enrollment required.
- Explore over 1,000 upscale hotels worldwide with The Hotel Collection and receive a $100 credit towards eligible charges* with every booking of two nights or more through AmexTravel.com. *Eligible charges vary by property.
- No Foreign Transaction Fees.
- Annual Fee is $325.
- Apply with confidence. Know if you're approved for a Card with no impact to your credit score. If you're approved and you choose to accept this Card, your credit score may be impacted.
- Terms Apply.
- Rates & Fees
- 4X Membership Rewards® Points at restaurants worldwide, plus takeout and delivery in the U.S. (on up to $50,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 4X Membership Rewards® points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per year in purchases, then 1X)
- 3X Membership Rewards® points on flights booked directly with airlines or on amextravel.com
- 2X Membership Rewards® points on prepaid hotels and other eligible travel booked on amextravel.com
- 1X on other eligible purchases
Finding hotels
Let's assume you love Hyatt hotels. Whenever you travel for business, you tend to stay with Hyatt. You've earned Hyatt elite status, and you love the treatment you receive. So, naturally, the first thing you do when you're planning a trip is to go to Hyatt's website to see if there are any Hyatt properties at your destination.
Lo and behold, there's a beautiful Grand Hyatt not too far from the city. Even better, it's only 12,000 Hyatt points a night for the nights you're looking at staying!
Earning the remaining points to book your hotel
You've found a great hotel with a reasonable reward rate, but say that you don't have enough Hyatt points to book the stay.
Rather than earn Hyatt points by staying in hotels or applying for the The World of Hyatt Credit Card, again we recommend focussing on flexible points currencies. Since Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer to Hyatt, this would make an Ultimate Rewards-earning card the perfect earner for those Hyatt points.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, our favorite travel credit card for beginners, currently has a 60,000-point sign-up bonus after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Just transfer the Ultimate Rewards points from your new welcome bonus and you're all set to book at least five nights in Rio.
- Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more.
- Earn up to $50 in statement credits each account anniversary year for hotel stays through Chase Travel℠
- 10% anniversary points boost - each account anniversary you'll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous year.
- Count on Trip Cancellation/Interruption Insurance, Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver, Lost Luggage Insurance and more.
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders.
- Member FDIC
- Rates & Fees
- 5X points on Lyft rides through September 2027
- 5X points on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3X points on dining at restaurants worldwide
- 3X points on eligible streaming services
- 3X points on online grocery purchases (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs)
- 2X points on all other travel
- 1X point per dollar spent on all other purchases
Reward booking wrap-up
Once you've earned the necessary miles for the flight and hotel, there's nothing left but to transfer the points to your corresponding United, ANA, or Hyatt accounts and complete the bookings. Keep in mind that there's no guarantee that the award availability will continue to be there forever. You need to book your awards as soon as you can. And only transfer your points once you've found a flight/hotel you want to book; you can't get the points back into your Chase or Amex account if you sent points before looking for the awards.
Once the dust has settled, you can pat yourself on the back for paying for most of this trip with points and miles instead of cash. In this case, you're saving thousands of dollars on flights and hotels!
Final Thoughts
Everyone has different travel goals. Some people want to fly in the most luxurious first-class seats. Others don't mind flying economy as they visit every country in the world.
The diversity in goals and experiences is one of the best things travel has to offer. The beauty of points and miles is that they can help facilitate all of it.
If you resolved to travel more in 2024, we hope that we've demonstrated that the large cash outlay typically required to travel shouldn't be the death of your travel goals. With a little planning and a lot of diligence, we think anyone can afford that trip they've been dreaming of.
One last pitch: As you start collecting points and miles, use AwardWallet to keep track of them. That way, you'll know your balances and know if any of your rewards are set to expire.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: American Express® Gold Card (Rates & Fees), and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees)
The comments on this page are not provided, reviewed, or otherwise approved by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.
