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The rise of low-cost carriers (LCCs) has had a massive impact on air travel over the last decade. What were once legacy carrier strongholds are now peppered with low-cost airlines offering heavily discounted fares. Even transoceanic flights previously flown by just a few airlines have new competition from airlines like Norse Atlantic, Play Airlines, and ZIPAIR.
A common complaint from award travelers is that many LCCs don’t participate in airline alliances or frequent flyer partnerships, making booking tickets with points and miles difficult. And even though the price of revenue tickets is usually low enough to justify paying cash instead of using rewards, there are still ways to use points and miles to book flights on low-cost carriers.
While you can book some tickets directly through credit card portals or award transfers, others require a phone call. If all else fails, you can redeem points as a statement credit against tickets purchased directly from the airline. Here's how.
Page Contents
- Beware of Hidden Fees on Low-Cost Carriers
- Can You Transfer Flexible Rewards Points to Low-Cost Carriers?
- Book Low-Cost Carriers Through the Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, or Citi Travel Portals
- Redeem Points as a Statement Credit for Tickets on Any Low-Cost Carrier
- Erase the Cost of Low-Cost Carrier Tickets Using Fixed-Value Points & Cash Back
- Final Thoughts
Beware of Hidden Fees on Low-Cost Carriers
Before purchasing a ticket or redeeming points for an award flight on an LCC, remember the base ticket price isn’t likely to include any “extras” like checked baggage, entertainment, or a meal — services many of us take for granted on award flights. You generally need to pay for additional options if you want even the most basic creature comforts when flying low-cost airlines.
Can You Transfer Flexible Rewards Points to Low-Cost Carriers?
Not unless you consider JetBlue and Southwest discount airlines. Southwest is a 1:1 transfer partner of Chase Ultimate Rewards, and you can transfer points from Amex, Chase, and Citi to JetBlue TrueBlue. You can’t move points from Capital One, Chase, Citi, or Amex to ultra-low-cost carriers like Allegiant or Spirit.
Outside of a few second-degree partners (which can be booked as a partner award using the transfer partner’s miles), the options to transfer flexible points to low-cost carriers are slim to none.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Transferring points to airline and hotel partners is an excellent way of maximizing the value of rewards but only if you redeem those miles for premium cabin awards, high-cost economy flights, or free nights. Even for economy fares, you can find award availability on mainline carriers for as little as a few thousand miles.
By calculating the cash value of the points you would spend on an airline ticket versus paying for the ticket outright, you can determine whether or not redeeming rewards is the best way to travel.
Related: How Much Do AwardWallet Members Actually Save When Redeeming Points?
Book Low-Cost Carriers Through the Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, or Citi Travel Portals
Fortunately, several banks and card issuers allow you to book one or more low-cost carriers by redeeming points for a fixed value through their respective travel portals. Just note that not all airlines can be booked online; some require you to call in and book over the phone.
American Express Travel®
While all Amex card members get access to the American Express Travel portal, the American Express Platinum Card® is the best card to use. That's because you'll earn 5X points on flights booked directly with airlines or with American Express Travel® (on up to $500,000 on these purchases per calendar year) and 5X points on prepaid hotels (including Fine Hotels + Resorts® and The Hotel Collection) booked through American Express Travel®.
Low-cost carriers you can book with Amex Membership Rewards include:
- Book online: Air Transat, GOL, JetBlue, Porter Airlines, and WestJet
- Book via phone: Southwest
To book over the phone, contact American Express Travel at 800-297-3276.
Bilt Rewards Travel Portal
Bilt Rewards has gained popularity in the points and miles space since it launched in 2021. Nowadays, you can earn Bilt Points when you pay your rent with Bilt, leverage its Neighborhood partners, and spend on The Bilt Mastercard® (Rates & Fees).
The program has an array of great Bilt transfer partners, but members can also redeem through the Bilt Rewards Travel Portal. Those without a Bilt Mastercard can redeem at 1 cent per point, while those with the card can redeem at 1.25 cents per point.
That said, the portal doesn't support many low-cost airlines.
- Book online: Air Transat, GOL, JetBlue, Pegasus Airlines, Porter Airlines, and WestJet
The Bilt Rewards Travel Portal does not have a published phone number.
Capital One Travel
As Capital One continues to expand into the travel market, its cards and transfer rates have become significantly more competitive. The feature-packed Capital One Travel portal reinforces the issuer's commitment to the travel rewards market.
Both the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card offer the same redemption rates (1¢ per point) in the travel portal, although the Capital One Venture X includes a $300 annual travel credit for use in the portal.
Additionally, Capital One Travel offers significantly more low-cost airlines to book online than its competitors. Low-cost carriers you can book with Capital One Travel include:
- Book online: Air Asia, Air Transat, Allegiant, Avelo, Azul, Breeze, EasyJet, Frontier, JetBlue, Lion Air, Pegasus, Play, Porter Airlines, Spirit, Sun Country, Volaris, and WestJet
- Book via phone: Southwest
You can call Capital One Travel at 844-422-6922.
Chase Travel℠ Portal
Chase Ultimate Rewards has offered the most flexibility for award travel for several years, as both transferring to airlines and redeeming through Chase's travel portal provide good redemptions. When you redeem Ultimate Rewards points through the Chase travel portal, the redemption rate is determined by which card's points you're redeeming:
- Chase Freedom Flex℠, Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), and Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees): Points are worth 1¢ each in the Chase Travel Portal.
- Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees) and Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card : Points are worth up to 1.75¢ each in the Chase Travel Portal, depending on the specific redemption.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees) and Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (Rates & Fees): Points are worth up to 2¢ each in the Chase Travel Portal, depending on the specific redemption.
Low-cost carriers you can book with Chase Ultimate Rewards:
- Book online: Air Transat, Azul, Batik Air, JetBlue, Lion Air, Pegasus, Porter Airlines, Southwest, Sun Country, and WestJet
Call the Chase Travel reservation center at 866-951-6592 to book over the phone.
Citi Travel Portal
Citi recently overhauled its portal, which is now called Citi Travel with Booking.com. Again, not all airlines can be booked online. Redemptions with the Citi Strata Premier® Card (Rates & Fees), Citi Prestige® Card (no longer open to new applicants), and Citi ThankYou® Preferred Card (no longer open to new applicants) will net you 1¢ per point.
Unfortunately, Citi Travel supports just a handful of low-cost carriers.
You can book these low-cost carriers with Citi Travel:
- Book online: Azul, GOL, JetBlue, Pegasus, Porter Airlines, and WestJet
- Book via phone: Air Asia and Southwest
To book over the phone, contact the ThankYou® Service Center at 833-737-1288.
Redeem Points as a Statement Credit for Tickets on Any Low-Cost Carrier
Redeeming points as a statement credit may not give you the best value for your hard-earned rewards. But if you cannot redeem points directly for tickets on a low-cost carrier, purchasing tickets directly with the carrier and redeeming points as a statement credit works as a last resort.
- Capital One miles: 1¢ per mile (towards travel booked in the last 90 days)
- Chase Ultimate Rewards: 1¢ per point
- Citi ThankYou® Rewards: 0.5¢-1¢ per point
- Amex Membership Rewards: 0.6¢ per point toward purchases
- Bilt Rewards: 0.5¢ per point (if you have the Bilt Mastercard)
Erase the Cost of Low-Cost Carrier Tickets Using Fixed-Value Points & Cash Back
Tickets on low-cost carriers are the ideal redemption for fixed-value points and cash back, as you can wipe out the travel charge at a fixed rate. You can take advantage of the terrific sign-up bonuses on cards like the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, and — provided the merchant codes as travel — you can redeem your miles at a value of 1¢ apiece toward the purchase.
- Earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening
- 5X miles on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles on all other purchase
- Fee credit for Global Entry or TSA Pre✔® (up to $120)
- No foreign transaction fees
- $95 annual fee
- 5X miles per dollar on purchases through Capital One Entertainment (through 12/31/2025)
- 5X miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel
- 2X miles per dollar on all other purchases
The same goes for cash-back cards, which offer even greater flexibility, allowing you to redeem for any travel expense you can dream up. The same applies to airlines that price award tickets based on the cash price, such as Southwest and JetBlue.
Final Thoughts
Redeeming flexible points for low-cost carriers doesn’t typically offer the best redemption value for your points, nor is it as easy as redeeming points for legacy carriers. However, you can still redeem Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, and Citi rewards at a fixed value for tickets on several discount airlines, potentially saving thousands of dollars in travel costs each year, depending on how much you fly.
If you have experience redeeming Amex, Bilt, Capital One, Chase, or Citi points on low-cost carriers — either domestic or international — we’d love to hear from you in the comments.
For rates and fees of the cards mentioned in this post, please visit the following links: Chase Freedom Unlimited® (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Ink Business Cash® Credit Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (Rates & Fees), Chase Sapphire Reserve® (Rates & Fees), Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ (Rates & Fees), and Citi Strata Premier® 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.
I would add that the Bank of America Premium Rewards credit card paired with sufficient deposits to achieve a BofA Preferred Rewards level to bring the base earn rate as much as 2.6% and 3.5% for travel and dining purchases. And this card has a feature for erasing purchases with a statement credit using preferred rewards points. Arguably the best option of all; keeping in mind that retirement accounts balances count towards Preferred Rewards status.
I’m taking the strategy of booking at the airport when it comes to spirit and using the best travel rewards card I have for the max rewards. You don’t get the carrier usage discount if you use the travel portal
12-8-2021 – I just acquired tickets for Allegiant airlines using Chase Ultimate Rewards points. You have to telephone Chase Rewards directly, I used 1-866-576-1371. Have all of the flight information available from the Allegiant website for the flight that you want. Although the operator first told me that tickets for the flights that I wanted were not available, I insisted that I was looking at the Allegiant booking page and it said that they were available. She checked again and suddenly discovered that tickets were available. She told me that she had to get the tickets “manually” and it took a lot of back and forth information exchange to get the job done. Final result, non stop tickets to Florida and back for about 60% of what the major airlines charge!
What happens if I need to change the swa ticket I purchased using Citi points?
I’d start by contacting Citi. If that fails, Southwest might still be able to help, but generally, the airline will direct you back to the place you booked.
ThankYou portal shows (some) Frontier flights.
I just don’t see me using the LCC since once I add up all the extras I have to pay for I’m at the price say for American. Maybe one day when I really need to go somewhere but do not have a 22in carry on. I’m short so I don’t have to worry about any legroom.
I don’t consider Southwest a LCC. I keep seeing all these specials for Southwest but I haven’t seen a low cost for trips that I want to go on. Maybe I’d see better costs if I was elsewhere for their flights.
Lately Southwest has been more expensive than other carriers for the flights I have taken.
The ‘Low Cost Carriers’ have been very good at positioning themselves in the market so that many people believe they are always the cheapest. It can however sometimes be the case that the legacy carriers can be cheaper. People though don’t always check the price of the legacy carriers because the assume that they will be more expensive
Yea Southwest is known as a LCC but it’s definitely not the cheapest.
There is just something about LLC that concerns me and that has to do with their maintenance reliability. I just won’t fly them. Probably their maintenance inspections come out just fine, but I’ll never know if they do or don’t. I just feel better overall staying with the legacies.
You know, so many people hold this belief, and it just isn’t true at all! LCCs are low-cost because they don’t offer perks, not because they compromise safety. In fact, LCCs have a greater incentive towards safety than the legacy carriers do – legacies can handle the financial and reputational hit that comes with a fatal crash, but for a LCC a crash would be the kiss of death for the airline. LCCs also keep costs down by using newer airplanes that are more fuel efficient and require less maintenance, which also helps keep them safer.
Keep flying the legacies if you want, but know that you’re paying more and not any safer than you would be on a LCC. I understand not wanting to deal with the extra fees on Spirit or Frontier, but they’re both perfectly safe airlines.
Using MR rewards through the business platinum amex is a good way to purchase discount flyers
I have done that a few times.
Wow, I didn’t know Chase points had different values depending on the card you earned them with! Good to know for sure.
I would pay cash and save points for other purposes.
Very useful, thanks. By the way, how much is a MR point worth when redeeming with Amex Pay with Points (for someone who doesn’t have the Business Platinum card)?
It depends on how you redeem pay with points, e.g., for what type of expense. For flights, 1 cent.
Actually, a good card that lets you redeem for statement credits toward travel, or just redeem for cash is the BAnk of America Premium Rewards card, which I think is worth the $95 annual fee. There is a $500 equivalent sign up bonus with $3000 spend in the first 3 monthes, an annual $100 airline expense credit, TSA Precheck or Global Entry fee rebate, and 2% rebate on dining and travel purchases and 1.5% on all other purchases. But, if you have other money at Bank of America, including Merrill Lynch, you can get Preferred status and the credit card rebate is enhanced by up to 75%, making it the card offering the highest reward for everyday spending I’m aware of (except for when cards have quarterly category offers, or some cards with high rebates for certain categories, like the AMEX with 6% on groceries, the BankAmericard with 2% (plus up to 75% more with preferred status) on groceries and warehouse clubs, or PenFed 5 points on gas, for example).
Another excellent post. The next time that I get any significant Citi ThankYou or Chase points, I’ll look to using them for a JetBlue flight.
great info.
thanks and happy new year!
Speaking of Low Cost Carriers, I have flown Air Asia several times, with many good experiences. They operate mainly in SE Asia and have their own rewards program, but I have not taken the trouble to accrue points with them. Wondering if anyone here has experience with their program and how well it works.
This is definitely good information, especially about the lesser known LCCs. However, it’s definitely buyer-beware with LCCs. More than just their fees for bags, if anything goes wrong (weather, mechanical, etc) there are usually fewer options with a LCC. I always factor that into my equation when considering booking with them — paid or points tickets.
That is a good point about the Low Cost Carriers maybe not being so good when things go wrong.
I did not realize you could book low cost carriers with Ultimate Rewards points. thank you, thank you, thank you.
I still dislike it when Southwest is considered a low cost carrier. It is often more expensive than legacy carriers.
Never been a fan of the low cost carriers………..Although I’m sure this will be helpful for others……..
i love southwest recently, flexible cancellation and always high availability on redeeming flights.
I thought for a moment there the answer was no.
This is great, I can’t wait to try some of these strategies thank you
Really useful. Thanks.
Thanks, this is the first time I’ve seen an article with this info. And good timing, since I am considering a Norwegian Air booking.
SUCH a valuable post. Often times, we hear the same news (“Blah blah blah 5/24″…), but this actually helps me out a bit. Well done!
It would be a waste of miles on these redemptions.
Why do you say that?
If you fly in Europe it’s also worth noting that you can use avios to book seats on Flybe and Vueling.
I like norwegian air, they are a great airline to fly.
Me too! Some of their routes with the 737 can be pushing it in terms of distance though.
Speaking of Norwegian, always be sure to check prices on their actual Norway version of the website – I was able to save probably 15 or 20% on my last booking compared to the US site. Just be sure you’re booking with a card that has no foreign transaction fee…
Thank you for the advice; will do!
Thanks for the info.
I prefer paying cash when travelling with low cost airlines.
There’s really no difference if using a cc travel portal.
Thanks for digging into this. Great.
HSBC has a couple of new Premier account credit cards that let you redeem rewards for a statement credit for travel purchase.. One has no annual fee, provides a TSA fee rebate, $100 airline purchase (in flight, lounge, seat upgrade, ect.) annual credit, free Boingo WIFI and $50 annual UBER/LYFT credit;
I have to amend my earlier post; The free HSBC Premier card does not include the $100 annual airline incidentals rebate.
When redeeming fixed value points, can you use online travel sites to book instead of the airline? Some sites appear cheaper than direct airline bookings.
It depends on the program.
So for example, you can redeem Barclaycard Arrival miles or Capital One Rewards on any website. But for Ultimate Rewards, as an example, to get the max value, you’d need to book through their travel portal — otherwise, they’d process the points deduction as a statement credit.
Great information on low cost carriers that is usually not discussed on other travel blogs. Thanks!
True – its a bit silent on these Carriers..