Chances are, you’ve racked up some points over the pandemic. If you want to get the maximum value out of them, there are a few new tools that can help, including a website that’s so good at finding excellent award seats it feels like you’re hacking the system.
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The Points Guy App
You know The Points Guy website as a one stop shop for all things rewards travel. There are tips on how to earn and use your points.
Now, they have an app that helps you make the most of your miles.
“[Points are] not an asset that you necessarily want to hold on to… you want to use it to go out and take the trip,” explained Mitchell Stoutin of The Points Guy.
Their free app connects with popular travel reward programs so you can see all of your point balances on one page, plus how much they’re worth. They also highlight when your points expire, which is key.
An Award Explorer helps you solve that age old rewards travel question: is it better to book with points or pay for the same flight in cash.
“There are certainly better and worse ways to spend miles and that’s one of the big questions we wanted to answer with the app,” said Stoutin.
Award Wallet
The website might look a bit old school, but Award Wallet is another great way to keep track of all of your loyalty programs and your reservations.
If you give it access to your email (always check the security and privacy policies of a site before you do this!), Award Wallet will scan your inbox to find every last loyalty program you’re a part of.
I love how it also imports every single reservation you’ve booked, whether it’s a car rental, hotel, flight or dinner. It puts the into a useful, organized timeline with confirmation numbers front and center.
Basic services are free, or you can pay $30 a year for additional features.
Point.me
Point.me is a brand-new website that is like Google Flights, but for award travel.
“Put in your destination, when do you want to go, and we show you every single possibility available using your miles and points for that day,” explained Tiffany Funk, co-founder & CMO of point.me.
The amazing part is just how many rewards programs they search, and how Point.me knows the ins and outs of how points can be transferred and used among the various airlines and programs.
For instance, I was able to find two JetBlue flights for just 9,000 points each way plus a few dollars of tax. I wasn’t even aware that my credit card rewards program worked with JetBlue.
There is no free access to Point.me unless you find a one-day access code floating around on the web. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay $5 to access the site for 24 hours, $12 for the month or $129 for the year.
It’s well worth it if you’re looking to use miles for a particular trip.
“You are probably getting 6 to 12 times the value if you were searching on your own,” said Funk.
The site is so good, it feels like you’re hacking the system. It will unearth valuable ways to redeem your points you might have never thought of.
“If you think that you’ve used a tool that helps you use miles and points before you haven’t used anything like this,” concluded Funk.
Use code RICHONTECH to try Point.me for a month for $1. Just sign up for the Standard Plan and turn off Annual Billing. Then, on the payment screen enter the promo code. Just remember to cancel before the month is up if you don’t want to be charged again. If you choose the annual plan, the code will save you $11 for the year.
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