Most of us don't have an unlimited supply of points and miles, which is one of several reasons why even the most passionate award travel enthusiast occasionally
books flights with cash rather than rewards.
Booking these flights with cash or credit (instead of rewards points) would be a lot different.
At these rates, you might be better off
booking a flight with cash or using a different mileage currency.
But when
you book a flight with cash you not only get the flight but you also earn miles for future awards and miles towards elite status.
That means that both Joanna and I would earn 11,239 AAdvantage Miles if
we booked the flights with cash.
If you want to
book flights with cash you can still do that from the BA.com homepage and, if you want to book with Avios, this is what you do.
A positioning flight, in this case, would be
booking a flight with cash or other airline miles that will get you to a Southwest - served airport where you can then begin your Southwest trip to Belize using your CP.
You can either
book this flight with cash or you can even transfer Ultimate Reward to Southwest Rapid Rewards and book those tickets on points.
Not exact matches
If you've already purchased a
flight, it is possible to upgrade an eligible existing reservation
booked with cash.
They can be used to
book flights with many different airlines, or even be used as straight
cash back.
Even
with these concerns, though, you can see that there are plenty of ways to
book award tickets and save a ton of
cash on your
flights to London.
We assumed the
cash value was the cost to take the same
flight, or stay in the same hotel as the one you're
booking with miles or points.
Of course when
booking the return miles tickets
with the British Airways miles you'll want to check at the same time for the cost of tickets on those same
flights in
cash to see which option among those available
with miles are cheapest.
Citi ThankYou Points Trip Portal (if you use TYP to
book a
flight and have to pay part of the airfare
with cash)
Ultimate Reward points are valuable whether you transfer them to an airline mileage program or if you
book directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, which gives you a 20 percent discount on the price of any
flight when you pay
with a mix of points and
cash.
When you want to
book a
flight on an airline Chase doesn't partner
with, you can
book through the Ultimate Rewards shopping portal, pay
with points at a straight value of one cent per point and get a 20 percent discount off the
cash value of your travel for going through Chase.
However, you won't be able to
book First Class travel or have a lot of First Class
flights or 5 Star hotels
with a
cash back card.
Unlike travel cards whose miles can be used to
book flights or hotel stays, the miles earned
with the Barclays Arrival ® Premier World Elite Mastercard ® can be redeemed for travel or
cash back statement credits, gift cards and merchandise.
You can
book a portion of the
flight with points and the rest
with cash.
A Companion Award eVoucher can only be used if and when the Eligible Member is
booking a Reward
flight using Avios points (i.e. can not be
booked using a combination of Avios points and
cash or a charge to the Card) and can not be combined
with any other offer, promotion, mileage or frequent flyer programme.
Of course, Sojka points out, people who have been frustrated
with the program may have no problem using up all their points
booking a
cash - free
flight.
Economy
flights booked with cash can also be upgraded to First Class Saver for 60,000 HawaiianMiles, or to First Class Flex for 120,000 HawaiianMiles.
You'll get 50 % more than
with the Ritz - Carlton card when you dine out or travel, and you can do more
with them, transferring them to a variety of other loyalty programs or using them like
cash with a value of 1.5 cents each to
book whatever
flight or hotel you want through Chase's reservations portal.
Economy
flights booked with cash can be upgraded to First Class Saver for additional 90,000 HawaiianMiles, or to First Class Flex for an additional 180,000 HawaiianMiles.
If you're
booking economy
flights or hotels, don't forget to check out Amex Travel where you can
book cash flights with points.
Economy
flights booked with cash can be upgraded to First Class Saver for 110,000 HawaiianMiles or to First Class Flex for 220,000 HawaiianMiles.
Economy
flights booked with cash can be upgraded to First Class Saver for 50,000 HawaiianMiles and to First Class Flex for 100,000 HawaiianMiles more.
Economy
flights booked with cash can be upgraded to First Class Saver for an additional 7,500 miles, or to First Class Flex for additional 15,000 miles.
It is not uncommon for these
flights to cost over $ 1,000 in economy class, so if you want to visit the exotic destination of Christmas Island, save that
cash and
book with Velocity points instead!
The advantage of SPG
Flights is that these are
booked with airlines as
cash fares.
Generally, the only time it makes sense to
book flights through the travel portal is when there are cheap
cash tickets available, which allows you to
book with fewer points than by transferring to an airline partner.
The same
flight booked with cash came back at a gulp - inducing $ 1,088.70.
A pass holder can
book their
flight with either
cash or points; once it's ticketed, they can add a second passenger on for the same
flight either via Southwest.com or by phone.
For this reason,
booking an award
flight to London and a
cash flight home can make sense in some cases, especially if you can fly
with Norwegian, as we'll discuss soon.
Below is a comparison of a
flight booked with cash and one
booked with AA Miles.
It doesn't matter if you
book an award
flight with Rapid Rewards points or if you
book a
cash ticket — either way, your companion can come
with you for next to nothing.
Ultimate Reward points are valuable whether you transfer them to an airline mileage program or if you
book directly through the Chase Ultimate Rewards travel portal, which gives you a 20 percent discount on the price of any
flight when you pay
with a mix of points and
cash.
The Upgrades
With Miles product is only available on Avianca
flights and can only by
booked by phone, though you can upgrade a
cash fare from any fare class.
Another benefit of searching for
flights using Avios is that there is an Avios +
Cash option, where you can supplement your award booking with cash if you don't have enough points in your acco
Cash option, where you can supplement your award
booking with cash if you don't have enough points in your acco
cash if you don't have enough points in your account.
In another example,
booking December
flights between New York and Cancun
with 3 nights at the Grand Hyatt Playa del Carmen Resort comes to $ 1,148 per couple, or 25,600 TrueBlue points + $ 703 per couple using
cash and points (a value of 1.74 cents per point).
Offer does not apply to non-revenue travel (e.g., travel
booked with a travel certificate, TrueBlue award
flights, etc.); is not valid in connection
with partner or codeshare or interline
flights, JetBlue Vacations packages, cruises, or any other product or service; may not be combined
with other special offers; is not redeemable for
cash; and has no
cash value.
You can
book a portion of the
flight with points and the rest
with cash.
The new ebookers website and rewards programme has been designed
with this insight in mind and is easy to join, easy to earn and easy for customers to redeem their rewards, for example a customer could
book a
flight and have the Bonus +
cash rewards in their account within just three milliseconds for instant use on the purchase of a hotel.
The holder of this pass is able to take a companion on any Southwest
flight,
booked with cash or points, for at least an entire year.
Some
flights you
book with cash.
So if you
book a
flight with BigCrumbs and Expedia, you're now getting the airline miles you've flown, the credit card points from spending, Expedia Rewards points, and $ 1.75
cash from BigCrumbs.
Even
with these concerns, though, you can see that there are plenty of ways to
book award tickets and save a ton of
cash on your
flights to London.
If you don't have enough frequent flyer miles in your account for a round - trip ticket, consider
booking a one - way
flight with miles and the other half of the ticket
with points or
cash.
Most Delta awards, particularly those on Delta - operated
flights, can be
booked as
Cash + Miles awards, with part of the payment in SkyMiles and the remainder in c
Cash + Miles awards,
with part of the payment in SkyMiles and the remainder in
cashcash.
While they're much - maligned by those who will pay any price to avoid using their miles on anything but low - level awards, this is in fact precisely the supposed benefit of
booking with cash: access to any
flight on any day!