In order to determine which airlines were the best at redeeming rewards miles, Ideaworks
tried booking rewards seats on a number of major global airlines for future travel dates between this coming June and October.
Not exact matches
Here's an interesting interview with one of the cofounders about what they are
trying to accomplish by choosing to
reward kids who read with — wait for it — more
books!
Whether you use your
rewards to
book travel directly, exchange them for cash back, or transfer them over to a participating airline or hotel program, you should generally
try and get at least $ 0.01 per point.
While these programs promote «free travel,» the programs may ask participants to pay for airline taxes, fuel surcharges and even
booking fees when they
try to redeem
rewards.
Next time
booking a
reward flight, be wary which country you fly into, and plan any subsequent travel accordingly, always
trying to avoid connecting flights when
booking with miles.
You might
try booking flights one way with your Asia Miles and one way with your Ultimate
Rewards points.
Third - party
booking sites trip up hotel
rewards — If your company requires you to
book travel through a website such as Expedia or Orbitz, you probably won't be able to earn hotel
rewards — but it never hurts to
try... (See Hotel
rewards)
-- If you're
trying to
book a complicated trip with points, it may pay to call but it won't always reap the
rewards you're hoping... (See
Reward travel)
Alternatively, you can
try to
book the flights through your
rewards program flight search, but some of them don't allow you to search an itinerary including a stopover so you'll have to call an agent anyways.
I'd always suggest using your miles before
booking paid flights with Worldpoints — but if you're stuck, or have a very specific flight you'd like to take,
try a Worldpoints Premium Air
Reward booking.
So some people, if they want to have 10 or 15 cards to their name and they are basically using it for this and this and this, that's fine but you're
trying to say, I want a general
rewards travel card where I can
book any flight and any hotel using my points and not have to worry about taking just the American Airlines flight or staying at just the Hilton branded hotel, correct?
When you're
trying to travel hack or use travel
rewards to
book tickets for free or cheap, it pays to do your research and to think creatively.
I'm in the process of
trying to tie up Lifetime Platinum status with Marriott (before Marriott
Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest are combined) so, price permitting, I wanted to
book a Marriott property to help boost my points balance.
This is a relatively new rule brought in by IHG to
try to stop people making dozens of speculative
bookings until their plans firm up and then cancelling all the ones they no longer wanted (and denying other IHG
rewards members the rooms into the bargain).
That's because those airlines also partner with Chase Ultimate
Rewards and American Express Membership
Rewards, so getting an extra 50,000 from a Citi card could help you supplement your earnings from other programs and help you meet your goal if you're
trying to
book a premium cabin, such as the coveted Singapore Suites.
Tip # 3:
Try booking as early as possible Some loyalty programs allow you to
book reward travel up one year in advance.
I have had bad experiences with
trying to
book rewards tickets with AA and have even looked at getting British Airway's miles «Avios» and using those for
booking an AA flight.
Whether you use your
rewards to
book travel directly, exchange them for cash back, or transfer them over to a participating airline or hotel program, you should generally
try and get at least $ 0.01 per point.
I confirmed availability and I could have transferred my Ultimate
Rewards and Amex points to KLM / AirFrance FlyingBlue and
booked the tickets online immediately, but I always like to call to
try to get the tickets placed on hold.
If you're
trying to use Ultimate
Rewards to
book a flight to Europe, I suggest checking other Ultimate
Rewards partners first.