Last-minute summer travel with points

Well, it happened. I shelved a planned summer trip because of flight prices.

I watched, waited, and monitored prices, but despite my best efforts, ticket prices just kept going up. Maybe I should have booked back in January, but this trip wasn’t even an idea then. 

Don’t be like me. With flight prices high, this summer could be a good time to cash in on your points. 

Here’s how you can use your points to fly and save on summer travel.ard cash value. Focus more on how many sizes your heart will grow by taking that flight. 

How points can help you save

Points can help you save by not paying for flights. You’ll still pay taxes and fees in cash, but on domestic flights it’s quite low. 

You can split hairs over whether it’s a good use of points or not, and sometimes running the numbers makes sense. 

But if it’s last-minute and fares are high and the window is tight, think of it this way: If points help you take a trip you otherwise couldn’t have afforded because of ticket prices, then it’s worth it. 

Use our calculator to find out whether to pay in cash or points for your trip.

Heads-up: This calculator currently doesn’t analyze domestic US points flights. If that’s a capability you’d want to see, reply to this email and let us know! 

Strategies for booking summer flights with points

Start with point search engines

If you have a specific trip in mind with specific dates that are not flexible, I recommend starting with free points search engine tools. These tools are a great way to quickly compare prices across multiple airlines right now. 

This is a good starting point because it gives you a quick pulse check of the current rates for award seats. 

My favorite tools: 

PointsYeah and Points Path, an extension for Google Flights, both offer free versions of their tools that let you search. Your credit card may also offer free access to a points search tool. 

Going points deals

If you just want to travel somewhere sometime during the summer but are more flexible on location or even dates, I’d be remiss not to mention Going’s Points deals. We often send deals to domestic airports for 15,000 points or less roundtrip. 

Mix and match with one-way flights

You could also book two one-way flights to and from your destination. Maybe you redeem points one-way and then pay in dollars for the other leg. Or, you could book two separate award tickets with two different airlines using points. 

This method could offer more last-minute flexibility, and it might even save you some points or cash. 

Use credit card perks

This is when those credit cards prove their worth, especially those premium ones with the hefty annual fees.

To be clear, this isn’t booking an award ticket with points per se, but it’s related because it’s another way to leverage credit card rewards to your advantage. 

• Perk: a $300 statement credit for purchases in the card issuer's travel portal
• How to use it: Book a flight through the card issuer’s travel portal, and you’ll lower your travel bill by $300. Double-check that you haven’t used it yet.

• Perk: a $300 annual travel credit, applied to any travel purchase made with the card
• How to use it: The dollar value is the same, but this credit isn’t restricted to the travel portal. It applies to any travel purchase made with the card. You can buy a flight directly with the airline, and the credit will reduce your total bill. Again, confirm that you haven’t used it yet this year.

• Perk: $200 airline fee credit
• How to use it: First, you need to select which airline you want to use the credit with. Enroll in the app or simply use the chat feature to get customer support help. Once an airline is selected, use this card to purchase checked baggage or other add-ons. The card will reimburse you up to $200.
• Note: This credit does not apply to an airline ticket. It only covers additional fees, like checked baggage.

Airline cards: Companion passes

• Companion tickets: These are buy-one-get-one tickets, available once a year. You’ll just pay taxes on the BOGO ticket, almost like a copay to a doctor’s visit.
• How to use it: Each airline has its own policies, but the typical process involves buying a cash fare ticket and then using the coupon to redeem your companion’s ticket. 
• Note: Unless this is included in a card’s signup bonus, most companion ticket perks are available starting the second year you hold the card, renewing annually at your card anniversary.

Can I take advantage of a credit card welcome bonus for last-minute travel?

If you have a stash of points or miles ready to spend, you certainly could put that to work for a summer trip. Maybe you recently earned a welcome offer on a card you opened in the past few months, and are sitting on a treasure trove of points or miles.

But what if you’re starting from scratch today and don’t have a pile of points sitting pretty in your account? If you opened a travel credit card today, would you have enough time to earn the miles needed for a summer trip?

Nothing is impossible, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Usually, a card requires you to spend around $5,000 or more within the first three months or so of opening the new card to earn the points from the welcome offer. You don’t just get the points immediately upon opening a new card. 

Also, it’s important to factor in the time that it may take to get the physical card in the mail. This can often be a week or two. 

If you have one or two big-ticket purchases coming up, then sure, it’s possible that you could earn the welcome offer quickly. Still, you’d have to budget a few weeks for the points or miles to actually post to your account. Oftentimes, this happens on the first statement after you’ve hit the minimum spending threshold for earning the welcome offer.

Use ‘em or lose ‘em

Most points do not expire (some airline miles do), but that doesn’t mean they stay the same value. 

Think of it like storing $1,000 under a mattress. The money is still there—unless it got stolen, but that’s another issue—but because of (trigger warning!) inflation, that $1,000 buys a lot less two years from now than it does today. 

It’s a lot like that with points. Airlines and bank programs routinely devalue their points and miles, which means it costs more points and miles to book the same ticket than it cost a year or so ago. Points geeks call this phenomenon “devaluation” but I prefer to call it points-flation!

And believe me, this is already happening. Air Canada and Virgin Atlantic already inflated the costs of their award tickets this year. Air France/KLM Flying Blue and Singapore Kris Flyer did it last year. And domestic carriers do so every few years, too!

That’s why if you’re stockpiling points with no trip in mind, your points are losing value. There’s no time like the present to redeem them.