When to Buy Points and Miles Is a Good Idea (and When Not)
Buying points without a specific use is generally a bad idea. Unless you’re a very experienced travel hacker willing to take a little risk, buying flyer miles or points is usually more expensive or more hassle than it’s worth. Also, airline and hotel programs can change the value of points on a whim, and they often do so without notice, so don’t think of points and miles as a store of value (even if they can be quite valuable if you know how to use them) .
When should I buy miles or points?
It’s a really good idea for everyone to buy points in certain circumstances: you have a specific and immediate use of your points, and there’s availability, and the value of the points is lower than booking your flights or accommodation otherwise. .
Step 1. Make sure there are available seats for your upcoming flight or hotel night.
The first thing you need to do is check availability – all the way. Don’t stop when you see on the calendar that the reward is available for 30,000 points or whatever – you need to click as far as you can to double-check that the website doesn’t give you an error that isn’t there. availability. How far you can go in this process without the required points in your account varies from program to program, but do your best to make sure you have them before forking out cash to buy extra points or miles.
Step 2. Figure out how much you need to spend
The next step is to calculate how many points or miles you really need to buy. This can be the full number of points or miles to be redeemed, or less if you already have them in your account. Once you know how much you need, it’s time to see how much it will cost you. Hotel and airline programs often offer bonuses when you purchase points or miles – for example, Avianca LifeMiles offers regular sales.
If there is a sale or bonus going on, you should make sure you know about it if you are thinking about buying points or miles. Again, make sure you click all the way down to see the final price.
Step 3. Compare the cost of miles with the actual price.
The last step is to compare the cost of purchasing points or miles with the cost of booking flights or accommodations without redeeming points and choosing the most suitable option.
If you need to buy all the points you need to redeem, it’s easier to compare: which option costs more? But if you only need to buy enough points or miles to top up your account, it’s more of a challenge. If you have to spend $20 to buy 1,000 points to top up your account to redeem 50,000 miles so you don’t have to spend $2,000 on a cash ticket, it’s probably worth it. But if you have to spend $500 to buy 25,000 points to top up your account to redeem 50,000 miles to save $600, that might not be the case. You must be aware of the value for which you are redeeming points and miles, your ability to earn points and miles, and how often you plan to use them.
Think about the miles and points you’re giving up
If you want to take it to the next level, there’s one more thing you need to consider: how many miles or points are you losing? When you book a flight or hotel stay with cash, you earn miles or points for completing your flight or stay. When booking with miles or points, you will not.
Calculating how many points you’ll earn for staying at a hotel is usually easy – it’s usually the base room rate multiplied by the number of points per dollar, and those with elite status usually get an extra bonus. Figuring this out for flights is a little trickier .
You should consider the value of the miles or points you are relinquishing if you want to fully understand whether it makes sense to buy miles or points for a particular redemption.