Five Little-Known Ways to Redeem Airline Points and Miles
Credit card points and airline miles are strange aspects of the modern economy. For one, they ‘re not really worth that much —air miles, hotel points, and credit card rewards points top out at about 1.5 cents per point, with most costing well under a penny. On the other hand, it’s essentially free money – you get it every time you use the card, so while you’re traveling to the places you need to go and still buy the things you need (and don’t pay interest on these purchases). , those points will end up adding up to something valuable that you wouldn’t otherwise have.
If you have an airline credit card, like the United MileagePlus card or something similar, you’ve probably used your accumulated points primarily to offset travel expenses. Points can be used for flights, hotels and car rentals quite easily, and even if the exchange rate is terrible, they are still practically free. But hotels and flights aren’t the only ways to earn these points.
Donations
The points and miles you earn through credit card purchases or airline loyalty programs may not have much cash value, but they do have some monetary value. If you want to make the world a little better without losing your bank account, you can probably donate your miles or points to charity. Most loyalty programs already have built-in relationships with charities, making this fairly easy. Keep in mind that these donations are likely tax deductible; The IRS views points and miles as discounts, not income.
Magazines
Your loyalty program or credit card website may have a built-in option for magazine or newspaper subscriptions, or you can check MagsForMiles to see if you can redeem those points for reading material. If you have nothing else to do with your miles and actually get something out of the magazine, this might make sense, especially since for some reason points and miles often have more value when used in this way. For example , with MileagePlus miles you can get a 15-issue Wine Spectator subscription for 1,000 miles; This sub costs about $72 a year if you bought it outright, which puts your point at about 7 cents apiece, which isn’t bad at all.
Gift cards
If you’re looking to convert your miles or points into something more flexible, a solution that most people overlook is a gift card. Most of these programs will happily sell you a gift card (sometimes you can also redeem unwanted gift cards for points —the United MileagePlus program does this—creating a weird circular economy of crappy gift cards). As with all points/miles transactions, you’ll have to do some digging to see if you’re getting any value. A $5 Starbucks card through MileagePlus will cost you 1,666 points, which is about 3 cents each. On the other hand, a gift card makes it much easier to buy things at Starbucks, so it might make sense. Plus, it’s a way to give someone a gift without spending any real money, cheap weirdo.
Experience
Yes, the word “experience” sounds pretty silly, but if you have a stash of miles or points sitting somewhere in your account, you should look for “ experiences ” that you can buy or place a bet on. MileagePlus offers a variety of sports activities that you can bet on with your miles, and Hilton Honors members can bet on a wide range of special events , such as concerts, sporting events or special dinners. Since these are usually auctions of sorts, you may be tempted to use more points or miles than you want, but since those miles and points are more or less free, it can be fun to just send them on an adventure that you would never otherwise done. pay for.
Cash
While selling points or miles to a third party such as MilesBuyer is usually legal , it is not a good idea since most airlines and credit cards prohibit the practice . If you get caught, you could lose your account and any points or miles you have accumulated.
But there are several options. Many rewards programs have the ability to cash out your points—for example, Citi makes it fairly easy to convert your Thank You points into a direct deposit to your bank account, a credit to your credit card balance, or even a check in the mail. This turns your points, which are difficult to redeem, into real money, so it’s worth checking your program details to see what your options are. But before you jump in, do the math—generally speaking, you want to get at least a penny per point before converting it into cash; otherwise, it would make sense to delay exchanging them for other goods or services. For example, Citi Thank You points are worth exactly one penny each when you turn them into cash, so 5,000 points becomes a $50 deposit into your account.