There’s a really obvious reason to love traveling on points and miles: you get fly and stay for (almost) free! What could be better than that?
Well it turns out that there are plenty of other secondary benefits that make award travel even better! Honestly none of these were at the top of my mind when we decided to dive in head-first but I quickly came to love these perks.
To show you exactly how these advantages of award travel play out in real life, I’ve provided a lot of very concrete examples below. If lots of numbers make your eyes glaze over, feel free to just read the beginning of each section or download your free ebook to get started.
Much better flexibility on flights
In the post-pandemic era, I’ve grown to appreciate having flexibility in travel plans—a real mindset shift from viewing flights as set in stone once booked. Many airlines relaxed change policies out of necessity, and thankfully flexibility has stuck with me too. With last-minute work events and school activities constantly popping up, we lean hard on flexible bookings.
I rarely book non-refundable flights anymore, but on cash tickets the flexibility premium can be eye-watering. Take our spring break route from Lisbon to Columbus:
- Basic (no changes, no refunds) – $972
- Economy (changes for a fee) – $1084
- Refundable Economy (no-fee changes, fully refundable) – $1280
I already booked and canceled this route once due to my kids’ band concert schedule—and we’re still 7 months out!
Thankfully I had booked with United credit card miles for 40,000 points + $69 each in Economy. Award tickets include seat selection and can be canceled until takeoff with no penalty.
We used this exact flexibility returning from Venice this summer. I initially booked United Economy for 70,000 points, rebooked for 40,000, then two days before departure switched to Premium Economy on a different airline for even fewer points. The change took just a few clicks—miles redeposited within minutes, taxes refunded in days.
We’ve even used that flexibility for something as simple as the kids begging grandma to stay one more day.
United isn’t alone in keeping award flights incredibly flexible. You’ll find similar policies on American and nearly as much on Delta, Alaska, JetBlue and Southwest (though watch out for “Basic” or “Saver” awards). International carriers are more mixed, with many charging cancellation penalties, so research fees before booking partner awards.
Note that with some international carriers that charge a cancellation fee in cash rather than points, the fee won’t exceed the actual cash component that you paid. When I cancelled a domestic Delta ticket booked for 11,000 Virgin Atlantic points + $5.60, they only kept the $5.60 rather than the stated $50 fee.
Higher quality travel experiences are much more accessible
We’re value-oriented travelers who rarely splurge on true luxury, but having points and miles means we can consider more comfortable options that wouldn’t be on our radar paying cash.
Take our Lisbon route: Premium Economy costs a whopping $3,016 per person—nearly the same as business class. That’s bonkers and I would never do it. It’s not in our budget or values, and not worth it for a medium-length flight.
Instead, I’m waiting for United to offer those Premium Economy seats for 50,000 points each, or maybe American for 35,000 points (booked through Alaska). If I get lucky, maybe I can snag business class at 50,000 points through a partner airline. None of these would be considerations on cash fares—they’re too expensive and don’t align with our values. But for only 10,000 extra points (or sometimes fewer) we can lock in comfort? Absolutely!
Hotels work similarly. We would never have stayed at the fantastic Andaz Papagayo in Costa Rica (the first picture in this article) if we had to spend $1000 per night for our room. But on points? We could make it happen.
At Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress near Walt Disney World, we could cram into a base room for 12,000 points per night transferred from our Chase Sapphire credit card. Or grab a suite—essentially two connected rooms—for 21,000 points to give everyone breathing room! It’s worth spending extra Chase Ultimate Rewards points to avoid fighting about who kicked whom.
In Venice last summer, most standard rooms only accommodated two people, meaning we’d need two rooms. Instead we snagged a two-story suite at Hyatt Centric Murano for 24,000 points that comfortably housed our family with separate beds for the kids. Paying cash would have cost $500 per night.
As cash payers, I wouldn’t even consider upgrading when suites typically cost more than double.
More room in the budget for activities
Now we’re getting into one of my favorite benefits of traveling on points and miles: when we’ve covered nearly all of our travel expenses and most of our accommodations for free, that gives us a lot more opportunity to plan really incredible experiences that would otherwise seem out of reach!
When we did our big trip around the world, we dabbled in points and miles – primarily for flights, as we really didn’t know anything about hotel redemptions. We were fortunate to leverage this website for some partnerships that defrayed our costs, but being “funemployed” didn’t leave us feeling like we had a lot of budget to spend on high-end experiences.
Now our calculus is totally different, and your can be too. Our travel budget for big trips these days has a small piece for accommodations that can’t be easily covered with points, sometimes rental cars (though I try to cover those with our Capital One Venture X travel credit) and then the rest is really dedicated to food and activities! We get to do awesome things like an underground tour of the Colosseum or a gelato making class without worrying that we’re busting the vacation budget.
No stress/guilt about traveling often
The final piece is a biggie for me. I’ve had a real mindset shift since we started being more strategic about accumulating and spending credit card points for travel.
Instead of looking at travel as a rare treat, we’ve been able to really integrate it into our lives on a regular basis. In addition to trips during the big school breaks, almost every time the kids have a long weekend we’re off exploring someplace new! We leverage points from our Southwest credit cards (along with our companion passes) and Hyatt points transferred from our Chase Sapphire cards for quick domestic getaways at almost every opportunity.
Despite travel being a huge part of my job, I’m sure we couldn’t get out and experience the world nearly as often without the massive savings thanks to award travel!
How to get started with award travel
I hope these reasons have convinced you that it’s worth the effort to strategically accumulate and redeem award points for travel.
Want to get started? Grab my free ebook to jumpstart your points and miles journey in just one afternoon. You can also check out my favorite credit cards for family travel to help you choose the right option for your needs.
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