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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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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

Several premium general-purpose cards offer statement credits that can effectively reduce the cost of a ticket. Likewise, several airline cards offer annual companion tickets. 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. 

In our blog post, I outline specific strategies you can use with the credits to help reduce travel costs.

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!

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.

With expert:

Kurt Adams

Kurt Adams is the Points and Miles Expert for the Going travel app. As a personal finance expert with a deep understanding of credit card rewards and frequent flier programs, Kurt helps consumers navigate the intersection of money and travel. A graduate of Princeton, he lives in New York.

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