It seems as if every commercial transaction we make earns us some kind of loyalty points or miles with some company’s program. In our last couple posts, we looked at how to maximize these points to our advantage and use them for travel. Today we offer five more tips to help you get the most from loyalty programs.
Get a debit card tied to an airline. The airlines all offer credit cards, which typically don’t have as good of a rewards program as other credit cards, but there are a couple that partner with bank debit cards. Bank of America, for example, offers a USAirways debit card that earns mileage for purchases. Although airline debit cards don’t typically accrue as many miles per dollar as credit cards (one mile for every $3 spent is not uncommon), they are worth using. If you are going to use a debit card anyway, you might as well get miles for it.
Figure out which airlines, credit cards, etc. have the best programs and do your best to stick to them. Rather than scattering your points across many programs, if price and other factors are equal, try to consolidate your buying activities to those programs that work best for you.
Combine programs. There aren’t too many that allow for this, but some programs will allow you to use their points to buy points in another program. You can, for example, redeem 5,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles and get 10,000 Hilton Honors points. American has one of the more flexible programs, allowing you to redeem miles for car rental points, Diners Club points and Intercontinental Hotels (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza), in addition to Hilton.
Utilize Points.com. Points.com helps you manage your loyalty programs and exchange points between programs. You also can redeem for gift certificates and magazines, as well as travel.
Know when your points expire. Some programs, especially airlines, have expiration dates on the points you accumulate. If your points are nearing expiration but you don’t have enough for a trip, try to utilize them in some way—gift them to others, redeem them for magazines, etc.
Hopefully these tips and the ones we provided in previous posts will help you get more from loyalty programs and turn all of your points into something that you can actually use and enjoy.