Loyalty program points, how to use them, how not to waste and lose them
Second installment of TFC4Dummies, our guides to bring readers closer to the world of points and reward travel. The [...]
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Second installment of TFC4Dummies, our guides to introduce readers to the world of points and reward travel. We devoted the first installment to the basics, and today we do a second focus on the world of points.
How not to lose the points obtained: pay attention to deadlines
Okay you are well on your way, you signed up for the program and started earning miles. If you have followed the advice above you will surely have read the regulations of the program you have chosen thoroughly, if not, now is the time to do so.
While reading pay special attention to the point where the rules regarding the expiration of miles/points are mentioned. It would be a shame to commit to collecting them and then see all the work undone because they expired and you didn't use them in time.
So be aware of the rules regarding the deadline and possibly how to extend them.
While each program has its own rules, in general we say that three types of programs can be identified.
- Programs on which miles do NOT expire, e.g., Delta and United, are also convenient programs for those who have ways to accumulate a few miles at a time; sooner or later you will have enough and have no 'deadline' anxiety.
- Programs on which miles 'expire' after a certain amount of downtime, but they allow extension. They are most programs, British and AirFrance for example to stay within Europe have this policy. This means that the miles expire after x months (18/36 etc) if no point accumulation/use activity is done on the account. So if you get 1000 miles today and then forget about signing up for the program.... in 3 years (to give an example) those miles will be cancelled. That is unless sometime between tomorrow and let's say 2 years and 11 months from now (it takes a while maybe for it to be credited) you do some operation that allows you to get (or use) more miles, a flight, a points transfer from other partners, a direct purchase of miles, an award request... the ways to move an account are many and sometimes slightly different, I don't know if I've mentioned this already... read the rules.
- Programs in which miles expire on a certain date and cannot be renewed. Few companies fortunately use this per se simple method, too bad that among these few are Emirates and Singapore. Today you accumulate 200 miles... if within x (2/3/10 years) you have not used them these miles are cancelled even if in the same period you made a flight during the week.
How miles can be used
This is the naturally most interesting part, at least for me. You have signed up for the frequent flyer program, accumulated quite a few points using the various options we saw above, and now have a nice balance in your 'account'... it's time to move on to the next stage and 'spend the miles'.
Yes but what can be done with the award miles obtained? Again, the answer is not unique, in fact they can be used for various things, with various exceptions related perhaps to the individual program.
The best way, and valid for all airlines, for to use miles is to use them to claim an award ticket And thus get a nice trip for free, or almost free.
I say almost, because anyway even Additional fees are often required for award tickets. The amount of these fees varies, from airline to airline, flight to flight, class etc... The fees you have to pay (sometimes you can even pay them with points) are still much lower than the cost of the ticket paid in full.
To give you an idea. A New York - Milan flight, one way with Delta (I took a random day) costs between 600$ and 5000$ depending on the class of flight. If you take an award flight, same day, same route in addition to miles you will have to pay 6$ (that's not a typo, that's really SIX dollars) in taxes, regardless of flight class.
Beware, sometimes the fees are higher, don't fool yourself, you may even get to pay maybe 1,000€, but if it is for a flight that would cost 8/10,000 you can do it.
The 'cost' in miles of an award flight of course varies, by class, length and in some cases period (high/low season).
In any case, if you have no way to get billions of points per year and therefore don't really know how to spend them, the best, most 'profitable' way is to use them for long-haul award flights in business class or higher.
One important thing to note, on award flights you do NOT earn award miles for subsequent flights. However, some companies now count award flights for status.
The second option, which many people often fail to remember to evaluate, Is to use the points to request an upgrade. The system at the theoretical level is simple. I purchase (pay for) the flight I'm interested in in economy, or cmq in the class I want, and then use the miles to request an upgrade to the higher class. So I pay eco, upgrade to business or premium.... pay business and request upgrade to first.
The number of miles required for upgrades of course is usually less than that required to get the entire award ticket. Unlike award flights in this case you will also get miles that you can use next time. Of course you will get them according to the rules of the fare you paid cash for. So if you pay for echo and then upgrade to business with points, you will get miles for that flight ... but on economy fare.
Before you try your hand at upgrades two things to pay attention to:
- not all companies allow upgrades from any fare. Often if you purchase a super-discounted economy you CANNOT request an upgrade.
- various companies only allow the upgrade of ONE class. If you buy economy and on that flight there is also premium and business, you will only be able to upgrade to premium. If on the same flight, same airline but operated on a plane where premium is not there you will be able to upgrade to business.
As always read the info on the company's website, everything is explained, or if you have doubts ask on the TFC group.
Information best sought BEFORE booking, then it might be late, however, well, bad luck you'll fly in the class you paid for, that doesn't take that away from you 🙂 🙂
The third option, which I generally feel is the worst., is to use the points obtained to claim rewards on the companies' shops. Often they are not exactly a profitable and 'rewarding' system.
Of these the one that perhaps makes the most sense, at least from my perspective, might be to use points, from airlines that allow it, to book hotel stays through the airline's own portal.
Again however the cost in miles is quite high, however it is still an option to keep in mind. Maybe by using a few miles spent 'wrongly' you will make a movement on the account anyway and it might be what saves you from expiring for a couple of years.
The last one, but I think also the least used one ever, is 'give away/transfer' miles to another account, perhaps a friend's or relative's. In fact, some companies allow you to transfer x miles (there is usually a minimum and maximum annual limit) from one account to another. There is usually a fee for the operation, however, and the cost is very close to that of buying miles directly.
Sense? Again, it depends, as a normal system no, but if you have 50,000 miles and a relative of yours is 1000 miles short of being able to claim his or her award, well maybe you can transfer 1000 to him or her by paying a little something, first however check how much it would cost to purchase directly.
Before concluding a clarification, with very rare exceptions. points, once 'loaded' on a frequent flyer program there they stay, until you use them Or, as we have seen, they will not expire. THEY CAN'T BE MOVED. They are on the program and they follow the rules of that program so:
- Read the rules of the frequent flyer program you have decided to join well (I have already told you several times)
- before converting points from other partners try to be sure that you can then use them, especially that they do not expire
I said "with very rare exceptions."
The only one I can think of are. Avios points obtainable with Iberia, British or Qatar. Among these three programs you can Move Avios points smoothly and without limitation, other than to have an account opened on the individual company, an account whose holder's details must match. Note, however, that moving, for example, from British to Qatar is not seen as account movement as far as expiration is concerned. So if you have avios that are about to expire on a British account, moving them to your Qatar account will leave the expiration unchanged, it will not be renewed.
- 6,000 Mile Registration Bonus
- Collect miles WITH EACH PURCHASE
- Your miles with no expiration*
- No fees for ATM withdrawals and foreign purchases
- Without having to change banks
- Autonomous card activation
- Multi-function mobile application
- Free travel insurance
- Free credit for up to 7 weeks
- Contactless Payment
- Mastercard® SecureCode
- 20€ discount directly in your statement by spending €60 in one or more transactions with Carta on Italotreno.it
- Free fee the 1st year. From the 2nd €5.50 per month
- You can choose to pay in full or in installments
- Premium level of the Italo Più program
- 4 Vouchers per year for access to Italo Club Lounges
- Preferential Access to Italo's Fast Track at the station
- For every 5 purchases of Italo ticketing and/or onboard services made with Italo American Express Credit Card you will receive 1 voucher for room upgrade
- Welcome bonus of 100,000 Volare points upon reaching 6 thousand in spending in the first 3 months after card issuance
- Accumulate 1.5 qualifying Volare points for every euro spent, accumulate an additional 3 non-qualifying Volare points ( for a total of 4.5 Volare points) for every euro spent on ticketing purchases and other services offered by ITA Airways
- Access to the Premium Club of ITA Airways' Volare program.
- ITA Airways Lounge Access
- Free excess baggage
- Points Back