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Credit cards can be complicated, from figuring out fees to determining how to earn the most rewards for your spending. But following a few simple steps—and investing a little time—can keep you from falling for financial tricks.

1) Pay off your debt. Rewards can be tempting. But before you worry about earning points, get rid of any balances you’re carrying on your credit cards. A good cash back card will pay you back 2% on your spending. But a “good” credit card interest rate is 15%, far outweighing any rewards you might accumulate.

2) Ditch the debit card. Debit cards are fee-free and can help keep you from overspending. But very few pay rewards for your spending, which means you could be leaving a lot of money on the table. You’ll do better with almost any rewards credit card.
Carry a debit card for withdrawing cash, and use credit cards for as much spending as you can, to maximize your rewards. It usually isn’t worth paying extra fees to use a credit card (for paying your taxes, for instance), but if a merchant will let you use your card, do it!

3) Pick points or cash back. Now that you’re earning rewards for your spending, make sure you’re earning the right type of rewards for you. Cash back cards are generally the simplest to use and the best cards can get you 2% back on everything you buy. But if you’re willing to put in some more effort, you can do better with transferable rewards. Programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards give customers dozens of ways to use points, including flights, hotel rooms and cash. Depending on your spending, you can expect to get at least 3 to 5% back in rewards.

4) Don’t let habit “fool” you. Just because you’ve had a credit card forever doesn’t mean it’s the best one for you—in fact, the opposite may be true. Newer credit cards offer rewards and perks that a lot of older ones don’t. Yes, getting a new card can be a hassle. But proprietary GigaPoints data shows that their average user can save over $1,000 per year by switching cards. That is well worth your time.

5) Avoid airline card tricks. Cards that pay airline miles often aren’t as good a deal as they seem—even if you’re a loyal customer. They often pay skimpy rewards on non-airline spending, and you usually can’t use the points with other airlines. If they change their routes, you change your travel patterns, or the airline makes it harder to pay for flights with points, you’re stuck. If you love to travel, you’re almost always better off choosing a card whose points can be used for different kinds of travel—including your favorite carriers. These cards will often earn you points faster, too.

If you’re like most credit card customers, you have no idea what a Merchant Category Code is. But it can pay—quite literally—to understand this industry term. 

A Merchant Category Code, or MCC, gets assigned to every company that  accepts credit cards. The MCC categorizes each business based on the kinds of products it sells or services it provides, like this: 

Credit card companies have various uses for these codes. At GigaPoints, we’re most interested in one: how companies use them to calculate bonus rewards. Merchant Category Codes determine whether or not a transaction is eligible for, say, 3 points per dollar on dining rather than 1 point per dollar for general purchases. 

The problem is, MCCs aren’t always consistent or accurate. There are three common issues: 

1. The operations of a business don’t match its code. Maybe the code was assigned years ago, and now the company sells something different. Or, it may have many different kinds of businesses under one master MCC. For example, a restaurant inside a hotel might use the MCC for the hotel rather than for a restaurant. In that case, you might earn bonus points on a hotel card, but not on a card that gives bonus points for dining.
2. Different store locations may have different categories. A “regular” Walmart store, for, example, is classified as 5310: Warehouse/Wholesale, while a Walmart Supercenter is classified as 5411: Grocery Stores, Supermarkets. This can make a big difference if you have a card that offers 4x points for grocery purchases. 
3. Different  credit card companies may put codes into different categories. Chase might put 5451: Dairy Products Stores in the “Groceries” category while American Express does not.

So what’s a cardholder to do? Visa customers who are planning a big purchase or want to make sure they’ll earn bonus points with a particular business can use the company’s MCC lookup tool to check how a vendor is coded. (Amexers, unfortunately, are on their own.) 

If you think a purchase was categorized incorrectly, a friendly call to customer service may get you the additional bonus points.

At GigaPoints, we do the best that we can with the data that we have. But how complex MCCs can be, there will inevitably be instances where our categories will not match up with a credit card company’s calculations.  If you find cases of this, please let us know.

At GigaPoints, we assign a dollar value—or more accurately, a cent value—to the miles and points that each loyalty program issues. That let us compare bonuses, reward rates, and much more across different credit card programs. Is it better to get a sign-up bonus of 50,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards points or 80,000 Hilton Rewards points? Our algorithm can tell you, based on the dollar values of those bonuses.

But how do we figure out those values? What makes one kind of point or mile more valuable than another? Here are some of the factors that go into our calculations.

Intrinsic Value: What can you get for your points? 

We start by looking at what a given point can buy, and what that product is worth. Sometimes that’s pretty simple. Many airline loyalty programs let you trade in points for a fixed (or roughly fixed) value. For example, Southwest lets you use your Rapid Rewards points for just about 1.5 cents per point. So a $150 ticket would require about 10,000 points. You may be able to use points for other things too, but at lower value. That makes a valuation pretty easy.

But a lot of programs—including some of the most rewarding—use reward charts. So a hotel company’s most luxurious rooms cost 30,000 points per night, or a one-way business class flight between Europe and North America costs 70,000 miles. For instance, at the Park Hyatt Sydney, a five-star hotel overlooking Sydney Harbor, rooms might generally sell for $1,100 a night. If a room costs 30,000 miles in points, that makes each point worth 4 cents each ($1,200 / 30,000 = $0.04).

We use these redemption rates to come up with an intrinsic value for each loyalty point. But the intrinsic value is just one factor, because getting 4 cents a point (a really great value, incidentally) is pretty meaningless if you’re never actually able to book that room. Which leads us to…

Availability: Can you actually use your points? 

This mainly comes into play with hotel and airline points. The “list” price for a business-class flight to Europe may only be 70,000 points—but what if that’s only valid for mid-week flights to Kazakhstan in February? Or maybe the airline has a couple of seats available at that price and makes every other award ticket twice as expensive.

Some travel reward programs have blackout dates. And a number of hotel programs claim not to have blackout dates—but will let properties ban members from paying for rooms with points during certain seasons, or opt out altogether.

Limited availability can not only be frustrating—we think it makes points less desirable. So our algorithm factors that into our valuations.

Transferability: Can you move points around? 

At GigaPoints, we’re big on “transferable” points, because they offer a lot of flexibility. You’re not trapped in just one company’s program, stuck with whatever changes they decide to make—you can shop around for the best deals and availability.

For example, you can move your Chase Ultimate Rewards into dozens of other reward programs, including United MileagePlus, World of Hyatt, and British Airways Avios. If Delta is charging 45,000 miles for a flight, you might be able to transfer your American Express points to JetBlue and book a similar flight for 25,000 miles.

With transferable points you’re less likely to end up with little piles of useless points or find yourself frustratingly short of the miles you need to book a flight. You keep your points in your main account and dole them out as needed. You can even top off accounts. Want to buy a United flight that costs 25,000 points but only have 22,000 in your MileagePlus account? Just transfer 3,000 points over and you’re set.

Our valuations favor transferrable programs, in the same way we give more weight to programs with a lot of availability.

Variety of Redemption Methods: How many kinds of things can you get with points? 

When evaluating a program, GigaPoints also looks at the different ways you can use its points. Most airline and hotel programs let you use points not just for flights and nights, but magazine subscriptions, merchandise, gift cards, and more. Those options—which transferrable programs have, too—are almost always a bad deal. Cashing in 200,000 American miles for a flat-screen TV might be fine if you’re truly never going to use those points, but it’s unlikely to realize the best value.

On the other hand, some programs offer some valuable redemption options that really add value. Chase Ultimate Rewards lets you convert points into cash at any time at a 1 point per 1 cent ratio, just as good as many cash-back cards. You can also book travel through the Ultimate Rewards portal at up to 1.5 cents per point, depending on which card you have.

We think having more options is a good thing, though we also consider how much value you can get for those additional options when valuing points. 

Benchmarks: What do other people say? 

Finally, while we use all of these factors to calculate the value of each program, we also compare our valuations to other sites’. Sometimes those valuations will be very similar; other times we’ll come up with very different numbers. In most situations, we try to be more conservative than other sites, to make sure we’re reflecting reality for our users—not just the best-case scenario.

When you have a cash-back credit card, it’s easy to figure out exactly how much your rewards or points are worth. (Rule of thumb: It’s generally 1 cent per point.) But flexible points like Chase Ultimate Rewards are much harder to pin down. 

The main reason Ultimate Rewards are so valuable is that you can use them in so many different ways—for cash back, for booking travel directly, for transferring to airline frequent-flyer programs, etc. One advantage of having lots of different transfer partners is that it gives you a chance to optimize across them. You can either save up for a big, super valuation redemption or cash out in fixed, smaller bits and pieces. If there isn’t a good way to use them for a flight, you might find a great deal with a hotel partner.

But that also makes it especially complicated to figure out just how valuable your points are. It’s clear that Ultimate Rewards are generally worth more than cash back, especially when you transfer them to airlines and hotels and use them for free travel. But how much more?

Here are the two methods we use together to come up with the valuations used in the GigaPoints algorithm:

1. Determining average valuations for different ways to use Chase Ultimate Reward points
2. Using other sites as a benchmark.

GigaPoints current valuation: Chase Ultimate Rewards Points are worth 1.8 cents each.

Valuing Chase Ultimate Reward Redemption Options

The first thing we do is examine each of Chase’s transfer partners. How much is an Ultimate Reward point worth when it gets moved to another program? In some cases, URs will have a fixed value, but in other cases their value can vary widely. For example, when you use points at Southwest, they work very much like cash and are roughly worth 1.5 cents each. But with United, sometimes, 60,000 points gets you a ticket that would cost $250. Other times that same 60,000 points could get you a one-way business class ticket that might cost $5,000.

Next, we can look at different options for using Ultimate Rewards directly. Chase is especially good at offering additional ways to redeem at reasonably high value. For example, you can always convert your points to cash back, making your points card just as good as any cash back card. 

Benchmarking Against Other Sites 

You can also look at other third-party sites as a guide for valuing Ultimate Rewards points. Different sites will have varying methodologies, but it can be helpful to compare:

The Bottom Line

Chase remains one of the highest value points programs around. The flexibility to transfer to multiple partners along with the ability to turn them into cash back at any time makes Ultimate Rewards the best currency out there.

What Is Accor Live Limitless?

Accor Live Limitless (formerly Le Club AccorHotels) is the loyalty program for Accor Hotels, the sixth largest global hotel chain and the biggest in Europe. The company operates more than 4,800 hotels in 110 countries. Among its 34 brands are luxury hotels like Raffles, Softel, and Fairmont, midscale options like Mercure and Novotel, and budget-friendly Ibis Hotels.

You earn Accor Live Limitless—or ALL—points primarily by staying at Accor hotels. You’ll only earn points on stays booked directly with Accor, with a brick-and-mortar travel agency, or through a corporate booking portal; reservations through online travel agencies like Hotels.com or Expedia don’t qualify.

Accor rewards customers based on the amount of money they spend with the company—in Euros, with the current exchange rate being applied for stays in other countries. The number of points you’ll earn for a hotel stay depends on the brand and your status level. Most hotels award a base rate of 25 points per €10 spent—about 2.3 points per dollar. However, certain budget hotels (Ibis, Ibis Styles, and Mama Shelter) have much lower base rate—1.14 points per dollar—and some earn even fewer points.

Elite members get a boost on points as well as other perks. You can qualify for the first three levels based on the number of nights or the amount of money you spend at qualifying hotels.  Top-tier Diamond status is based solely on qualifying spend.

• Silver. The lowest elite level requires 10 nights or €800 in qualifying spend (about $880). Silver members earn a base rate of 31 points per €10 spent instead of 25, and qualify for late checkout (when available) and a welcome drink.
• Gold. Stay 30 nights or spend €2,800 (just under $3,100) to increase your base earning to 37 points per €10 and qualify for room upgrades, turndown service, and a welcome gift. You also get the choice of late checkout or early check-in.
• Platinum. If you stay 60 nights or spend €5,600 (just under $6,200), you’ll be earning 44 points per €10 spent and will get both late checkout and early check-in, access to executive lounges at eligible hotels, and free breakfast at hotels in the Asia-Pacific region. You’ll also receive two suite night awards – each valid for a one-night suite upgrade – and will earn another suite night award for every €800 spent, up to 12 suite night awards per year.
• Diamond. The top published tier of ALL requires €10,400 in spend (nearly $11,500)—you can’t get this status based on the number of nights you stay. While the number of points you earn won’t change, you’ll get free breakfast on weekends at properties worldwide, four €25 spa & dining vouchers, and the ability to give Gold status to a member of your choice.

ALL also has a handful of partners that can make it easier to earn rewards. You can rack up points by shopping at stores like Apple, Macy’s, and Target through the Accor shopping portal, renting cars with Avis, Europcar, or Hertz, taking surveys, and more. You can link your account with Flying Blue (the loyalty program of Air France and KLM) and earn 2 points per euro spent on eligible flights, in addition to the ALL miles you’d normally earn. You can also transfer miles from nine different airline programs, including Flying Blue, Qatar Airlines, Finnair, and LATAM.

While ALL doesn’t currently have any credit cards outside of Asia and the Middle East, you can transfer points earned with certain Capital One credit cards to Accor points at a rate of 2:1 (2 Capital One miles = 1 ALL Rewards point). 

How to Use ALL Rewards Points

In most cases, you’ll get the best value for your Accor points by using them for hotel stays—more than 2 cents per point. However, Accor also has a wide range of airline partners, which present some interesting opportunities depending on how you plan to use your miles. Other redemption options get you 1 to 1.4 cents per point in value, which is strong compared with most hotel loyalty programs.

• Accor hotel stays. ALL rewards are worth a fixed rate of 2 cents per point.
• Transfer to airlines. Move points to 31 different airline partners. 
• Experiences. Trade points for experiences that are only available through Accor.
• Merchandise. Redeem points for merchandise at about 1 cent per point
• Luxury home bookings through onefinestay. Redeem points at a rate of about 1.4 cents per point.
• Restaurants. 1,000 points equals €10 (about $11) off your bill at select restaurants. 
• Transfer to European train rewards. You can transfer points to Club Eurostar or Germany’s BahnBonus.
• Rent with Europcar. 2000 points will get you €20 (about $22) off your car rental.

Stays at Accor Hotels

The ALL program makes hotel redemptions simple: You can pay for any hotel room at qualifying properties with points, at a flat value of 2 cents per point. That means you won’t find any amazing surprise deals, but you’ll always be guaranteed to get a fixed value for your points.

The amount paid with points is deducted from your hotel bill, so you don’t have to have enough points to pay for your entire stay, and redemptions start at 2,000 points for a €40 credit (about $44). You can arrange the discount in advance by booking through the Accor Live Limitless, or simply tell the front desk when you check in that you want to use your points to reduce the cost of your stay. 

Transfers to airline partners

You can transfer points from ALL to 32 different airline partners. Most airlines transfer at a 2:1 ratio (2,000 ALL points gets you 1,000 airline miless). Four partners noted below offer a 1:1 transfer ratio, which is rare for hotel programs.

• Aegean Miles + Bonus
• Aeroflot Bonus
• AeroMexico Club Premier
• Air Canada Aeroplan
• Air China Phoenix Miles
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Alitalia MilleMiglia
• Avianca Lifemiles
• Azul TodoAzul
• British Airways Executive Club
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
• Delta SkyMiles
• Emirates Skywards
• Etihad Guest
• Finnair Plus (1:1)
• GOL Smiles
• Hainan Fortune Wings Club
• Iberia Plus (1:1)
• Japan Airlines Mileage Bank
• JetPrivilege
• Korean Air SkyPass
• LATAM Pass
• Oman Air Sindbad
• Qantas Frequent Flyer (1:1)
• Qatar Airways Qmiles
• Royal Air Maroc Safar Flyer
• Singapore Airlines Krisflyer
• TAP Portugal Miles & Go
• Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
• Turkish Airlines Miles & Smiles
• United Airlines MileagePlus
• Virgin Australia Velocity (1:1)

Experiences 

You can redeem points for events, meals, and other happenings through Accor’s Limitless Experiences portal. As of this writing, experiences are only available in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, but if you’re traveling to one of those countries, there are some interesting deals to be had. For example, 8,000 points will get you two box seats to a Harry Styles concert, including dinner and drinks; as of this writing, the cheapest tickets available were €77 each, getting you 1.9 cents per point before factoring in the value of the food and beverages. 

Merchandise

Through the Limitless Experiences website, you can also use points to pay for a wide variety of merchandise including espresso machines, designer sunglasses, and headphones. Most items cost about 1 cent per point, and you can combine points and cash if you don’t have enough points to cover the entire cost.

Be aware, however, that not all deals are created equal – Sofitel bedding, for example, is massively overpriced for points redemption. For example, a standard size down-and-feather pillow that would cost $82 from the Sofitel Boutique website costs a whopping 21,920 points, or 0.3 cents per point. Since the pricing is a litte opaque, do a separate search for whatever you’re considering booking, and then divide the retail price by the points price to make sure you’re getting a decent deal. 

Onefinestay Gift Cards

In addition to hotels, Accor has a portfolio of luxury homes under the brand onefinestay. While you can’t use ALL points for onefinestay reservations directly, you can redeem your points for onefinestay gift cards at a rate of about 1.4 cents per point—7,200 points will get you a €100 gift card, with €250, €500, and €1000 gift cards available at the same rate.

Restaurants

If you happen to be traveling in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, or Slovakia, you can redeem your points at select hotel restaurants for about 1 cent per point (1,000 points takes €10 (about $11) off your bill).

Train rewards

You can transfer your ALL points to Germany’s Die Bahn BahnBonus program at 2:1 ratio (2,000 ALL points gets you 1,000 BahnBonus points), or transfer 4,000 points to 350 Club Eurostar points to use on trains between London and Amsterdam, Brussels, or Paris. 

Car rentals

You can use your ALL rewards points for a discount on Europcar car rentals, at a value of roughly cent per point. 2,000 points gets you €20 ($22) off your booking.

The Bottom Line

ALL has a pretty generous earning structure and its redemption options couldn’t be more straightforward. It’s not difficult to get impressive value from the ALL rewards program if you find yourself staying at Accor hotels frequently.

What Is AAdvantage?

AAdvantage is the loyalty program for American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier by fleet size and number of passengers.

American has one of the oldest and biggest frequent-flyer programs, which has five member tiers. Elite status members—who qualify by traveling a certain number of miles or segments, or spending a certain amount of money—receive perks like seat upgrades, free checked bags, and complimentary flight changes, that increase as they move up the ladder from Basic to Executive Platinum.

AAdvantage also has the Million Miler program: When you reach 1 million miles (based on the distance of your AA flights or the base miles of a partner flight) you earn special benefits, including gold status. At 2 million miles, you get platinum status for the life of the program. 

Which Cards Earn AAdvantage Points

• AAdvantage MileUp Mastercard
• Citi/AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard
• Citi/AAdvantage Gold Select World Elite Mastercard
• Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite Mastercard
• Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite Mastercard
• Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Business Mastercard

How to Earn American AAdvantage Miles 

American lets members earn points by flying, spending on co-branded credit cards, and through hundreds of other partners, including hotel, rental car, and cruise companies.

Flights: The number of miles you get for an American flight depends on the cost of the ticket and your elite status.

Here are the earning rates for each tier: 

• AAdvantage Basic: 5 miles per $1 spent
• Gold: 7 miles per $1 spent
• Platinum: 8 miles per $1 spent
• Platinum Pro: 9 miles per $1 spent
• Executive Platinum: 11 miles per $1 spent

You can also earn miles with every carrier in the Oneworld network and any of AA’s nine partner airlines, including Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, and Cape Air. Just remember that you will be earning AA miles instead of points on that carrier. The number of miles you earn varies by airline and the type of ticket you book.

AAdvantage Credit Card: American’s Citi and Barclays credit cards earn AAdvantage miles for every dollar spent. Some cards offer additional perks, like 2X points on dining, groceries and gas; free checked bags, statement credits for inflight purchases, or free Global Entry or TSA PreCheck.

Banking: Earn AAdvantage miles lieu of interest—1 mile per $1 saved—by opening a savings account with online-only Bask Bank.

Switch to Sprint: Change mobile carriers and rack up 25,000 miles in the first year of service.

Rental Cars: AAdvantage has partnerships with several rental companies, including Avis, Budget, Payless, Alamo, National, Dollar, Hertz, and Thrifty. Avis and Budget are where you’ll likely get the most bang for your buck, offering a minimum of 500 AAdvantage miles for each rental.

Vacations and Cruises: Book a vacation package through American Airlines Vacations to earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles, and up to 30,000 additional miles when booking featured hotels. When booking a cruise through the American Airlines Cruise Portal, you’ll earn up to 6 miles per dollar, up to 60,000 AAdvantage miles.

Hotels: You may be able to convert some of your hotel partner points into AAdvantage miles. For example, 5,000 World of Hyatt points are worth 2,000 AAdvantage miles and 30,000 Marriott Bonvoy points are worth 10,000 AAdvantage miles. Every 60,000 Marriott points transferred will even get you 5,000 AAdvantage bonus miles.  

Shopping: Click through to online retailers through the AAdvantage eShopping mall to earn points for every dollar spent. There are more than 950 stores in the network, and you can sometimes get bonus miles, free shipping, and coupon codes.

Dining: The AAdvantage Dining program is free and offers members 1-to 5 AAdvantage points for every dollar spent at a participating restaurant with a linked credit or debit card. 

How to Use AAdvantage Points

AAdvantage miles can be used for flights, upgrades, vacations, hotel stays, car rentals, or retail gift cards. As with most frequent flyer programs, you’ll generally get the most value for your miles by using them for flights and upgrades. AAdvantage’s redemption portal makes it pretty easy to browse the different options and use miles.

Here are all the ways you can use AAdvantage points:

• Flights. Book on American or more than a dozen partner airlines. 
• Upgrades. Move up in the world—or at least, in the cabin. 
• Vacations. 1 point = 1 cent 
• Hotel rooms and rental cars. 1 point = 0.6 cents 
• Admirals Club Membership. 
• Newspaper subscriptions. A good use of miles, but one that won’t use up many. 
• Transfer to friends and family. It’s free. 
• Donate to charity. 

Flights

The most straightforward use of AAdvantage miles is for free flights on American and its partner airlines. You can generally expect to get a decent 1.5 cents per mile in value—though because American uses dynamic pricing, the cost of a ticket in points can vary widely.

American also has three pricing buckets for award tickets:

• MileSAAver Awards can be a great deal, with one-way flights starting at just 7,500 miles, plus taxes and fees. But they can be hard to find unless you’re flexible with your travel dates. 
• AAnytime Awards let you use miles for a seat on American Airlines and partner flights without date restrictions. Prices are higher, starting at 20,000 miles each way (plus taxes and fees). 
• Web Offer Awards are available only on aa.com and can require less miles than MileSAAver or AAnytime Awards. Mileage levels vary by date and flight, and you’ll see any available options when you go to book your flight. Changes are not allowed on these tickets and cancellations may incur fees.

You’ll generally find better value for your miles with international than domestic tickets, and for business- and first-class tickets than economy seats. Book as far in advance as you can for the most availability and best prices.

American has two online tools that can be handy when you’re booking flights with points. This tool shows you the flights that cost the fewest miles, and the Award Map lets you see where you can go with your current stash of miles.

Upgrades 

You can use your AAdvantage miles to upgrade your seat (or a companion’s seat) up one class on select American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia flights, with prices starting at 5,000 miles. One exception: Basic Economy fares, which can’t be upgraded.

You can upgrade when booking or call the airline afterwards to request the upgrade; if one isn’t available, American will put you on a waiting list.

Vacation Packages

Through the American Airlines Vacations portal, you can use points, cash, or a combination of the two to buy bundles of flights, hotel rooms and car rentals. But this is usually a poor use of your miles—many packages we looked at were more expensive than direct reservations. AAdvantage points have a flat value of 1 cent per mile, which is just OK. And the portal doesn’t show the points price on your package until checkout, which means you have to do unnecessary—if basic—math to know what your package will cost.  

Hotel Rooms and Rentals Cars 

AAdvantage miles can be redeemed for car rentals and hotel stays at 150,000+ properties in over 500 destinations across the globe, though American’s travel portal. You can even use a combination of cash and as few as 1,000 miles to pay. But this is a worse use of miles than vacation packages—each AAdvantage point is only worth 0.6 cents toward your booking 

Admirals Club Membership 

You pay for access to more than two dozen American Airlines’ airport lounges around the world and even more partner lounges in cash or in AAdvantage points. You’ll get a flat value of 1 cent per point. Annual membership starts at $550 or 55,000 points for Executive Platinum members and goes up to $1,250 or 125,000 for a household with entry-level AAdvantage membership. 

Newspaper Subscriptions

Though American only offers a few options—and they vary depending on where you live—using points for newspaper subscriptions can be an excellent deal. A 24-week subscription to the Financial Times retails for about $282 or 3,240 miles—nearly 9 cents a point.  

Transfer to Friends and Family

You can transfer up to 200,000 points to other AAdvantage members each calendar year. There is no fee for transferring miles.   

Charitable Donations

AAdvantage partners with several organizations that support social causes, community health, and heroes. Unlike with other frequent flyer programs, you can’t choose an individual charity, but give to one of three AAdvantage programs that support different kinds of nonprofits. There is a minimum donation of 1,000 points, and there are no associated tax breaks. 

The Bottom Line 

If you’re flexible with your dates and destinations, you can get good value from the AAdvantage program. But other members may have a hard time making it worthwhile. 

What Is the Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan?

Mileage Plan is the loyalty program for Alaska Airlines, The fifth largest airline in the U.S. Alaska focuses on the West Coast but connects more than 100 destinations across the country, as well as Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico. With more than a dozen major airline partners, Alaska gives members plenty of opportunities to travel beyond its network.

You earn Alaska points by flying with the airline–a straightforward one mile for each mile you fly, plus more if you’re in first class. You can also rack up miles with partner airlines (though you’ll be forfeiting the points in those loyalty programs), car rental companies, and hotel brands, buying through the Alaska Airlines shopping and travel portals.

Using a co-branded credit card gets you 3 miles per $1 spent on flights (in addition to the miles you get directly from the airline) and 1 point per dollar on other purchases. You can also transfer points from the Marriott Bonvoy and Diners Club programs.

Elite status will give you a leg up on accumulating miles. Alaska Airlines’ program has three tiers, starting at 20,000 qualifying miles.

• MVP gets you a 50% miles bonus, free checked bags, upgrades, priority check-in and discounted lounge access. 
• MVP Gold comes with those perks, companion upgrades, free drinks, and a 100% mileage bonus. 
• MVP Gold 75K, the highest tier, gives you a 135% mileage bonus, as well as 50,000 miles for qualifying, lounge passes and more.

What Cards Earn Alaska Airlines Miles

• Alaska Airlines Visa Signature Card

How to Use Alaska Airline Miles

Because Alaska doesn’t offer a ton of overall options for using miles, it can seem like a narrow program. But its network of airline partners means that you have abundant choices when it comes to award flights.

• Award flights. Use miles with Alaska and 15 partner airlines. 
• Hotel bookings. Book with partners or through Alaska’s portal. 
• Upgrades. Move up to first class for 15,000 miles. 
• Magazine subscriptions. Get more than 1 cent per mile. 
• Share miles. For a fee.  
• Donate to charity. 

Award Flights 

Alaska itself has a relatively small network, focused on the West Coast and Hawaii. But its frequent flyer program punches way above that weight. For starters, Alaska uses an award chart, with tickets starting at just 5,000 miles for a short one-way flight (under 700 miles).

It’s pretty easy to find solid value for your miles. For instance, we saw a flight from Southern California to Alaska that cost $352 or 20,000 miles—a value of 1.7 cents per mile. Other flights clocked in between 1.2 and 1.6 cents per mile, though a handful dipped under 1 cent per mile, poor value.

The value is comparable when you’re using miles to pay for a flight on a partner airline—which, by the way, you can only do through the Alaska Airlines website. Just search for your destination and dates, and the site will pop up available award seats on American, British Airways, Singapore Airlines and other carriers. But miles won’t work on every route with every partner.

Alaska’s is one of the few award programs that allows stopovers on one-way tickets booked with miles, which can be a great perk, especially for international trips.

The airline also offers an unusual Money & Miles option. You can use miles to get a 50% discount on the cash price of a ticket, up to $100 for a one-way ticket and $200 for a round-trip ticket. The discounts cost 10,000 and 20,000, respectively, for a value of up to 1 cent per mile. And you get the same number of frequent flyer miles for your trip  as you would have otherwise. 

Hotels

Alaska partners with Rocketmiles to power a hotel-booking portal where you can pay with miles or a combination of miles and cash. You’ll see the same range of choices as on most other online booking sites, but this is not generally a good use of your miles—we’ve seen values as low as 0.3 cents a mile.  

Upgrades

Unlike other airlines, Alaska has a simple and transparent upgrade program. You can pay for upgrades to first class from a paid economy ticket, starting at $29 each way for flights that are up to 450 miles long. Or you can pay a flat 15,000 miles. In terms of value that makes the most sense for distances over 2,100 miles, since upgrades cost $199 (a value of 1.3 cents per mile).

You can book your upgrade when buying a ticket, over the phone afterwards, or online when checking in for your flight. 

Magazine Subscriptions

This is a great use of miles for people who love to read. Sign up for a subscription with your miles and easily get 1.6 cents per mile (Allure magazine) and even upwards of 3 cents per mile (Bloomberg Businessweek, which costs $59 a year or 2,000 miles).  

Share Miles

Transferring miles to another Alaska Airlines Mileage Plus member costs $10 per 1,000 miles, or a cent a mile, so it’s almost never worth it. 

Donate to Charity

You can contribute your miles to various major nonprofits, including the Dream Foundation and the Nature Conservancy, or to Alaska’s programs. There’s no associated tax break. 

Summary

The Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is transparent and gives members solid value. Elite status is easy to reach and comes with nice perks, and the airline’s roster of partners means you’ll almost always be able to find a way to use your miles for flights.

What Is United MileagePlus?

MileagePlus is the frequent flyer program for United Airlines. United is the world’s third-largest carrier, and is part of Star Alliance, the biggest airline network. United claims to offer the most ways to use points and the most award destinations of any U.S. frequent flyer program.

The most obvious way to earn MileagePlus points is to fly with United and its regional subsidiary, United Express. You’ll get at least 5 points per dollar for that, plus bonus points if you have elite status. But there are lots of other ways to rustel up points as well.

You can fly with partner airlines (from Aegean to Turkish); stay with partner hotel companies (including Marriott, IHG, and Hyatt); and book hotels through the United portal (2 points per $1 spent), Pointshound (2 points per $1) or Rocketmiles (0.8 cents to 2 cents per $1). You can also get MileagePlus points for renting cars from various companies, riding Amtrak, using Quicken Loans or LifeLock and buying through United’s dining, shopping, golf, vacation, gift card, and cruise programs.

The airline’s co-branded credit cards will score you another 2 points per $1 spent with United and less for most other purchases, depending on the card. United also regularly offers ways for cardholders to earn bonus points.

Elite status—called Premier—definitely helps when you’re trying to accumulate United miles. The airline has four Premier tiers, from Silver to 1K; as you climb the status ladder, you get more perks, including free checked bags, upgrades, and up to 11 points per dollar spent on fares. 

Credit Cards That Earn MileagePlus Points

• United Explorer Card
• United Quest Card
• United Club Card
• United TravelBank Card
• United Business Card
• United Club Business Card

How to Use MileagePlus Points

There are more than a dozen ways to use United points; most offer poor value, but a few options are solid and a couple—award flights and newspaper and magazine subscriptions—can be outstanding.

• Award flights. Book on United or 28 partner airlines. 
• Upgrades. Use miles to buy upgrades on paid tickets. 
• Hotel rooms, rental cars, cruises. Pay through the United Hotels portals, at values of 0.5 cents to 1.5 cents per point. 
• Merchandise. Shop for hundreds of name-brand products. 
• Shopping and dining. Use the MileagePlus X app, get 0.5 cents per dollar.  
• Gift cards. Buy e-cards for the equivalent of 0.6 points per mile. 
• Experiences. Travel packages, behind-the-scenes tours, and more. 
• United Club Membership. A year of lounge access for 85,000 miles. 
• TSA Precheck. Cover the application fee with points. 
• In-flight Wi-Fi.  Internet on United flights for 7,500 points. 
• Subscriptions. Magazines and newspapers, many at great redemption rates. 
• Transfer and gift miles. A pretty terrible value. 
• Donate to charity. Choose from dozens of nonprofits. 

Award Flights

There are some big pros and cons to using miles to book United flights—but mostly pros. The main downside is that the airline doesn’t use an award chart, which means that the only way to find out how much a flight will cost in points is to search for it. Even then, prices are constantly fluctuating, so if you come back to the site in a few days, the cost of the flight may have changed.

The biggest upsides are that United is part of the Star Alliance partnership, which means that you can use MileagePlus points to book seats on 28 different airlines. United doesn’t pass on fuel surcharges for award tickets, even with those partner bookings—which can save you hundreds of dollars, depending on your itinerary.

Finally, and most importantly. you can often find solid value for your miles with United—and sometimes mind-blowing deals.

We’ve had no trouble finding flights that gave us more than 2 cents per mile, including a flight from Houston to New York that cost $329 or 14,500 miles. We also searched for a one-way trip from Chicago to Paris. In cash, it cost $3,207 whether you were flying nonstop or changing planes in Frankfurt. In points, the nonstop flight cost 72,000 miles—a fantastic 4.5 cents per mile—and the layover flight cost just 32,500 miles. That’s about 10 cents a mile, a value that’s practically impossible to beat.

Keep in mind that availability can be spotty. Some routes will have great deals, while others are poor values. United loosely adheres to the notion of an award chart unlike fixed value redemption programs like Southwest or JetBlue. In certain cases, you’ll find award tickets can be much better than paying cash.

You also have to pay fees for award flights; they can be as low as $5.60 per ticket, but can also be many times that. 

Seat Upgrades 

United lets members use MileagePlus points to pay for seat upgrades on paid tickets. Prices vary depending on your ticket type, route, elite status, and more. On many routes you’ll also be responsible for a co-pay. If an upgrade is available, you can book it when you reserve your ticket or afterwards, and will be wait-listed for the change. If the upgrade doesn’t come through, you will get your points and any money back.  

Hotel Rooms, Rental Cars, Cruises

MileagePlus members can use their points to reserve rooms through its travel portals:  United Hotels, MileagePlus Car Awards and MileagePlus Cruises.  Rates vary widely, from 0.5 cents to 1.5 cents per point. The hotel portal lets customers toggle between cash and points prices, for easy comparison. The rental car and cruise portals don’t; it’s wise to take the extra step of doing a separate search to see what kind of value you’re getting before you commit your points. 

Merchandise

You can use your MileagePlus points to purchase items from the United portal–everything from sunglasses to Apple products to Bugaboo strollers. The value is unimpressive, just 0.5 to 0.7 cents per mile. 

Shopping and Dining

With the United MileagePlus X app, you can use points to pay for purchases at various businesses, including AMC Theatres, Chipotle, Starbucks and Nordstrom. But you’ll get poor value this way: just 0.5 cents per point.

Gift Cards

Through the United site, you can use MileagePlus points to buy electronic gift cards from brands including eBay, Macy’s, Home Depot, and Lululemon. They offer poor value as well—0.6 cents per point. 

Experiences

United has three different ways to use miles on experiences. Through the Exclusives program, you can buy or bid on trips, event tickets, and some very special-access experiences like the opening ceremonies of the 2020 Summer Olympics or meet-and-greets with Broadway stars.  Many of them are sold through auctions. There are also a lot of packages that include “priceless” components—not worth an infinite amount of money, but unavailable on the open market, so without a price tag—which also makes calculating values tough. Our advice is to set a maximum price you’d be willing to pay for an experience, translate that into points using a strong value (at least 1.5 points per dollar), and act accordingly.

You can also use points to buy tickets to selected Broadway shows, operas and other performances in New York. Expect to get 0.7 cents to 1 cent per point this way. For instance, we saw $78 tickets for Blue Man Group going for 11,000 points apiece—about 0.7 cents a point. Jersey Boys fans could get almost 1 cent per point for orchestra seats.

If rock concerts and sporting events are more your speed, you can use points to buy seats through MileagePlus Event Awards, a partnership with Tickpick. The selection is enormous, and you’ll get about 0.75 cents per point—not amazing, but better than buying a gift card. 

United Club Membership

United has 45 airport lounges around the world that offer free drinks and snacks, high-speed Wi-Fi and other amenities. You can buy annual access for $650 or 85,000 miles—about 0.8 cents per point.

TSA Precheck

Use your points to cover the $85 application fee, a value of 0.9 cents a mile.

In-flight Wi-Fi

Instead of paying per-flight for internet access, you can purchase a subscription that lets you connect on any Wi-Fi-equipped United or United Express flight. Pricing for North and Central America starts at $49 or 7,500 miles, a value of about 0.7 point per mile.

Subscriptions

Like many other loyalty programs, United MileagePlus lets you use points to buy newspaper and magazine subscriptions. This can be an excellent value—a Bloomberg Businessweek subscription costs $75, but in miles it’s 16,000 miles or 5 cents a mile. Allure magazine gives you a value of about 2 cents a mile. And a 39-week print subscription to The Wall Street Journal  3,240. Compared to the retail of $81 a month that’s a value of 2.5 cents per mile. 

Transfer to Friends and Family

You can transfer points to other MileagePlus members, with a minimum of 500 points, but it will cost you—$7.50 for every 500 points you want to move, PLUS a $30 transaction fee. That’s super-steep, and almost never worth it. 

Donate to Charity

Southwest partners with several charities, including the Guide Dogs of America, Americares Foundation, Clean the World. The minimum donation is 1,000 miles, and there is no associated tax break. 

Summary

United has one of the better airline loyalty programs, thanks in part to its participation in Star Alliance—you’ll usually be able to book a trip with miles, and often at good value. Most of the other options are fun but not terribly wise. Stil, if you happen to get a big windfall, there are worse ways to use them than to see the Olympics. 

What Are TrueBlue Rewards?

TrueBlue Rewards is the loyalty program for low-cost, high amenity airline JetBlue. It’s relatively new because JetBlue only started operating in 1999—but just three years later, Condé Nast Traveler readers named it the best airline in the country. 

The main drawback of TrueBlue Rewards is that the points aren’t that many ways to spend them. On the upside, it’s easy to rack them up, there are truly no blackout dates for JetBlue flights, and elite status comes with practical perks like waived change and cancellation fees, free checked bags and complimentary drinks.  

The easiest way to earn JetBlue points is by flying with the airline. If you book directly you’ll receive at least 6 points for every dollar you spend; members with Mosaic status earn 3 extra points, for a total of 9 points per dollar—and that’s before using one of the airline’s credit cards. (You reach Mosaic status by flying 30 segments and earning 12,000 base points or by earning 15,000 base points in a calendar year.)

JetBlue’s branded credit cards will get you an additional 6 points for every dollar spent on the airline—or a potential total of 15 points per dollar for those Mosaic members.

Flying with a JetBlue partner, including Emirates, Hawaiian Airlines, Icelandair, JetSuite X, Silver Airways, Singapore Airlines, and South African Airways also gets you points. Rates vary by carrier and booking class. You can eat at TrueBlue Dining restaurants, or shop through the airline’s portal or in-flight on Amazon.

Finally, you can transfer points to TrueBlue from Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou, and various hotel loyalty programs. Many programs transfer at a 1:1 rate, while Amex transfers at 1.25:1. Promotions can substantially boost your transfer rate.

The points pooling program makes it easy (and free) to combine points. It’s an especially handy perk for families. 

What Cards Earn TrueBlue Points

• Jet Blue Card

How to Use TrueBlue Rewards

TrueBlue doesn’t offer as many ways to redeem your points as many other loyalty programs. Then again, the process is also relatively straightforward and you’ll generally get solid value for points. Redemption rates are tied to prices, so you’re not going to find any spectacular deals.

Here are all the ways you can use TrueBlue points:

• JetBlue flights. You can pay for any available seat with points, typically around 1.4 cents per point.
• JetBlue vacation packages. For bundles that include flights and hotels, you can usually count on 1.3 to 1.5 cents per point in value.
• Upgrades. Mosaic Members can upgrade from economy to premium economy seats at great rates—a value of up to 5 cents per point.
• Book on Hawaiian Airlines. Use TrueBlue points to book flights on Hawaiian, with one-way flights starting at 6,000 points.
• Magazine subscriptions. Choose from over 20 magazines, for 400 to 3,200 points.  
• Share with friends and family. Pool your points with other members to get more redemption options. You can also transfer points for a fee.
• Donate to charity. Choose from 18 different nonprofits. Minimum is 500 points.

JetBlue Flights 

This is often the best use of TrueBlue points. While the amount of value you’ll get from using points to buy flights varies slightly, it’s tied to the dollar price of the flight. You can generally count on getting 1.4 cents per point and sometimes more when booking Mint business class. In contrast to many other loyalty programs, generally the less expensive the flight, the more value you’ll get from your points. 

One of the best parts of this program is that there are no blackout dates. Unlike with many other airlines, which make it difficult or even impossible to find award tickets, you can pay for any available JetBlue seat with points.

If you’re flexible with your travel dates, the Best Fare Finder can help you find cheaper seats, which translates into spending fewer points. It’s worth noting that JetBlue charges a small fee ($5.60) for domestic award tickets, and international fees vary. 

JetBlue Vacation Packages

JetBlue vacation packages are bundled deals that include airfare and accommodation. JetBlue currently offers vacation packages in the U.S., Canada, Central America, the Caribbean, and a few locations in South America. You can use cash, TrueBlue points or a combination of points and cash to pay for them—but if you use a points and cash, you won’t receive your 6 bonus TrueBlue points per dollar.

Vacation packages can offer substantially better value than using your points for flights alone. For example, round-trip flights for two from New York to Bermuda plus a five-night stay at the Coco Reef Bermuda recently cost $1,728 through JetBlue Vacations. Priced separately, the trip would cost $2,477, so the package saves $749. If you paid for part of the package with points, it would cost 21,200 points plus $1,351.55. This gives you a value of 1.8 cents per point. Quite good!

Flight Upgrades

If you’re a Mosaic member, you can use points to unlock flight upgrades, though only from regular economy to Even More Space seats. The upgrade cost varies depending on the length of the flight, as does the price in points. A $10 seat upgrade costs 200 points, $25 seat upgrades cost 300 points, $45 seat upgrades cost 500 points, and $90 seat upgrades cost 1,000 points. You’ll get at least 5 cents per point by doing this, so it’s an excellent use of your TrueBlues.

Book Flights on Hawaiian Airlines

Though you can earn TrueBlue points on 11 partner airlines, including Emirates, Aer Lingus and Icelandair, the only other airline you can use the points on is Hawaiian Airlines. Hawaiian operates in over 30 destinations across 8 countries, expanding your options for award flight destinations. JetBlue now publishes an award chart for Hawaiian Airlines flights, with economy flights ranging from 6,000 (internal Hawaii flights) to 50,000 for international destinations, and business flights ranging from 12,000 to 120,000 points.

This award chart has the potential to be lucrative, but there’s no guarantee that award seats are available. There’s also a hassle factor—you have to call JetBlue to book a Hawaiian Airlines flight using TrueBlue points. 

Magazine Subscriptions 

You can redeem your TrueBlue points for subscriptions to more than 20 national magazines,  including Better Homes & Gardens, Bloomberg Businessweek, and People. A subscription to Bloomberg Businessweek will cost you $70 for 50 issues, but only 1,600 points, giving you a value of 4.4 cents per point.  This is actually a great value—we just wish it applied to flights.

Pooling and Transferring to Friends and Family

JetBlue lets up to seven members group together to share their points free of charge, which is simpler and more transparent than the transfers most other loyalty programs offer. You don’t need to check different account balances or wait for transfers to go through—everything is available at a glance in your TrueBlue account. It’s especially useful for (but not limited to) families, and makes it worthwhile to sign your kids up for TrueBlue membership. Only the Pool Leader can use all the points; make sure it’s someone you trust.

TrueBlue points can also be transferred from member to member outside of your Friends and Family pool for a fee of $12.50/1,000 points.

Charity

Instead of redeeming your points for awards, you can make a difference with them by donating them to one or more of the charities JetBlue has partnered with, including the American Red Cross, Wildlife Conservation Society and Make-A-Wish. The minimum donation is 500 points, the maximum is 500,000 and there are no fees—but also no tax breaks. 

Summary

While it may not offer great deals like some competitors, TrueBlue also provides solid value for its points across all of its redemption options. The program is simple and straightforward, and regular JetBlue customers can easily collect a lot of points. 

What to Know About Buying Experiences With Points 

Many of the major credit-card rewards programs now have an experiences component. And just like with other redemption options, each program handles experiences differently. Some charge a flat number of points, others use an auction format, and still others rely on a combination of the two. Some make it easy to compare points and dollar prices, while others are more opaque. You’ll find ho-hum tourist activities in one program, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities in another. 

Considering buying experiences with your points? It’s wise to: 

• Stay up to date. Reward programs offer anywhere from a handful to hundreds of experiences, and they are constantly changing. If you don’t see something you like now, check back in a week or two. 
• Act fast.  On the flip side, appealing experiences can sell out. If you have your heart set on something, don’t sit on it. 
• Do the math. Some experiences offer exceptional value, while others are wildly overpriced. If there isn’t a dollar price tag on an experience, do a quick online search. (You may even find it cheaper elsewhere.) And factor in any costs you’ll have to pay out-of-pocket, like transportation or lodging. 
• Read the fine print. Make sure you understand the entire experience and any restrictions before buying or bidding.
• Avoid auction fever. Before you start bidding on an experience, figure out the maximum you’re willing to pay for it—and stick to that number. It’s easy to get carried away and overpay. 

Read on to learn about the pros, cons and quirks of the major experiences programs. 

Booking Experiences Through Credit Card Reward Programs

Chase Ultimate Rewards Experiences

Chase offers sports, dining, and entertainment experiences in the US. Some are fairly straightforward and easy to find elsewhere, like ski lift tickets; others are more exclusive, like dinner for two at world-famous restaurants or meet-and-greets with famous athletes.

There are two ways to book experiences using your Chase Ultimate Rewards. The first to use the Experiences section of Ultimate Rewards website. Chase offers three tiers of experiences:

1. Select experiences, available to all credit and debit cardholders
2. Preferred experiences, available to Chase Sapphire Preferred and Chase Ink Business Preferred cardholders
3. Reserve experiences, available to Chase Sapphire Reserve and J.P. Morgan Reserve cardholders.

You can pay for experiences using your card, points or a combination of both. Points are worth a flat 1 cent each when redeeming for experiences. For example, you can get PGA Championship Grounds Tickets by paying $30 with your Chase card or redeeming 3,000 Ultimate Rewards points; a weekend hotel package plus grounds tickets would cost you $1,600 or 160,000 points.

While the straight redemption value of 1 cent per point isn’t great, many of the Ultimate Reward experiences have a “priceless” factor. You can get on the floor of Madison Square Garden and shoot around before a Knicks game, learn recipes from celebrity chefs, or hit the slopes with ski legends. Many of these events are offered exclusively to Chase cardholders.

Chase also offers a much wider variety of activities for booking through the Ultimate Rewards travel portal, which gets you more value (generally 1.25 to 1.5 cents per point, depending on which credit card you have). Login to your Chase Ultimate Rewards account, click “Redeem for travel,” then “Things to Do.” Enter your dates and location and you’ll see the available options, ranging from museum tickets to food tours to day trips. For example, Chase Sapphire Preferred cardholders can get tickets to the Empire State Building for $42.53 or 3,402 points, making each point worth 1.25 cents. 

Many of the activities are also discounted, so there’s a potential upside even if you buy them with cash. However, always be sure to compare with other sources—including the official website for the activity you’re booking—to make sure you’re getting a good deal.

American Express Experiences

American Express offers exclusive “By Invitation Only” events for its Platinum and Centurion cardmembers, as well as presales and VIP packages for concerts, music festivals, and Broadway shows for other American Express cardmembers. By Invitation Only events are offered around the world; most of the other events are in New York and Los Angeles.

By Invitation Only experiences are designed to reinforce the exclusive nature of American Express’ premium cards: current offers include VIP access to Fashion Week, Wimbledon, or Coachella, a meal and meet-and-greet at the World’s Best Restaurant of 2019, and a four-day ski and wine tasting package. Prices range from hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, American Express Experiences have to be purchased with your American Express card; there’s no option to redeem Membership Rewards points. However, if you want to redeem your points for experiences, you can transfer them to a partner program like Delta SkyMiles or Marriott Bonvoy. 

Citi ThankYou Points

You can use Citi ThankYou points to book museum tickets, tours, and other activities through the Citi travel portal. Citi only offers a fixed 1 cent per point redemption value, so it’s not a great use of your points—a $10 museum ticket would cost you 1,000 ThankYou points. You also won’t find anything available through Citi that you couldn’t buy elsewhere.

To see what activities you can book with Citi ThankYou points, simply log in to thankyou.com using your Citi account. Navigate to Travel > Activities and enter your location and dates. You can sort by activity type, and each search result will show you pricing in both dollars and points.

Booking Experiences Through Hotel Loyalty Programs 

Marriott Bonvoy Moments

Marriott Bonvoy offers a broad and frequently-updated selection of exclusive experiences that can only be booked with points, from private dinners at famous restaurants like Per Se or The French Laundry to box seats for events at The O2 in London, Madison Square Garden in New York, or Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin. Some events are bundled with stays at Marriott hotels, while others are standalone.

The value you can get for your points varies widely, from fractions of a cent per point (bad) to 2 or 3 cents per point (great). 

Some Marriott Moments are offered for a flat rate. For example, you can redeem 20,000 Bonvoy points for two tickets to see the Chicago Cubs play the San Francisco Giants at Spring Training in Arizona—a poor value of .3 to .6 cents per point, since tickets retail for $38 to $63. Others are sold by auction to the highest bidder; this is often the case for the most rarefied events, with bids reaching into the hundreds of thousands of points. 

Marriott Bonvoy Moments don’t have cash prices listed, and some of them are indeed “priceless” experiences, like a private dinner with a world-renowned chef. For others, like concert or sports tickets, you can get at least an idea of the value you’re getting for your points by looking up prices if you were to buy the tickets outright. We checked out premium tickets to see the Jonas Brothers play at Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin. They retailed for upwards of $130 each or two spots in Marriott’s luxury suite for 10,000 Bonvoy points—a value of about 2.6 cents per point, before you factor in free food, drinks, and parking. 

You can’t use Marriott Bonvoy points to redeem for activities like tours or museum tickets, but you can earn 10 points per dollar spent on activities purchased through Marriott Bonvoy Tours & Activities. 

World of Hyatt FIND Experiences

Hyatt offers a collection of wellness-focused experiences for World of Hyatt members, ranging from yoga or parkour sessions to spa treatments. Members can choose from over 170 experiences in 50+ destinations around the world.

Some experiences are restricted to guests at particular hotels, like a premium tequila tasting at the Hyatt Ziva Cancun or horseback riding in the desert at Andaz Capital Gate Abu Dhabi. Others are hosted at Hyatt properties but don’t require you to be staying there, like a spa treatment and afternoon tea at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong or a cooking class at Park Hyatt Saigon. There are also activities that have nothing to do with Hyatt hotels, like goat yoga in Las Vegas or a vegan cheese tasting in New York.

Some experiences can be booked with points only, others with cash or points. The experiences that can be booked either way offer a value of about 1.4 cents per point. Some of the experiences that don’t have retail prices listed offer less value—like a carriage ride in Vienna, which comes out to about 1 cent per point.

For activities in the U.S. and Mexico, you can pay with cash and earn 10 World of Hyatt points per dollar spent (plus 3 to 4 bonus points per dollar if you pay with a Hyatt credit card), or redeem your points at a rate of 1.4 cents per point. For activities in other countries, you can only pay with points. 

Booking Experiences through Airline Loyalty Programs 

Delta SkyMiles Experiences

Delta is known for having a complex loyalty program with sometimes questionable value. SkyMiles Experiences are no different. There’s no fixed prices for SkyMiles Experiences—everything is offered to the highest bidder through an auction. 

Delta offers some exclusive experiences, like a NASCAR race day package with a pace car ride, a private dinner for four at one of New York City’s most exclusive restaurants, or a custom package of VIP tickets to the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience. Most, however, are relatively easy to secure with cash, like tickets to sporting events with club access, or VIP tickets to a music festival. 

Since pricing is auction based, it varies wildly. A quick review of closed auctions on the SkyMiles Experiences website shows weekend passes to the Seattle Wine and Food Experience went for around 60,000 SkyMiles per pair; pairs of tickets to the Academy of Country Music Awards sold for 200,000 to 260,000 SkyMiles; and an 8-night elephants and islands tour in Thailand for two people went for a whopping 521,000 SkyMiles—airfare not included.

United MileagePlus Exclusives

United MileagePlus allows you to redeem miles for experiences with partners such as the PGA TOUR, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, and the Broadway League. You can also periodically find exclusive redemption opportunities like a champagne and caviar tasting in the United Polaris Lounge in San Francisco (sold for 51,000 miles), a behind-the-scenes opportunity to use a United flight simulator, or even an trip to the Olympic Summer Games, including business class airfare to Tokyo (currently going for over 900,000 MileagePlus miles, with three months left to bid). 

Most MileagePlus experiences are auction-style, but some sporting events offer fixed redemptions (e.g. 50,000 miles for two suite club level tickets, including food, beverages, and parking). There are also some offerings exclusively available to United credit card holders and MileagePlus Premier members, like tickets to the Donna Summer musical for 10,000 miles or a cardmember-exclusive Olympics package, currently going for over 600,000 miles.

While United has a relatively limited number of offerings, if you’re interested in redeeming MileagePlus miles (or Chase Ultimate Rewards points) for experiences, it’s worth signing up for their email list to keep an eye on the latest offerings. 

Bottom Line

Booking experiences can be an excellent way to get a different type of value out of your points and miles. Currently Marriott, Chase, and Delta have the most exclusive and valuable experiences to book with points; American Express also offers some priceless opportunities for Platinum and Centurion cardmembers looking to pay cash, and Marriott and Hyatt have attractive options to earn miles when paying for activities and experiences. Many other loyalty programs are working hard to give their members unforgettable moments—we’re sure to see new opportunities popping up soon.