Be Smarter with Airline Miles and Resort Factors within the 12 months Forward

Lengthy the area of factors geeks, the usually opaque world of frequent-flier packages is lastly getting simpler to navigate. Nowadays each main airline shows so-called award availability on its web site or app — even when unprecedented demand means scoring that dream journey requires extra technique than ever.

“As we speak, there are fewer unsold seats on the flights that folks need to take,” explains Gary Leff,
a factors professional who’s authored the weblog View from the Wing since 2002.

Even so, airways stay deeply invested in these packages, which aren’t solely massively worthwhile but additionally a boon for vacationers, who can commerce factors for business- and first-class seats. Right here’s what to learn about taking advantage of your factors stash.

Give attention to Versatile Factors

With bank cards just like the American Categorical Platinum Card, Capital One Enterprise X, and Chase Sapphire Reserve, you earn factors that may switch to a number of airline packages, providing you with much more choices than you’d have with an airline-specific card. “The identical actual flight can price 66 % much less, points-wise, by way of Virgin Atlantic than Delta Air Strains,” Leff says, citing one instance. Free instruments like AwardTool and Pointhound might help you examine choices throughout packages.

Know When to Search

Vacationers who’ve much less expertise reserving with factors usually get discouraged once they can’t discover a flight that’s excellent, Leff says. A software like ExpertFlyer, which has free and paid variations, might help: it displays award-travel availability — that’s, seats that may be booked with factors — and sends an alert when seats open up.

Look Past the Airline Web site

Vacationers usually switch factors to U.S. carriers out of familiarity, lacking higher offers by way of companion airways, Leff says. Seats.aero has a free software that may assist, whereas AwardTool and Roame, which has free and paid variations, let customers search dozens of packages concurrently.

Examine Again Usually

Preserve trying to find a greater deal, Leff says. “I e-book what’s out there, however when one thing higher comes alongside, I cancel and do one thing else.” (Most airways waive charges for award-ticket adjustments.) ExpertFlyer and AwardFares, which has free and paid variations, can electronic mail you when new seats open up in your most popular flights.

Contemplate Your Timing

Peak journey intervals imply massive competitors for seats. “It’s onerous to get an award, say, to Australia for Christmas,” Leff says. To enhance your possibilities, think about Roame’s SkyView characteristic, which scans as much as 60 days out, whereas the Daydream Explorer software from PointsYeah, which has free and paid choices, identifies the dates with higher availability.

Choose One other Route

“Locations which have a lot of methods to get there are going to provide the greatest alternative to seek out an award seat,” Leff says. Each AwardFares and PointsYeah let customers search a number of airports without delay, exhibiting availability that may in any other case go unnoticed.

A model of this story first appeared within the February 2025 challenge of Journey + Leisure beneath the headline “You, Too, Can Be a Factors Man.“