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“Points, why bother?”

At the very very least, ignoring all the wildly luxurious ways you can use them- points mean savings. Big savings, little savings, but always savings, if used correctly. This post may not reveal any new secrets for some of you, but it’s a valuable way of looking at what points can do for you.

Where You Are

The key concept here is that the very best flight deals are not always starting from where you presently are. For $25 bucks, there’s no reason to look into starting elsewhere, but for major savings, or business class for a similar price as economy- it can be worth traveling.

4,500 Points At A Time

While flying to another location- just to fly to another location may sound like an eccentric, expensive and crazy habit to some: it doesn’t have to be. Starting at just 4,500 points all around the world, and 7,500 points in the U.S. it’s easy to grab a one way ticket to better deals, without spending virtually any cash. If you earn points from online shopping, eating and other things- points are easy.

Examples

Let’s start with flying economy from the U.S. to Paris. You live in Alabama and tickets are a minimum of $1000 from your local airport. But you’d only need to use 7,500 miles to get to Miami, where tickets are just $350 round trip $650 in savings from 7,500 points. Or better yet, Europe to Asia- we’ll say Singapore, in business class. Departing London the lowest price is about $3,500 per person. Departing Sofia, thanks to a Qatar Airways sale– tickets are $2287 for two. Yep, $1100 per person.

The Point

You’ll never know what you’re missing if you don’t look. Having an arsenal of points which offer the lowest rates for short flights (we have a post on that here) can make for incredible cash savings on virtually any ticket. Basically, even if you may never accumulate enough points for a crazy first class ticket, they can still help you save a whole lot of money, just a few points at a time.

Gilbert Ott

Gilbert Ott is an ever curious traveler and one of the world's leading travel experts. His adventures take him all over the globe, often spanning over 200,000 miles a year and his travel exploits are regularly...

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