Kate's on a Plane

1. Award travel is more flexible than travel booked with cash.

Although airlines have instituted more lenient change and cancellation policies since covid, most of us are conditioned to think of air travel as non-negotiable. Even now, in order to get the lowest fares, you usually have to book a non-refundable “Basic Economy” fare. It doesn’t matter if your grandma dies, if you’re on death’s door, or if you win the Nobel Prize. You have to be on that plane, because you’re not getting your money back.

Travel booked on points and miles is different! Most US airlines allow you to change or cancel a flight booked with points without a fee or penalty. Southwest even allows you to cancel as late as ten minutes before departure! For a full refund of points and any taxes and fees you paid! Wild, right?

This is especially helpful for those of us who, like me, have small children, and thus live in perpetual anticipation of the next stomach bug or respiratory infection. Life with kids is unpredictable and requires flexibility. This is where award travel can be a gamechanger for families. If you have to cancel a trip at the last minute, it’s a bummer, but not an irreversible loss.

Once you get used to this totally different way of thinking about travel–it doesn’t have to be set in stone! I can entertain multiple possible futures! I CONTAIN MULTITUDES!–it opens up a whole new world of possibilities. Considering two possible vacation destinations? Book them both and decide later. See a good deal on a connecting flight, but really want a nonstop? Book the connection and keep looking for something better.

As an example, I currently have my partner and our daughter booked on two different flights, on the same airline, for a trip down to Florida to see grandma and grandpa this winter. (It’s just the two of them because my son and I are going to Paris, but that’s another post.) One flight is very early in the morning, but costs fewer points. The other one is midday, but costs more. As the date draws closer, we’ll decide which itinerary makes the most sense for them.

One catch–it’s important to understand that point transfers from your bank to an airline or hotel loyalty programs are a one-way street. You can transfer your Chase points to Southwest, but you can’t transfer Southwest points back to Chase. So when I saw you get a full refund of your points, I mean you get those points back in your loyalty account.

(Note that this is less true for international carriers. Airlines like Air France and Virgin Atlantic charge a nominal fee, often around $50-$75, to change or cancel an award ticket. In my view, this is still less painful than attempting to change or cancel a cash ticket, although it does mean that I’m a bit less cavalier about booking flights with foreign carriers.)

2. If the price drops on a flight or a hotel you’ve booked, you can often rebook at the lower price.

A corollary of point #1 is that with award travel, if the price of your airline ticket or hotel stay goes down, flexible change and cancellation policies allow you to cancel and rebook at the lower price, recouping the difference as points you get back in your pocket. I have done this many times with JetBlue and Southwest. Because these airlines tie the price in points of their flights to the cash price, the price of an award ticket fluctuates just like cash prices. When I book a flight, I set a Google Flights price alert, so I’ll be notified when the price drops.

Booking cash tickets, on other hand, always feels like a gamble–is this price as good as it’s going to get? If I wait, will the price go down? But what if I wait and the price goes up? Agonizing. It’s true that some domestic carriers will now grant you a flight credit for the price difference if the price of a flight you’ve booked goes down, but this is not the same as a refund of actual dollars. There are limits to how and when you can use these flight credits. Getting points back gives you a lot more flexibility in how you use that rebate going forward.

Here’s an example of a flight I rebooked on Southwest–you don’t even have to cancel, just use the “Change” option and then select the flight you already have. This results in an immediate partial point refund.

Now that I’m using points and miles, I feel comfortable booking as soon as my travel plans take shape, because I know that if a better price materializes, I’ll be able to take advantage of it.

3. Award travel is more comfortable–lounges, premium cabins, checked bags, oh my!

I’m kind of cheating here because this one is almost a byproduct of award travel. Since I started with points and miles, I have come to look forward to travel days, because they suck a lot less! The steps I’ve taken to accumulate points and miles have yielded a number of perks that make travel more comfortable and travel days more pleasant. 

I’ll start with the bit that actually does pertain to points and miles. I am 40 years old and I have never flown in a premium cabin in my life. I’ve never even booked an extra legroom seat. I have always booked the cheapest itinerary I could stomach. But next year, I have not one, but SIX flights booked in business or first class. Points and miles have put these premium travel products within reach for me. This is because international business class flights are some of the best ways to redeem your points for the greatest bang for your not-actually-a-buck.

As an example, a short-haul domestic flight in economy can easily start at 10,000-15,000 points, while a transatlantic flight from the East Coast in business starts at 50,000 points. So you can see how it makes perfect sense to go to Paris in business once instead of going to Atlanta in economy four times.

Now, the other bits: the credit cards that I’ve opened to acquire those points and miles come with perks that make the journey more comfortable. Thanks to my Venture X, I can access airport lounges all over the world. I used to see people going in and out of mysterious frosted glass doors at the airport, with no real idea of what was on the other side. Now I know! A delayed flight is significantly more tolerable when you have an open bar and a buffet. I now plan my layovers around where I have lounge access.

Co-branded airline credit cards often include benefits like free checked bags and priority boarding. And premium travel cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred provide travel insurance for travel paid even partially with the card. Even if you only pay the $5.60 in taxes and fees on a domestic award ticket with this card, you’re still eligible to receive the full benefits of trip delay, trip interruption, and lost baggage protection. This makes travel less stressful for me, because I know I’m covered if something goes wrong.