Inflation affects the prices of every single thing – even airline points and miles. Yes, that’s right. You might not have noticed it, but you probably had to use up more points to book an award flight or a hotel this year compared to the last.
This isn’t a one-time trend, either. Airlines frequently pump up the number of points needed to book award flights. This means that if you’re in the habit of hoarding your miles for a big trip, you’ll end up spending way more.
Let’s explore a few things you can do to (mostly) protect yourself from this phenomenon.
Why do Airline Miles and Points Lose Their Value Over Time?
The short answer is that travel points are not profitable to airlines (because of the whole “letting you travel for free” thing). Think about it for a second. When you purchase flight tickets with airline miles instead of cash, it’s technically an expense for the airline because they are eating up the cost of your ticket. So, to cut losses, airlines periodically reduce the value of travel miles and points.
Moreover, as fuel prices increase, so do the prices of tickets. And since airline miles are a form of currency, it makes sense that the number of miles you need to book a ticket will also increase with time.
A study conducted by IdeaWorks actually found that the number of points or miles needed to purchase a ticket had gone up by 28% by March 2024 compared to just 5 years ago.
Here’s a chart comparing the difference in the actual number of points needed by different airlines in 2019 vs. 2024:
Source: IdeaWorks.
While this devaluation is inevitable, there are some things you can do to make sure that you cushion yourself from this as much as possible.
7 Ways to Protect Yourself From the Devaluation of Airline Miles and Points
Get the most value out of your accrued miles with these 7 tips.
1. Target Programs That Have Static Award Prices
With most airlines, the number of miles or points you need to book an award flight varies from time to time based on the season, demand, cost of airfare, time of booking, etc. This is known as a “dynamic award rate.” So, if you want to book award flights with airlines that follow this strategy, you’ll be paying quite a lot during high-demand seasons.
However, some airline loyalty programs such as Alaska Airlines still use static pricing , which means the number of travel miles needed to book an award flight doesn’t vary.
Here’s Alaska Airlines’s award chart:
This means that if you want to book a business class seat within the US for a distance of 500 miles, you’ll always be using up only 9,000 points, no matter the season. This takes away the anxiety of waiting for the prices to drop and lets you plan your travels beforehand.
But, we know that picking airlines with static reward pricing isn’t always possible – especially since they’re few and far in between. Here’s what you can do, instead 👇:
2. Diversify Your Miles
In other words: don’t put your trust in a single airline loyalty program. Instead, diversify by collecting miles from a few different airline loyalty programs. This strategy has two unique benefits:
1) Even if one of the airlines devalues its points, you still have other options, so you won’t be left in the lurch, and
2) Airlines typically have multiple partner airlines that you can also book seats on with your miles. Let’s take United Airlines as an example. It’s part of the Star Alliance, which is a partnership of 26 airlines that serve 1,200+ destinations around the world. This partnership means airline miles are transferable from one partner to another. So, even if you’re a member of the United MileagePlus Program, you can use the points you’ve collected through it to book seats on any of the partner airlines such as Air Canada, ANA, Turkish Airlines, and so on.
3. Don’t Hoard Your Points
If you hold on to your cash without investing it and growing your wealth, the value of your money will decrease over time. Airline miles are the same way. The only way to get the most value out of them is to use them as you collect them. So, instead of collecting them for a big trip that’s years away, use it whenever you travel by air, even if the distance isn’t too far. Hey, a free trip is always welcome, right?
Expert tip: To maximize your airline miles, plan your trips for the off-season and stay flexible with respect to origin and destination airports. Getting a better deal for a flight that only lands at an airport a few miles away from your intended destination? Take the deal, and get an Uber, take a train, or book a car rental (to collect even more points) from that airport to your destination. Instead of scouring through the websites of airlines, use a tool like Skyscanner to find the cheapest flights.
4. Use the Right Credit Cards
A lot of airlines typically partner with credit card issuers to give users the option of transferring their credit card points into miles. You can, then, use these miles to book seats on flights operated by that credit card’s partner airlines. This means you can collect airline miles just by making purchases with your credit card, without ever stepping foot on a plane.
These points to miles transfers are typically 1:1, which means you get 1 mile for 1 point. The transfer is also instant. This means you can hold on to your points and convert them into miles just before you book your flights. This protects you from devaluation.
Some of the travel credit cards that give you a lot of value include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Capital One Venture X, Citi Strata Premier Card, and AmEx Platinum. They let you redeem your points on hotels as well, so you can get a lot of benefits out of them!
Additionally, if you’re loyal to particular airlines, you can also opt for their co-branded credit cards. These help you rack up your miles pretty fast and often give out huge bonuses, too. The Southwest Rapid Rewards Priority Credit Card is a great example of this! And, hey, you get to use it as a normal credit card for your purchases, too.
5. Keep an Eye Out for Airline Deals
Airlines sometimes introduce bonuses and deals on flights that you simply cannot miss out on. For instance, British Airways holds a couple of sales a year, leading to good discounts on fares. Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines offer discounts on Black Friday. You’ll also find American Airlines having random sales.
So, by keeping an eye out on all the partnered flights that fall under your airline loyalty program, you can potentially snag a great deal! The best way to do this is to sign up for their newsletters or set Google Alerts.
6. Learn to Read the Warning Signs
Did an airline suffer an unexpected loss recently? Did they offer deals on flights? Or have a mileage sale (i.e. letting customers buy airline miles for cheap prices) or a promotion on transfers? If yes, then you can expect a devaluation to follow as they try to cut down on their losses.
The math is simple. If the airline suffered a loss or saw reduced profits, then they will try to even it out by reducing the value of miles and points.
7. Use Your Miles for Things Other Than Flights
Let’s say you have some miles accrued, but are sure that you won’t be booking a flight anytime soon. Instead of letting them go to waste, you can do one of the following:
- Convert it into points for a partner program, such as a hotel loyalty program
- Donate it to a non-profit
- Transfer it to a friend or family
- Redeem it for a gift card
This way, your miles won’t go to waste and someone will benefit from them.
Bottom line
While you can’t 100% protect yourself from the devaluation of airline miles, you can use the above tricks to maximize the value of your miles while you have them. All of this is to say: don’t spend hours upon hours trying to find the cheapest deals, because, whatever you end up saving in cash, you’ll be paying for with your time. Ultimately, the point of miles goes beyond getting the most bang for your buck; it’s also about using them the way you want to make your travels more convenient – be it flying business class or getting a separate seat for your furry companion.