Pay for Any Ticket Using Credit Card Points, Regardless of Award Availability (2018)

We primarily recommend earning credit card points that can be converted to frequent flyer miles or hotel points, and then using those points to book award tickets and hotel nights. Transferring your points provide an opportunity to get high point values, by taking advantage of “sweet spots” in each loyalty program’s award charts, or using them for free tickets and hotels rooms, when normal prices are higher-than-normal.

Most credit card points can be used like cash to book any airplane ticket (and sometimes other types of travel). This can be handy when tickets prices are too low to get good value from frequent flyer miles, when there is no available award space, or when you need to want to book lodging that isn’t part of a big loyalty program.

Some credit card points can only be used in this way. The points you earn from credits cards like the Barclays Arrival Plus card or the U.S. Bank Flexperks cards can only be used like cash. There is no option to transfer them to airline or hotel loyalty programs. For example, you can buy a United airplane ticket with the points, but you can’t convert them into United miles to book an award ticket.

Each type of transferable credit card point can ALSO be used in this way. The points you earn from Citi’s ThankYou cards, Chase’s Ultimate Rewards cards, and Amex’s Membership Rewards cards are normally used by converting them into frequent flyer miles or hotel points, and booking award tickets and hotel rooms. But, you can also use these points, like cash, to pay for any travel purchase. For example, if you have the Chase Sapphire Card, your Ultimate Reward points can be used, at a value of 1.5 cents each, to purchase any type of travel via the Chase website.

Fixed-value points can be used for a wide variety of travel purchases, and not just with the largest airlines and hotel chains. When you use fixed-value points, or use your transferable points at fixed-value, you can redeem them for a wide variety of travel purchases, not just airplane tickets and hotel rooms from the major airlines and hotel companies. For example, depending on the program, you could use your points for car rentals, hotels that don’t belong to the major hotel programs, cruises, flights on budget airlines, and Airbnbs. You can even use them to pay for incidental fees and expenses associated with booking award travel.
We recommend focusing on transferable points first, and then moving on to credit cards that earn points that can only be used at fixed-values. The rewards you earn from signing up and spending money on credit cards that earn transferable points are generally more valuable than those you can earn from fixed-value-only credit cards. However, once you’ve signed-up for the most valuable Ultimate Rewards, Membership Rewards, ThankYou Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest cards, it starts making senses to start signing up for the most valuable fixed-value reward cards. Even then, you should still direct most of your credit card spending to the best transferable points or cash-back credit cards, rather than fixed-value cards.

However, if you don't want to mess around with frequent flyer tickets, don't travel that often, and want to be able to use points, instead of cash, as frequently as possible, you are better off earning fixed value points, and using them for a wider range of travel purchases.

Fixed-value-only credit card programs

You should use your fixed-value-only points at the first opportunity. Unlike frequent flyer miles, there is no such thing as a higher-value or lower-value redemption. Your points aren’t going to be more valuable later, so you might as well use them now.
Most programs operate by providing a billing statement credit against any travel charges you make with your card You can purchase travel on any website, like you normal would (with the credit card). After you complete your purchases, you need to visit the credit card website, and apply your points against the purchases on your bill, lowering the amount of money you owe for that month. With these programs, you can take full advantage of the rates and benefits that you can find on any travel website.

	Arrival points are worth 1 cent each. But you'll get a 5% refund when you redeem points earned with the Arrival Card, increasing their value to 1.05 cents. You can claim a refund up to 120 days after a purchase, as long as the minimum travel charge is at least a $100. You can redeem points for partial credit against larger purchases, but only in units of 2,500 points. For example, if you have a $160 charge, and you only have 14,000 points, you can redeem 12,500 points, to get $125 off your bill, and 625 points back. Points don't expire unless you no longer have an the card you earned them with. If you want to stop paying the annual fee for the Arrival Plus card, you can convert to a no-annual-fee version.
	Venture points are worth 1 cent each. You can redeem points up to 90 days after a purchase, for any amount, but you need to redeem at least 2,500 points. Miles won’t expire unless you no longer have a Venture Card. If you want to stop paying the annual fee, you can convert to a no-annual-fee version. Capital One Venture Card.
	Bank of America Points are worth 1 cent each. However, many Bank of America customers can earn bonus points based on the size of their relationship with BOA. If you have at least $100,000 in assets with Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, you can get a 75% credit card reward bonus, which makes them the most lucrative of the fixed-value cards. Points don’t expire as long as you have a point-earning card, and the standard card doesn’t have an annual fee. Bank of America Credit Cards.
	FlexPerks have a fixed redemption value of 1.5 cents per point, and work for all airline, hotel, and car rental redemptions made through their travel portal. With the FlexPerks Travel Card, any flight booked through the travel portal also gets a $25 airline incidental credit (for use on that flight). Alternatively, if you activate the feature, you can simply use your card to make a travel purchase that is over a certain amount (depending on the category), and U.S. Bank will send you a text message. You can then respond to the text message to get a bill credit for the purchase. Unfortunately, this doesn't work for the FlexPerks Amex card, where points can only be redeemed through the portal, it doesn't earn you the $25 credit you'd get with the FlexPerks Travel card, and the triggering minimums for hotel reservations ($500) is way too high. Up until recently, points could be redeemed in specific size chunks to pay for the full price of airline tickets. Depending on the price of the tickets, the points were worth 1.5 to 2 cents per point—but it was hard to get full value. FlexPoints expire 5 years after you earn them. U.S. Bank Credit Cards.

Remember that fixed-value cards are essentially the same as cash-back cards. The Capitol One Venture Rewards earns you 2 points per dollar, that can be applied to your credit card bill, at a penny a piece, for travel purchases. The Citi DoubleCash card earns you 2 cents per dollar, which can also be used to pay for travel purchases. Other cash back cards earn even more, and you can use the cash for any type of purchase. Lua error in Module:Link at line 366: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value)..

Using transferable points to pay for cash tickets

Each of the transferable credit card points can be used like cash, instead of being transferred to airline and hotel loyalty programs.

It is usually more valuable to transfer these points to a partner’s award program, than to use them like cash. You'll usually get more value by turning them into miles and points for award tickets and hotel nights. However, if you are having trouble finding good opportunities to use your points, or you want (or need) to avoid using cash for an upcoming trip, it is easy to use your transferable points like cash instead.
To redeem these points like cash, you need to purchase your travel through the credit card company’s website. You CAN'T use your points to purchase travel on general-purpose travel booking sites like Expedia, or directly with airlines and hotels. Prices on the portal should be the same for airfare, but they won’t always be able to book every option (like Southwest). Prices for hotels should match the normal “best available prices” available elsewhere, but won’t usually be as good as the lowest prices you might be able to find. In most cases, you also you won’t earn credit for, or receive benefits from, elite hotel status.

Normally worth 1 cent each., when used for airfare bought through Amex Travel. However, if you have the Business Platinum Card you’ll receive 35% of your points back after you make your purchase, making your points worth 1.54 cents each. For example, if you want to purchase a ticket that costs $400, you’ll need to use 40,000 points. But, then you’ll get 14,000 of those points back, lowering the number of points you spent to 26,000.

The minimum redemption is 5,000 points. Points are worth less if they are used for other types of travel purchases.

If you have the Sapphire Reserve card, all your Ultimate Reward points are worth 1.5 cents each. With the Sapphire or Ink Preferred, all your points are worth 1.25 cents each. Otherwise, all your points are worth 1 cent each.

If you have a Citi Prestige card, points are worth 1.25 cents for airfare bought through Citi. If you have a Citi Premier card, points are worth 1.25 cents for all travel bought through Citi. Otherwise points are worth 1 cent each. You must transfer your points to the appropriate Citibank ThankYou account before redeeming them, to be eligible for the higher redemption rate.