November 2024 Buy Points Promotions and Bonuses

There’s no shortage of ways to earn points and miles. From credit card welcome offers to bonus categories to shopping portals to dining programs, the list goes on and on.

Given the numerous options, travelers are often conflicted about purchasing points for their trips. After all, why purchase points when you can amass points with your everyday purchases?

This is a fair point and a solution that works for many. However, there are some instances where purchasing points and miles can make sense. We will explore each of those options later in the post, but first, let’s dive into all of the current promotions that allow you to receive a discount or bonus on your points and miles purchases.

Latest Buy Points Promotions

Air Canada Aeroplan

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 10,000 to 19,000 points and get a 15% discount
  • Purchase 20,000 to 75,000 points and get a 20% discount
  • Purchase 80,000 to 95,000 points and get a 25% discount
  • Purchase 100,000+ points and get a 30% discount (1.78 cents per point)
• Deadline: November 18, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Aeroplan: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Capital One miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy
• Purchase Link

We value Air Canada Aeroplan points at 1.5 cents apiece, so buying them at 1.78 cents apiece isn’t the most optimal option unless you have a high-value redemption lined up.

American Airlines AAdvantage [Targeted]

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 6,000 to 24,000 miles and get a 10% discount
  • Purchase 25,000 to 79,000 miles and get a 15% discount
  • Purchase 80,000 to 104,000 miles and get a 20% discount
  • Purchase 105,000 to 149,000 miles and get a 25% discount
  • Purchase 150,000 miles and get a 35% discount (2.44 cents per mile)
• Deadline: N/A
• Programs That Transfer to American: Marriott Bonvoy
• Purchase Link

Keep in mind that this is a targeted offer, so the exact discount you see in your account may differ. We value American Airlines miles at 1.4 cents apiece, so we wouldn’t recommend purchasing miles at these prices unless you are topping off your account for a specific redemption.

Choice Privileges [Targeted]

• Promotion: 
  • Buy 1,000 to 5,000 points and get no bonus (1.28 cents each)
  • Buy 6,000 to 15,000 points and get a 40% bonus (0.74 cents each)
  • Buy 21,000+ points and get a 60% bonus (0.69 cents each)
• Deadline: November 10, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Choice: Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Wells Fargo Rewards
• Purchase Link

Though there isn’t a ton of buzz around Choice Privileges points, there are abundant examples of when buying these can make sense. Choice Hotels has thousands of properties across the world. While many of these aren’t ultra-high-end, you can score some good value.

Copa Airlines ConnectMiles

• Promotion: 
  • Buy 3,000 to 9,000 miles to get a 30% bonus (2.31 cents each)
  • Buy 10,000 to 14,000 miles to get a 40% bonus (2.14 cents each)
  • Buy 15,000 to 100,000 miles to get a 50% bonus (2 cents each)
• Deadline: November 8, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Copa: Marriott Bonvoy
• Purchase Link

Thanks to a fixed award chart that doesn’t go up and down with demand or holidays, it’s easy to know how many miles you need for a redemption with the ConnectMiles program.

Finnair Plus

• Promotion: 
  • Buy 5,000 to 19,000 miles to get a 35% discount (1.53 cents each)
  • Buy 20,000 to 49,000 miles to get a 45% discount (1.41 cents each)
  • Buy 50,000 to 200,000 miles to get a 50% discount (1.13 cents each)
• Deadline: November 20, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Finnair: Capital One miles, other Avios programs
• Purchase Link

Thanks to a fixed award chart and several redemption sweet spots, it’s easy to redeem Finnair Avios at good value. Solid options include round-trip flights between the U.S. and Finland in economy or business class, or consider using Avios for upgrades to business class after buying discounted economy flights when the price is right.

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 3,000+ points and get a 100% bonus (1.27 cents per point)
• Deadline: November 15, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Hawaiian: Amex Membership Rewards and Marriott Bonvoy
• Purchase Link

We value HawaiianMiles at 0.9 cents apiece. Buying miles at a price higher than that (1.27 cents each) doesn’t make sense in most situations.

IHG One Rewards

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 5,000+ points and get a 100% bonus (0.5 cents per point)
• Deadline: November 16, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to IHG: Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Purchase Link

We value IHG One Rewards points at 0.5 cents per point, though you can certainly get more value than this if you redeem them strategically. If you have a plan for redeeming the points you’d purchase with this promotion, it could be well worth it.

JetBlue TrueBlue

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 3,000+ points and get a 100% bonus (1.61 cents per point)
• Deadline: November 8, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to JetBlue: Amex Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy
• Purchase Link

In our experience, you’ll receive somewhere around 1.3 cents to 1.5 cents per point in value on your JetBlue redemptions. Given that, if you can purchase JetBlue points at 1.61 cents per point, you will not likely save yourself money on your next ticket.

Leading Hotels of the World Points

• Promotion: 
  • Buy 2,000 to 11,000 miles to get a 50% bonus
  • Buy 12,000 to 29,000 miles to get a 75% bonus
  • Buy 30,000 to 50,000 miles to get a 100% bonus (6 cents each)
• Deadline: December 13, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Leaders Club: Citi ThankYou Rewards
• Purchase Link

You can often redeem Leaders Club points for 8 cents per point toward the cash rate of your stay, so purchasing them for 6 cents per point can be a good arbitrage opportunity.

Marriott Bonvoy

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 2,000+ points and get up to a 45% bonus (0.86 cents per point)
• Deadline: December 23, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Marriott: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, and Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Purchase Link

Buying Marriott Bonvoy points, even with a bonus of up to 45%, is expensive and should only be done in the most limited of circumstances. 

Radisson Rewards

• Promotion: 
  • Purchase 1,000 to 250,000 points with a 40% discount (0.36 cents per point)
• Deadline: November 7, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Radisson: N/A
• Purchase Link

We value Radisson Rewards points at 0.25 cents per point. In general, purchasing through this sale really is only practical if you’re very close to a redemption with points you already have. 

United MileagePlus

• Promotion: 
  • Buy 5,000 to 19,000 miles, receive a 30% bonus
  • Buy 20,000 to 39,000 miles, receive a 65% bonus
  • Buy 40,000 to 100,000 miles, receive a 100% bonus (~1.88 cents per mile)
• Deadline: November 21, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to United: Bilt Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy
• Purchase Link

If you were to max out this promotion with the best offer, you’d end up snagging the 100% bonus on the purchase of miles. Instead of purchasing miles for the usual 3.5 cents per mile, you’d get them for 1.88 cents apiece.

However, note that this price is still significantly more expensive than what we value United MileagePlus miles at: 1.2 cents apiece.

World of Hyatt

• Promotion: 
  • Receive a 25% bonus when purchasing 5,000 or more points
• Deadline: January 5, 2024
• Programs That Transfer to Hyatt: Bilt Rewards and Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Purchase Link

This drops the price of purchasing Hyatt points to just 1.92 cents each. We value World of Hyatt points at 1.5 cents apiece, though it’s often possible to get more value than that. 

When Should You Purchase Points?

As promised, let’s examine some examples of when it might be wise to purchase points and miles.

Topping Off Your Account

It can be frustrating to have a redemption you’d like to make, with available award space to boot, but you don’t have quite enough points or miles to make the booking. Of course, you could wait until you do, but if you’re looking to book a business- or first-class award ticket, award space can vanish quickly.

In cases like these, it can make sense to purchase a small number of points to acquire the number of points or miles needed to book the award.

Price Arbitrage

We frequently discuss the opportunity to take advantage of price arbitrage when talking about purchasing points or miles.

For instance, say you’d like to fly from the U.S. to Europe in business class. You pull up Google Flights, pop in your desired destination and travel date, and the results reveal that the best nonstop option is an American Airlines flight that costs a whopping $2,500 — yikes.

While the best award redemptions require locating award space at the saver level, assuming it is available on the date you’d like to travel, you could purchase the points needed for this ticket for far less. For example, you could purchase 58,000 American Airlines miles for just over $1,400 — more than $1,000 less than the retail price.

Bottom Line:

Simply put, purchasing points and miles can be a great way to get a substantial discount on flights you were planning to purchase anyway.

Preventing Points From Expiring

One of the annoyances of some loyalty programs is that their points or miles expire after a set period, usually 1 to 3 years. Depending on your travel habits, you may be at risk of your points expiring if you go long periods without earning or redeeming points within the program.

Fortunately, most programs count purchasing points as a qualifying earn activity, allowing you to extend the life of your miles simply by purchasing a small number of them.

Final Thoughts

In most cases, your primary points strategy should be earning them through new credit card welcome bonuses, everyday card spending, and other point-earning activities like shopping portals, as these activities shouldn’t require a significant expense beyond your everyday spending habits.

That said, there is a time and a place when it can make sense to purchase points and miles. In those cases, promotions that allow you to receive a discount or bonus miles on your purchase can offer you even more value.

Of course, you should always run the numbers when deciding which path makes the most sense for your next redemption, but it is always great to have options.