There is no shortage of ways to earn points and miles. From credit card welcome bonuses to bonus categories, shopping portals, and 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 just save up the points you earn from 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 get straight into the meat and potatoes of all of the current promotions that allow you to receive a discount or bonus on your points and miles purchases.
Latest Point Purchase Promotions
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Promotion:
- Purchase 5,000 to 29,000 points and get a 50% bonus (1.7 cents per point)
- Purchase 30,000 to 55,000 points and get a 65% bonus (1.55 cents per point)
- Purchase 60,000 or more points and get an 85% bonus (1.38 cents per point)
- Deadline: October 9, 2022
- Programs That Transfer to Aeroplan: Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Chase Ultimate Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy
- Link to Purchase
We value Air Canada Aeroplan points at 1.5 cents apiece, so being able to purchase them for as low as 1.38 cents apiece makes this promotion quite enticing for us. When you consider all of the great redemptions you can make using Aeroplan points, this can be a very lucrative promotion to take advantage of.
American Airlines AAdvantage
- Promotion:
- Buy 5,000 to 24,000 miles and get a 10% discount (3.4 cents per mile)
- Buy 25,000 to 79,000 miles and get a 15% discount (3.2 cents per mile)
- Buy 80,000 to 104,000 miles and get a 20% discount (3 cents per mile)
- Buy 105,000 to 149,000 miles and get a 25% discount (2.8 cents per mile)
- Buy 150,000 miles and get a 30% discount (2.4 cents per mile)
- Deadline: N/A
- Programs That Transfer to American: Bilt Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy
- Link to Purchase
We value American Airlines miles at 1.4 cents per mile, so unless you are fresh out of AA miles, but have a redemption in mind that would allow you to get more than 2.4 cents per mile in value, we would skip this promotion.
Hot Tip: See how much your points and miles are actually worth in our monthly guide to travel points and miles valuations.
Choice Privileges
- Promotion:
- Buy 6,000 to 11,000 points and get a 20% bonus
- Buy 12,000 to 19,000 points and get a 25% bonus
- Buy 20,000 points or more and get a 35% bonus (0.76 cents per point)
- Deadline: October 9, 2022
- Programs That Transfer to Wyndham: Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards
- Link to Purchase
While this isn’t the best promotion Choice Privileges has ever had, it can still present some good value at the right hotels. If you’re booking a stay where the cash prices are quite high, purchasing points to make the booking would make sense.
- Promotion:
- Buy 2,000 to 4,000 points and get a 15% discount (1.1 cents per point)
- Buy 5,000 to 6,000 points and get a 20% discount (1 cent per point)
- Buy 7,000 to 60,000 points, get a 25% discount (0.975 cents per point)
- Deadline: October 24, 2022
- Programs That Transfer to Wyndham: Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Rewards
- Link to Purchase
We value Wyndham points at 0.9 cents apiece, relatively close to the 0.975 cents per point price you can purchase them for. Given that, depending on what you plan to redeem these points for, it could make sense to purchase them at these rates.
When Should You Purchase Points?
As promised, let’s now go through some examples of when it might make sense for you to purchase points and miles.
Account Top Off
It can feel quite frustrating to have a redemption you’d like to make, with available award space to boot, but yet you don’t have quite enough points 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, that award space can vanish quickly.
In cases like these, it can make sense to purchase a small number of points to move your account balance above the amount needed to book the award.
Price Arbitrage
Many of the examples we include in our various point purchase posts and Upgraded Points involve the opportunity to take advantage of price arbitrage.
For instance, say you’d like to fly business class 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 aboard American Airlines for 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. Some examples include purchasing 52,500 American Airlines miles for $1,680 at the 15% discount or purchasing 50,000 Etihad miles for $780 thanks to the 30% bonus promotion.
Simply put, purchasing points and miles can be a great way to get a large discount on flights you were planning to purchase.
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 might 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 welcome bonuses, everyday card spending, and other point-earning activities like shopping portals as these activities shouldn’t require a significant expense beyond what you might have spent anyways.
That said, there is a time and a place for 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.
Featured Image Credit:
iStocker via Adobe Stock
