Point.me’s New Tool Could Make Finding and Booking Award Travel Much Easier

If you’ve ever found a great award flight and then had to jump back and forth between point.me, your credit card account, and an airline website to actually book it, you know there can be a lot of steps involved.

Point.me is trying to cut down on some of that with Gateway, a new platform that can bring award searches, points transfers, and even booking directly into a bank or loyalty program’s app or website.

What Is point.me Gateway?

You may already be familiar with point.me, but if you aren’t — or just need a quick refresher — it’s an award search tool that lets you search for award flights across multiple airline loyalty programs in one place.

Gateway takes that a step further. With it, you won’t have to go to point.me separately to search. Its award search tools are built directly into participating bank and loyalty program apps and websites, letting you find award space, transfer points, and book in one place instead of bouncing between multiple sites.

Here are some of the features you’ll be able to use with Gateway.

Search Real-Time Award Availability

Gateway shows real-time award pricing and availability across airline and hotel loyalty programs.

That means if you have transferable credit card points like American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards, you can see award options across multiple transfer partners without searching each loyalty program individually. The results appear directly within the participating bank or loyalty program’s platform.

Compare Points and Cash Prices

In addition to seeing real-time award pricing, point.me users will also see cash prices alongside for the same trip. That should be very useful for travelers wanting to decide whether to use their points or pay cash for a flight.

For example, a 30,000-point flight might look appealing until you see there’s a relatively cheap cash fare available for the same trip. Having both options side by side gives you the information you need to decide which way to book.

Transfer Your Points and Book

Once you find an award you want, Gateway is designed to keep the next steps all in 1 place. You can search, compare options, transfer points, and book directly on the platform of the participating bank or loyalty program, rather than visiting several websites to complete each step.

Final Thoughts

The idea behind Gateway is to take some of the extra steps out of booking award travel by putting award searches, cash prices, points transfers, and booking in 1 place.

Gateway is available to banks and loyalty programs starting today, so we should start seeing these tools show up for travelers soon. We’ll be watching to see which programs add it next.