Last-minute holiday travel with points

There’s no place like home, especially at the holidays.

Whether you dragged your feet on buying a plane ticket or just made a last-minute decision to travel, points and miles can help get you to where you want to be this holiday season. 

The cash fare prices of airline tickets surge in the last month before departure, and even more so around peak travel times like the end-of-year holidays. 

But award seat pricing—the lingo for a plane seat you redeemed with points or miles—doesn’t always surge last-minute. Sometimes it does go up, but sometimes, airlines make more seats available to book with points closer to departure day. 

How do you measure value?

This may ruffle some feathers, but let’s talk about two ways to measure the value of a point redemption. At the holiday time, you’ve got two methods: 

The Scrooge method: This is when you measure a point redemption against the retail price of an airline ticket. This dollar-and-cents valuation tells you how much bang you’re getting for your buck. It’s especially helpful when you’re looking at international flights and premium cabin redemptions, but if you insist on this method during peak travel seasons, you may be disappointed.

The Grinch method: Measuring a point redemption by the Grinch method asks you if the redemption makes your heart grow three sizes that day. Part of what makes points so valuable and special is that a redemption can unlock experiences you might not otherwise be able to afford.

When it comes to using points around the holidays, I wouldn’t focus so much on cold, hard cash value. Focus more on how many sizes your heart will grow by taking that flight. 

Best options for last-minute flights

If you want to use points to book last-minute award flights this holiday season, here is what you need to know: 

Start with points search engines

Points search engines are a great way to quickly compare prices across multiple airlines. Several sites, including PointsYeah or Points Path offer free versions of their tools that allow you to search. Your credit card may offer free access to a points search tool, too. 

I recommend starting here because it gives you a quick pulse check of the current going rates for award seats. 

Book through your credit card’s travel portal

If you’re in urgent need of a flight or just waited too long, check out your credit card travel portal. This is essentially an online travel agency where you can book flights, hotels, rental cars, and even experiences. 

You can pay for purchases in the portal with cash or your credit card’s points. This may not always be the best dollar-and-cents value for your points, but it is an option when you need to get there.

Check partners 

If you want to book a last-minute domestic award flight, you can check with some of its partner airlines for availability. Partners may offer lower rates, plus, your credit card points may transfer to a partner, opening up more flexibility than with a single airline. 

To be clear, this method is not a guarantee, but it could help. 

Some airlines to consider: 

• Air Canada Aeroplan: An option if you want to fly a United flight.
• British Airways Executive Plan: Worth checking if you want to fly American Airlines or Alaska Airlines. 

Delta is a partner with Virgin Atlantic and Flying Blue, but domestic Delta flights are rarely available on these partners. 

Check out JetBlue and Southwest

JetBlue and Southwest make most seats available to book with their points and don’t impose close-in (last-minute) fees.

The price of their award seats are tied closely to the cash fare price of the ticket, but if you have the points and want to save cash, these could be options.

Mix and match with one-way flights

Consider booking two one-ways. One could be with points, and one with cash, or you could book with two different airlines using points. 

This may not be the best dollar-for-dollar value, but it could offer more flexibility. 

Can I take advantage of a credit card welcome bonus for last-minute travel?

If you have a stash of points or miles ready to spend, you certainly could put that to work for a summer trip. Maybe you recently earned a welcome offer on a card you opened in the past few months, and are sitting on a treasure trove of points or miles.

But what if you’re starting from scratch today and don’t have a pile of points sitting pretty in your account? If you opened a travel credit card today, would you have enough time to earn the miles needed for a summer trip?

Nothing is impossible, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Usually, a card requires you to spend around $4,000 or more within the first three months or so of opening the new card to earn the points from the welcome offer. You don’t just get the points immediately upon opening a new card. 

Also, it’s important to factor in the time that it may take to get the physical card in the mail. This can often be a week or two. 

If you have one or two big-ticket purchases coming up, then sure, it’s possible that you could earn the welcome offer quickly. Still, you’d have to budget a few weeks for the miles to actually post to your account. Oftentimes, this happens on the first statement after you’ve hit the minimum spending threshold for earning the welcome offer.