This New Tool Will Show You Exactly How to Maximize All Your Unused Travel Rewards
Get ready to go further on points.
Odds are you have your fair share of credit card and airline points sitting around in the back of your digital closet, even if you're just a mildly active traveler. However, Nerdwallet is here to help you dust those bad boys off and get on your way for less.
This month, the financial advice wizards at Nerdwallet unveiled a new tool to help travelers make the most of their unused points by showing you which partners will accept which points, and which ones will take you the furthest.
"We built a tool that allows you to input the points/miles that you have and where you want to go, and we'll give you our recommendations based on our nerdy research of which partner airline likely offers the best value for your points," reps for the company wrote in a blog post.
To use the tool, simply click on each place you currently hold points (think: United, Delta, Chase, Capital One, etc). Then, click on where you want to go. In a snap, the system tells you where you should use your miles, be it on the credit card or airline's own hub, or transfer them to a partner.
For example, I checked off that I currently hold American Express Membership Rewards and want to travel to Europe. According to Nerdwallet, my best bet would be to transfer my points to one of two airline mileage programs: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or ANA.
"Transferring AmEx Membership Rewards to the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is a great option for flying to Europe from the U.S., as awards cost as few as 10,000 points each way to fly between the northeastern part of the U.S. to the U.K. in economy or 17,500 points in premium class," Nerdwallet said. "Just watch out, as Virgin points bookings may also incur a cash fee that can be high. You can also use your Flying Club points to book partner awards with Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) and Delta, which opens up more opportunities from airports across the U.S."
As for ANA, it notes that the program "offers one of the cheapest business class awards to Europe. You can pay 55,000 miles round-trip for economy. Or, upgrade to business class for just 88,000 miles round-trip. You can fly on United, Lufthansa, or any other Star Alliance partner once you have your points in ANA's Mileage Club. Even better, you can book a free stopover."
Want to see your best options? Check out the Nerdwallet tool here.