It finally happened: You found award space to your bucket list destination and a convenient travel date. The only problem? You have to book fast and your frequent flyer account doesn’t have enough miles. Luckily, that doesn’t have to put a damper on your travel plans. There are several ways you can earn miles quickly to make up the difference, and they don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg:
1 – Transfer Flexible Rewards Points
The easiest way to get miles quickly when you need them is to transfer them from a flexible rewards account. That’s why point diversification is so important. To make sure you’re covered in case you need to transfer points to a hotel or airline account, invest in the following flexible rewards currencies:
- American Express Membership Rewards
- Chase Ultimate Rewards
- Citi ThankYou Points
- Starwood Preferred Guest points
“But what if I need points and don’t have any of those flexible rewards?” Then you’re in luck because there are several other options available to you.
2 – Share Points and Miles
If you need to earn miles and points quickly but don’t have enough flexible rewards to transfer, sharing miles is another option. Lots of rewards programs allow members to pool or share points at no cost. That’s really great for those times when you have a friend, family member, or even a significant other who has extra points they’re willing to lend or gift to you. Some programs impose fees for sharing miles, which works out cheaper than buying miles.
3 – Arrival Miles
The great thing about Arrival Miles from the Barclay Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard is that they are issued as soon as a transaction posts. Made a $1,000 purchase two days ago? You don’t have to wait until the statement closing date to get the miles deposited into your account. They are available almost immediately after your transaction posts. That’s really terrific when you need points for a mistake fare or those times when redeeming points and miles doesn’t make sense. Being able to generate those miles quickly is just another benefit of the Arrival Plus card.
4 – Buy Miles
I don’t normally advocate buying miles, but there are definitely times when you need miles quickly and it’s your only option. In those cases, depending on the cost, you might want to buy miles rather than pay for an airline ticket or hotel stay with cash. Sometimes airlines run really great sales that significantly reduce the cost of miles. I know lots of people who take advantage of these sales in order to stock up on a large number of miles quickly.
The next time you’re in a time crunch and need miles quickly for an award, these options can help you get where you need to go. Without paying through the nose for it. That being said, I want to hear from you: What are some of the ways you stock up on miles quickly when you need to book award travel?
No comments:
Post a Comment