Are you dying to travel, but don’t think you can afford it? Do you have a stash of credit card points that you don’t know to utilize? Do you want to use your credit card points to book free flights but find the process extremely confusing? I did too.
I had always heard that people used their credit card points to book free flights, but I never knew how. In 2021, I learned how to maximize my credit card points for free travel. Since then, I have used credit card points to book free flights to Greece, Hawaii, California, Seattle and more. This process may seem overwhelming and confusing, but I am here to say IT IS WORTH IT! Think of all the money you can save just by booking one free flight.
My goal in this post is to simplify this process so that you can use your credit card points that have been sitting in your account and travel more for less!
Travel Credit Cards
When looking to book flights with points I usually transfer my points from my American Express Gold Card, my Capital One Venture X, or my Citi Premier card. You can also transfer points from your Chase Sapphire Preferred® however I usually like to save those for my Hyatt stays for a better value. Read more about how I use Chase UR to book Hyatt stays here.
I like to use these credit cards because you can maximize the value of these points by transferring them out to transfer partners. If you opened up a Delta credit card you are limited to Delta points. With Amex, Capital One, and Citi, you can transfer to multiple different airlines. When planning your travels, you don’t want to be limited to just one airline you can book with.
Sign up bonus
I love using these three cards to book flights for free because I can rack up a lot of points with these cards. First, I acquire a large amount of points by hitting the sign up bonus. This means that when I apply for a credit card, it will give me a sign up bonus offer. Usually, you need to spend $4,000 in 3 months or something similar to that. This is called the minimum spend. Once you spend that amount in the time given, you are awarded the sign up bonus which can be anywhere from 60,000-100,000 points (which is enough to book a flight to France!)
How do I spend enough money for the minimum spend to earn the sign up bonus?
I had this similar question when I began travel my points and miles journey. A single person who lives alone may have a harder time hitting a minimum spend than a family of five. When my husband and I are trying to hit a minimum spend we usually put all of our monthly expenses on that one card for the following months. This includes groceries (our biggest expense!!), gas, dining out, car insurance, and even rent. You may even want to wait until you have a large expense coming up such as buying new furniture or home renovations. By combining our expenses onto one card the minimum spend is easier to hit than you might think.
I got the sign up bonus now what?
After receiving the sign up bonus do I cancel the card? Nope! I continue to use these cards for my everyday spending like gas, groceries, etc. I rack up a ton of Amex points at grocery stores and restaurants (4x), and earn 3x points on gas with the Citi Premier Card, and 2x points on everything else with the Capital One Venture X.
Last summer I booked a trip from NYC to Athens for my honeymoon using American Express points transferred to Air France. I love using my American Express points to book free flights. They have a ton of transfer partners including Delta, AirFrance, JetBlue, Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and more!
I have booked dozens of flights for free by transferring my Amex Points to these travel partners. For this example, I will show you how to transfer your credit card points from American Express to Air France. Even if you do not have plans to go to Paris, this is how I typically book all of my award points no matter where I am traveling!
Search
The first thing I do when I am looking to book a flight with credit card points is use Google Flights to see the flights available for the destination and dates that I want to go.
I know I want to head to Paris around June 25 and I want to take this night flight. This price is wayyy to high. I know I want to use my credit card points to book this flight for (almost free)!
Then, I will go to point.me to search for flights that are available to book with points. I find this website to be extremely beginner friendly and even includes how to book your flights with a step by step tutorial.
Next, I am going to put in my dates and the type of points I want to use. I am going to search for the same flight that I found on Google flights, butI can also search all of the flights available to book with points on the date that I want to travel. This way you can make sure you are booking a flight that uses the least amount of points (and taxes and fees) that still aligns with your travel schedule.
Then, enter in flights flying from NYC JFK to Paris CDG. Next, I am going to input my date for departure for a one way flight. I will check the options and how many points it will require to book the flight that I want. Keep in mind that some flights may require higher taxes and fees than other flights! (Unfortunately you cannot pay for the taxes and fees with points you will need to pay for these with cash). Here are my options for flights to book with points. Notice how point.me shows you exactly which type of credit card points you are going to use and how much the taxes and fees will be.
Once I find a flight that works for me, I will see how many points I need to transfer to book this flight. Next, head to the airlines website.
Make an account with the airline
Next, I will head to the AirFrance website and make a free account. This free account will give me a user ID that you will need to transfer your points. Then, I will search to make sure this flight is available on the AirFrance website BEFORE transferring your points.
Always make sure that the flight that you found on point.me is available to book on the airline website. It is a great tool, but is not always 100% accurate. I have never had any issues, but you do not want to transfer your hard earned points and then find out that you can’t use them. I will search for the same flight that I found on Point.me. Once I find it, I am ready to transfer my points to AirFrance.
Transfer points from your credit card
Head to your American Express account, and go to the “Rewards & Membership” tab. Then, click on “Earn & Redeem” and scroll down to “Transfer Points”. Once you are on this page, you will see the full list of transfer partners.
AirFrance is the first option to click on the list. Click on “Show Details” and from here you can input the amount of points that you are going to transfer for your flight. If this is your first time transferring points to this airline, you will need to input your free account information in order to transfer the points. Once all of your information is in you are ready to transfer!
It states here that it can take up to 48 hours for your points to transfer to your Air France account (but sometimes it is instant)so don’t panic! Once your points are in your account, you can book your flight with points directly from the Air France website.
Book your flight
Make sure when you are going to book your flight, you click “Book with miles”. Then choose the flight that matches with the one from point.me.
That’s it! How easy? Now you can book your return flight using the same steps.
No matter where you are headed, you can book free flights with credit card points by using these steps. Let me know which destinations you have flown to for free with credit card points!
