Booking flights with points?

[biochemgirl]

I'm at the point where I'm actually accruing enough miles (Alaska) to start using points. I'm wondering how to get the best flight value for points for Alaska, but also other airlines like SW or JetBlue?

For instance, is it best to book as soon as dates are opened by the airlines? This could be up to 11 months out. Or can I wait closer to travel time or plan a more spontaneous trip and still get good flights with points?

 

[Fangorn]

It's been a long time since I've used points on Alaska (25 years?) So I can't help much there.

With Southwest, the point value is directly tired to dollar value of the ticket. Prices on SW change all the time, and for my market (Portland, OR), the initial price upon release is never the lowest price that ultimately materializes. Other markets may have other experiences. The great thing with SW is that you can book at one price and if a lower price shows up, you just rebook at the lower fare. If you paid in dollars, you'll get a credit for the difference (typically not a refund). But if you used points, the difference in points will just be returned to your account. It's all very simple.

Steve

 

[WDWNY]

Here is a website that tells you the value of flight miles for each airline http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/value-miles-points/ you can decide based off that if you're getting a good deal or not

 

[DebbieB]

I have a Southwest credit card, I book as soon as dates come out. On my last trip, I got points back twice.

 

[DCLMacro415]

I typically use SWA for flights with their rewards program I've found to be the best for myself and my family. That being said, for SWA, I typically watch the schedule release dates and as soon as it opens for the dates I need I book and typically the morning of. I've found that to be the better price. Typically as the trip gets closer I've seen the price go down and I have re-booked the to get the better price. The thing to be aware of, if booking with $ and not points. You do not get the refund, but you get a future flight credit per ticket of each person in your party. Still not a bad deal but using that credit on a future flight, it is not transferable. It has to be used for each person from the booking of the previous flight. I found this to be a bit of a pain. In my situation to get all of the credits to apply properly I had to book my wife, my son (at the time 8 year old), and myself separately. It was a pain and had to call customer service separately.