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When buying points for vacations, travelers are sometimes torn between the many options available. Ultimately, why spend money on points when you can just accumulate the points you get from regular purchases?
There are plenty of opportunities to earn miles and points. The vast list includes credit card welcome offers, bonus categories and dining rewards programs.
This is a valid argument, and it’s a widely applicable answer. Nonetheless, there are certain situations in which buying hotel points or airline miles makes sense.
Here, we’ll discuss the scenarios in which it might be worth it to purchase travel rewards and then look at promotions for buying points and miles at a discount.
When should you buy points and miles?
Before you delve into the world of purchasing points and miles, there are a few important factors to keep in mind.
In general, purchasing miles or hotel points is rarely a wise decision. In most cases, the cost of buying points and miles is higher than the value achieved when redeeming for travel. After all, why purchase points when you can simply accumulate them through your everyday purchases?
Still, there are certain situations when buying points and miles makes sense.
It can make sense to buy points and miles if you’re able to redeem them for a higher value than what you paid. You can often find this when redeeming points for expensive first- and business-class airfare or luxury hotels.
Take this stay at the Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa, for example. The nightly member rate on a random day in October is $1,158 after tax. Meanwhile, you can book the same night for 30,000 World of Hyatt points, which you can purchase for $576 during Hyatt’s current buy points promotion. So, you would save $582 by buying points versus paying for a room outright.
There are other times when it could make sense to buy miles too. If you want to make a large travel rewards redemption but are short on points, consider purchasing points or miles to top up your account.
Or if you have points or miles that are about to expire, you can purchase a small amount to extend the life of your travel rewards. That said, airline and hotel dining rewards programs also offer a convenient and cost-effective method to prolong the expiration of your miles.
Finally, note that promotions for buying points and miles are often targeted to your loyalty account. Because of this, you may be targeted for a higher or lower discount than what’s stated in this article.
Current promotions for buying airline miles
JetBlue TrueBlue
- Promotion: Up to a 90% bonus.
- Purchase rate: As low as 1.67 cents per point.
- Minimum purchase amount: 1,000 points.
- End date: March 31, 2024.
- Link to purchase.
Currently, you can receive up to 90% bonus points when you purchase at least 1,000 JetBlue TrueBlue points. That said, JetBlue has a revenue-based loyalty program that makes it hard to get more than the purchase rate in value.
Virign Atlantic Flying Club
- Promotion: Up to a 70% bonus.
- Purchase rate: As low as 1.47 cents per point.
- Minimum purchase amount: 5,000.
- End date: March 31, 2024.
- Link to purchase.
When you buy 125,000 Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points, you can earn a 70% bonus in points. Given that you can frequently find award space to fly Upper Class — Virgin Atlantic’s posh business class — for less than 50,000 points one way, you’ll have enough points to book two round-trip tickets to London.
Note that the fees for these award tickets are very expensive on flights operated by Virgin Atlantic, but you can still save a significant number of points. You can often save on taxes and fees by booking tickets on partner airlines like Delta.
Southwest Rapid Rewards
- Promotion: Up to a 50% discount.
- Purchase rate: As low as 1.5 cents per point.
- Minimum purchase amount: 3,000 miles.
- End date: April 2, 2024.
- Link to purchase.
Southwest Rapid Rewards also operates a revenue-based system, meaning you may not receive significant value when redeeming points. Nevertheless, this discount enables you to purchase points at a reduced rate if you don’t have any Chase Ultimate Rewards points you can transfer to Southwest instead.
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Promotion: Up to an 80% bonus.
- Purchase rate: As low as 1.44 cents per point.
- Minimum purchase: At least 15,000 points to get the 80% bonus.
- End date: April 5, 2024.
- Link to purchase.
The current promotion from Air Canada Aeroplan offers up to an impressive 80% bonus on purchases of Aeroplan points, running until April 5. This presents a great opportunity for substantial savings, particularly on pricey business-class award tickets.
Aeroplan points boast flexibility, and US-based members benefit from the absence of sales tax. If you decide to purchase Aeroplan points, make sure to use a credit card without foreign transaction fees, as point transactions are processed in Canadian dollars.
American AAdvantage
- Promotion: Up to a 35% discount.
- Purchase rate: As low as 2.45 cents per mile.
- Minimum purchase amount: 5,000 miles.
- End date: N/A.
- Link to purchase.
There is currently a discount of up to 35% on miles being offered by American Airlines AAdvantage. The more miles you purchase during this promotion, the higher the discount you receive. It can be worthwhile to consider buying American Airlines miles for premium awards in business class and first class if fares are extremely costly.
Current promotions for buying hotel points
Marriott Bonvoy
- Promotion: Up to a 40% bonus.
- Purchase rate: 0.89 cents per point.
- Minimum purchase amount: 2,000 points.
- End date: March 31, 2024.
- Link to purchase.
Marriott Bonvoy members who are targeted for this buying promotion can get a bonus of up to 40% bonus points. However, you are limited to 100,000 points in a calendar year. This might be worthwhile if you need Marriott Bonvoy points and have an expensive redemption in mind. However, American Express, Bilt Rewards and Chase are both Marriott transfer partners, which might be a better solution to accruing Bonvoy points.
World of Hyatt
- Promotion: Up to a 20% discount.
- Purchase rate: 1.92 cents per point.
- Minimum purchase amount: 3,000 points.
- End date: April 9, 2024.
- Link to purchase.
This deal offers a great opportunity to buy World of Hyatt points at a competitive price, making it a popular choice among Hyatt enthusiasts given their reasonable redemption rates for free nights. If you’re eyeing a luxury hotel and don’t have any Chase Ultimate Rewards or Bilt Rewards points to transfer to World of Hyatt, you might consider buying points with this bonus.
Should you purchase points and miles?
Buying hotel points or airline miles may make sense in several situations. It’s possible that you’re only short on the miles or points required for a redemption, or perhaps you wish to extend the expiration date of those travel rewards in your account because your points are about to expire.
For whatever reason, you should make sure the card you’re using awards you bonus points for purchases made with points (pun intended). Since most of these point- and mile-buying promotions are processed by Points.com and not the hotel or airline directly, you should make sure the card you’re using rewards you for non-bonus spending.
For example, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card and Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card both earn 2 Capital One miles per dollar on all purchases.
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