Redeeming Points and Miles for Max Value (and What Not To Do!)

Chris Hutchins and Nick Reyes share the strategies you need to know to easily get the most value out of your points and miles. They discuss the best and worst redemption options, transferring points, optimal ways to structure a trip, finding availability, tips for hotel and airline programs and more.
Nick Reyes is the Senior Author at Frequent Miler and co-host of the Frequent Miler On The Air podcast. He is an avid traveler who's been to 60+ countries and loves collecting points and miles.
Resources Mentioned
Nick Reyes
Website: frequentmiler.com/
LinkedIn: / nicholas-reyes-1a579a1aa
X: x.com/nickatfm?lang=en
Frequent Miler On The Air Podcast: frequentmiler.com/frequent-mi...
How to find impossible hotel awards: frequentmiler.com/how-to-find...
The best transferable points program is…: frequentmiler.com/podcast-the...
Points for family travel: frequentmiler.com/points-for-...
Episode #166: Best Tools for Booking Flights with Points & Miles with Greg the Frequent Miler: chrishutchins.com/greg-freque...
Episode #91: Die With Zero: Net Fulfillment Over Net Worth with Bill Perkins:chrishutchins.com/die-with-ze...
Newsletter: chrishutchins.com/email
Leave a review
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3v8pyFF...
The Points Guy Article: Comparison of flights across travel portals: thepointsguy.com/credit-cards...
Award Booking Services
point.me Concierge: www.chrishutchins.com/pointme/
10xTravel: 10xtravel.com/
AwardCat: award.cat/
Full Show Notes
00:00 Introduction
00:57 Why Nick Loves The Points and Miles Game (vs. Cash Back)
03:11 The Worst Ways To Redeem Points and Miles
06:54 Booking Travel via Credit Card Portals
10:36 How To Maximize Transfer Partner Redemptions
16:35 Is It Really Worth Investing Time To Learn The Points Game?
19:34 The Basics of Transferring Points
23:36 How Major Airline Alliances Work
27:27 Understanding Airline Ticket Pricing
28:53 3 Things You Need In Abundance To Travel More
32:48 The Impact of Travel Award Availability
39:28 Optimizing Transfer Bonuses
41:15 How To Position Your Flight and Structure Your Trip
49:25 Redeeming Points and Miles For Different Airline Cabin Classes
54:06 How To Travel With Kids Using Points and Miles
59:39 Can Families Actually Use Awards to Fly Business Class?
01:07:10 Seat Trick For Traveling With Kids
01:10:00 Nick's Advice To Make Best Use of Points and Miles
01:18:03 Are Hotel Points Actually Worth It?
01:21:30 Award Booking Services
Chris Hutchins:
Twitter - / hutchins
Instagram - / chrishutchins
Website - chrishutchins.com/
LinkedIn - / chrishutchins

[@02Hrothgar]

Great episode! Love seeing Nick and Greg being interviewed! It is a nice change of pace from their regular programming. Would love to see them back as regular guests, maybe every quarter/six months.

[@allthehacks]

Let’s make it happen! Stay tuned :)

[@LK_EBM]

Great episode. The FM guys have so much knowledge!

[@allthehacks]

Thanks! Totally agree!

[@shaziaijaz5863]

I love your videos so much very casual but so informative👏👏

[@allthehacks]

@@shaziaijaz5863 thanks!!!

[@dennisb5346]

Great episode! So much good info here. Thanks guys!

[@allthehacks]

Thanks for watching and commenting :)

[@jimmyjames6492]

❤ the episode!!! Thanks for the info + video!

[@allthehacks]

So glad you liked it!

[@johnwick860]

agree, fly to a positioning flight one day before

[@stephenaugustine8120]

Nice video,Please do a video about detail explanation of beyond business by Qatar airways

[@AnthonyFinAtlanta]

Some Frequent Flyer programs will let you cancel an award at no cost due to a medical illness. I recently broke my arm and Air France waived the cancellation fee on 2 award tickets for me. I just had to email to them a report from the hospital proving that I did break my arm. I'm not quite sure if that is a written policy or if I just got a really nice agent on the phone.

[@allthehacks]

Great tip!

[@gregb5876]

My experience has been, you don't need an excuse. That's why I love paying for flights with miles.