You could pay 50,000 or 7,500 points for the same flight (but we won't let you)
Friends don't let friends overpay for flights
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When you walk into your local grocery store and buy a pack of Bounty paper towels, there’s one price on the shelf.
But if you buy those same paper towels online or at a different store, you are likely to see different prices at each retailer.
Same paper towels, different prices.
Believe it or not, that’s exactly how airline award tickets often work.
You can pay wildly different mileage prices for the same seat on the same airplane depending on which type of airline mile — or even which credit card travel portal — you use to book it.
Let’s look at a real-world example.
Say you want to fly American Airlines from Dallas to Orlando.
Most people assume the only choice is to book it with American Airlines miles, but that’s often not true.
That same American Airlines flight may also be bookable with Atmos Rewards, British Airways Avios, Qantas Points, Cathay Pacific Asia Miles and other partner programs … and every one of those programs may charge a different mileage price.
Here’s a peek at what I mean via a snapshot from Seats.aero.
Unlike the two or three dollars you might save on paper towels, the difference here can easily be tens of thousands of miles for the same flight.
Yes, it is entirely possible to pay 50,000 or 7,500 points for the same flight, but don’t stress out thinking this is all too much to think about and hang up on me just yet.
You don’t actually have to shop on 15 different websites for flights to get the best deal on paper towels flights using your miles.
You also don’t need to have miles sitting in all of these airline programs to get the best deal (we’ll get to why in just a second).
Here’s really all you need to remember…
Know there isn’t just one mileage price.
Congrats — Checking off that box already puts you ahead of the pack. ✅
Let technology do the shopping.
I personally use Points Path when I’m searching Google Flights and deciding whether to pay cash or miles. If I already know I’m booking with miles and want to compare prices across airline programs, I head to Seats.aero.
Both tools save you from manually checking prices on a bunch of airline websites.
And pssssst, there are free tiers of Points Path that work on top of Google Flights, but you can get a 3-month trial of their pro tool with more features if you’re a paid Talking Points subscriber.
Earn points that keep your options open.
That’s why I love Chase Ultimate Rewards (and the big offer ending soon on one of TPG’s favorite travel cards), Bilt, Amex Membership Rewards and other transferable points. They let you move your points where they’ll go the furthest instead of being stuck with whatever one airline happens to charge.
The goal isn’t to become an airline award expert. The goal is knowing where to look so you get the best mileage price.
Remember, the next time you’re booking an award flight, don’t assume there’s only one mileage price. Just like those paper towels, the same thing may be sold at very different prices depending on where you “shop.”
The difference is that instead of saving a few bucks, you might save tens of thousands of miles just by switching up how you book the flight.
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