Points.com is a free-to-join service that lets you buy, exchange and redeem your points and miles. The company also partners with loyalty programs to run their points/miles promotions, and provides a loyalty program tracking service, Loyalty Wallet, to help you keep tabs on your various rewards in one place.
If you’re not sticking to one airline or hotel chain, then you’re probably racking up small amounts of points and miles from multiple loyalty programs. At this rate, it’ll take forever before you’ll earn enough for any kind of freebies.
This is where Points.com comes into play. Through the site, you have the option of buying the points/miles you need to reach your goals, or you can sell and trade the rewards you have no use for.
Points.com is the largest service of its kind, and works with just about every major loyalty program you can think of. They’re partners with over 100 different brands, including Air France/KLM, Hyatt, JetBlue, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta, IHG, Marriott and Southwest Airlines, to name a few.
Plus, Points.com is always updating with new promotions and offers for discounts and bonus points/miles.
Take a look at all of the Top Travel Websites here.
Points.com Current Promotions
The following Points.com partners are selling their points/miles at a discount or bonus. If you’re loyal to one of the airline or hotel groups below, you might want to take advantage of their limited-time promotion.
See all current Points.com promotions here
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
Alaska Airlines is offering up to a 60% bonus on Mileage Plan miles purchases. To qualify, you must buy a minimum of 30,000 miles. Here’s the Alaska Airlines link to purchase miles.
| Promotion | Up to a 60% bonus |
| Purchase Rate | As low as 1.73 cents / mile |
| Our Valuation | 1.8 cents / mile |
| Promo Dates | See the link for updates |
Hilton Honors
Hilton is selling Hilton Honors points with a 100% bonus. You must buy at least 10,000 points to qualify. Here’s the Hilton Honors link to buy points.
| Promotion | 100% bonus |
| Purchase Rate | 0.5 cents / point |
| Our Valuation | 0.6 cents / point |
| Promo Dates | See the link for updates |
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Southwest is selling Rapid Rewards points at up to a 45% discount. Because the airline does not have any airline redemption partners, nor international first-class redemptions, taking advantage of this deal is only worthwhile if you need to top-up for a specific award flight. Here’s the Southwest Rapid Rewards link to purchase points.
| Promotion | Up to a 45% discount |
| Purchase Rate | As low as 1.51 cents / point |
| Our Valuation | 1.5 cents / point |
| Promo Ends | See the link for updates |
Choice Privileges
Choice Hotels is offering a 25% discount on Choice Privileges points purchases. There is no minimum to qualify. Here’s the Choice Privileges link to purchase points.
| Promotion | 25% discount |
| Purchase Rate | 0.74 cents / point |
| Our Valuation | 0.6 cents / point |
| Promo Ends | See the link for updates |
Should You Buy Points Or Miles?
Buying points and miles comes with high risk, and you should never consider it if you don’t know exactly when or how you’ll be using your purchased points/miles. We recommend buying them right before you plan to redeem them. Otherwise, you run the risk of your rewards devaluing over time.
Rarely is purchasing points and miles a good deal. The prices for buying are often relatively high, compared to what you can redeem or exchange them for. Make sure you know the value of your purchased points/miles to gauge if it makes sense to buy them.
All things considered, there are still a few good reasons why you might go through with a points/miles purchase. For example:
To Prevent Rewards Expiration
Most points and miles come with an expiration date, usually when your account is inactive for an extended period of time. It would be a shame for all your hard-earned rewards to vanish into thin air, just because you haven’t traveled for awhile. Luckily, you can often keep your account active simply by earning rewards, which includes purchasing points/miles.
To Top Off For A Specific Redemption
Award space has just been released for the flight you’ve been eyeing, but you’re still a few thousand miles shy of the incredible redemption. If you wait, other like-minded travelers will likely snatch up all the award seats. Topping off your account by purchasing miles makes perfect sense in this scenario.
To Reduce The Cost Of A Higher-Cabin Flight
Buying miles can be a way to cut down the cost on a business or first-class flight. Higher cabins can be upwards of a couple thousands dollars, while purchasing miles toward the award can be a fraction of the cost of a cash ticket. Make sure to buy your miles during a sale to get even more for your money.
Best Credit Cards To Use On Points.com
If you decide to buy points/miles, why not use a credit card that will get you the most bang for your buck? Points.com spending, unfortunately, won’t code as purchases with the airline or hotel program or as travel. So, you won’t be able to double-dip with cobranded and travel cards like Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card and Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. Instead, go for a rewards card that gives you a solid return on non-bonus spending. With that in mind, here are the best cards to use on Points.com:
| CREDIT CARD | WHY? |
| Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card | 2x miles on all purchases |
| The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express | 2x points on all purchases (up to $50,000 in spending per year) |
| Chase Freedom Unlimited® | 1.5x points on all purchases |
CHASE FREEDOM UNLIMITED®
The Chase Freedom Unlimited® credit card has an offer for an additional 1.5% cash back on everything you buy, on up to $20,000 spent in your first year of card membership, for up to $300 cash back.
Bottom Line
For the most part, buying points and miles doesn’t make sense because they’re often much more expensive to purchase then what you can redeem them for. However, there are a few scenarios where buying points/miles is a good strategy. Especially if you time your purchase with a Points.com sale and you use the right rewards card to buy them.
READ MORE: SEE THE BEST BANK BONUSES HERE AND THE BEST INVESTING BONUSES HERE.
