Damn bro this is the free game I’ve been looking for for like three YEARS. Thanks so much man, seriously. You made it so easy to understand. I feel so stupid for spending like 100k points on food/Apple 1:1 CPP because I thought it was better than the 0.6CPP due to instant credit. I always thought 1 or 1.1CPP was so great and now I’m seeing the real value. This is insane and you made it SO easy to understand (especially with the spreadsheet). Seriously, thank you man.
Wow thank you so much for the donation from the Super Thanks! I definitely put a lot of time and effort into this video and making the Google Sheet file so I'm glad to hear that it was valuable! Yeah there's a ton of ways to redeem points so it's always good to check and compare prices and values
Following up man holy fuck is this all annoying lol they want you to have logins and accounts with all of these things even to search for point balances - it’s crazy. World wants our data at every turn
Happy to provide that free resource! Thanks so much for watching and I'm so glad to hear that it was easy to understand because that's exactly what I was going for!
Wow. Thank you SO MUCH for this video! The points game is so confusing, especially when we already have 2 airline cc's (8 & 15 years, so can't close) that we are trying to juggle too. This made things so much easier! And your spreadsheet is way prettier than the one I made 🤣
This video was extremely helpful, easy to understand and well laid out. I was never aware of how the alliances work so until i saw this video i thought i was screwed trying to book Delta flights with my Chase points through travel partners. Thanks for the great content!
Honestly been waiting for this video for a while now! I know you usually make those crazy 3cpp valuations for aspirational travel. I like to fly economy to travel to as many places as possible with my points. You’ve made this so easy! And that excel sheet too?? Thank you and keep the content coming 👏
Thanks Louis, so glad to hear that you liked this video! I've been wanting to make this one for a while because there's 2 different ways to play the points and miles game with either domestic economy flights or aspirational travel. I've redeemed points for both types of travel so it's good to have options! Appreciate your support of the channel here 👍
Love your videos Daniel, i frequently send these types of videos out to friends when i try to explain credit card stuff because you make it easy to understand
I can't thank you enough for sharing my videos like that Brandon!! I definitely try to put in the extra work to make these videos easy to understand, so I love to hear that feedback - thanks again! 👍
Hey man I just wanted to say thank you, your videos helped me drum up a strategy to leverage wedding day payments into a massive amount of points. We haven't planned a honeymoon yet but it'll be damn near free, thanks to you!
Hey Brad thank you so much for watching and I'm so glad to hear you say all of that! That's so cool to hear that you'll be able to save so much on the honeymoon from the points and miles - Great work!!
Wow thank you Daniel. This was probably my favorite video of yours that I have seen over the years. Extremely helpful overall, easy to understand and rationalize (even as a person whose head spins every time I hear transfer partners and alliances), and holy cow the free transfer guide as well! Everything I needed in one video. You've done so much for this community and I wish you even more success with this channel!
Thank you so much Steve, that's awesome feedback for this video so I'm really glad that it was helpful! Trying my best to provide everything that people might need to get the most out of their points and miles! 😁 Thanks again for the support!
I was pumped by your tips since I have a ton of chase ultimate points and want to book a flight on American. Got the BA account and can't get any flight from anywhere in the US to anywhere else in the US on the BA site. I can book a flight from London, but that's not very helpful. I wonder if they fixed this loop hole? Then I used your one way idea and the oneway flight was twice the price of the round trip. But you were right the Chase portal charges 60% more than the cash price, so getting cash back for my points and paying cash for flights seems like the only reasonable option.
I'm having a similar issue with Chase points -> Delta miles. Trying to book on Virgin and Fly Blue and can't find the flight I'm looking for. Any tips? Thanks for the informative video! @daniel_braun
Its wayyyy harder than they make it out to be in these kind of videos. It’s really only worth the hassle if you can fly out during the week, which doesn’t work for most people’s vacation plans
Super value-packed video here Daniel! Definitely agree that prioritizing flexible points currencies with issuers like Chase & Amex is super important, and getting locked in with a specific travel brand (like a Delta-specific Card), especially early on, is a huge mistake that a lot of people make. Had no idea that Bilt was the only transfer partner to American Airlines haha. Love the specific examples & great video as always!
Thanks so much Matt! Yeah getting those flexible points currencies is definitely best and opens up so many options. I'd love to see more points transfer to AA other than Bilt so maybe eventually that will happen! If not though, at least British Airways is a good option as well
I think all these points were valid. We walked most of the time as well. Our room was definitely better as we were in one of the HGV suites, but ended up walking or trying to Uber over to kings and queens market for better food options.
I’m trying to book a flight from NYC area to Salt Lake City (SLC) around Feb 8-12 and am not seeing any flights on any of the sky team travel partners’ websites (I have Amex points). Does that mean I’m basically out of luck and have to book through Delta flights’ website and waste a bunch of miles?
Thank you for this detailed video! I wish I had known this years ago when I did most of my traveling. I've been too scared to do transfer partners, finally someone demonstrated how this is being done! Thank you thank you thank you! Now that I have a baby, more reason to fly with points for premium seats!
Would you be able to make a video on the best way to use points on hotels or a place to stay (you may know of other ways, maybe Airbnb or something)? I understand flights are probably easier to get more value from, but my girlfriend works for the airlines and we get flights for very little money or even free. So I was wondering the best ways to get the most value on the hotel/place to stay side of traveling. I absolutely love your videos and just want to thank you because you really opened my eyes to how doable travel actually is!
I'm new-ish to chase points and I have only redeemed my points for Hyatt transfers so far. Of course I'll need to learn about airfare redemptions too becuase I've watched some of your past videos showing some crazy high redemption rates. I've been watching you since 70K subs!
Awesome to hear that you've been here since 70K subs, so thanks for watching my videos! Yeah Hyatt is probably the best place to start with transferring points for more value because it's pretty straightforward. The airline alliance stuff requires a bit more time to find good deals, but it can lead to some really great experiences and values as well! Appreciate the support, hope you enjoyed this video 👍
Dan, great video. Probably the easiest one to follow that I’ve seen - in the points and miles space. It couldn’t have come at a better time for me! Go Phils!
Thanks so much for watching! Yeah it can be challenging to learn all of this stuff and it's always changing. They pretty much know that it's only 1% of people that will take all of these steps, so I'm trying to make it easier for more people to take advantage of this stuff!
This was the part that I was missing in the different alliances and just exactly how to go around and move points in those partners airlines, along with code-sharing etc. Great video Daniel, really liked the flow and the ease of understanding this video conveyed!
Thanks Anthony! Yeah hopefully this can be a good guide for anyone to use to search for some of these award flights within airline alliances on US flights! I've talked about international flights before, so now I'm glad I got to make this video for domestic flights
Hi Daniel, Love your content. Thank you for providing such helpful tools. I like to travel domestically on Southwest. Is Southwest part of a travel alliance? From your travel partner guide spreadsheet it looks like they are not part of an alliance. Looks like I can only use Chase points to book a flight directly with Southwest? Thanks, Curt
Great video! I’m a newbie to the points game so quick question - How do you find the “transfer bonus” promotions? Is it email notifications? Frequently checking websites? Thanks for the help!
I found this video extremely helpful, but I feel like this would work best if you book 6-9 months like you mentioned because it can take a day or two for points to transfer. I’d be worried that the flight sold out if I book last minute. Unfortunately, I have capital one and there are not a lot of options.
Hi Daniel, love your videos. Very informative and well presented. FYI Air Canada Aeroplan no longer allows points US “domestic” flights in 2024. Know your video was made before this restriction though.
Also, a good idea to sign up for all the frequent flyer partners that are applicable ahead of time...can be a bit of a chore to get these done at crunch time.
Isn't there an app out there that does all these calculations automatically, considering flexible dates, alliances, where points are coming from, etc. ?
Hi Daniel 👋🏾 love all of your videos I've subscribed and seen them all! I just got tge Venture X and had the CS Reserve for a few years! Is there a place I can download the spreadsheet? Thanks for what you do for the points & miles community 👏🏾
Amazing video! Now if i used another airline to book the award flight and the flight is cancelled, who should I call to reschedule? The airline I used to book I think?
Love this thank you so much for your videos. But I have one question, why when I tried to do the same after looking up a flight from delta, I can't seem to find the same flight or any flight in airfrance klm or virgin. Am I doing something wrong?
This video was really helpful indeed.... can you also create a video highlighting the best travel partners (both airlines and hotels) mapped to each kind of credit card currency (ex amex, chase, citi and capitalOne points). Like we know that chase points would give us good return for choosing HYAT stays.
Thanks so much for watching, glad you liked it! Yeah I can definitely make more videos going over what the best transfer partners are - it really all depends on what you're looking to do with the points and what places you're trying to travel to. So I'll cover a variety of examples 👍
Can you please tell how you found the united flight on Air Canada? It doesn't allows me to book the flight if the origin and destination are in the same country
Hey Daniel, what Chase cards allow you to transfer points to partners to employ this strategy? Is it only the Chase Sapphire family because I currently do not have one of those cards. Thx
I usually fly through Southwest because of their check in baggage policy. Based off your video and spreadsheet, I have an Amex. So would it make sense not to use them based on this video?
I found your channel by chance, woow i have been using my points wrong! I have a question, when you book with points and go through all the hoops and if you have enough points. Can you book for more than one person in a single time? Or does it have to be redeemed per person?(fam of 6 here)
I personally cut in half the value of a round trip flight to calculate the CPP because one way flights are typically more expensive and overvalues the CPP imo
Most airlines in the U.S. now only sell you 2 one ways for flights within the U.S. I agree with you if you're talking about International flights as RT could be $800 and OW $600 but that's just not how it works domestically anymore.
@@druiz012That might be true for budget airlines but for airlines like american airlines it is cheaper to book rounds trips with cash, and that is what should be used to calculate CPP. Look up Philadelphia to San Diego December 2-6 and the one way is more expensive than the round trip
So for this I can agree sometimes, but it truly varies and depends on the situation. There's been times where I've booked round trip because the price was cheaper - but other times one way fares equal exactly half the cost of round trip so it didn't matter to book one way or round trip. I actually just search around on American with the PHL to PHX route to see if there were price differences and honestly I found both scenarios to be true where round trip was slightly cheaper for certain dates and the same price on other dates. To me, another important thing to consider is flexibility where I know that I can book an award seat with one airline in one direction and then a cheaper cash price on another airline in another direction for the return flight. Round trip makes that more difficult. Sometimes with points and miles you also might only be able to find an award seat in one direction but not the other, so then you have to do some math to figure out if it's better to book points one way and cash the other way, or just a cash round trip ticket. So all of that is to say that people should always compare prices. Personally I usually find that one way is best in most situations and gives the most flexibility, but not always. I also believe that CPP value is not everything and is really just a way to compare deals to each other because sometimes CPP value can be inflated if one way tickets are more expensive than round trip - I actually want to talk about this in a video because you bring up a really good point! I just experienced this myself with a British Airways business class ticket where the one way price would give a CPP value of around 10 CPP, but the round trip price was cheaper and valued the trip at around 5 CPP which is a big difference. Thanks for watching and providing good and valuable feedback! Some people just choose to use negative language in the comments instead of constructively giving opposing thoughts - so again thanks! This video is meant to just be a guide on the process of where to go to transfer points within airline alliances, but the price comparison is an important part of this process as well 👍
@@Daniel_Braun Thanks for the detailed reply Daniel! I completely agree with the points you have made, my point really was just that CPP I have realized is not the end all be all! I would agree that booking reward travel one way is the way to do it for sure. I think that CPP is sometimes overblown to show outsized value where it might not necessarily have been present but it is of course a good way to see if the booking should be made or not generally. I was just adding my 2 cents (which I am sure you are already aware of) since it is something I use to evaluate reward redemptions since I have learned more and more about travel hacking, but thank you for always providing great and valuable content. You have helped me get progress on my luxury travel credit card journey in more ways than one!
So if you download the Excel file and then open up a new Google Sheets file, then go to File > Import > Upload then you’ll be able to import that file directly into Google Sheets!
I just searched for a flight from EWR to SFO on July 4, 2025 on United. There are saver award seats. Then when I go to Air Canada to search for the same flight and date, there are none. So I guess saver award seats are not always available on other airlines in the same Star Alliance…
Can you do a video like this for hotels? Hyatt aside, most hotels don’t transfer as well compared to flights. Speaking of Hyatt, next time you’re Washington, DC, check out the Grand Hyatt. It’s my favorite
I can do a video like this for hotels as well. Generally Hyatt is going to be the most consistent with point redemption values. I'll see if I can find some good example for Marriott, Hilton, etc. as well. But in general like @LK_EBM referenced, it can be better to use certain points for flights instead of hotels - but it really all just depends on the prices and what you personally value and want to use your points for. I'll see if I can make a video like this for hotels though 👍
Not sure if I missed this but can you combine points from two cards into one travel partner if they both include that partner? For example if you have 5k with BILT and 5k with Chase and transfer that all to Hiatt, will that work out if you need 10k Hiatt points to book something?
Hey Daniel. Great video man. This is what it’s all about. Here’s one to think about: within each alliance, is there a best loyalty program? I think British Airways is the best loyalty program in Oneworld for example. Does it make sense to have multiple loyalty programs within the same alliance?
Thanks so much Elliott, glad you liked it! So I think within each alliance there's many airlines that have their own sweet spots. For me, the ones I mentioned here in this video are where I usually look first if I'm trying to book a US flight on points and miles - but I'll definitely go over some more example in future videos as well!
hello daniel im so happy to come accr0ss your video... i have a question i have an aeroplan account which i do point bookings from and basicly i like to do a point only booking where i do not pay anything including taxes because i cover that with my points.. as at 18th of this month they took away that option and i have to pay taxes for my future bookings but i always prefer to pay it all with my points... is there any other airlines that i can move to where they have a point only booking without me paying nothing for taxes but rather pay it all in points.. love jeff canada
Not sure what magic you used but when I checked the same travel plan of Atlanta to San Diego on Air France or Virgin Atlantic, the airline says they don't have any flights. Is there a setting I'm missing?
It's probably sold out. These saver award flights are extremely limited. Unless you are very flexible, you're unlikely defined these prices for your location, date, time
I just checked Air France and it looks like there's some sort of a glitch in their search tool right now where it's not showing any results. But for Virgin I just searched for ATL to SAN on April 10 and it's still available at that same 12,500 points price! Make sure to select "Show Price in Points" within the search tool. But award availability is always changing, so this video is just meant to be a guide for how to search that you can rewatch as needed
Hi Daniel. I heard do these airlines under the same alliance program display all available flights from other airlines? I see for example, British airways not showing available flights while the schedule does appear on other places (e.g., google)
That's a lot of things that need to fall in place in order to make it work. Most people need to travel and don't have time to plan all of this out, be flexible with their dates, wait to collect enough points to cover tickets etc. So credit card travel portals actually are usually the best way to go since you can pay with points + cash
If 1 hour of hunting for the perfect cheap ticket saves me $200 then I basically got paid $300 for an hour of my time. I don't know about you but that's a good deal to me.
Unfortunately with videos like this it's pretty difficult to cover every single example because the prices in points and cash vary so much with locations, dates, etc. This video is just meant to be a guide for how to search for award seats with US airlines on a basic level. Certainly are more ways to do it, but these are some of the best places to start for most people. I'll make more videos going over more stuff in the future as well though 👍 Thanks for watching!
Does booking round trip cut point redemption in half? I never see anyone booking round trip but being realistic, if it's a vacay, i need a flight back home.
Thanks so much! And no worries about that at all, cash back is still great! The points and miles stuff take some time to learn all of this stuff, so taking the cash back is just much easier for some people. Thanks for watching!
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I live in FL with major hubs I look at these transfer parter flights and the flight I want to take other airlines don’t go to. I don’t think it’s this easy as he makes it
It's definitely not easy. You need to be more flexible with your airport, travel location, date, and time. Otherwise, you won't find these low cost saver awards
Definitely not always going to be easy - the award availability is always changing so it helps to be flexible and search around. Searching far in advance and last minute can help as well as that's when award availability might be the most. But in general, start by searching with any of the 3 major airlines like I showed in this video and use their airline alliance partners to search as well.
Great information! Sorry if you’ve covered this already, new to your channel, but are these types of reduced redemptions available in the hotel points arena? I suspect not since there isn’t the alliance structure but just asking for the long shot.
Thanks so much Scott! So to answer your question, there are not the same alliances for hotel programs like there are for airlines - so the only way to book Marriott is by transferring to Marriott and the only way to book Hyatt is by transferring to Hyatt, etc. Like Brandon said above, Hyatt is the best value in the credit card points game for hotel stays. If you compare maybe a $300 night at a hotel for Hyatt vs Marriott for example, it might only cost 10,000 to 15,000 Hyatt Points whereas it might cost 40,000 to 45,000 Marriott points. So for me and many other people that like to use Chase points, Hyatt is only of the best transfer partners for that - but you should still always compare cash and points prices 👍
Hey Daniel! Have a quick advisory question, I just opened my Chase Freedom Flex card about 3 months ago, and I'm doing very well on credit utilization and paying on time thanks to you, with that said, I'm looking to expand into a 2nd credit card around the mid-tier level, and I'm looking either at the AMEX gold or Chase Sapphire preferred, my most spent category is in the food/dining which is why I was leaning more towards the AMEX gold, but idk if I would be accepted (720 credit score currently) considering I'm a new credit card user (of 3 months) and I'm already going for a 2nd card, should I make it easier and go for the Sapphire preferred instead where I'm more likely to get accepted since I've been with Chase already? The goal would eventually be to have both of these cards, but in what order? Any tips would greatly help!
with points, miles, and whatnot, do you really earn more than just x% cash back? this system just seems so much more complicated, probably as an effort to get people to utilize their rewards less and on the other end of the spectrum spend more on flights/hotels that they wouldn't've already
@@TheFizz263 The hoops usually involve flexibility with time and patience. Which most people can't afford when planning traveling here and there every other month. So most people end up using travel portals and the most convenient and flexible way to pay with points + cash. Sure you can sit and wait for half a year to get enough points for that cheap flight for American that British shows on their website, but most likely you won't.
can i transfer the points to book for someone else? LIke transfering my amex points to my bro's british airways so he can book his flight. or does the account names have to be the same when you are transferring the points?
So you often have to transfer to an airline or hotel program under the same name as your credit card account. You can definitely book it for someone else by using your own British Airways account though, like @LK_EBM said!
It all depends on the airline. Basically if you search for flights in any of the ways the I showed in this video, then you'll be able to identify them. If it's a US airline flight that's available through an alliance partner search, then it's an award flight. But there's a ton of other information available on this online, so it can also be helpful to do a Google search for "How to book X award flights"
Confused about the Flying Blue program. When I try booking a domestic flight on Air France, or Virgin Atlantic it's showing up as 'error'. I even tried the example: Atlanta to San Diego. Anyone else running into trouble?
💻 Check out the FREE Transfer Partner Guide & Calculator here: danielbraun.me/TransferGuide
i see the transfer partner guide but NOT the calculator, which is what i need
Damn bro this is the free game I’ve been looking for for like three YEARS. Thanks so much man, seriously. You made it so easy to understand. I feel so stupid for spending like 100k points on food/Apple 1:1 CPP because I thought it was better than the 0.6CPP due to instant credit. I always thought 1 or 1.1CPP was so great and now I’m seeing the real value. This is insane and you made it SO easy to understand (especially with the spreadsheet). Seriously, thank you man.
Wow thank you so much for the donation from the Super Thanks! I definitely put a lot of time and effort into this video and making the Google Sheet file so I'm glad to hear that it was valuable! Yeah there's a ton of ways to redeem points so it's always good to check and compare prices and values
Following up man holy fuck is this all annoying lol they want you to have logins and accounts with all of these things even to search for point balances - it’s crazy. World wants our data at every turn
I love that transfer partner guide showing all the airlines and hotels with the various credit card companies!
Thanks so much Jacob! Yeah a guide like that definitely is helpful so glad to hear you liked it!
It’s not letting me download and open in sheets from the email link. Does anyone know how?
I’ve followed the points and miles game for a while, and this was by far the easiest video to understand. Thanks for the free resource too!
Happy to provide that free resource! Thanks so much for watching and I'm so glad to hear that it was easy to understand because that's exactly what I was going for!
I've been waiting for this one! I'm gonna be coming back to this one a lot, and I'm sure many people would say the same! Great stuff as always man. 👊🏼
Wow. Thank you SO MUCH for this video! The points game is so confusing, especially when we already have 2 airline cc's (8 & 15 years, so can't close) that we are trying to juggle too. This made things so much easier! And your spreadsheet is way prettier than the one I made 🤣
This video was extremely helpful, easy to understand and well laid out. I was never aware of how the alliances work so until i saw this video i thought i was screwed trying to book Delta flights with my Chase points through travel partners. Thanks for the great content!
Thanks so much Jamal, glad to hear it was helpful! There's definitely ways to book Delta flights with Chase points when you find award availability!
Honestly been waiting for this video for a while now! I know you usually make those crazy 3cpp valuations for aspirational travel. I like to fly economy to travel to as many places as possible with my points. You’ve made this so easy! And that excel sheet too?? Thank you and keep the content coming 👏
Thanks Louis, so glad to hear that you liked this video! I've been wanting to make this one for a while because there's 2 different ways to play the points and miles game with either domestic economy flights or aspirational travel. I've redeemed points for both types of travel so it's good to have options! Appreciate your support of the channel here 👍
Best CC content creator right now I stg. Your videos are the best
Thank you so much for saying that! I appreciate the support!
Love your videos Daniel, i frequently send these types of videos out to friends when i try to explain credit card stuff because you make it easy to understand
I can't thank you enough for sharing my videos like that Brandon!! I definitely try to put in the extra work to make these videos easy to understand, so I love to hear that feedback - thanks again! 👍
Hey man I just wanted to say thank you, your videos helped me drum up a strategy to leverage wedding day payments into a massive amount of points. We haven't planned a honeymoon yet but it'll be damn near free, thanks to you!
Hey Brad thank you so much for watching and I'm so glad to hear you say all of that! That's so cool to hear that you'll be able to save so much on the honeymoon from the points and miles - Great work!!
Wow thank you Daniel. This was probably my favorite video of yours that I have seen over the years. Extremely helpful overall, easy to understand and rationalize (even as a person whose head spins every time I hear transfer partners and alliances), and holy cow the free transfer guide as well! Everything I needed in one video. You've done so much for this community and I wish you even more success with this channel!
Thank you so much Steve, that's awesome feedback for this video so I'm really glad that it was helpful! Trying my best to provide everything that people might need to get the most out of their points and miles! 😁
Thanks again for the support!
I was pumped by your tips since I have a ton of chase ultimate points and want to book a flight on American. Got the BA account and can't get any flight from anywhere in the US to anywhere else in the US on the BA site. I can book a flight from London, but that's not very helpful. I wonder if they fixed this loop hole? Then I used your one way idea and the oneway flight was twice the price of the round trip. But you were right the Chase portal charges 60% more than the cash price, so getting cash back for my points and paying cash for flights seems like the only reasonable option.
I'm having a similar issue with Chase points -> Delta miles. Trying to book on Virgin and Fly Blue and can't find the flight I'm looking for. Any tips? Thanks for the informative video! @daniel_braun
Its wayyyy harder than they make it out to be in these kind of videos. It’s really only worth the hassle if you can fly out during the week, which doesn’t work for most people’s vacation plans
Probably the best video on redeeming points for travel. Thank you so much!
So glad to hear you say that! Thanks for watching! 👍
Super value-packed video here Daniel! Definitely agree that prioritizing flexible points currencies with issuers like Chase & Amex is super important, and getting locked in with a specific travel brand (like a Delta-specific Card), especially early on, is a huge mistake that a lot of people make. Had no idea that Bilt was the only transfer partner to American Airlines haha. Love the specific examples & great video as always!
Thanks so much Matt! Yeah getting those flexible points currencies is definitely best and opens up so many options. I'd love to see more points transfer to AA other than Bilt so maybe eventually that will happen! If not though, at least British Airways is a good option as well
Daniel, enjoyed your appearance on Geobreeze today. Youre a gem to the community, I'm going to enjoy this video now!
Thanks so much for checking out that podcast David! I had a great time chatting with Julia over there! Appreciate you watching this video too 👍
Just downloaded the transfer partners guide but there’s no calculator included for the points… Am I missing something?
I think all these points were valid. We walked most of the time as well. Our room was definitely better as we were in one of the HGV suites, but ended up walking or trying to Uber over to kings and queens market for better food options.
I’m trying to book a flight from NYC area to Salt Lake City (SLC) around Feb 8-12 and am not seeing any flights on any of the sky team travel partners’ websites (I have Amex points). Does that mean I’m basically out of luck and have to book through Delta flights’ website and waste a bunch of miles?
Thank you for this detailed video! I wish I had known this years ago when I did most of my traveling. I've been too scared to do transfer partners, finally someone demonstrated how this is being done! Thank you thank you thank you! Now that I have a baby, more reason to fly with points for premium seats!
Can you send me the CPP calculator? It wasn't offered in the link 😢
same problem
Would you be able to make a video on the best way to use points on hotels or a place to stay (you may know of other ways, maybe Airbnb or something)? I understand flights are probably easier to get more value from, but my girlfriend works for the airlines and we get flights for very little money or even free. So I was wondering the best ways to get the most value on the hotel/place to stay side of traveling. I absolutely love your videos and just want to thank you because you really opened my eyes to how doable travel actually is!
I'm new-ish to chase points and I have only redeemed my points for Hyatt transfers so far. Of course I'll need to learn about airfare redemptions too becuase I've watched some of your past videos showing some crazy high redemption rates. I've been watching you since 70K subs!
Awesome to hear that you've been here since 70K subs, so thanks for watching my videos! Yeah Hyatt is probably the best place to start with transferring points for more value because it's pretty straightforward. The airline alliance stuff requires a bit more time to find good deals, but it can lead to some really great experiences and values as well! Appreciate the support, hope you enjoyed this video 👍
Thank you for doing god's work on the Excel sheet. It's BEAUTIFUL!
Dan, great video. Probably the easiest one to follow that I’ve seen - in the points and miles space. It couldn’t have come at a better time for me! Go Phils!
Love this! Would love to see an international edition. For instance ELAL, thai
Great video. I wish they would just make this process easier. It is insane the hoops you need to jump through to use these benefits.
Thanks so much for watching! Yeah it can be challenging to learn all of this stuff and it's always changing. They pretty much know that it's only 1% of people that will take all of these steps, so I'm trying to make it easier for more people to take advantage of this stuff!
I recently joined your Discord. Spent the whole weekend addicted like crack!
Awesome to hear that, welcome to the Discord!
This was the part that I was missing in the different alliances and just exactly how to go around and move points in those partners airlines, along with code-sharing etc.
Great video Daniel, really liked the flow and the ease of understanding this video conveyed!
Thanks Anthony! Yeah hopefully this can be a good guide for anyone to use to search for some of these award flights within airline alliances on US flights! I've talked about international flights before, so now I'm glad I got to make this video for domestic flights
I have been struggling with this for so long but you made it so easy!! Thank you Thank you!😀🤩
Thanks for the video and the Excel Sheet! Do you also send emails when there are offers available for points transfers?
Hi @josep977 👋🏾 would you mind sharing how I can get the Excel spreadsheet?
Hi Daniel, Love your content. Thank you for providing such helpful tools. I like to travel domestically on Southwest. Is Southwest part of a travel alliance? From your travel partner guide spreadsheet it looks like they are not part of an alliance. Looks like I can only use Chase points to book a flight directly with Southwest?
Thanks, Curt
Great video! I’m a newbie to the points game so quick question -
How do you find the “transfer bonus” promotions?
Is it email notifications? Frequently checking websites?
Thanks for the help!
Thanks so much! This is so much easier to understand than other content I've seen
Love to hear that, thanks for watching! I'll have some more similar content coming out in the near future!
Thx for the video, how can I transfer capital one points to Airfrance ?
I found this video extremely helpful, but I feel like this would work best if you book 6-9 months like you mentioned because it can take a day or two for points to transfer. I’d be worried that the flight sold out if I book last minute. Unfortunately, I have capital one and there are not a lot of options.
Thanks Daniel! Top notch video here!
Thanks so much, glad you liked it! Appreciate you watching 👍
Hi Daniel, love your videos. Very informative and well presented. FYI Air Canada Aeroplan no longer allows points US “domestic” flights in 2024. Know your video was made before this restriction though.
When it comes to using transfer partners, how does it work with delayed or cancelled flights protection/reimbursement?
Thanks for the video, Daniel. AA and BA are the best airline for PHL people?
That is what I use. Interested to see what Daniel says.
Also, a good idea to sign up for all the frequent flyer partners that are applicable ahead of time...can be a bit of a chore to get these done at crunch time.
Great video! This spreadsheet is going to be so useful, thank you 🙏🏼 Do you have a quick video / tutorial on how you use it?
The Goat learned so much
I also subscribed today
All love ❤
Such a helpful video! Thanks, Daniel!
Isn't there an app out there that does all these calculations automatically, considering flexible dates, alliances, where points are coming from, etc. ?
Hi Daniel 👋🏾 love all of your videos I've subscribed and seen them all! I just got tge Venture X and had the CS Reserve for a few years! Is there a place I can download the spreadsheet? Thanks for what you do for the points & miles community 👏🏾
Thank you, Daniel! This is immensely helpful.
Amazing video! Now if i used another airline to book the award flight and the flight is cancelled, who should I call to reschedule? The airline I used to book I think?
This a really good video! Good job. My question is what if you wanna travel outside America, what would be the best credit card to use?
Love this thank you so much for your videos. But I have one question, why when I tried to do the same after looking up a flight from delta, I can't seem to find the same flight or any flight in airfrance klm or virgin. Am I doing something wrong?
This video shared is GOLD!
This is great. Very helpful! How do you find out about the transfer bonus/discounts that happen from time to time?
If youre not looking to redeem points at the moment, is it worth booking through the travel portal to get the pts multiplier?
This video was really helpful indeed.... can you also create a video highlighting the best travel partners (both airlines and hotels) mapped to each kind of credit card currency (ex amex, chase, citi and capitalOne points). Like we know that chase points would give us good return for choosing HYAT stays.
Thanks so much for watching, glad you liked it! Yeah I can definitely make more videos going over what the best transfer partners are - it really all depends on what you're looking to do with the points and what places you're trying to travel to. So I'll cover a variety of examples 👍
Sounds like you can only do this with economy seats. Do any of these partners work with First Class flights?
Can you please tell how you found the united flight on Air Canada? It doesn't allows me to book the flight if the origin and destination are in the same country
This is awesome. Would pay money for an interantional guide
Great video! Very informative and the graphics look really good!
Thanks so much Rayshard! Appreciate that about the graphics too, I think my editor did a great job on that!
Hey Daniel, what Chase cards allow you to transfer points to partners to employ this strategy? Is it only the Chase Sapphire family because I currently do not have one of those cards. Thx
Hi Daniel - just subscribed and got your transfer partner guide but the email link has no download option. Is this broken now??
I usually fly through Southwest because of their check in baggage policy. Based off your video and spreadsheet, I have an Amex.
So would it make sense not to use them based on this video?
I found your channel by chance, woow i have been using my points wrong!
I have a question, when you book with points and go through all the hoops and if you have enough points. Can you book for more than one person in a single time? Or does it have to be redeemed per person?(fam of 6 here)
are you also booking the return ticket?
Do the points transfer instantly for all the transfer partners? Or do you have to wait 24hrs or longer?
I personally cut in half the value of a round trip flight to calculate the CPP because one way flights are typically more expensive and overvalues the CPP imo
Most airlines in the U.S. now only sell you 2 one ways for flights within the U.S. I agree with you if you're talking about International flights as RT could be $800 and OW $600 but that's just not how it works domestically anymore.
@@druiz012That might be true for budget airlines but for airlines like american airlines it is cheaper to book rounds trips with cash, and that is what should be used to calculate CPP.
Look up Philadelphia to San Diego December 2-6 and the one way is more expensive than the round trip
Great point... Many just chase cpp so they can brag about it
So for this I can agree sometimes, but it truly varies and depends on the situation. There's been times where I've booked round trip because the price was cheaper - but other times one way fares equal exactly half the cost of round trip so it didn't matter to book one way or round trip.
I actually just search around on American with the PHL to PHX route to see if there were price differences and honestly I found both scenarios to be true where round trip was slightly cheaper for certain dates and the same price on other dates.
To me, another important thing to consider is flexibility where I know that I can book an award seat with one airline in one direction and then a cheaper cash price on another airline in another direction for the return flight. Round trip makes that more difficult. Sometimes with points and miles you also might only be able to find an award seat in one direction but not the other, so then you have to do some math to figure out if it's better to book points one way and cash the other way, or just a cash round trip ticket.
So all of that is to say that people should always compare prices. Personally I usually find that one way is best in most situations and gives the most flexibility, but not always. I also believe that CPP value is not everything and is really just a way to compare deals to each other because sometimes CPP value can be inflated if one way tickets are more expensive than round trip - I actually want to talk about this in a video because you bring up a really good point! I just experienced this myself with a British Airways business class ticket where the one way price would give a CPP value of around 10 CPP, but the round trip price was cheaper and valued the trip at around 5 CPP which is a big difference.
Thanks for watching and providing good and valuable feedback! Some people just choose to use negative language in the comments instead of constructively giving opposing thoughts - so again thanks! This video is meant to just be a guide on the process of where to go to transfer points within airline alliances, but the price comparison is an important part of this process as well 👍
@@Daniel_Braun
Thanks for the detailed reply Daniel! I completely agree with the points you have made, my point really was just that CPP I have realized is not the end all be all! I would agree that booking reward travel one way is the way to do it for sure. I think that CPP is sometimes overblown to show outsized value where it might not necessarily have been present but it is of course a good way to see if the booking should be made or not generally.
I was just adding my 2 cents (which I am sure you are already aware of) since it is something I use to evaluate reward redemptions since I have learned more and more about travel hacking, but thank you for always providing great and valuable content.
You have helped me get progress on my luxury travel credit card journey in more ways than one!
Could this work for out of country flights too? I was looking to fly to Mexico late 2024 early 25.
this is gold
Thanks so much! Glad you liked it 👍
Special request: Can you share the link for the google sheet vs the xlsx format? Ideally we could use the formulas 🙏🙏
So if you download the Excel file and then open up a new Google Sheets file, then go to File > Import > Upload then you’ll be able to import that file directly into Google Sheets!
I just searched for a flight from EWR to SFO on July 4, 2025 on United. There are saver award seats. Then when I go to Air Canada to search for the same flight and date, there are none. So I guess saver award seats are not always available on other airlines in the same Star Alliance…
Can you do a video like this for hotels? Hyatt aside, most hotels don’t transfer as well compared to flights. Speaking of Hyatt, next time you’re Washington, DC, check out the Grand Hyatt. It’s my favorite
You're better off keeping your points for flights, and paying cash for hotels
I can do a video like this for hotels as well. Generally Hyatt is going to be the most consistent with point redemption values. I'll see if I can find some good example for Marriott, Hilton, etc. as well.
But in general like @LK_EBM referenced, it can be better to use certain points for flights instead of hotels - but it really all just depends on the prices and what you personally value and want to use your points for.
I'll see if I can make a video like this for hotels though 👍
I'll have to check out that Hyatt in DC! I stayed at the Park Hyatt in DC last year and that was really nice and I got a suite upgrade for that!
Grand Hyatt is a Cat 4 so you can use the free night from the Hyatt card if you’re so inclined.
Can you do a video like this but with rooms/hotels?
Not sure if I missed this but can you combine points from two cards into one travel partner if they both include that partner? For example if you have 5k with BILT and 5k with Chase and transfer that all to Hiatt, will that work out if you need 10k Hiatt points to book something?
Hey Daniel. Great video man. This is what it’s all about. Here’s one to think about: within each alliance, is there a best loyalty program? I think British Airways is the best loyalty program in Oneworld for example. Does it make sense to have multiple loyalty programs within the same alliance?
Thanks so much Elliott, glad you liked it! So I think within each alliance there's many airlines that have their own sweet spots. For me, the ones I mentioned here in this video are where I usually look first if I'm trying to book a US flight on points and miles - but I'll definitely go over some more example in future videos as well!
hello daniel im so happy to come accr0ss your video... i have a question i have an aeroplan account which i do point bookings from and basicly i like to do a point only booking where i do not pay anything including taxes because i cover that with my points.. as at 18th of this month they took away that option and i have to pay taxes for my future bookings but i always prefer to pay it all with my points... is there any other airlines that i can move to where they have a point only booking without me paying nothing for taxes but rather pay it all in points.. love jeff canada
Where do these transfer bonuses show up?
Not sure what magic you used but when I checked the same travel plan of Atlanta to San Diego on Air France or Virgin Atlantic, the airline says they don't have any flights. Is there a setting I'm missing?
It's probably sold out. These saver award flights are extremely limited. Unless you are very flexible, you're unlikely defined these prices for your location, date, time
I just checked Air France and it looks like there's some sort of a glitch in their search tool right now where it's not showing any results. But for Virgin I just searched for ATL to SAN on April 10 and it's still available at that same 12,500 points price!
Make sure to select "Show Price in Points" within the search tool. But award availability is always changing, so this video is just meant to be a guide for how to search that you can rewatch as needed
Hi Daniel. I heard do these airlines under the same alliance program display all available flights from other airlines? I see for example, British airways not showing available flights while the schedule does appear on other places (e.g., google)
That's a lot of things that need to fall in place in order to make it work. Most people need to travel and don't have time to plan all of this out, be flexible with their dates, wait to collect enough points to cover tickets etc. So credit card travel portals actually are usually the best way to go since you can pay with points + cash
If 1 hour of hunting for the perfect cheap ticket saves me $200 then I basically got paid $300 for an hour of my time. I don't know about you but that's a good deal to me.
@@schm147 it's not a out hunting anything, I didn't mention time spent on it at all
There are some good redemptions missed here, i think looking at every partner of an airline instead of only the ones mentioned here is a good idea
Unfortunately with videos like this it's pretty difficult to cover every single example because the prices in points and cash vary so much with locations, dates, etc. This video is just meant to be a guide for how to search for award seats with US airlines on a basic level. Certainly are more ways to do it, but these are some of the best places to start for most people. I'll make more videos going over more stuff in the future as well though 👍
Thanks for watching!
@@Daniel_Braun Very true, and this is a good introductory video overall
Hello 👋🏾 would someone be able to please share the link to the Excel file shown in the video? Much thanks for your time 🙏🏾
Does booking round trip cut point redemption in half? I never see anyone booking round trip but being realistic, if it's a vacay, i need a flight back home.
Misleading. Award availability for delta on virgin and flying blue is 💩
Highly educational video, thanks! But I’ll stay on cash back since this is too complicated for me 😞
Thanks so much! And no worries about that at all, cash back is still great! The points and miles stuff take some time to learn all of this stuff, so taking the cash back is just much easier for some people. Thanks for watching!
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I live in FL with major hubs I look at these transfer parter flights and the flight I want to take other airlines don’t go to.
I don’t think it’s this easy as he makes it
It's definitely not easy. You need to be more flexible with your airport, travel location, date, and time. Otherwise, you won't find these low cost saver awards
Definitely not always going to be easy - the award availability is always changing so it helps to be flexible and search around. Searching far in advance and last minute can help as well as that's when award availability might be the most. But in general, start by searching with any of the 3 major airlines like I showed in this video and use their airline alliance partners to search as well.
How do you calculate CPP correctly ?
This was a great video!
Very helpful video, thank you!
That's awesome to hear! Thank you for watching and glad you liked it! 👍
Great information! Sorry if you’ve covered this already, new to your channel, but are these types of reduced redemptions available in the hotel points arena? I suspect not since there isn’t the alliance structure but just asking for the long shot.
For the chase ecosystem, you can transfer your points to Hyatt easily get 2-3 cents per point depending on the category of property.
Thanks so much Scott! So to answer your question, there are not the same alliances for hotel programs like there are for airlines - so the only way to book Marriott is by transferring to Marriott and the only way to book Hyatt is by transferring to Hyatt, etc.
Like Brandon said above, Hyatt is the best value in the credit card points game for hotel stays. If you compare maybe a $300 night at a hotel for Hyatt vs Marriott for example, it might only cost 10,000 to 15,000 Hyatt Points whereas it might cost 40,000 to 45,000 Marriott points. So for me and many other people that like to use Chase points, Hyatt is only of the best transfer partners for that - but you should still always compare cash and points prices 👍
Thank you both!
BA always says there isn’t any flights….. is it where I’m flying out of? RDU is my airport
May be i'm doing something wrong, but BA doesn't allow to book (search for) any domestic US flights. Flights to Europe - no issues.
Hey Daniel! Have a quick advisory question, I just opened my Chase Freedom Flex card about 3 months ago, and I'm doing very well on credit utilization and paying on time thanks to you, with that said, I'm looking to expand into a 2nd credit card around the mid-tier level, and I'm looking either at the AMEX gold or Chase Sapphire preferred, my most spent category is in the food/dining which is why I was leaning more towards the AMEX gold, but idk if I would be accepted (720 credit score currently) considering I'm a new credit card user (of 3 months) and I'm already going for a 2nd card, should I make it easier and go for the Sapphire preferred instead where I'm more likely to get accepted since I've been with Chase already? The goal would eventually be to have both of these cards, but in what order? Any tips would greatly help!
I’m claiming first, i don’t care!
Always number 1 on Credit Card RUclips!
🤣
with points, miles, and whatnot, do you really earn more than just x% cash back? this system just seems so much more complicated, probably as an effort to get people to utilize their rewards less and on the other end of the spectrum spend more on flights/hotels that they wouldn't've already
The hoops are to induce breakage and poor value redemption. It’s just a game, and like in Vegas, the rules (odds) are stacked in favor of the house.
@@TheFizz263 The hoops usually involve flexibility with time and patience. Which most people can't afford when planning traveling here and there every other month. So most people end up using travel portals and the most convenient and flexible way to pay with points + cash. Sure you can sit and wait for half a year to get enough points for that cheap flight for American that British shows on their website, but most likely you won't.
This was a banger.
I appreciate you saying that, thanks so much for watching!
can i transfer the points to book for someone else? LIke transfering my amex points to my bro's british airways so he can book his flight. or does the account names have to be the same when you are transferring the points?
Just transfer it to your own account, and book the flight for your brother
So you often have to transfer to an airline or hotel program under the same name as your credit card account. You can definitely book it for someone else by using your own British Airways account though, like @LK_EBM said!
@@Daniel_Braun thank you! thanks for making all these videos!
is delta an airline partner? Anyone know that?
American Airlines aint a transfer partner for the bilt mastercard no more as of June 2024
Any gotchas in the transfer process??
For United: you forgot the Turkish Miles&Smiles redemption option, through which you can book any domestic economy flight for 10k miles one way.
how do you know If a flight is an award flight?
It all depends on the airline. Basically if you search for flights in any of the ways the I showed in this video, then you'll be able to identify them. If it's a US airline flight that's available through an alliance partner search, then it's an award flight.
But there's a ton of other information available on this online, so it can also be helpful to do a Google search for "How to book X award flights"
Confused about the Flying Blue program. When I try booking a domestic flight on Air France, or Virgin Atlantic it's showing up as 'error'. I even tried the example: Atlanta to San Diego. Anyone else running into trouble?