Buying Airline Tickets With Credit Card Miles

In order to reward loyal customers, frequent users of credit cards often get rewarded by the companies. With a wide array of reward cards out there, it is no surprise that there are those cards as well that assist you in redeeming the reward for airline travel. After every billing cycle, the credit card company accrues the miles and puts them in your accounts till you want to cash them and use them. In order to be able to get a free ticket, or a very cheap ticket, through this system, you would have to spend thousands of dollars on your credit card within a year. For those who want to be able to travel cheaper and cash in on travel related benefits, then it would be a good idea to get a card that gives travel-specific benefits. Once you have a card, you have to decide when to use your reward points or miles for travel and when to use them otherwise. If you choose travel, the next step is to determine how to purchase the airline tickets with your credit card reward miles.

RESEARCH YOUR REWARD OPTIONS

1. The first thing to do is to thoroughly go through the policy you credit card company holds regarding airline tickets. This way, you will know the various options you have and you will be in a better position to decide wisely. This will also inform you about deadline, time limits and other restrictions imposed upon you.

2. The second thing to do is to learn when it is better to not use your credit card points on traveling. There are times when you can get a better offer on other products or on other kinds of travel which you may have been overlooking. For example, it might be a good idea on buying domestic tickets and ensuring whether holiday season travel is allowed according to the policy or not – you will know what situations best suit you.

BOOKING YOUR TRAVELS WITH REWARD MILES

1. In case you don’t already have an online account for your credit card, make one as most of the rewards are redeemed through those online accounts now. Keep your password secure and remember it for future use.

2. Wait till the end of the billing cycle to obtain the rest of the rewards points. In the situation that you are falling short by a few miles from getting a travel reward, you can wait it out till you are billed. Then pay it to make sure you will be receiving the miles.

3. Sign in to your online credit card account and keep a check on your progress with your rewards and points. This can be done by clicking on a ‘Balance’ or ‘Points’ tab and proceeding to the ‘Redeem Miles/Points’ or ‘Travel’ section so you can start to look up your travel options.

4. Look for the kind of ticket you want by experimenting with different dates and destinations and booking the one you want as soon as possible, in order to avoid any increase in ticket prices that may occur later.

5. Decide whether you would rather redeem part or all of the miles in your account.

6. Make the necessary payments that go with the ticket purchase.

7. Through these online bookings, you can accrue miles through the frequent flyer program.

8. Finally, submit your request for rewards travel and wait for your travel confirmation code which will be emailed to you.