Should You BUY Miles and Points? (Pros and Cons)

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A lot of people don't know this, but you can actually buy miles and points. But before you get too excited, most of the time it's actually a horrible idea. That being said, there are some scenarios where buying points can make sense. So today, let's turn my expensive mistakes into your benefit and talk about the cases when it actually does make sense to buy miles and points.

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0:00-Intro
0:50-When NOT to Buy Points
2:47-When You SHOULD Buy Points
4:19-Don't Forget THIS...
6:11-Buying Point Examples
8:55-My FINAL Thoughts

[annatomasso]

Depends on what the situation is, for example: if I am traveling alone i hope I have enough miles from all my other trips. If traveling with others, i will buy points to customize my comfort level.

[PatrickHedgesArtist]

As a non American, I once bought a lot of points on a US airline when they had a 100% bonus, and on top of that, our exchange rate was one to one at the time. That meant that I could book a return business class flight from Adelaide to West Africa for considerably less than an economy fare. This strategy would not work for me right now because our exchange rate is 0.65 to one which makes it unviable - but hopefully those times will return again.

[MattNav]

Another reason some might buy points, they're based in a region outside the US with fewer opportunities to easily rack up points and miles. Or their flexible points currency doesn't transfer to the same/most lucrative transfer partners that others may have access to and/or at a weaker ratio (IE AMEX in France has no 1 to 1 transfer ratios and not all of the same partners as its American counterpart)

[gregecker]

If you fly off peak and business class then buying points on sale with Aeroplan does make sense. I got sfo-Syd for 1900 with united round trip including taxes and fees

[chadpennycuff]

Not so fast on never buying airline miles. SWA points are 1000% more flexible than cash or discounted gift cards regarding canceling or rebooking to save money on a flight. When you cancel/change a flight on points, you get your points back, and they're unencumbered even on wanna-get-away fares. Points go back to your account and you can use them to book anybody at any time. SWA credits are a complete pain to use - often limited to a specific person, hard to find, limited to 3 credits per transaction, etc. The math can work out where the cost per point is close to or slightly better than the redemption value per point. Under these circumstances, frequent SWA users are better off buying points for the added flexibility. You really gotta know the program and make informed decisions.

[theonh]

If your vacation days are the same as others. Don’t buy points. If you are flexible, yes.

[hardchooligan]

Am I the only one who thinks Hyatt is over rated? Their coverage SUCKS. A good chunk of states don't have a single hyatt. Im not saying they are bad if you happen to frequent where they have locations, but we never bother with them due to where we travel

[jonathanh]

do you think the Hilton Honors Surpass the best credit card to sign up for if I plan to spend 28k at a Hilton hotel venue? 155k sign up plus 12x points for Hilton charges. Could potentially be 491k points total plus free 5th night and another free night for 15k spend.

This could be 5-6 nights in bora bora, Maldives, etc. At least 5-6k in hotel nights.

What do you think? Just worried Hilton points aren’t as valuable. Would be my first Amex

[crichessill]

What's the best way to be in loop when these offers come up like you gave for hilton

[Fifth_Entertainment]

Maybe my math is wrong, but how do you get 126k points from $1600 spending?