100 Dollars A Day

How To Maximize Your Travel Points Redemptions

By Clara Ritger,

Mar 25, 2025   —   7 min read

Credit CardsPoints
Window view of a Virgin airplane flying through a blue sky.
The sky's the limit when it comes to redeeming points for travel.

Summary

Because friends don't let friends spend points for the "average" redemption value.

Welcome back to my series for paid subscribers where you give me money and I give you money saving tips! This post is part of a series on how I play the credit cards and travel points games so that I never pay for flights. Check out my earlier posts on how to maximize your points earning, and my experience with premium credit cards – and if they're worth it.

It is not in the best interest of the companies giving you points to do what I'm about to tell you.

In fact, part of the game that companies play is to give you the illusion that by spending money with them, you are earning some of it back in the form of discounts on future travel.

For most people it is an illusion, because they either never use their points, or the companies have made it so hard to use them that they don't get much value when they do.

This is how you play the game better.

This post is for Travelers only.

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