Same flight. Same seat. One airline charges close to 50,000 miles while it can be booked with its partner for less than 20,000. That's the entire case for transferable points in one sentence, and today I'm going to show you exactly how it works.
A theme that has emerged at my award travel meet-ups is that many people are fiercely loyal to Delta and focus on earning SkyMiles exclusively. No judgment here if that's you. Honestly, Delta has been offering some incredible SkyMiles deals recently, like round-trip flights to Iceland for as low as 13k points, and Australia or New Zealand for 30k. Nevertheless, I still recommend focusing on transferable points currencies.
Transferable points are like investing in the S&P 500 vs. a single company — they give you diversification and flexibility. If all of your points are locked up in SkyMiles, but United, Southwest, or American have the route you’re looking for, or Delta is charging 57k points for a flight that United only charges 10k for, that’s a tough pill to swallow.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred — my favorite card, and the best place to begin dipping your toes into points and miles — has 11 unique airline transfer partners:
Aer Lingus AerClub
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
British Airways Executive Club
Emirates Skywards
Iberia Plus
JetBlue TrueBlue
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
United MileagePlus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
You may have noticed that Delta isn’t listed as a transfer partner with Chase, but this is where things start to get really interesting. Throw airline partnerships into the mix (like Virgin Atlantic or Flying Blue’s partnership with Delta), and the potential points savings get even bigger.
Here’s an example. This is the exact same flight: the direct flight Delta offers from Atlanta to Bozeman on August 18th. The first is booking directly with Delta, and the second is booking through Delta’s partner, Virgin Atlantic.
At first glance, it looks like the Virgin Atlantic fare is roughly half the price of what Delta is charging, which is substantial. But look a bit closer and you’ll see that the 38,400-mile fare is Basic Economy, meaning no seat selection and several other fare restrictions. You have to pay 46,700 miles to get a Main Cabin Economy ticket on Delta.
Here’s where the deal gets even sweeter. When booking with Virgin Atlantic, 18,500 points books you straight into that same Main Cabin fare: no middle seat, and you can change your flight.
The numbers do the talking here: you can book more than double the tickets for the price of one Main Cabin fare when you book the same seat on the same flight through Virgin Atlantic instead of Delta directly. That makes a meaningful difference, especially when you’re booking for more than one person.
But wait…there’s more =)
Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner with every single major bank with transferable currencies: Chase, Capital One, American Express, Citi, and Bilt all transfer. So if your points are diversified across a couple of currencies, you can pool them together if needed.
The cherry on top? Banks often have transfer bonuses to Virgin Atlantic. Amex has one right now, 30%! This means you’d only need 14,231 points to book this flight. You could book 3 Main Cabin flights for 42,693 points, which is less than a single seat booked directly with Delta.
This Delta/Virgin Atlantic flight is a perfect example of why I tell people to start with transferable points instead of committing to a single airline program: you’re not betting on one airline having the best price, the right route, or a seat left in the fare class you want. You’re keeping your options open so you can shop the whole board, Delta included, and let the numbers decide where your points go.
Whether you're just getting started in award travel or want to branch out into the world of transferable points, a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred is a low-stakes way to build up a flexible balance before you commit to a single airline's program. Now's a great time to grab it, too: it's currently offering the best welcome bonus I've ever seen, and Chase just announced the offer is ending at 9am EST this Thursday, July 30th, so don't wait if you've been considering it. With the 100,000 points they're offering, you could buy 5 of the flights I listed above and still have points left over! I wrote a full breakdown of why it's far and away the best way to dip your toes into award travel, linked below. You can apply here: CSP 100k
I could talk about sweet spots like the Atlanta to Bozeman flight all day. If you've found one of your own, tell me about it in the comments!
Happy Travels,
Emily
P.S. To celebrate hitting #1 Rising in Travel on Substack, I'm offering 20% off my annual paid subscription through July 31st. My Knoxville-area flight deal emails will only be for paying subscribers starting in August, so lock it the low rate now - with the discount, it comes to about $3.25/month. Rising Travel 20%
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.