How to Use Points for Last-Minute Flights

Can you book a flight with points at the last minute—especially with summer travel? I’ll dive into the potential challenges of finding a last-minute flight with points and share some tips on how to find award flights even if it is coming down to the wire.

Can you use points for last-minute flights?

The short answer is yes. You can theoretically book a last-minute flight with points. As my colleagues Daniel Burnham and Katy Nastro told Travel and Leisure, airlines will allow you to use your miles to book a seat up to the last minute. 

Much like cash fares, you could theoretically buy an airline ticket with points up until the day of departure.

Can you find good deals on last-minute flights with points?

Just because something’s possible doesn’t mean it’s always the best idea. 

Some flights may not have last-minute award availability—the term for being able to use miles to book a flight. 

Or, they may have award availability, but it may not be the fare class you want. You may want business class, but an airline may only be offering award availability for economy seats for your desired flight. 

That said, sometimes airlines make business class seats available to book with points as the flight gets closer—just compare cash fare vs. point prices first to check if it’s a good deal with points. This guide walks you through how to calculate the value of a points redemption.

Can I take advantage of a credit card welcome bonus for last-minute travel?

If you have a stash of points or miles ready to spend, you certainly could put that to work for a summer trip. Maybe you recently earned a welcome offer on a card you opened in the past few months, and are sitting on a treasure trove of points or miles.

But what if you’re starting from scratch today and don’t have a pile of points sitting pretty in your account? If you opened a travel credit card today, would you have enough time to earn the miles needed for a summer trip?

Nothing is impossible, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Usually, a card requires you to spend around $4,000 or more within the first three months or so of opening the new card to earn the points from the welcome offer. You don’t just get the points immediately upon opening a new card. 

Also, it’s important to factor in the time that it may take to get the physical card in the mail. This can often be a week or two. 

If you have one or two big-ticket purchases coming up, then sure, it’s possible that you could earn the welcome offer quickly. Still, you’d have to budget a few weeks for the miles to actually post to your account. Oftentimes, this happens on the first statement after you’ve hit the minimum spending threshold for earning the welcome offer.

Strategies to search for last-minute flights

But not all hope is lost. If you’re willing to be flexible and a little creative with how you use your points, you might be able to find award availability for a last-minute flight. 

Here are several strategies you can take. 

1. Check with airline partners instead of domestic carriers

You may want to use your miles to fly on Delta, for example. But what if I told you that booking your Delta flight with Delta SkyMiles might actually cost you more miles than if you booked that same ticket through a partner airline? 

That’s right. You may be able to get a seat on a Delta flight with fewer miles if you book through Virgin Atlantic instead.

The reason why is that domestic airlines have partnerships with other airlines, and those airlines sometimes may offer award availability for a domestic flight you’re eyeing for fewer points. 

Because this is last minute, some of these partners may not have award availability. 

What about Southwest and JetBlue?

Some banks allow you to transfer your credit card points directly to JetBlue or Southwest. But as low-cost airlines, the amount of points you’ll need to redeem tracks very closely with the cash price of the seat. So the award redemptions you see may not be the highest value for your points. You might be better off paying for these last-minute flights in cash, if it’s in your budget.

2. Use transfer bonuses

Normally, credit card points transfer at a 1:1 ratio to these airline partners. That means 1 credit card point becomes 1 mile. Just a heads up: You’ll be required to transfer in increments of 1,000 points.

Every once in a while, credit card issuers offer “transfer bonuses” with specific airlines. These transfer bonuses can range anywhere from 20% to 30%. If there is a 30% transfer bonus running, this means that your points transfer to that specific partner airline at a ratio of 1:1.3. 

Math wasn’t my strongest subject in school, but what this means is you will need even fewer points to redeem for your flight. 

3. Be flexible—on dates and locations

Flexibility is the golden rule when it comes to searching for award flights—especially when you’re looking to book a flight last minute. This includes the airports you fly in and out of, as well as the actual dates you’re looking for flights. 

Ask yourself, can I get close enough? Maybe if you’re in a smaller market, can you get to a larger airport? Same with the return.

For example, I don’t have much luck finding award seats flying to see my family in Wichita, Kansas, but I have a lot more options when I look at Kansas City, Missouri. Sure, there’s a bit of a drive involved, but being flexible on location opens up a few more flight options. 

This is basically the points version of the “Greek Island Trick.” The strategy behind both is to get close to your destination for a lower cost, and then take a quick ferry, bus, train, or regional flight to wherever you really want to be.

Being flexible on dates can help, too. Do you have to fly on one specific day, or do you have some wiggle room? 

When you’re searching for a cheap flight, most airlines let you see the award availability for the week surrounding your selected date. With some, you can even see a full calendar month. 

4. Use award availability search tools

Airlines’ websites are always up-to-date with award availability, but they aren’t an effective way to compare—especially if you have multiple points currencies. 

If you want to avoid comparing award availability by toggling between half a dozen open browser tabs, there are several tools to search for flight award availability. Here are a few to consider:

• Point.me: Shows you how to transfer credit card points and provides a comprehensive search engine, but only gives you three free searches before you have to pay. (American Express cardholders have a complimentary membership; access the custom experience by visiting point.me/amex to enroll.)
• PointsYeah: Offers unlimited searches for free, but only searches about 20 airline frequent flier programs, compared to the 30+ that Point.me covers.
• Seats.aero: Its searches are lightning quick, which helps for finding last-minute tickets. But after returning results, you’re left on your own to figure out what points currencies transfer to the airline. The free version only allows you to search for availability within the next 90 days, but if you’re booking a last-minute flight, that shouldn’t be a concern. 

What about long-haul international flights?

If you're looking for a last-minute international getaway, Lufthansa consistently releases award availability 14 days before its flights. In fact, Lufthansa first-class award seats are almost exclusively available two weeks before the departure date.

How would you redeem your points for a Lufthansa seat? None of the credit cards transfer directly to Lufthansa, but because it is part of the Star Alliance, you could book a Lufthansa seat using your United miles or consider transferring your credit card points to Air Canada Aeroplan miles. 

When it comes to redeeming points for international flights, you’ll still want to compare which airline is offering the fewest miles. However, for international flights, you’ll also want to pay attention to taxes and fees. Even if an airline is offering fewer miles, they may charge hundreds of dollars in surcharges. You may be better off paying slightly more miles with one partner if it saves you a bunch in taxes and fees. 

Last resort: Pay with points in a card issuer travel portal

If you’re pressed for options and you still really want or need to use points for this flight, and there isn’t any award availability, you can use your points to pay for this flight through your credit card issuer’s travel portal. 

Just be aware that this redemption method is not going to give you the best value for your points. When used this way, your points will be worth about 1 cent to 1.5 cents at best. 

This won’t get you the most value for your points, but if you’re in a jam, it could be an option.