How to Compare Award Programs and Plan Your Booking Strategy (Part 2 of Award Travel Series)

This post is Part 2 of a 3-part series on booking award travel. Start with Part 1: How to Search for Award Flights if you haven’t already, and finish with Part 3: How to Transfer Points and Book Award Flights.

In Part 1 of this series, we covered how to search for award availability using Google Flights, AwardHacker, and airline websites. Now that you’ve found a flight that works for your dates and destination, you might think it’s time to book.

But not so fast.

In this post, we’re going to pause and take a closer look at something that can save you thousands of points: booking your flight through the right program.

Welcome to Part 2: how to compare award programs and plan your booking strategy. This step is often skipped, but it’s where the real value in points and miles happens.

Why You Shouldn’t Just Book With the Airline You’re Flying

When you find a flight on, say, Delta, it’s tempting to just log in to your Delta SkyMiles account and book it.

But that’s often the most expensive way to do it.

Thanks to airline partnerships and alliances, you can often book the exact same flight using a partner program, sometimes for half the points.

Step 1: Compare Award Pricing Across Partners

Before you transfer any points or click “book,” compare the points cost across every program that can book that flight.

Use AwardHacker and these airline sites to compare pricing:

• British Airways Avios (for Oneworld flights)
• Air Canada Aeroplan (for Star Alliance flights)
• Virgin Atlantic (for select Delta flights and others)
• Avianca LifeMiles (great for United and Star Alliance)
• American AAdvantage

Award pricing is not consistent across programs. In fact, it’s often wildly different.

Real Life Example: LAX to Honolulu (HNL) in Economy

Let’s say you want to fly from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

You might be looking at an American Airlines nonstop, but instead of booking with American AAdvantage miles, you could book through British Airways Avios (one of its Oneworld partners) for fewer points.

Here’s how that can look:

The same nonstop American Airlines flight could cost you 13K Avios, 15K Alaska miles, or 20K AAdvantage miles depending on how you book it.

This is why it’s worth checking multiple programs before booking. That small detour could save you thousands of points. All of these are the same flight. This is why this step matters so much.

Planning award travel involves juggling a lot of moving parts: routes, programs, transfer partners, redemption values, and more. To help streamline the process, I created a simple but powerful spreadsheet that lets you track it all in one place. I use it every time I plan a trip with points, and now you can too.

Step 2: Consider Transfer Partners and Point Availability

Once you’ve compared award prices across multiple programs, the next question is: do you have points that transfer to the program offering the best deal?

Let’s say you’re booking a nonstop flight from LAX to Honolulu. You find that British Airways charges just 13,000 Avios for the same American Airlines flight that would cost 20,000 AAdvantage miles.

Great. Now ask: do your credit card points transfer to British Airways?

If you have any of these, you’re in luck:

• Chase Ultimate Rewards
• Amex Membership Rewards
• Capital One Miles

All of these transfer to British Airways Avios.

But let’s say you only have Chase Ultimate Rewards points. That means you can’t transfer directly to American Airlines, because AA isn’t a Chase partner. However, you can transfer Chase points to British Airways (a Oneworld partner of AA) and book that same American Airlines flight using fewer points.

So instead of spending 20,000 American miles, you could book it for just 13,000 Avios.

That’s a 7,000-point savings – just for using the right booking partner.

This is where having a smart points strategy makes all the difference. The more flexible your points are, the more options you’ll have and the more likely you are to score better redemptions.

This is where having a smart points strategy comes in. By focusing on cards that earn flexible, transferable points, you give yourself more options and more opportunities to save.

If you haven’t already, download my transfer partner cheat sheet. It’s what I use every single time I’m planning award travel.

Step 3: Think Through the Booking Details

Once you’ve picked the program that offers the best value, here are a few final questions I always ask before booking:

• How easy is it to book through this program’s website? Some programs (like Aeroplan and British Airways) make it easy to search and book online. Others (like Turkish or ANA) require phone calls or outdated systems.
• Do I need to create a frequent flyer account? If you’re booking through a new airline partner, you’ll need to create a loyalty account before transferring points.
• Are there fuel surcharges or higher taxes? Some redemptions look cheap on the surface, but the fees are outrageous. British Airways, for example, is known for high surcharges.
• Is the transfer time instant?
  You’ll want to confirm that your points will post quickly, otherwise, you might lose the availability while waiting.

If I’ve answered all of those questions and everything still looks good, then I’m ready to transfer points and book – which we’ll walk through step-by-step in Part 3 of this series.

Final Thoughts

This part of the process may take a little time, but it’s where the magic happens. Taking an extra 10 minutes to compare redemption options can save you thousands of points and allow you to stretch your rewards much further.

In Part 3, I’ll show you exactly how to transfer your points to the airline you’ve chosen and walk you through the final steps to book your award ticket. Ready to book? Head to Part 3: How to Transfer Points and Book Award Flights