The seats airlines set aside for points bookings are real and bookable, and almost invisible unless you know where to look. This is where to search, and how to spend fewer of your own points once you have found something.
Most people have a balance and no idea what it is worth in flights. Pick the points you hold, enter roughly how many, and this shows what is within reach and what is not far off. Each route shows a range, because the same seat costs far less on off-peak dates than on a Friday in July.
Read this before acting on any of it. These are typical prices, not live availability, and a seat has
to be open on your dates for any of it to be bookable. The low figure is off-peak; the high one is what the
same seat commonly costs when your dates are fixed.
Prices assume the gateway shown on each card. If you are not near one, what happens next depends on the
program: zone-based programs such as AAdvantage and Aeroplan usually add the connecting domestic flight at
no extra points, while distance-based programs such as Avios charge for every segment, so a smaller home
airport costs more. Sometimes booking a separate cheap flight to the gateway is the better answer.
Never transfer points until you have found the seat.
This is where most people stall. You have the points, you know roughly where you want to go, and Google Flights tells you nothing, because the seats airlines set aside for points bookings live somewhere else entirely. These are the tools that can see it.
Free tier, paid Pro tier
Searches seats bookable with points across dozens of airline programs at once and shows you every date a seat is bookable, laid out as a calendar. Instead of checking United, then Aeroplan, then ANA one at a time, you search once and see where the space actually is. The strongest tool for the question most people start with: I have these points, where can they take me?
Subscription
Works like a normal flight search, but shows what you can book with points. You put in a route and dates and it returns bookable options with the points cost and which program to book through, in plain language. The friendliest starting point if databases and calendars put you off, and the transfer instructions it gives are genuinely clear.
Free tier, paid tier
Built for browsing rather than searching. You tell it what points you hold and roughly when you can travel, and it shows you what is reachable. Good when the destination is not yet decided and you want to see what your balance can actually buy before committing to a plan.
Paid, limited free tier
Watches specific flights and emails you the moment a seat you can book with points opens up. Airlines release space unpredictably, often close to departure, and the seat you want frequently is not there the first time you look. This is how you get told when it appears rather than checking every day.
Free
Air Canada Aeroplan, United, ANA and Qantas all let you search their partner airlines' points seats directly, and they sometimes show seats the aggregators miss. Always confirm what a tool told you on the airline's own site before transferring anything, because the tool is reading a snapshot and the airline is the source of truth.
None of these are affiliate links. I have no arrangement with any of them and get nothing if you sign up.
Your credit card company sometimes offers a bonus when you move points over to an airline. They run for a few weeks and close without an announcement. These are the ones worth knowing about today.
| From | To | Bonus | Ratio | Min transfer | Expires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citi TYP | Flying Blue | 20% | 1,000 : 1,200 | 1,000 | Aug 22, 2026 |
| Several | Cathay Pacific | 10% | 1,000 : 1,100 | 1,000 | Aug 28, 2026 |
| Registration required first, and the bonus is capped at 10,000 miles. Open to Amex, Citi, Capital One, Bilt and several hotel programs. | |||||
| Citi TYP | Turkish Miles&Smiles | 40% | 1,000 : 1,400 | 1,000 | Aug 30, 2026 |
| The strongest airline bonus running. Turkish is also the hardest booking process of any programme, so read up before you transfer. | |||||
| Chase UR | IHG One Rewards | 70% | 1,000 : 1,700 | 1,000 | Aug 31, 2026 |
| A big number on a programme whose points are worth comparatively little. Do the arithmetic before assuming 70% makes it a good deal. | |||||
| Capital One | Avianca LifeMiles | 15% | 1,000 : 1,150 | 1,000 | Aug 31, 2026 |
| Amex MR | British Airways Avios | 30% | 1,000 : 1,300 | 1,000 | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Amex MR | Aer Lingus AerClub | 30% | 1,000 : 1,300 | 1,000 | Sep 27, 2026 |
| Amex MR | Iberia Plus | 30% | 1,000 : 1,300 | 1,000 | Sep 27, 2026 |
| All three are Avios, and you can move Avios between the accounts afterwards. Iberia often prices the same seat differently to British Airways, so pick the programme after you have found the flight. | |||||
| Chase UR | Air Canada Aeroplan | 20% | 1,000 : 1,200 | 1,000 | Sep 30, 2026 |
Checked 22 August 2026. These move constantly, so confirm on the issuer's own site before transferring.
A 30% bonus means every 1,000 points you transfer arrive as 1,300. What the airline charges does not change. What changes is how many of your own points it takes to get there.
Transfers are one way and effectively permanent. Only move points once you have found the seat and confirmed it is still there. A bonus is not a reason to transfer speculatively.
Cash price in, points in, taxes in. It tells you what each point is really buying, and whether you should just pay cash.
