Beginners Guide To Miles and Points: Types of Miles and Points

There are lots of vocabulary and jargon from the world of loyalty, which can be quite daunting. You will pick up more words as you go, but in the beginning it is important to distinguish between several types of miles and different points.

Airline Miles / Points Hotel

Fast-Value Points

Points / securities flexible

Airline miles and hotel points

Most of us are familiar with at least the concept of airline miles and hotel points - it's essentially a discount offered by a particular brand in exchange for their loyalty to their company. These companies set pay rates, cash values, and all other terms and conditions.

Not only is the airline miles to consider, but you have probably (or heard of) Rewards points with a bank or credit card as well. These usually come in two varieties: regular and transfer value.

Scores fixed value

As the name suggests, can point to real value exchanged for a certain amount of travel. The amounts vary by program, but you will usually get a ¢ -2 ¢ per point travel.

These include (but are not limited to):

Citi ThankYou Points

Bank of America WORLD POINTS

US Bank FlexPerks Rewards

USAA Rewards

Wells Fargo Rewards

Capital One Rewards hassle

Barclaycard Arrival Miles

Some programs require you to redeem through the portal of the bank, while others will issue a statement credit.

Generally, however, you are fixed value loyalty points for tickets that might otherwise be bought with money.

So if given a ticket was selling at $ 100 and you had a fixed value currency that gave you 1 cent per point to travel, you would need 10,000 points for this post.

That is why these programs advertise as having "no blackout dates" or having the ability to "choose an airline" - your bank is actually buying a ticket detail for you in exchange the points you have collected with their program. Because these tickets are usually rates of income, you will usually earn miles when traveling on a purchased ticket with a fixed value for money!

So why bother with miles? Sentinel value, great sound!

Fixed point values, is fantastic if you want to travel on the domestic economy tickets! Domestic tickets (especially American) can be surprisingly difficult to solve for airline miles, so currencies fixed value is a great option.

But if you want to go abroad, especially in premium cabins, fixed-value points only take you very far. An international business class ticket could require 100.000 miles by air, but since retail price is likely to rise to $ 5,000, you will need more than 500,000 points of Capital One, for example. And now one ticket cheap premium cabin. Some first class tickets will cost as much as a new car if you pay cash.

So what are the other options?

Points / securities flexible

One of the biggest advantages to banking issues, unlike airline miles, is that as a consumer, you are somewhat isolated from the dramatic changes or unexpected devaluations of a particular airline. So for many people, it makes sense to pursue a flexible currency issues, with transferable rewards.

These programs usually allow transfer points directly to their partner airline or hotel. This gives you many options when it's time to redeem your air miles, you have the ability to display stock prices through alliances before committing to a certain currency mileage.

The main points are flexible currency American Express Membership Rewards, Chase Ultimate 

Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest points.

American Express Membership Rewards Transfer Partners

Aeromexico Club Premier ANA Mileage Club El Al Matmid JetBlue TrueBlue

Air Canada Aeroplan British Airways Executive Club Frontier EarlyRETURNS Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

AirFrance / KLM Flying Blue Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles Virgin America Elevate

Alitalia MilleMiglia Delta SkyMiles Iberia Plus Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Chase Ultimate Rewards Transfer Partners

Amtrak Guest Rewards Club Rewards IHG Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards United MileagePlus

British Airways Executive Club Korean Air Skypass The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Hyatt Gold Passport Marriott Rewards Singapore KrisFlyer

Starwood Preferred Guest transfer partners

Aeromexico Club Premier ANA Mileage Club to heaven Emirates Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan

Air Canada Aeroplan American Airlines AAdvantage Etihad Airways Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer

airberlin topbonus Smiles Gol Asiana Airlines Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus

Air China Companion British Airways Executive Club HawaiianMiles Hawaiian Airlines US Airways Dividend Miles

Air France / KLM Flying Blue Cathay Pacific Asia Miles Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank United Mileage Plus

Air New Zealand Air Points China Eastern Airlines LAN Airlines LanPass Kms Virgin Atlantic Flying Club

Sky Pearl Club Lufthansa Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Miles of China Southern Airlines and Virgin Australia More

Alitalia MilleMiglia Delta Air Lines SkyMiles Qatar Airways

Holders of First ThankYou® Citi, Citi and Citi card Prestige President is also able to transfer their ThankYou points to airline partners.

Citi ThankYou Premier transmits Partners

Cathay Pacific | Asia Miles Garuda Indonesia | Singapore Airlines Frequent Flyer | KrisFlyer

EVA Air | Infinity MileageLands Malaysia Airlines | enrich Thai Airways | Royal Orchid Plus

Etihad | Etihad Guest Qantas | Virgin Atlantic Frequent Flyer | Flying Club

Air France / KLM | Flying Blue Qatar Airways | Club Privilege Hilton | HHonors

It is interesting to note that while American Express and Chase transfers is quite fast (instant and, in many cases), the SPG transfers take several weeks, depending on the program you want to transfer.

Allowing miles or points should I collect?

Well, it depends largely on your goals! It's always a bit of a balance between returning most points or the most valuable points and the only way to determine the best route for you is to know where and how you want to travel.

Next: Identifying Travel