Use This Tool to Get the Best Deal on Rewards Travel - 3 minutes read
When booking flights with travel rewards, it can be confusing to figure out whether you’re actually getting the best deal, especially if you’re trying to compare itineraries using points and miles across several airline websites or credit card portals.
TO help you untie that knot—and make the most of your rewards—try Roame.travel, a search engine launched earlier this year that lets you view award pricing options for your trip side-by-side. It also pulls in transfer bonus recommendations from credit card rewards programs to help you get the most value out of your points.
Roame searches 16 airline loyalty programs (which in turn cover 122 airlines):
AeroMexico Club PremierAir Canada AeroplanAir FranceKLM Flying BlueAlaska Mileage PlanAmerican Airlines AAdvantageAvianca LifemilesDelta SkyMilesEmirates SkywardsIberia PlusJetblue True BlueUnited Airlines MileagePlusVirgin Australia VelocityVirgin AtlanticQantasSpiritThe following credit card reward programs are also included in Roame’s results: Amex Membership Rewards, Bilt Rewards, Brex Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Marriott Bonvoy.
How to use Roame.travelYou do need an account to use Roame, but you can access the site’s basic features on its free tier. Once you sign up, the search engine functions like most other booking sites: enter your origin, destination, and departing date as well as fare class and number of passengers. Roame only pulls one-way fares, so you’ll need to do separate searches for round-trip tickets.
The search results will show your itinerary options and the award rate for each loyalty program as well as the recommended points/miles transfer option(s). If there’s a transfer bonus available, it’ll show the discounted rate as well.
You can narrow your results by airline, number of stops, and/or rewards type, which is helpful if you only have points through one or a few loyalty or credit card programs.
If you upgrade to a paid account, which costs $9.16 per month or $109.99 per year, you get access to additional features like flight alerts and detailed search options, such as bigger regions across wider date ranges.
Note that you cannot actually book flights directly via Roame. The search results will link you to guides on how to transfer your points and miles, but you’ll need to switch over to the airline or credit card reward portal to actually do so.
Roame also states that its results may have limited information at times for some mileage programs, and you may not get a complete look at the nuances of award tickets, such as fees and limitations with credit card transfer bonuses.
Source: Lifehacker.com
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