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Accumulating points is now relatively simple thanks to credit cards and loyalty programs. Using them optimally, however, is much more difficult. Between dozens of rewards programs, transfer partners and constantly changing availability, finding the best award ticket can quickly become complex.
This is precisely where Point.me comes in. This platform compares different points booking options in real time, helps you estimate the value of your rewards, and helps you find the best redemption possible based on the points you hold.
Thanks to the generous welcome bonuses offered by several travel credit cards, it’s now possible to quickly accumulate several hundred thousand points. You still need to know when to use them, which program to transfer them to, and which redemption offers the best value.
Point.me is a platform specialized in searching for award tickets. Its operation is similar to Google Flights: instead of comparing cash prices, the tool compares different ways to book the same flight with points or miles.
The goal isn’t just to find an award ticket. Point.me also helps travelers understand the value of their points, check if they have enough balance to book a flight, and identify the loyalty program offering the best redemption.
You can also sync your credit cards and loyalty programs so that Point.me automatically takes your points balances into account when making recommendations.
Point.me now covers over 150 airlines and more than 30 loyalty programs. Unlike several competing tools that use cached data, Point.me relies on several exclusive partnerships providing access to real-time data, notably with British Airways Club, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, and Iberia Club. The results thus much more accurately reflect actually bookable availability, rather than cached data from several hours, or even several weeks ago, which are no longer available.
For Canadian travelers, the main benefit of Point.me is to quickly find and determine which loyalty program allows you to book the same flight at the lowest points cost and, most importantly, which partner to transfer your rewards to. Unlike Google Flights, which only compares cash fares, Point.me also allows you to compare points bookings, points transfers, and, when the information is available, the cash fare.
How Point.me works is simple. You enter your departure city, destination, travel dates, number of passengers, and desired cabin. The tool then performs a real-time search across dozens of loyalty programs to compare all available booking options.
Most searches are now completed in less than 20 seconds, which is a significant improvement over the tool’s initial versions. This speed is even more valuable given that the results come from real-time queried data, not a cached inventory.
Once the search is complete, Point.me displays all available options. You can filter the results according to your preferences (airlines, number of layovers, loyalty programs, schedules, etc.) to highlight only the flights that interest you.
By syncing your credit cards and loyalty programs (automatically or manually), Point.me also adapts the results to your situation. This way, you only see bookings you can actually make with the points you have available.
Depending on the programs you participate in, some options will be more attractive than others. For example, if you primarily accumulate American Express Membership Rewards points, Point.me will quickly highlight transfer partners that offer the best value for your itinerary.
For each flight, Point.me now displays several ways to book the exact same itinerary:
When one of the options offers particularly good value, the tool also displays a “Good Deal” or “Excellent Deal” tag, making it easy to quickly spot the best redemptions without having to do the valuation calculations yourself.
Point.me also indicates which loyalty program to use, as well as the corresponding transfer partner. This allows you to compare several rewards programs in seconds and determine which offers the best redemption for the same flight.
It’s important to note that the American Express Membership Rewards shown on the Point.me website is the U.S. program. The transfer ratio may therefore differ from that of the Canadian Amex loyalty program, especially when there are transfer bonuses on the other side of the border.
In addition, the taxes and fees displayed are in US dollars. You can therefore use Xe.com to get the exact exchange rate and evaluate the cheapest options.
Nevertheless, you can quickly compare options with Point.me and verify with the airline’s search engine. The following screenshot shows the same flights and dates.
Once you have selected your flight, click “View booking options”. This will take you to a new page where you can view your flight details. There will be a “point.me pick” option where an algorithm has selected the best redemption for this flight, and below that, you will see the other bookable choices according to your points portfolio.
Explore is much more than just an interactive map. This feature allows you to discover destinations you might not have thought of, taking into account the points you have and the best opportunities available. In fact, you could also enter “ski trip” in the search to see what’s available!
The map opens to a view of the entire world and displays destinations accessible with your points. You can then apply different filters, such as a region, travel period, loyalty program, maximum points limit, or specific cabin to see only the options that interest you.
You can also broaden your departure point to an entire country rather than a single airport. Point.me then automatically identifies the best departure airports as well as the routes offering the best value for money. It’s a great way to uncover opportunities you might never have considered with a traditional search.
A heatmap calendar then lets you quickly identify the dates when prices are lowest.
Once a destination is found, a single click immediately launches a complete search on that route. There’s no need to manually start a new search, making the experience much smoother.
If you’re not ready to book immediately, Point.me now allows you to create fully customized price alerts.
You choose the route, cabin, airlines, loyalty programs, number of stops, and schedules that suit you. Point.me then automatically monitors availability and notifies you when a better points rate becomes available.
The multi-city search now allows you to conduct a single search covering up to three departure airports and three different destinations. This feature is particularly useful for flexible travelers who want to maximize their chances of finding an award ticket. You can also start your search from a region like “North America.”
It is currently available to Premium members and should be rolled out to Standard members soon.
My Points transforms Point.me into a true dashboard for your rewards. You can automatically sync your credit cards and loyalty programs, including via Gmail, or enter your balances manually.
Once your accounts are linked, Point.me displays the total number of points you have as well as an estimate of their cash value. This approach allows you to quickly visualize your “travel wealth” before even starting a search.
When you view a flight, the tool automatically checks whether you have the required number of points to make the booking. You therefore immediately know which options are actually accessible with your rewards.
Even though Point.me greatly simplifies the search for award tickets, some itineraries remain complex to book. This is particularly the case for multi-destination trips, round-the-world tickets, or itineraries that combine a mix of loyalty programs.
For these situations, Point.me offers a concierge service where a specialist takes full charge of the search and booking strategy. The team can propose multiple itineraries, optimize the use of your points, and support you through to booking.
The booking service costs $200 USD per passenger. However, you only pay these fees if you are satisfied with the proposed itinerary and decide to proceed with the booking.
The consultation service is not limited to bookings. Point.me experts can also help you build a points accumulation strategy, plan a mileage run to reach Elite status, or optimize a significant rewards balance before a trip.
Depending on your needs, the team can also support you in planning more complex trips, including cruises, safaris, or other high-end travel requiring a more elaborate points strategy.
Point.me offers three subscription levels depending on your needs. A free version allows you to discover Explore, while paid subscriptions provide access to all search and customization features.
Subscriptions are billed in US dollars. If your credit card applies conversion fees, choose a card with no conversion fees to reduce the total cost of your subscription. I would therefore use the Scotiabank Passport Visa Infinite +* Card to save on the conversion rate.
Access to the Point.me search engine is as follows:
Since our first review in 2024, Point.me has evolved significantly. The tool is no longer just an award ticket search engine, but a complete platform that helps discover destinations, track your points, compare different ways to book a flight, and better understand the value of your rewards.
New features like Explore, My Points, personalized alerts, and the comparison between cash payment, travel portals, and points transfers make the experience much more comprehensive than before.
For Canadian travelers, Point.me remains particularly useful for quickly comparing different transfer partners and determining which loyalty program offers the best exchange for a given itinerary.
A few improvements would nevertheless be welcome:
In short, if you regularly use several loyalty programs or transferable points like American Express Membership Rewards points, Point.me remains one of the most comprehensive tools currently available for finding and comparing award tickets.
Here are all the American Express Membership Rewards credit cards offered in Canada:
Savings are this way:
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