How to Book Flights With Points: A Beginner's Guide

2026-08-28 · All posts

How to Book Flights With Points: A Step-by-Step Guide for First-Timers

Booking a flight with points comes down to three moves. Figure out where your points actually live, find an award seat on the route you want, then transfer or redeem to lock it in. The confusing part for beginners is that "points" is not one currency. The points from a card like The Platinum Card from American Express (Membership Rewards) behave differently from miles that sit directly in an airline account, and knowing which is which changes how you book. Here is the order of operations that works every time.

How it actually works

Step 1: Know what kind of points you have.

There are two broad buckets. Airline miles live in a specific program (an American Airlines account, a Delta account, and so on) and can usually only book flights on that airline and its partners. Transferable points live with your card issuer. Membership Rewards points earned on The Platinum Card from American Express are the transferable kind. You move them to an airline partner, and once they land, they become that airline's miles.

The Platinum is just one example. Chase Ultimate Rewards and Citi ThankYou points work the same way: each is its own transferable currency with its own roster of airline partners, and the same book-the-seat-then-transfer routine applies no matter which one you hold. Whatever card earns your points, that transfer step is the piece first-timers miss. You do not book a flight "with Amex points" on most airlines directly. You transfer the points into an airline program, then book the award seat there.

Step 2: Earn enough to cover a trip.

Look at how you earn so the balance is not a mystery. The Platinum Card earns 5x Membership Rewards points on flights booked directly with airlines or through American Express Travel, on up to $500,000 in such purchases per calendar year. So a $1,000 flight booked directly with the airline earns 1,000 x 5 = 5,000 Membership Rewards points. Put $6,000 of eligible airfare on the card over a year and that is 30,000 points sitting in your account, ready to move to a partner.

Step 3: Find the award seat before you transfer.

This is the rule that saves beginners from the most common mistake. Transfers to airline programs are generally one-way and cannot be reversed, so confirm the seat exists first. Search the airline program's own award calendar for your dates and route.

Here is what that looks like with real numbers. Say you want to fly to Europe and Flying Blue is pricing a promo award at 14,000 miles one-way. That tells you exactly what you need: 14,000 Flying Blue miles. At a standard 1:1 transfer, you would move 14,000 Membership Rewards points (plus a small buffer) to cover it, then book. If the seat is not there when you search, you have not lost anything, because you have not moved your points yet. Only once you can see a bookable award seat at a price you like do you transfer.

Step 4: Transfer, then book.

When the seat is confirmed, transfer the exact number of miles you need (plus a small buffer) from Membership Rewards into that airline account. Transfers can take anywhere from instant to a couple of days depending on the program, so do not do this at the airport. Once the miles post, book the award seat directly in the airline account. You will usually still owe taxes and fees in cash at checkout.

Step 5: Watch for transfer bonuses.

Card issuers periodically run promotions that give you extra airline miles per point transferred. If a bonus is live for a program you were going to use anyway, transferring during the promo stretches the same balance further. More on those below.

What we're tracking lately (as of August 2026)

FAQ

Do I have to transfer points, or can I just book through my card's travel portal?

You often have both options. Many cards let you book flights directly through a travel portal by spending points at a fixed rate, which is the simplest path for a first-timer. Transferring to an airline partner takes more work and is not reversible, but it opens up partner sweet spots and premium cabins the portal will not show. Confirm the award seat before you transfer either way.

Should I wait for a transfer bonus?

Only if the timing works for your trip. A 20% or 30% bonus stretches your balance, but transfers are one-way, so never move points chasing a bonus before you have found a bookable seat. If a live promo lines up with a program you were already going to use, that is the moment to move.

For more worked examples and past award deals we have broken down, browse our archive of past issues.

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