Finding a good deal on award bookings can be time consuming. You need to search many airlines, and in the past, you would need to conduct the searches for each airline alliance separately. Point.me is here to solve that.

What is Point.me

Point.me is a search engine for flights, similar to Expedia. But the big difference is that Point.me searches flight and availability based on points, not dollars. So when searching a flight on Point.me you will be able to find who has the best deal to book with your points and miles.

How does Point.me know which points I have?

You can add your points programs to Point.me either manually or through connecting your AwardWallet account.

Once Point.me knows which points and miles you have, the search results will only spit back results that are relevant to the points you have. 

Once you choose a flight then Point.me will give you exact instructions on how to book the flight directly with the airline, using your rewards. 

How much does Point.me cost?

Monthly plan: The monthly plan is $12 (you can get a 10% discount if you pay annually).

You can get a one-month trial for $1 with our coupon code: HELPMEBUILDCREDIT (choose the monthly subscription plan). Limited to the first 100 redemptions. 

24-hour pass: You can buy a 24-hour pass for $5.

The monthly plan might make sense for a travel agent or someone who flies very often. But for most people, paying for a 24-hour pass for $5 would make more sense. 

Full service booking:  You can also get a full concierge which will include a Point.me travel expert searching and booking the award flight for you for $200. 

Does Point.me really work?

We decided to do some real testing on Point.me to see if they are able to find the same flight in minutes which I spent hours searching beforehand.

Here are some examples:

1. NY – LA 

I did my own research and found that on May 30 (the busy travel day after Memorial Day) I can find a nonstop flight on JetBlue with lie-flat seats in the Mint cabin for 59,900 points and a $5.60 fee from JFK to LAX. 

When I did the same search on Point.me, they found the same flight in a matter of minutes, but they also presented another option: JFK to SNA (John Wayne Airport, not LAX) for 52,500 AA miles. Note however that this option was for a normal domestic first class seat, not a lie-flat seat like JetBlue. This isn’t really clear using the Point.me interface so make sure to double check your experience when booking premium cabins.

2. NY – London 

I did my own research and found that for a round trip in business class from May 9 to May 18 I can find flights on IcelandAir for 110,000 Alaska Airlines points and a $637 fee. 

When I did the same search on Point.me, they didn’t find the outbound flight but they did find the return. The least expensive outbound flight found in terms of miles was 2,500 more miles and $543 more fees. The least expensive outbound flight in terms of cash was an additional 15,000 miles but $36 less in fees.

When searching for direct flights only however, the results I found on my own matched the results returned by Point.me.

3. NY – Miami 

I did my own research and found that on June 5 I can find a flight:

• To Fort Lauderdale on Delta for 7,225 miles and a $5.60 fee using SkyMiles*
• To Miami on JetBlue for 7,300 miles and a $5.60 fee using TrueBlue

*Note: I hold a premium Delta credit card and thus am eligible for a 15% rebate on SkyMiles award tickets. If you don’t hold a premium Delta credit card, the point cost is 8,500 miles.

When I did the same searches on Point.me, they found the same flights that I found, but they didn’t know about the Delta award discount, so they displayed a higher fare than I’d have to pay.

So based on my testing, Point.me did a phenomenal job finding good award flights, even on an advanced level.

Getting Point.me for free via the Bilt app

With the new partnership between Bilt and Point.me, you can currently do an unlimited amount of award searches in the Bilt app and get results for the best award flights powered by a Point.me integration.

You do not need to be a Bilt cardmember to download and use the Bilt app for free. 

Just please note that the search results are limited to only airlines that are Bilt partners, which include:

• Aer Lingus Avios 1:1
• American Airlines AAdvantage 1:1
• Air Canada’s Aeroplan 1:1
• British Airways Avios 1:1
• Cathay Pacific Asia Miles 1:1
• Emirates Skywards 1:1
• Iberia Avios 1:1
• FlyingBlue 1:1
• United MileagePlus 1:1
• Turkish Miles & Smiles 1:1
• Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 1:1
• HawaiianMiles 1:1

It’s a pretty comprehensive list of airlines but you will not see results, for example Delta flights, listed in search results via the Bilt app as Delta is not a Bilt partner. 

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Speeds up your search for an award flight
• Often shows options that only an expert would find
• Considers obscure programs that few are familiar with
• Options returned for one-way flights are often completely accurate
• Can save hours of time spent searching

Cons

• It works a bit slow. It can take approx. 5 minutes to spit back results 
• Website is still a bit buggy
• Point.me doesn’t have a way to filter your onboard experience, such as:
  • Lie-flat seats versus domestic first class seats
  • Premium economy recliner seats versus standard coach seats with extra leg room
  • Airlines with free checked bags
• Sometimes co-terminal airports require separate searches, for example there’s no “NYC ” option in Point.me that covers JFK, EWR, and LGA. Instead, you’ll have to run a search for each co-terminal and compare the results to make sure you’re seeing a comprehensive result set.
• Options returned for round-trip flights don’t take several award chart hacks into account
• Point.me doesn’t currently show the 15% discount you’ll get on Delta SkyMiles redemptions for holding a premium Delta credit card
• There’s no distinction between basic economy and regular economy flights in search results

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Thanks to the great Matthew Wood from Miles Earn And Burn for working with us to put together this post.