The Great Travel Portal Devaluation: Maximizing Your Credit Card Points
Credit card points used to feel like magic. Today, finding a free flight or hotel stay takes more work and planning. With major airlines and hotel chains aggressively changing their loyalty programs, getting high value for your miles requires an entirely new booking strategy.
The Reality of Recent Reward Devaluations
Over the last few years, major travel companies have quietly made your points worth less. Delta Air Lines overhauled the SkyMiles program for 2024, linking elite status entirely to spending and making international business class awards incredibly expensive. In many cases, a Delta One seat to Europe now costs over 300,000 miles each way.
United MileagePlus followed suit in mid-2023 by increasing the cost of partner award flights by up to 30 percent without warning. Hotel chains like Marriott Bonvoy and Hilton Honors have completely removed their fixed award charts. They now use dynamic pricing, meaning point costs rise immediately whenever cash prices rise. When an airline or hotel controls the exact value of their own points, the consumer rarely wins.
The Travel Portal Trap
Because airline programs are inflating their costs, many travelers are turning to their credit card travel portals. These include Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Travel, and Capital One Travel. Booking through these bank portals is easy, but it severely caps the maximum value of your points.
If you hold the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, your points are worth exactly 1.25 cents each in the Chase portal. Upgrading to the Chase Sapphire Reserve bumps this valuation to 1.5 cents. American Express Membership Rewards points are usually worth just 1 cent each when booking flights on Amex Travel, and often less than a cent for hotel stays.
While bank portals offer predictable pricing and let you fly on any dates without blackout restrictions, accepting 1 to 1.5 cents per point means you are leaving significant money on the table.
The Secret to High Value: Transfer Partners
The most effective way to beat travel devaluations is to transfer your flexible credit card points directly to airline and hotel partners. Instead of letting a bank assign a low fixed value to your rewards, you can book premium travel for a fraction of the retail cost.
World of Hyatt
Chase Ultimate Rewards points transfer at a 1 to 1 ratio to the World of Hyatt program. Unlike Marriott and Hilton, Hyatt still uses a relatively stable award chart. A night at a luxury property like the Park Hyatt New York might cost $1,200 in cash but only 40,000 points. That specific redemption gives you a value of 3 cents per point, which is double the maximum Chase portal rate.
Air France and KLM Flying Blue
Both American Express and Capital One points transfer directly to Air France and KLM’s Flying Blue program. Flying Blue releases “Promo Rewards” on the first day of every month, offering up to 50 percent off award flights between the US and Europe. By transferring your bank points here, you can frequently book a one-way economy ticket from New York to Paris for just 15,000 points.
Air Canada Aeroplan
Air Canada Aeroplan is a transfer partner for Chase, Amex, and Capital One. You can transfer points to Aeroplan to book flights on partner airlines like United Airlines or Lufthansa. This allows you to fly on United aircraft without paying the inflated mileage rates United charges its own MileagePlus members.
Taking Advantage of Transfer Bonuses
Banks frequently offer limited-time transfer bonuses to incentivize you to move your points. For example, American Express regularly offers a 30 percent bonus when transferring points to British Airways Executive Club or Virgin Atlantic Flying Club.
If you want to book a business class flight that costs 50,000 Virgin points, a 30 percent bonus means you only need to transfer 39,000 Amex points to cover the ticket. Keeping a close eye out for these promotions, which usually last for about three to four weeks, is a simple way to instantly increase the purchasing power of your rewards.
Strategic Rules for Modern Travel Hacking
To survive the great point devaluation, you need to change how you earn and hold your points.
- Diversify Your Wallet: Stop putting all your daily spending on a single airline credit card. Co-branded cards, like the Delta SkyMiles Gold American Express, lock you into one specific airline. Flexible point cards, like the Capital One Venture X or the American Express Gold Card, let you shop around and transfer points to whichever airline offers the best deal on the day you want to book.
- Earn and Burn: Credit card points are not a retirement fund. They will never increase in value. As travel companies continue to adjust their programs, your points will naturally lose purchasing power over time. Save up for a specific trip, book it, and start earning again.
- Book Early or Very Late: Award availability for cheap flights is tight. To find the lowest point redemptions, start looking 330 to 355 days before your trip when airlines first load their schedules. If you miss that early window, check again two weeks before departure. Airlines frequently release unsold business class seats to partner programs at the very last minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is considered a good value for a flexible credit card point? A standard benchmark for points from Chase, Amex, or Capital One is 2 cents per point. If you are getting less than 1.5 cents of value, you are usually better off paying cash and saving your points for a better redemption.
Should I cancel my airline-branded credit card? Not necessarily. While you should earn your daily spending points on flexible bank cards, keeping a co-branded airline card open is often worth the annual fee. Cards from United, Delta, and American Airlines provide free checked bags and priority boarding, which easily pays for the card if you fly a few times a year.
Do credit card travel points expire? Flexible bank points (like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards) do not expire as long as you keep the credit card open and your account is in good standing. However, once you transfer those points to an airline or hotel partner, they are subject to that specific program’s expiration rules. Never transfer points until you are ready to book a specific trip.