Don't make a mistake: You could pay 7,500 miles or 50,000 miles for the same flight

How many frequent flyer miles does it cost to book a flight? It's a simple question that can have dozens of answers.

Once upon a time, you knew with some certainty that you could book most domestic economy flights for 12,500 miles each way — or perhaps 25,000 miles each way if it were during a peak travel period like Christmas or Thanksgiving. But those were predictable fixed prices, thanks to the use of published award charts.

Now, fixed airline award prices and award charts are — at least within the U.S. — mostly part of the frequent flyer history books. In reality, award costs are variable and dramatically different from program to program, even if you're looking at the same flight. Because of this, having multiple ways to book award flights is essential to finding the best deal.

For example, I recently had to book a last-minute flight from Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) back home to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). I faced various choices, ranging from painfully pricey to an absolute steal.

When I started my flight search on Google Flights, Points Path (a free browser extension that runs on top of Google Flights to show you the points price alongside the cash price and whether it's a good deal) quickly clued me in to what would be the best deal.

The last-minute cash fares were predictably painful, at about $504 one-way for nonstop United Airlines- or American Airlines-operated flights.

Related: The best time to book flights for the cheapest airfare

However, Points Path pointed out that I could book the same flight for just 7,500 Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles, plus $18 in taxes and fees.

By comparison, if I used American Airlines AAdvantage miles to book this American Airlines-operated flight, it would have cost 11,000 miles for a one-way economy ticket or 21,000 miles in first class. Those are both pretty solid options compared to the cash fare, but using American miles wasn't the best option, even though American was the airline operating the flight.

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As is common these days, Alaska won the "best way to book" contest for this domestic flight. For the very same American Airlines-operated flight that would cost 11,000 American miles, I could spend 7,500 Alaska Mileage Plan miles in economy — or 15,000 miles in first class if I wanted to say "YOLO" and get home more comfortably.

Pro tip: Through June 30, you can transfer your American Express Membership Rewards points to Hawaiian Airlines, and from there, you can transfer from Hawaiian Airlines to Alaska.

Spoiler alert: Booking a first-class seat for 15,000 Amex points transferred to Hawaiian and then on to Alaska Airlines was precisely what I did to get home affordably, comfortably and on the exact flight I wanted.

Related: How to decide when to use cash or miles for buying airline tickets

While what I did was the best option in this case, I also want to highlight a booking option that wouldn't have been so great. This way, you can avoid it if you're in a similar situation with your next award flight search.

If I had used miles that have a fixed value for this flight, as is really common to do, it would have been a relatively poor value given the cash rate was so high. For example, the first-class seat I ultimately booked for 15,000 Alaska miles would have cost 65,384 Capital One miles if I redeemed them at a fixed rate of 1 cent per mile. Even the economy seat selling for $504 would have been over 50,000 Capital One miles, which would make no sense with better options available.

This is why we try and shout from the rooftops that you can stretch the value of your transferable credit card points by redeeming them via transfer partners instead of redeeming them at a fixed rate through credit card travel booking portals.

Bottom line

While it is good to know that Alaska Mileage Plan and American AAdvantage are above-average loyalty programs with favorable award pricing for domestic flights, you no longer have to memorize much of this information.

What clued me in to this opportunity to spend just 7,500 miles in economy or 15,000 in first class on a ticket that was selling for over $500 was a simple Google Flights search that had Points Path enabled. I not only saw a list of the flights that would get me home, but that one step also showed me there was a well-priced award ticket to get me there.

All that's to say, it's clear to me that the future of award travel booking is having miles in the right programs, knowing where to look for flights and letting the best tools do the work for you.

Related reading:

• The best tools for finding points and miles availability
• How to search for award availability with the major airlines
• The best credit card offers for building up your point balance