Did you know you can potentially save points and miles even after you’ve redeemed them? Here’s a handy hack I’ve found.
I recently redeemed Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles for a flight on Singapore Airlines next year. I don’t have flexibility on the date or route of travel, but I found a suitable flight with award availability. KrisFlyer has two levels of award pricing: limited-availability, low-priced “Saver” prices and more readily available, but more expensive, “Advantage” prices.
On the flight I needed, only Advantage pricing was left, which was an acceptable, though not spectacular, way to redeem KrisFlyer miles, so I booked it.
But here’s the trick: The lower-priced Saver availability could open up at any time, so I set an alert on my favorite award search tool, Seats.aero, to send me an email and a text message advising me if the award price for this flight drops below the number of miles I paid for it.
Then, if I receive an alert, I can cancel the Advantage award online and rebook the Saver award immediately for a much lower mileage price. Although there is a charge of $50 to redeposit the KrisFlyer miles to my account, switching to a cheaper award would save me tens of thousands of miles, so it would be well worth it.
This trick also works with major programs like American Airlines AAdvantage and United Airlines MileagePlus that dynamically price select awards. These can, from time to time, drop in price closer to departure, especially if the flights are not full.
If you’ve redeemed points and miles at a price higher than you were hoping for, it’s well worth spending a few minutes setting an alert for price drops. You might be pleasantly surprised with a notification out of the blue.
If you are paying cash, here’s a handy tip: You can set alerts on Google Flights to track price changes and get a refund on most airlines if the price drops. If you have upcoming travel, check out our guide to Google Flights.
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Photo Credit: BEN SMITHSON/THE POINTS GUY.
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