How We Book Flights With Points: 80 Flights, 36 on Points, and Daniel's Exact Method

If you've ever wondered how we keep flying, the honest answer is that I don't book a single flight. Daniel does, and he's slightly obsessed with doing it on points! Since December 2024 we've taken 80 flights between us, and 36 of them were paid for fully or partly with points!

I wanted to finally write down exactly how he does it, because it isn't magic and it isn't reserved for people who fly for work. In this guide I'll tell you where our points come from, the two websites Daniel opens before he books anything, his trick for when there isn't a reward seat to where we want to go, real bookings from the last two years with the points and taxes we actually paid, and the lounge step most people forget.

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How We Book Flights With Points, My Quick Answer

Short answer is: earn points on one card, find every airport that flies where you want to go, search for reward seats across all of them, and if there's nothing, fly on points to the nearest airport that does have a seat and pay cash for the short hop.

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Where Our Points Come From

It's simpler than people think. We put our spending on one card, our American Express Platinum Card, and that's where almost all of our points come from. The card earns 2.25 Membership Rewards points per dollar on most purchases in Australia, according to Amex.

The important bit is that the points don't belong to any one airline. They sit in our Amex account, and Daniel only moves them out when he's found a seat worth moving them for. We've set up free accounts with Qantas, Velocity and the other airline programs, so when the right seat shows up, he can transfer the points straight across and book it.

That flexibility is the whole point, because if Qantas has nothing and another program has exactly the seat we need, we aren't stuck!

One thing to know before you transfer: each airline program has its own transfer rate, and the rates change, so check the current rate in your Amex account before you move anything. Transfers out of Amex into an airline account can't be reversed, which is exactly why Daniel never transfers until the seat is sitting there ready to book.

Step 1, Find Every Airport That Flies There

Before Daniel searches for a single reward seat, he opens Flight Connections. It's a map of every direct route from every airport, and it answers the question most people skip: which airports could actually get us there?

Say we want to get to a beach in Indonesia. There might be no direct flight from where we are, but Flight Connections shows him every city with a direct route into the airport we need. Each of those cities is now a possible stepping stone, and the reward seat search gets a lot more interesting with five starting points instead of one!

Step 2, Search for Reward Seats on seats.aero

Then he goes to seats.aero, which searches reward seat availability across lots of airline programs at once. Instead of logging into Qantas, then Velocity, then every other program one by one and checking date after date, he can see where reward seats actually exist over a whole range of dates.

This is where the time goes. He'll search the main route first, then every stepping stone from Flight Connections, and he'll move our dates around by a few days if it opens up a much better redemption.

Step 3, No Reward Seat? Fly to the Nearest Airport That Has One

This is Daniel's favourite trick, and it's the reason we've used points on 36 flights instead of a handful! If there's no reward seat to where we're going, he finds a reward seat to an airport close by, and then we pay cash for a short flight in, or we stay a couple of nights there and turn it into part of the trip.

Three real examples from our records:

• Zanzibar. Rather than paying cash the whole way, we flew Singapore to Johannesburg on points, 399,999 points plus $144.05 for the two of us, and then booked a cash flight from Johannesburg to Zanzibar.
• Sorong, Indonesia. We flew London to Dubai to Singapore on Emirates, booked with Qantas points, and then took two short cash flights through Jakarta to Sorong.
• Brazil. We flew Lisbon to São Paulo via Amsterdam on KLM for 400,000 points plus $993 for both of us, and later took a cash flight from Florianópolis to Rio, just in time for New Year's!

The short cash flight is usually a fraction of the long-haul fare, and the long-haul is the expensive bit that points are best at covering.

Real Bookings From Our Last Two Years

Here are some of the bigger ones, straight from our booking records. Every figure is the total for the two of us, points plus the taxes and fees we paid in cash.

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Why I'm not adding these up into one big number: points aren't all worth the same. A Qantas point, a Velocity point and an Amex point are different currencies, and for our Dubai to Singapore flight, for example, the 69,000 Qantas points took 138,000 Amex points to transfer. A single grand total would look impressive and tell you nothing.

Points Aren't Just for Long-Haul

Some of our most useful redemptions were tiny, and they saved us paying cash for short flights:

• Bangkok to Koh Samui: 40,000 points plus $12.04 for the two of us.
• Jakarta to Singapore, then Singapore to Da Nang, on Velocity points: 22,000 points plus $152 for the two of us, each flight.
• Da Nang to Kuala Lumpur, then on to Perth, on Malaysia Airlines Enrich points: 22,500 points plus $180.82 for the two of us, each flight.
• Copenhagen to Stockholm and Stockholm to London, on Virgin Atlantic points: 33,000 points plus $122.91, and 44,000 points plus $30.
• Doha to Bahrain, when the ferry wasn't running: 14,000 points plus taxes, against a cash fare of about $200 each.

If you've only ever thought of points for one big holiday flight, start checking them for the short hops too, because it adds up fast!

Don't Forget the Lounges: Order Your Priority Pass

This is the step people miss, and Daniel was very firm that I put it in here! The Amex Platinum Card gives you access to more than 1,550 airport lounges in over 140 countries, according to Amex, including Priority Pass lounges. But you have to order your Priority Pass membership through Amex. It doesn't just turn up on its own.

Do it as soon as your card arrives, before your first trip, because on long travel days with layovers a lounge makes a huge difference.

Is the Amex Platinum Worth the $1,450 Fee?

I'll be honest, $1,450 a year is a lot of money for a card! But for us it's 100% worth it, and here's why.

The points pay for the expensive flights. Our Lisbon to São Paulo flights on KLM cost us 400,000 points and $993 in taxes for the two of us, and our Singapore to Johannesburg flights cost 399,999 points and $144.05. Those are the long-haul fares that eat a travel budget, and we covered them with points.

The card gives some of the fee straight back. Amex lists a $450 travel credit each year for eligible flights, hotels or car hire, and Daniel rates the lounge access as one of the best things about the card, which is why he's so insistent you order your Priority Pass.

It only works if you'd spend the money anyway. The Platinum is a charge card, so the balance is due in full, and the points are only worth it if you're putting everyday spending on it rather than buying things to earn them. If you fly once a year, the maths is very different. Read the Terms and Conditions and the Target Market Determination on the Amex page, and decide for yourself whether it suits how you travel.

What Daniel Would Tell You Before You Start

• Pick one card and put everything on it. Points spread across five cards never add up to anything.
• Never transfer points speculatively. Find the seat first. Transfers can't be undone.
• Be flexible on dates and airports. Moving by a day or two, or starting from a different city, is where the best redemptions are.
• Expect to pay taxes and fees. Points cover the fare, not everything. Our table above shows what we paid in cash on top.
• Treat it like cash. The Platinum is a charge card, so the balance is due in full each statement. Only put on it what you'd spend anyway, and weigh the $1,450 annual fee against what you'll actually use.

FAQs About Booking Flights With Points

How many flights have you booked with points?

Since December 2024 we've taken 80 flights between the two of us, and 36 of them were booked fully or partly with points.

What card do you use to earn points?

Our American Express Platinum Card. Points earn in Amex Membership Rewards and Daniel transfers them to airline programs like Qantas and Velocity once he's found a reward seat.

What websites do you use to find reward flights?

Flight Connections, to see every airport with direct flights to where we want to go, and seats.aero, to search reward seat availability across airline programs.

What do you do if there's no reward seat to your destination?

Daniel books a reward seat to the nearest airport that has one, then we take a short cash flight in or stay a couple of nights. We did this for Zanzibar via Johannesburg and for Sorong via Singapore and Jakarta.

Do you still pay anything when you fly on points?

Yes. You pay taxes and fees in cash. Across our bookings that ranged from $30 to $993 for the two of us.

Does the Amex Platinum Card include lounge access?

Amex says it includes access to more than 1,550 airport lounges, including Priority Pass lounges, but you need to order your Priority Pass membership through Amex first.

Final Thoughts: Is Booking Flights With Points Worth It?

For us, completely. Points are how we've managed 80 flights since December 2024 without the flights eating the whole budget! It does take patience, and it takes someone willing to sit with seats.aero and a map for an evening, which in our house is Daniel. But once you know the method, it's the same few steps every time!