17. Points and Miles: What's The Difference and How To Get More Of Both

Hey there! It's your favorite Travel Mom Squad, Pam, Jess, and Alex, coming to you with another episode! Today, we're going to talk about one of our favorite topics...can you guess what it is? Points and Miles of course!

One of our biggest FAQs is - what's the difference between points and miles? We will give you the run down and explain why we prefer flexible points and how to find your fastest path to Traveling On Points to your way dream vacations.

To kick things off let's start with the basics. What's the difference between points and miles? Honestly, it doesn't really matter. They're basically the same thing. Points are usually used by banks and hotels, while airlines use miles. But we often use them interchangeably because they both mean free travel!

Flexible points: These are our absolute favorite because they're so, well, flexible!

With flexible points, you can transfer them to various airline and hotel partners, which means you have so many more options when it comes to booking your travel. Our favorite flexible points come from the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. You can transfer those points to partners like Hyatt, United, and Southwest, which gives you so much more selection when it comes to booking your flights and hotels.

On the other hand, fixed point cards, like co-branded cards, are more limiting. If you have a Southwest card, you can only redeem those points for Southwest flights. If you have a Hyatt card, you can only use your points to book Hyatt hotel stays. This can be frustrating if you don't have a lot of options when it comes to redeeming your points. That's why we prefer flexible points because they give us so much more freedom.

We also recommend that you focus on collecting flexible points and miles, especially if you don't know what your travel plans are. They give you so much more flexibility and you can transfer them to different partners depending on your needs. However, there are times when fixed-value point cards can come in handy. If you know you're going to book a flight on United, for example, it might make sense to open a United card so you can save your flexible points for something else.

Overall, we hope this episode helps you understand the difference between points and miles, as well as shows how to find the best deals for your goals. Remember, the key to traveling on points is being flexible and taking advantage of the best deals and offers that come your way…and of course, have fun! Happy Traveling!

Links For All Things Travel Mom Squad: stan.store/travelmomsquad

Links For This Episode:

• Master Transfer Partner Cheat Sheet: https://travelmomsquad.ck.page/cheatsheet

Episode Minute By Minute:

• 0:02 What's inside today's episode
• 0:39 Why points and miles are not created equally
• 2:25 The difference between fixed and flexible cards
• 6:40 Why it's easier to get Hyatt points with Chase
• 11:30 The reason why flex points may take you further
• 14:45 How Jess finds the best deals online
• 20:43 Alex's Delta tips and tricks
• 24:00 How to get the most out of Hilton points
• 27:49 The card Pam never plans on signing up for