CNN Underscored reviews financial products based on their overall value. We may receive a commission through our affiliate partners if you apply and are approved for a product, but our reporting is always independent and objective. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more.
Point.me is one of our favorite tools for finding award space. It takes most of the trial and error out of redeeming airline miles and credit card points for airfare by running award searches for you and showing you the best ways to book. Think of it like Google Flights for award travel.
For example, say you have Capital One miles and want to fly from New York to London in business class. Just input your dates, and Point.me will show you the best ways to book by leveraging Capital One’s various transfer partners, like Air France-KLM Flying Blue and Air Canada Aeroplan.
This saves time since you don’t have to search each partner program manually. Plus, since Point.me will show you the best place to transfer your credit card points, you can rest assured you’re always booking at the lowest points cost.
And Point.me is getting even better this week. It’s launching a new feature called Explore, which lets you enter an origin airport and a date range to find available award flights across multiple destinations. This is perfect for travelers who want to redeem miles but don’t have a set destination in mind.
Let’s take a closer look at Point.me’s new Explore feature and how you can use it to redeem your airline miles and credit card points.
How to use Point.me’s Explore feature
Once you’re signed in to your Point.me account, scroll down to the middle of the page and click the Explore button.
Then input your origin airport and select a destination region at the top of the screen. You can even select “Anywhere” that will — as you’d expect — show you search results for anywhere in the world from your home airport. You can also select a range of departure dates and your desired class of service. For the most flight options, consider searching by month if your schedule allows.
After running your search, you’ll see available flights at the center of the screen. You can filter by destination type — think beaches, cities, etc. — on the right-hand side of the screen.
All destinations will appear at the center of the screen alongside their lowest points price during the date range you searched. Click on a destination to reveal the itinerary.
Note that this data is based on previous Point.me searches and could be outdated, so you’ll want to click the “Search live availability” button to verify award space before transferring points from a credit card.
Explore is a powerful new Point.me feature
While a seemingly basic feature, Explore is a game changer for points travelers with flexible schedules. It can help you find a place to go without the hassle of running dozens of award searches.
Plus, Explore is especially helpful during peak travel times when award space is difficult to find. If you can’t find award space to your desired destination, you can use Explore can get you close enough to book a short-haul positioning flight to your final destination.
For example, if you want to fly from New York to Prague but can only find award space from New York to Dublin, you can book the flight to Dublin and separately a book a cheap connecting flight to Prague.
The Explore feature is available to all Point.me subscribers starting today. Further, Point.me told CNN Underscored that Explore will be improved with new features over time.
How much does Point.me cost?
Interested in Point.me? You can subscribe for $12 per month or $129 per year. The service also offers a $5 per day plan that’s valid for 24-hours, perfect for planning a single trip.
You can also opt for Point.me’s more expensive concierge service, points strategy consulting or other premium options. However, anyone with a standard plan gets unlimited award searches and access to the Explore feature.
Bottom line
Point.me’s new Explore feature is a great addition to the service. It makes planning award travel easy for those with flexible travel schedules, as they can now see what destinations have award space on the dates they can travel. This saves a ton of time when compared to running dozens of manual searches.
Want to try Explore for yourself? You can buy a Point.me day pass for just $5 and give all the service’s features a try for a day. You can also run three free searches when you sign up for a trial.
Looking for a travel credit card? Find out which cards CNN Underscored Money chose as the?best travel credit cards of 2023
