Happy Friday Reader!
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Here’s a common problem I see when I work with people getting into points and miles. It's also why people get so frustrated looking for award flights.
We influencers and YouTubers, myself included, show off THE best way(s) to use your points. Highlighting the “sweet spots” of various programs. Like in my most recent American Airlines video, I highlight how you can get to Madrid for as low as 57,500 miles and $61 in Iberia business class.
But then you go and search for the flights to your Mediterranean cruise leaving from Italy this September, and you can never find the same deals. They’re either charging more points, or more taxes and fees, or maybe both.
So here’s the missing piece people aren't talking about that’s causing this issue.
There’s a spectrum of how people redeem points and miles.
On one end is someone like “you” in this example. There’s a specific destination in mind with fixed dates or a short window of time available to travel. Usually you’d like to get to the final destination from home in one swing, and you want the best deal available for that trip.
On the other end is a person who’s all about the deal and finding these sweet spots. They’re willing to fly to any destination that’s interesting enough to take advantage of the deal, and they’re flexible on their dates if it means saving a lot of points or flying a specific cabin or airline. In this case, the trip gets built around the availability of the best deals out there.
I call this Sweet Spot Hunting.
The frustration comes from people with fixed dates and a specific destination, hoping for the results that come from Sweet Spot Hunting. With fixed dates, you’re hoping your exact travel window aligns with availability on a particular route at a particular price with a particular transfer partner. That’s a lot of variables that need to line up at once.
Neither end of the spectrum is better than the other, but knowing which end you’re closer to will help manage expectations and guide your search.
If you have fixed dates, the goal needs to shift from finding a specific sweet spot for your trip to finding the best redemption available within your travel window. Sweet spots can still be found, but if not, then you may need to pivot into booking a redemption that’s good enough.
This is a lot of the work I’ve found myself doing with my 1:1 consultations (currently paused until the Fall). So much in fact that I’ve decided to put this framework I’ve developed into a course to teach you how to do it yourself, step by step.
The course is called The Redemption System (TRS). The Redemption System itself is the same search method I use to find the best flights available for those fixed-date trips for clients.
The course also teaches Sweet Spot Hunting, which like I’ve said, is a separate search method to find the absolute best deals if you are flexible enough to take advantage of them.
There's a lot more included, so if you’ve been looking for my help to book an upcoming trip, here’s my offer:
Also, because you've previously purchased the Award Redemption Analyzer, you can credit that purchase toward The Redemption System. When you check out, just enter the promo code AWARD9.
