I mentioned Points.com in a previous post where I spoke about my crazy habits of buying airline tickets even though I have plenty of “points” or “miles” that I could redeem for free travel. The title of that post was Why am I a Frequent Buyer if I am a Frequent Flier? I don’t think I have logged on to my Points.com account since I wrote that post. However, about every 6 months I browse through my frequent flier programs just to make sure points are not expiring and also to get a running tally of where I stand. Tonight must have been a 6 month mark because there I was logging into countless frequent flier programs. Then Points.com popped into my head and I immediately wanted to see what this Toronto based company was up to.
The website has definitely improved since I last saw it and they are now partnered with more point programs than ever before. The concept is simple…its a one stop swap shop. The most obvious function of the website is to track all of your point programs in one central location and we are not talking just airlines but also hotels, credit cards, and retail rewards programs. However, what I think is the most useful function of Points.com is the ability to unload your points from one central location. Points.com allows you to swap your points for traditional rewards program gift cards such as Home Depot, Best Buy, Amazon, etc. You can also swap your points that belong to one program with the points of another program i.e. you can unload some useless HawaiianMiles for some Delta Skymiles. You can even swap airline miles for points relating to your credit card reward programs. Lastly, one of the most interesting functions of Points.com is the ability to give your points to another member in exchange for their points. Say you are 5,000 points short of your dream vacation to Greenland but you have more Dragon Air points than you can count. Well, there might be an environmentalist stationed in Greenland who has an extra 5,000 Inuit Air miles but is totally desperate for some Dragon Air miles. The two of you can log onto Points.com and hash it out for your dream getaways. I predict that this function may become a platform where lasting friendships are made. But anyway, like I said, this is an interesting function but I don’t know if it is being utilizing enough as of now. Its one of those programs that thrive the more often members use it. It doesn’t look like there are many members soliciting points at this moment, however, I can see this gaining traction.
These days it is becoming more difficult to use your points, miles, rewards, earnings, etc for free airline tickets. I know its heartbreaking to cash out on your points for anything other than 2 first class plane tickets to an exotic island. However, I am pretty well versed in mileage travel and I can pretty much promise that you will need at least double the points you thought you needed, which I am guessing you will not have (I sure don’t.) In the long run that free $50 Amazon gift card may get you a lot further in life so log onto Points.com and “Get More Rewards, Faster.”
Oh and, Points.com has a great Twitter page. They are always tweeting about the latest reward news and deals. You can find them at @PointsAdvisor
