CreditSense

Best Program for Rewards Points:  Which Points Are More Flexible Than Your Yoga Instructor?

Travel rewards programs and the bonuses that come from signing up for credit cards are by far the best way to travel hack your way to free or at least very cheap vacations.  The biggest limitation can be when you feel like your points are stuck somewhere.   I remember the first time I decided to transfer some Delta Skymiles from my account to my (amazing) wife’s account to top off her account to get a free flight.  Delta charged one cent per mile to transfer to someone else’s account, but I did it anyway.  This was before I understood that the value of a Delta Skymiles point is about 1 cent per point.  Basically I was making the value of my points disappear.

Don’t get me wrong, Delta Skymiles are great, just not when you want to transfer them somewhere else.  Other programs are similarly terrible when you want to transfer points, Hilton Honors points make for great hotel stays, but don’t exactly give you a white glove transfer service and similar to my experience with Skymiles, Honors points are worth next to nothing when you transfer them to another program.

There is one program that stands out as being extremely flexible and without annoying fees that suck the life out of your points’ value.

The rewards program that is consistently the most flexible is the Starwood Preferred Guest Program (Starpoints)

Starwood Points:

Starwood points have the most airline partners compared to the other two programs.    The best parts about leveraging Starpoints are the transfer bonuses:

·      For most airlines you get 2 points every Starwood Point you transfer.  (United and Continental being the exceptions)

·      5,000 more points will be added to the amount you transfer when you transfer 20,000 points or more.

Starwood Airline Partners:

Aeroplan/Air Canada, Air Berlin, Air China, Air New Zealand, Alaska Airline, Alitalia MilleMiglia, All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club, American Airlines AAdvantage Miles, Asia Miles, Asiana Airlines, British Airways Executive Club, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates Skywards, Flying Blue, Hawaiian Airlines, Japan Airlines, King Club Miles, Mexicana Frecuenta, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus, US Airways Dividend Miles, United Mileage Plus, Virgin Atlantic

Summing it Up: If you want maximum flexibility and want to avoid getting stuck with points you can’t transferIf then the Starwood preferred card is far better than most airline specific credit cards.  With the option to either stay at Starwood hotels or transfer to the longest list of airlines, the Starwood credit card comes out on top

·      What has your experience been transferring Starwood Points?

·      Do you have any good or bad rewards point transfer stories?

·      What is your transfer strategy?