Good afternoon everyone, I hope your week is going well. I’m kicking off a new series on the blog called Miles & Points Mantra, where I’ll be sharing the personal “rules” I follow when it comes to using airline miles, hotel points, credit card rewards, and all things travel.  I try to follow these rules 100% of the time, but I have been known to break the rules from time to time.  Whether you’re brand new to travel hacking or a seasoned pro, I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree with these “rules.”  I have a long list of mantras to share, but if you have one you swear by (or want me to cover), please share it in the comments section below.  Let’s get started…

Miles & Points Mantra #2: “Book Flights Now, Then Set Up Google Flights & Points Path Alerts”

Whenever I am looking for paid or award flights, the first place I start is at Google Flights. Most of the time, I know exactly where I want to go and have a preferred departure time in mind. In a perfect world, my preferred flight will be the cheapest option, but in reality, it is usually not.  In addition to Google Flights, I use Points Path, which is an awesome browser extension that runs on top of Google Flights and displays the cheapest award price option next to the cheapest paid option. As a paying Points Path Founders Club subscriber, I have the ability to set up 50 award alerts that run simultaneously that I use to track specific flights and I receive email alerts whenever the award price increases or decreases (this happens almost daily).

Here is a fictional example that shows my booking process. Flight 123 from ABC to DEF is $400 or 40,000 miles and is leaving in 2 months. Assuming the flight is within the United States, is on a big airline (not a low cost airline) and booked in regular economy (not basic economy).  In that case, I will go ahead and book the paid flight directly with the airline in regular economy (not basic economy because I want the flexibility to change or cancel the flight).  I then make sure to track the paid price in Google Flights and the award price with Points Path (all from the same Google Flights page).  Now, I sit back and wait.

Here is what tracked flights looks like in Google Flights:

And here is what tracked flights looks like in Points Path:

Over the next few weeks, I receive a few emails from Google Flights that shows the flight price bounced around between $400-$500, but never went below $400. Additionally, Points Path sent me a few email alerts that showed that the award price bounced around from 35,000 – 50,000 miles, but it never got low enough to justify using miles over cash.  I continue to patiently wait for a deal to pop up.

A few weeks before departure, several airlines have airfare sales and reduce their flight prices on the specific route I am tracking. I receive an email from Google Flight that shows that the price has dropped to $300 on my preferred flight. I jump on the email and go through the process of rebooking my flight from $400 to $300. The remaining $100 goes to my travel bank for use on a future flight.

Points Path continues to send email alerts that award prices have lowered slightly and are in the 30,000 – 40,000 miles range.  With a few days left before departure, I am content with my flight… until I receive a Points Path email alert that shows my preferred flight award price dropped to 15,000 miles.  I stop what I’m doing and book the award flight for 15,000 miles and then cancel the paid ticket. The $300 goes into my travel bank for use on a future flight.  The last few days come and go, but there are no cheaper prices available. I check in for my flight and start packing.

Even though the numbers are fictional, that same process has happened many times for me. Sometimes a great airfare sale will bring down the award prices and sometimes an award price will drop randomly, you just have to be ready when the deal strikes.

That’s it for this mantra!  Whether you’re nodding along in agreement or shaking your head in disbelief, I hope it gave you a fresh perspective on your own travel strategy.  I have more mantras coming soon, so stay tuned.  And remember, If you have a rule you live by or a topic you’d like to see me cover, please leave it in comments section.  I would love to write about it in a future post.  Have a great day everyone!