Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.
Loyalty programs are a huge moneymaker for airlines and hotel companies because they have many revenue streams. One of these revenue streams is selling airline miles and hotel points directly to travelers.
By selling points and miles, programs can get an immediate cash injection as travelers prepay for future travel. However, it generally only makes sense to purchase points and miles when a discount or bonus offer is available.
This roundup of points and miles sales walks you through some of the best current offers on airline miles and hotel points, including some that may be targeted. But first, let’s discuss when it makes sense to buy points and miles.
Should I buy points and miles?
There are a couple of things to consider before taking advantage of points and miles sales.
First, buying points and miles only makes sense for certain travelers and at certain times. It’s generally a much better deal to earn points and miles for “free” through welcome bonuses tied to travel rewards credit cards. However, buying points and miles during good promotions can make sense for those who have tapped out their credit card options and can get high value from their rewards. It can also make sense when you need more points to lock in a specific award.
We generally only recommend buying points or miles if you have an immediate use in mind. Otherwise, you’re left open to unexpected devaluations. However, if you have a specific hotel or destination in mind, buying points and miles can save you thousands of dollars.
With that, here are the current promotions for buying points and miles.
Related: What are points and miles worth? TPG’s current monthly valuations
Promotions for buying airline miles
American Airlines AAdvantage
- Current promotion: Up to a 35% discount
- Purchase rate: As low as 2.45 cents per mile
- TPG valuation: 1.55 cents per mile
- End date: Unknown
- Link to buy miles
American Airlines AAdvantage is offering up to a 35% discount on miles. You’ll get the highest discount when you buy 150,000 miles, dropping the price to 2.45 cents per mile. This is significantly higher than TPG’s valuation of American miles, but buying American miles for specific high-end awards could still make sense.
United Airlines MileagePlus
- Current promotion: Up to 100% bonus miles
- Purchase rate: As low as 1.88 cents per mile
- TPG valuation: 1.4 cents per mile
- End date: April 30
- Link to buy miles
MileagePlus is offering up to 100% bonus miles when purchasing at least 50,000 miles. This drops the purchasing rate as low as 1.88 cents per mile, which is still slightly higher than TPG’s valuation. However, if there is a specific United or Star Alliance redemption in mind, this could make sense to top off your United account to purchase the flight or even an upgrade.
Air France-KLM Flying Blue
- Current promotion: 35% bonus miles
- Purchase rate: As low as 2.35 cents per mile
- TPG valuation: 1.2 cents per mile
- End date: April 25
- Link to buy miles
Flying Blue is currently offering 35% bonus miles when purchasing at least 2,000 miles, making the purchase rate 2.35 cents per mile. Since this is a lot higher than TPG’s valuation, we would not recommend purchasing KLM miles, even with the 35% bonus. However, if you’re looking to book one of Flying Blue’s monthly award promotions, it may make sense to top off your account to book a flight from the U.S. to Europe for just 15,000 miles.
Air Canada Aeroplan
- Current promotion: 80% bonus points
- Purchase rate: 1.44 cents per point
- TPG valuation: 1.5 cents per point
- End date: April 5
- Link to buy points
Aeroplan is currently offering 80% bonus points when purchasing at least 15,000 points, which costs $525 Canadian dollars (about $389). This makes the purchase rate as low as 1.44 cents per point, which is lower than TPG’s valuation of 1.5 cents apiece. Therefore, if you’re looking to book a getaway in 2024, this is a great promotion to top off your account to book a business-class ticket, a stopover for just 5,000 points or a round-trip economy ticket within North America.
If you want to maximize your Aeroplan points, be sure to check out our guide.
Promotions for buying hotel points
World of Hyatt
- Current promotion: 20% discount
- Purchase rate: As low as 1.92 cents per point
- TPG valuation: 1.7 cents per point
- End date: April 9
- Link to buy points
Though it’s not World of Hyatt’s best offer, the hotel brand is currently offering a 20% discount when you buy Hyatt points. To get the discount, you must purchase at least 5,000 reward points, which will cost you $96. This gives you a purchase rate as low as 1.92 cents per point. Though this is slightly higher than TPG’s valuation, it could be worth it if you have redemption in mind, especially since Hyatt still uses an award chart. Note that you can only purchase up to 55,000 bonus points.
Hilton Honors
- Current promotion: Up to a 100% bonus
- Purchase rate: As low as 0.5 cents per point
- TPG valuation: 0.6 cents per point
- End date: May
- Link to buy points
Hilton is currently offering a 100% bonus when you purchase at least 6,000 Hilton Honors points. This will give you a purchase rate of as low as 0.5 cents per point, below TPG’s valuation of 0.6 cents per point. Therefore, if you want to stock up on Hilton points or have a dreamy tropical Hilton destination in mind, now is the time to buy.
Which credit card should you use to buy points and miles?
Most of these promotions are processed through Points.com rather than directly by the hotel or airline. So, you won’t earn bonus rewards with most travel rewards cards.
As such, you’ll want to use an everyday spending card that offers a solid return on non-bonus spending. Or, if you’re working toward a minimum spending requirement to earn a welcome bonus, using that card may be the way to go.
Remember that you may incur foreign transaction fees on some cards when buying points or miles from a program abroad, so you may want to use one of the following cards:
- Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases and no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases and no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)
The main exception to this rule is American Airlines. The airline reportedly codes mileage purchases as airfare, so you may want to use a credit card that earns bonus miles on airfare for the highest return when buying AAdvantage miles.
