The easiest way to save points

We are all about maximizing the value you receive from travel hacking – so here’s the easiest way to save points. When you find a deal you like, you book it because there’s a good chance that the points and miles cost will go up as you get closer to your departure date. It is possible, however, to save points and miles even after you’ve booked your trip.

How to do it

It’s so simple, but all you have to do is just check your booking after you’ve made your reservation. The vast majority of travel providers, particularly the largest ones in the market allow you to cancel reservations for no charge. Some people like checking their booking as much as possible to account for fluctuations in cost.

Saving 14,000 points

In July, we had to shift some of our our pre-determined travel plans for the end of September / early October and ultimately settled on visiting Vienna, Austria. As Marriott loyalists (more details here), we knew we were targeting Marriott as our chain in Vienna. We found a Residence Inn on the east side of the city for 83,000 points for 5 nights, which is a pretty good rate for Marriott locations.

On September 18th, less than two weeks before our flight to Vienna, we decided to check the points rate again. Much to our pleasant surprise, it had dropped to 69,000 points for the same 5 nights. Easy decision to cancel and re-book. 14,000 points back into our account for future travel. At the rate of 69,000 points for 5 nights, 14,000 points in this case would have been enough for an extra night at this hotel.

Does this always happen? No. Travel costs will usually go up as you get closer to the time of travel, especially within the last month or so. But in this case, however, taking two minutes to check our booking allowed us to get 14,000 points back.

Flight example

Similar to our loyalty to Marriott, we typically try to fly United as Chicagoans, especially for domestic travel. We decided to go to Arizona in January 2024 to get some warmth during the long Chicago winter. When we made our decision, the flights to Phoenix from O’Hare were 25,000 round-trip. That’s a rate we can live with, so we booked. Less than three weeks later, we checked the United app for the same flights and same dates. It had dropped to 24,000 miles. Cancel, re-book, 1,000 miles back into our account. Will 1,000 miles take us anywhere on its own? Of course not – but why not save points while you can.

Southwest Airlines

We aren’t Southwest devotees – in fact, we’ve only flown Southwest once since 2019, which was a flight of less than an hour between two Hawaiian islands. However, we wanted to highlight Southwest as they frequently update their miles calendar, so frequently checking your booked travel can allow you to find savings.

You can check your bookings as much or as little as you want. There’s no right or wrong way to do this, and there’s no guarantee it will result in lower points totals.