Episode Description

Earlier this month, United Airlines increased its award prices across the board for economy and business class flights on United and partner-operated international flights without any advanced notice to its frequent flyer program members. After this points devaluation, it now costs roughly 33% to 55% more points for any award flight booked through United. The worst part of this news is that United points aren’t transferable.

These increases are significant and highlight one of the downsides of points in general as a form of currency. However, there is a way that you can protect yourself against instability in the points market before a points devaluation happens, even with no prior warning, and it starts with understanding transferable points.

Tune in this week to discover how to protect yourself from points devaluations by leveraging transferable points. I’m showing you how to keep your options open when accumulating awards-travel points, how to see whether you will be disproportionately affected by a points devaluation, and how you can act now to protect yourself against the instability of points as a currency.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode

• Why it’s a common occurrence for frequent flyer programs reevaluate and devalue their awards programs with no prior warning.
• Who gets disproportionately affected when an airline undergoes a points devaluation.
• Where things get sticky if you have a significant amount of miles in an airline-specific frequent flier account like United.
• Some specific examples of fixed points currencies versus transferable points and where you can start diversifying your points portfolio.
• How to act now to mitigate the impact of a points devaluation before it happens.

Click here to download full episode transcript

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