Since the pandemic, travel has returned strong. As this happens, hotel and flight rates are sky-high, especially in the luxury segment. However, almost all major travel outlets, fortunately, often sell miles and points with bonuses or at a discount, which could make for a good deal on the rates these airlines and hotels offer.
It would be a great time to update all the hotel miles and points that are up for sale right now so that you can stock up on the right ones for your travels and start planning your travel for the times ahead.
Table of Contents
Airline Miles bonus sales
Purchase Qatar Airways Avios with up to a 60% Bonus (Through October 19, 2024)
Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios can be freely moved forward and aft with British Airways, Finnair and other Avios flavours without losing their value. Through October 19, 2024, Qatar Airways is offering an opportunity to purchase miles with up to a 50% bonus. The promotion being offered is a tiered one. The tiered offering is as follows:
- Buy 5,000 – 15,000 Miles and get a 20% Bonus
- Buy 16,000 – 34,000 Miles and get a 30% Bonus
- Buy 36,000 + Miles and get a 60% Bonus
If you go through with the top end of the promotion, you could buy 400,000 miles at 5,750 USD, which is 1.44 US Cents / INR 1.21 per Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios purchased. I’ve included the full details in this post.
Purchase Qatar Airways Avios with up to a 60% Bonus
Buy Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Points with a 50% Discount (Till October 22, 2024)
Through December 24, 2023, Southwest is offering a flat discount of 50% when you purchase Rapid Rewards points, as long as you purchase at least 3,000 points in one transaction. The airline lets you buy up to 60,000 Rapid Rewards points daily with no annual limits. With the discount, you are looking at paying US Cents 1.5 per point purchased.
Buy Southwest Rapid Rewards Points with a 50% Discount
Purchase United Mileage Plus Miles with up to a 95% Bonus (Through October 25, 2024)
Through October 25, 2024, United MileagePlus is offering a tiered bonus on purchased miles. The promotion offered provides up to a 95% bonus at the top end. My tiered bonus is as follows:
- Buy 5,000 – 14,000 miles, get a 50% bonus
- Buy 15,000 – 49,0000 miles, get a 70% bonus
- Buy 50,000 – 102,000 miles, get a 95% bonus
With the 95% bonus, one can buy, at the top end, 198,900 miles for USD 3,837.75, a rate of 1.93 cents per MileagePlus mile (or INR 1.62). Note that United MileagePlus limits members to purchasing 200,000 MileagePlus miles per account per calendar year, including any bonuses offered.
Purchase United Mileage Plus Miles with up to a 95% Bonus
Purchase Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles with up to an 80% Bonus or 45% Discount (Through October 27, 2024)
Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue programme is offering a tiered 45% discount or 80% Bonus on buying miles. The discount is tiered and is initiated if you buy at least 4,000 miles. Here is how the tiered discount works out:
- Buy 4,000 – 10,000 FB Miles, get 35% Off
- Buy 12,000 – 22,000 FB Miles, get 40% Off
- Buy 24,000 – 100,000 FB Miles, get 45% Off
You can maximise the promotion by buying miles at 1.68 Cents (US)/ 1.68 Cents (Euro)/ INR 1.41 INR. That is close to the best price you’ve gotten with this programme recently. More details are in this post.
Purchase Air France/KLM Flying Blue Miles with up to a 45% Discount or 80% Bonus
Purchase Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles with up to 60% Bonus Miles (through October 31, 2024)
Through October 31, 2024, Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is offering a promotion, offering up to a 60% bonus on purchasing miles. Here is the offer I received:
- Buy 3,000-19,000 miles, and get a 40% bonus.
- Buy 20,000-39,000 miles, and get a 50% bonus.
- Buy 40,000-100,000 miles, and get a 60% bonus.
At the top end of the promotion, one can buy miles at the price of 1.85 US Cents / INR 1.55 per Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan mile.
Buy Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan miles with up to 60% Bonus Miles
Purchase Virgin Atlantic Flying Club Red Points with up to a 70% Bonus (Through November 6, 2024)
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club is offering a bonus of up to 70% when you purchase Virgin Red points through November 6, 2024. The current bonusing is as follows:
- On buying 5,000-24,000 points, you get a 20% bonus
- On buying 25,000-69,000 points, you get a 40% bonus
- On buying 70,000-99,000 points, you get a 60% bonus
- On buying 100,000-200,000 points, you get a 70% bonus
The cost to purchase Virgin Atlantic points is GBP 15 per 1,000 points, pre-tax, before any discounts or bonuses (There is a different price for US-registered accounts). The one thing to know is that all purchases of Virgin Atlantic points transactions are subject to a GBP 15 or USD 22 transaction fee. Assuming you are buying at the top end for a 70% bonus, you can purchase 340,000 Flying Club points for GBP 3,015, which is a rate of GBP 0.0088 per Flying Club point (USD 0.0116/ INR 0.96).
Purchase Virgin Atlantic points with up to a 70% Bonus
Hotel Points bonus sales
Purchase Wyndham Rewards Points With a 25% Discount (Through October 21, 2024)
The promotion on the purchase of Wyndham Reward Points offers a straight-up discount of 25% as long as at least 3,000 points are purchased. Purchasing points under this promotion reduces the per-point cost to 0.98 Cents (US) / INR 0.82. The maximum number of points that can be purchased with this promotion is 1,00,000 per calendar year (ex-bonus).
Hotel redemptions start at 7,500 points per night, the next tier is 15,000 points, and the highest is 30,000 points. Brands under the Wyndham collection include Wyndham, La Quinta, Travelodge, Registry Collection, Wyndham Grand, Dolce, Wingate, Wyndham Garden, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, and Howard Johnson.
Purchase Wyndham Rewards Points With a 25% Discount
Purchase IHG Rewards points with an (up to) 80% Bonus (till November 1, 2024)
IHG Rewards is currently offering an up to 80% bonus on purchased points when you buy more than 5,000 points; you earn an 80% bonus until November 1, 2024. You can buy a maximum of 150,000 points in this promotion (with another 120,000 points coming in as a bonus). The price of each point works out to be 0.56 USD Cent or INR 0.47 per point purchased. Read this post for details.
Buy IHG Rewards points with an 80% Bonus
Which credit card should you use to buy miles and points?
Typically, these point purchases are processed through Points.com and not directly by the hotel or airline. However, you will almost always pay in USD/EUR/GBP, not INR. So, the best cards to earn a bonus are Axis Olympus, American Express Platinum Charge Card and Axis Bank Reserve Credit Card, as these cards offer an international spending bonus. Beyond these, you might look at any card that provides a reduced foreign exchange spend conversion or one where you want to meet minimum spend requirements.
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