Pointhound.com is revolutionizing the way I plan my travel.
One of the main strategies for booking the best award flights is to be flexible with your destination and your schedule. This is a luxury not everyone can afford, but utilizing award search tools such as PointHound can be a step in the right direction. It is free to sign up and currently does not offer any kind of upgrade options as all the tools available are offered free of charge.
Easy Email Sign Up
Although Pointhound is an award search site like many other online resources, my favorite feature of their offerings is signing up for their email list where you can customize your travel preferences such as loyalty programs, outbound airports, fare class, and regions of the world you are most interested in.
Each outbound airport, fare class and region is fully customizable, making it a simple process to get exactly the kind of award information you want and prevents having to comb through endless emails searching for that perfect combination of award features.
The emails come every few days and are separated by outbound airport and fare tier. For example, my Seattle to Africa economy fares come separate from my Seattle to Africa Business & First fares, economy fares from SFO to Asia, etc. I will also receive roundup emails of best Domestic economy fares or International fares from specific airports as well.
The emails are easy to understand, color-blocked, and separated by month and prices of points and taxes all clearly listed. Although the emails require you to click into the listing to view exact dates and award programs, doing so will automatically open another tab showing the award programs and all the dates and prices for the desired route. Pointhound also rates each award fare on a scale of 1 to10 showing the value of the flight in comparison to its regularly listed price.
Easy to Understand Award Availability
For any fares that pique your interest, clicking on the destination will open a new tab that showcases the available flights and points needed.
The tab on the lefthand side allows you to filter out any additional information you need so you can focus solely on flights that fit your loyalty program needs, number of stops, etc.
The fare listed in the email will be the lowest fare available in that month, but dependent on th specific dates desired, points needed to book the fare will vary. There will be multiple pages of award fares listed on the page, listed lowest to highest points needed, and clicking into each fare will expand the listing to show details of the flight and booking options and award points needed per booking option.
Award Flight Purchase and Points Transfer
Once you have found a flight you would like to purchase, the Pointhound website will walk you through the points transfer process with detailed instructions, going step by step and will help you navigate logging into your points earn program and making the transfer and finalizing the purchase. The instructions are clear and easy to understand.
Award search tools have come a long way in a the last few years, greatly demystifying the process by offering up-to-the minute searches and more user-friendly navigation.
Gone are the days when you had to be a points veteran to book award flights, only to be foiled by glitchy websites and phantom award space.
However, this increased ease of award booking may be precisely the reason we continue to see the devaluation of award points as airlines continue to tighten their belts, limiting availability of their premium seats to their own elite members.
The takeaway? While it’s smart to save up points for a big, targeted trip, resist the urge to hoard points with no real goal in mind as points values are in constant flux and airline partnerships can shift just as quickly.
Pointhound’s email opt-in has been an effortless way to keep my ear to the ground for award fares. Especially as I try to stay flexible in my travels and keep a loose bucket list that extends several years out, these updates have helped shape my direction, shifting destinations up or pushing them out based on prime award availability.
For more information on online award search tools to help maximize points and miles, check out my article on PointsYeah.com’s Daydream Explorer Tool. It is a powerful resource that has greatly enhanced my award space searches and has assisted in stretching my miles for maximum value and like the email opt-in, has opened up destination ideas that I had previously considered but are equally exciting.
