PointsYeah Review: A Great Award Search Tool – NerdWallet

Bank card spending is essentially the most environment friendly solution to earn a stash of miles and factors. However determining methods to redeem these rewards is usually a chore.

PointsYeah, a journey planning and award search engine, goals to make issues simpler. It’s my go-to software for locating methods to redeem airline miles. Lately, additionally they added the power to seek for resort awards.

The person interface is simple, and you’ll set alerts to get notified when particular award area turns into accessible. For folks with extra imprecise wanderlust, the “Daydream Explorer” software permits you to discover award availability with out setting a precise vacation spot.

There are each free and paid variations of PointsYeah. In line with the corporate, the free model presents 80% of the performance because the $89.99 per 12 months premium model, which offers multi-day and multi-airport search capabilities and the power to set extra alerts.

Whereas the premium model is cheaper than competitor award search software Level.me ($129 yearly), PointsYeah has entry to the award availability from fewer airways. PointsYeah additionally solely presents an annual subscription, whereas related providers could provide day by day or month-to-month plans.

You’ll must create a login to entry each the free and paid model of PointsYeah. This is an summary of a number of the variations between PointsYeah Primary and PointsYeah Premium:

Each the free and paid variations provide entry to the identical variety of airline and resort loyalty packages. Nevertheless, PointsYeah Premium can search over an eight-day window versus four-days with the free model; full multi-airport searches; and allow you to set extra flights and resort value alerts.

The web site takes about 20 seconds to return a search question. As soon as the search is full, you may filter by cabin kind, variety of stops and the utmost variety of factors you wish to spend or charges and taxes you wish to pay.

Should you’re in search of enterprise or top notch seats on a multi-leg itinerary, the search software will usually return mixed-cabin outcomes, the place one flight could also be in financial system and one other flight within the premium cabin. Should you solely need premium cabin tickets, it’s as straightforward as filtering the “premium cabin p.c” to 100.

A function I actually like is the power to see the money value subsequent to the redemption value. Within the instance beneath from Newark (EWR) to Dublin (DUB), PointsYeah discovered 3,737 flight choices. Of these, 74 are nonstop flights. The most cost effective possibility is to make use of 22,500 Alaska Mileage Plan miles (which could be transferred from Bilt Rewards) to fly on their companion airline Aer Lingus, which in any other case would value $730. With this redemption, you’d successfully get a worth of three.2 cents per mile. Clicking on both the “money value” or the “mile value” will take you on to the airline’s web site.

Not like another award search instruments, you too can seek for resort award area with PointsYeah. Merely enter your journey particulars and dates and choose the loyalty program and parameters you need. Outcomes could be proven in both listing or map view.

Have the journey bug however unsure the place you wish to go? The Daydream Explorer function lets you choose as much as three airports, continents, areas or international locations at a time. You may even select “wherever” as a vacation spot, or choose an exercise like scuba diving, snowboarding or golf. The software is obtainable in each the free and paid variations.

On this instance, PointsYeah got here up with nearly 50,000 concepts inside our chosen dates to go from New York to wherever, together with financial system, premium financial system and enterprise class flights to Italy, Morocco and Mexico.

Creating alerts to get notified when award area opens for flights and resorts is straightforward. The free model of the software permits you to set alerts for particular routes and date ranges on as much as 4 airline and 4 resort redemptions at a time. Should you want greater than 4 alerts, take into account the Premium model, which presents 32 lively flight alerts and 15 lively resort alerts.

For extra novice journey hackers, PointsYeah presents step-by-step guides on learn how to hyperlink your loyalty accounts and switch factors from all the key bank card rewards packages, together with AmEx Membership Rewards, Capital One Rewards, Chase Final Rewards® and Citi ThankYou factors.

Multi-city airways searches are restricted to 2 flight segments, which may very well be restrictive when you’re in search of a extra detailed itinerary. You additionally gained’t be capable to seek for airline-specific multi-city advantages, such because the United Excursionist perk, which presents a free one-way flight on a multi-city award ticket.

One other downside is that annual membership is the one subscription degree at present accessible for PointsYeah Premium. Different award search instruments, like Factors.me and SeatSpy, provide shorter length memberships. Should you solely use the PointsYeah a couple of times a 12 months, it may be exhausting to justify the annual value.

Much like different award search instruments, PointsYeah can wrestle with displaying award seats that seem on-line however aren’t really bookable. This “phantom award area” happens when companion airways present the flawed stock, or when award area will get booked and the web site doesn’t replace in actual time. This primarily impacts individuals who plan to switch factors to a particular airline, so you should definitely test the provision with that airline earlier than your switch.

It’s best to give PointsYeah a attempt if in case you have two or extra bank cards that earn transferrable factors, use a number of airline and resort loyalty packages, or take a minimum of a few journeys per 12 months on miles and factors.

The free model of PointsYeah is a game-changer amongst award search instruments. The interface is person pleasant and searches are very quick. The Daydream Explorer software may give you new concepts for learn how to use your miles and factors. Should you don’t wish to be taught the nuances of award journey, this can be a good solution to shortly see what you are able to do along with your rewards.

The premium model of PointsYeah is constructed primarily for individuals who wish to arrange extra alerts or seek for extra advanced itineraries. With the ability to seek for award availability over eight days as a substitute of 4 can save plenty of time. However earlier than you splurge, give the free model a attempt, then improve when you resolve the extra options can be worthwhile.