Why it’s worth keeping an emergency stash of travel points

It was midnight in Vietnam, and I was sitting on the airport floor, frantically searching for a last-minute flight home on my phone. I had arrived at the airport about 10 minutes prior, only to discover that my Qatar Airways flight back to the U.S. via Doha had been canceled due to the U.S.-Israel airstrikes on Iran. The Qatar staff couldn’t help anyone rebook because the entire system had crashed. The airport was packed with people just like me using the very slow cell service to find a new route home.

Flight prices kept increasing whenever I refreshed a page, but I comforted myself with the knowledge that I had some Chase points to help lessen the financial blow. I ended up booking a last-minute itinerary using a combination of credit card points, annual credits and cash, and the experience taught me why it’s worth keeping a stash of travel points for emergencies.

The backstory and cost breakdown

Back in September, I used my Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees) to book my return journey from Vietnam: a Qatar Airways flight from Hanoi to Boston with a layover in Doha. I paid $760 for the ticket plus an extra $249 for a premium seat.

In between buying the flight and going on the trip, I moved to New York City. So, I also bought a one-way American Airlines flight from Boston to New York City for $133.

The grand total for my original journey home was $1,142.

After it was cancelled, I had to pay an extra $915.54 plus 32,928 Chase Ultimate Rewards points and 5,640 Capital One miles for my new flights.

How my emergency points helped me rebook

I was traveling with a friend, and we had a few limitations when rebooking:

• We hoped to fly together for as much of the journey as possible; she lives in Boston, and I live in New York City.
• The airspace in the Middle East was closed, so many of the routes that were appearing on Google weren’t actually viable options. To be safe and avoid other potential cancellations, we wanted to fly in the opposite direction.
• We had to get home as soon as possible, so we couldn’t wait for lower prices or extend our layovers.
• Tickets were selling out fast.

Of course, we were also looking for the cheapest possible option.

The itinerary we chose took us from Hanoi to Hong Kong; then to Taipei, Taiwan; and finally to Los Angeles. From LA, we split off for our respective home cities.

Using my Capital One miles and credits

I booked our new tickets through the Capital One Travel portal. I was thrilled that I had opened a Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card a month prior to the trip and therefore had access to this portal, since these flights didn’t appear in the Chase Travel℠ portal. (The lounge access that this card provided was also a huge plus on a journey with multiple layovers.)

The total cost of the two Hanoi-to-Hong Kong flights was $828. The system automatically applied my $300 annual travel credit (a card perk), which reduced the price from $828 to $528. Then I used the 5,640 Capital One miles in my travel bank.

The remaining amount was $471.60.

I booked our flights from Hong Kong to LA (with a layover in Taipei) through the Capital One Travel portal as well, but had already used up my points and perks, so I spent $1,291.66 on the two tickets. Still, it was nice to know that I earned 5 miles per dollar spent by booking these through the portal rather than on the airline website.

Using my Chase points

I’m admittedly more of a user than a saver when it comes to my credit card points. However, I luckily hadn’t made any recent redemptions, so I had 32,928 Chase points in my account at this moment in time — enough to cover most of my flight from LA to New York City.

Had I paid cash, I would be out about $393. Instead, I redeemed all my points and then paid the remaining $34.

By contrast, the LA-to-Boston routes were much more expensive, and my friend didn’t have a stash of points to fall back on as I did. She ended up paying about $700 out of pocket for the final leg of her journey.

Key takeaways

Keep a points balance for emergencies

How many points you should keep in your reserve depends on how often you travel and where you typically go. Obviously, points rates vary widely across programs, but domestic flights can range from 20,000 to 40,000 points, while international economy flights can range from 50,000 to 80,000 points.

So, if you live on the East Coast and have family in, say, California, it’s probably smart to keep a stash of about 30,000 points on hand to cover a domestic ticket in case of a last-minute family event or emergency.

Of course, spending points is still kind of like spending money. But in the midst of a stressful travel situation, it helped to know I had some sort of cushion before dipping into my bank account.

Don’t solely rely on insurance through credit cards

I booked my original flight with my Chase Sapphire Preferred card, so I called Chase to see if I had any purchase protection if my flight is canceled due to war. They informed me that the card does not cover travel changes due to undeclared war, insurrection, rebellion, revolution or a host of other reasons.

Fortunately, I didn’t have to rely on Chase. I received the following email from Qatar Airways and was able to get a full refund for my original flight:

If the airline hadn’t reimbursed me, I would have been out of luck because I had no type of insurance coverage. If you want to protect yourself against cancellations due to war or similar events, the only real option is to add “cancel for any reason” travel insurance around the time of booking.

It never hurts to ask

An honorable mention goes to American Airlines in this situation. I contacted the airline and explained that I was forced to cancel my little Boston-to-New York City flight after Qatar canceled my flight to Boston. I thought this was a shot in the dark, so I was shocked when the airline representative said they’d issue a trip credit to use toward any AA or American Eagle flight within the next year.

Bottom line

I was lucky in so many ways in this scenario. In addition to my personal safety, I was fortunate to have booked my original flight with an airline that reimbursed me, and I had a Capital One credit left to use and a stash of Chase points to help me get home. Before my next big trip, I will be sure to read up on my credit card insurance policies and take a few moments to consider how I’d book new flights in an urgent situation.

And, of course, I will always keep some extra points on hand.