Points and miles aren’t just for vacations — they can be a lifeline in an emergency

Redeeming points and miles for dream vacations can mean overwater villas, first-class suites and bucket-list adventures.

But sometimes, the true value of points and miles is realized for redemptions that aren’t glamorous.

They’re the ones you are forced to make in a crisis. These are the times when you need to get somewhere fast and the last thing you have is mental bandwidth to spend hours searching for the cheapest flight or doing mental calculations to get outsize value.

I recently found myself in exactly that situation. My stockpile of Citi ThankYou Rewards points turned what could have been a financial and logistical nightmare into something manageable: getting my husband and I where we needed to be and saving thousands of dollars in the process.

An emergency transatlantic flight home for $5.60

I was recently on a flight from the Pacific island of Fiji, about to land at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) — almost 5,000 miles from my home in London — when, after waking up and connecting to the inflight Wi-Fi, I received news of a family emergency. While I had planned to be in the U.S. for a team off-site for the next week, I knew I had to cancel that plan and get back to London as quickly as possible.

Before the plane had even touched down, I searched the Point.me tool for nonstop award availability on any airline, through any program, from DFW to London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), departing that day.

Several same-day flights were available on American Airlines, with the best prices through its AAdvantage program and significantly lower fees and taxes than flying on British Airways.

I am once again grateful for the Citi ThankYou Rewards program’s fantastic ability to transfer Citi points to the American Airlines AAdvantage program at a 1:1 rate. I was able to transfer Citi points instantly (while still in the air) and booked an economy class seat for 27,000 AAdvantage miles and just $5.60 in taxes and fees. This flight departed just three hours after I was scheduled to land in Dallas.

This saved me over $1,400 on a last-minute one-way cash fare.

As it turned out, my flight from Fiji landed early, and I cleared immigration and collected my bag faster than expected, thanks to Global Entry and priority-tagged baggage that was actually delivered first.

That meant I had a shot at an earlier American Airlines departure — one that left 90 minutes earlier. Rather than wait in the sizable line at the customer service desk and plead my case to move to an earlier flight, because AAdvantage allows free changes and cancellations on award tickets, I was able to change my original booking to the earlier flight and make it to baggage drop with just 15 minutes before check-in closed.

Business class to Australia without the $6,000 price tag

My woes didn’t end when I landed back in London. My husband then needed to travel urgently from London to Australia, a marathon journey of more than 24 hours and one we normally plan a full year in advance. He would need to hit the ground running to care for a family member, and the thought of him having to do that after a full day squashed in economy was daunting.

Once again, it was my transferable credit card rewards to the rescue.

Cash fares for a last-minute one-way business-class ticket on that route were around $6,000.

Instead, using the invaluable Seats.aero tool, I quickly found Qantas business-class availability from Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) to Perth Airport (PER) and then on to Adelaide Airport (ADL).

The total cost: just 85,000 AAdvantage miles and a few hundred dollars in taxes and fees. Given the circumstances, I doubt he will be working his way through the cocktail list and exploring every amenity on board, but at least he can arrive rested and ready.

How to prepare your points and miles for the unexpected

You can’t predict when an emergency will strike, but you can make sure your points and miles are ready to work for you when one does. Here are a few things worth doing now.

• Earn transferable points currencies. Programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards points, American Express Membership Rewards points, Capital One miles, Bilt Rewards Points and Citi ThankYou Rewards points can all transfer to a range of airline and hotel partners. That flexibility is invaluable in an emergency because it means you aren’t locked into one airline’s availability — you can search across multiple programs and transfer where you find space.
• Use award search tools to save time. Services like Seats.aero and Point.me can help you find award availability across multiple airline programs at once, rather than searching airline by airline. This saved me both time and peace of mind by finding what was available at the lowest mileage and with other information around taxes and fees.
• Know your transfer times. Some transfers are instant, while others can take a day or two, which adds an extra layer of stress. Familiarize yourself with transfer speeds to the programs you’d most likely use.
• Consider putting awards on hold. Several airlines let you hold an award booking for 24 to 72 hours before ticketing. That can buy you time to transfer points or firm up your plans if your situation is uncertain. American Airlines, for example, allows holds on certain award tickets through its website.
• Take advantage of transfer bonuses. Keep an eye out for periodic transfer bonuses from bank programs to airline and hotel partner programs. Transferring during a bonus can stretch your points further or help you reach the required amount when you feared you might come up short.
• Don’t overlook buying points and miles. If your balance is just short of what you need for an emergency booking, purchasing a small top-up of miles directly from an airline or hotel could be worthwhile.

Bottom line

Points and miles are fantastic for planning once-in-a-lifetime trips, but their value goes far beyond leisure travel. In an emergency, they can get you where you need to be quickly, affordably and, if you are lucky, comfortably.

Already this year, they have saved me twice from making impossible decisions during a stressful period of my life. If you’ve been sitting on a pile of points and miles and wondering whether the effort of earning them is worth it, take it from me: It is.

Related reading: