Blog

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information and offers.

Loyalty programs are huge moneymakers for airlines and hotel companies because they support many revenue streams. One of these revenue streams is selling airline miles and hotel points directly to travelers.

Programs can get an immediate cash injection by selling points and miles as travelers prepay for future travel. However, as a traveler, keep in mind that it generally only makes sense to purchase points and miles when a discount or bonus offer is available.

This roundup of points and miles sales walks you through some of the best current offers on airline miles and hotel points, including some that may be targeted. But first, let’s discuss when it makes sense to buy points and miles.

Should you buy points and miles?

There are a couple of things to consider before taking advantage of points and miles sales.

First, buying points and miles only makes sense for certain travelers and at certain times. It’s generally a much better deal to earn points and miles for “free” through welcome bonuses tied to travel rewards credit cards.

However, buying points and miles during good promotions can make sense for those who have tapped out their credit card options and can get high value from their rewards. It can also make sense when you need more points to lock in a specific redemption.

We generally only recommend buying points or miles if you have an immediate use in mind. In that case, buying points and miles can save you thousands of dollars. However, we don’t recommend stockpiling your loyalty rewards, as programs frequently undergo unexpected devaluations.

With that, here are the current promotions for buying points and miles.

Related: What are points and miles worth? TPG’s current valuations

Promotions for buying airline points and miles

American Airlines AAdvantage

• Current promotion: A 10% to 35% discount
• Purchase rate: As low as 2.45 cents per mile
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.65 cents per mile
• End date: Unknown
• Buy AAdvantage miles

American Airlines AAdvantage is offering up to a 35% discount on miles, depending on how many you buy. You must purchase at least 6,000 miles to get the 10% discount, and the discount increases as you buy more miles. You’ll get the highest discount of 35% when you buy 150,000 miles, dropping the price to 2.45 cents per mile. This is significantly higher than TPG’s current valuation of American miles, but buying American miles for specific high-end awards could still make sense.

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan (targeted)

• Current promotion: Up to 50% bonus miles
• Purchase rate: As low as 1.97 cents per mile
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.5 cents per mile
• End date: March 16
• Buy Mileage Plan miles

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan is running a tiered bonus with up to 50% bonus miles when you purchase at least 30,000 miles. You’ll get a 40% bonus if you buy at least 15,000 miles and a 30% bonus if you buy at least 3,000 miles. Even with the maximum 50% bonus, the price per mile is still well above TPG’s valuation for Alaska miles, so we wouldn’t recommend purchasing miles in most cases.

JetBlue TrueBlue (targeted)

• Current promotion: Up to 120% bonus points
• Purchase rate: As low as 1.36 cents per point
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.35 cents per point
• End date: April 20
• Buy TrueBlue points

JetBlue TrueBlue currently offers an impressive 120% bonus to targeted members who purchase at least 3,000 points. This bonus brings the cost per point down to a flat rate of 1.36 cents each, just a hair over TPG’s current valuation of 1.35 cents. This isn’t a terrible purchase rate, as TrueBlue points typically cost 3 cents apiece when you purchase them from the airline. If you have a JetBlue redemption in mind and are short a few points, this is a solid option.

Note that this offer is targeted, and some TrueBlue members may receive a different bonus.

Emirates Skywards

• Current promotion: Up to 25% bonus miles
• Purchase rate: As low as 2.4 cents per mile
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.2 cents per mile
• End date: March 22
• Buy Skywards miles

Emirates Skywards is offering bonus miles when you buy at least 5,000 miles. You’ll get 10% more miles when you purchase up to 34,000 miles, 15% more when you purchase 35,000 to 59,000 miles, and 25% more when you purchase 60,000-plus miles. The maximum bonus brings the cost down to 2.4 cents per mile, double our current valuation of Skywards miles. So, in most cases, we wouldn’t recommend purchasing miles during this sale.

Frontier Airlines Miles

• Current promotion: Up to 150% bonus miles
• Purchase rate: As low as 1.08 cents per mile
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.1 cents per mile
• End date: March 21
• Buy Frontier miles

You can get a 100% bonus when you buy 2,000 to 4,000 miles and a 120% bonus when you buy 5,000 to 9,000 miles. If you buy at least 10,000 miles, you’ll get the maximum 150% bonus, reducing the price to 1.08 cents per mile. Since Frontier miles typically cost 2.69 cents each, and we value them at 1.1 cents each, this is a great opportunity to top up your Frontier account.

Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles

• Current promotion: Up to 50% bonus miles
• Purchase rate: As low as 1.83 cents per mile
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.2 cents per mile
• End date: March 23
• Buy Hawaiian miles

Hawaiian Airlines is offering a bonus when you purchase at least 3,000 miles. You’ll get a 30% bonus on up to 9,000 miles, a 40% bonus on 10,000 to 19,000 miles, and a 50% bonus when you buy at least 20,000 miles.

The maximum 50% bonus lowers the purchase rate to 1.83 cents per mile. Though this is higher than TPG’s current valuation of HawaiianMiles, remember that loyalty program members can transfer Hawaiian miles to Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan at a 1:1 rate following their merger. Since TPG values Alaska miles at 1.5 cents each as of March 2025, this is still not the best deal, but it could be worth it if you’re eyeing an Alaska sweet spot redemption.

Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards (targeted)

• Current promotion: Up to a 50% discount
• Purchase rate: As low as 1.5 cents per point
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.35 cents per point
• End date:  April 4
• Buy Rapid Rewards points

Southwest is offering spring savings on Rapid Rewards points. These offers may vary, but we’ve seen a tiered discount: Save 40% when you buy 5,000 to 9,000 points, 45% when you buy 10,000 to 19,000 points, and 50% when you buy 20,000 points or more. Even with the maximum 50% discount, the sale price of 1.5 cents per point is still above TPG’s current valuation of 1.35 cents, so purchasing points will only make sense if you’re planning a redemption soon.

United Airlines MileagePlus

• Current promotion: Up to 100% bonus miles
• Purchase rate: As low as 1.88 cents per mile
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.35 cents per mile
• End date: March 29
• Buy MileagePlus miles

We’ve seen a variety of offers from United MileagePlus, with the best ones giving members a 100% bonus or 50% discount. You typically need to purchase at least 70,000 miles, before the bonus, to get the highest offer. This effectively halves the cost per mile, though it’s still well over our valuation. Therefore, we wouldn’t recommend purchasing additional miles unless you have a specific redemption in mind and want to top off your account balance.

Promotions for buying hotel points

IHG One Rewards (targeted)

• Current promotion: Up to 100% bonus points
• Purchase rate: As low as 0.5 cents per point
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 0.5 cents per point
• End date: March 29
• Buy IHG One Rewards points

IHG One Rewards’ latest promotion is targeted, so your offer may vary, but we’ve been seeing a solid 100% bonus when you buy at least 5,000 points. This brings the point cost down to 0.5 cents apiece, right on par with our valuations, so it might be worth considering. Check out our guide to how you can redeem IHG points for maximum value.

Marriott Bonvoy

• Current promotion: Up to 45% bonus points
• Purchase rate: As low as 0.86 cents per point
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 0.7 cents per point
• End date: March 30
• Buy Marriott Bonvoy points

With Marriott Bonvoy’s current tiered bonus, you can score 35% extra points when you buy 2,000 to 9,000 points and 40% extra points when you buy 10,000 to 39,000 points. Purchase 40,000 points or more and you’ll get a 45% bonus, lowering the cost per point to 0.86 cents. This is still much higher than our post-devaluation estimate of Marriott points, so we wouldn’t advise purchasing points in most circumstances.

World of Hyatt

• Current promotion: A 25% discount
• Purchase rate: 1.95 cents per point
• TPG March 2025 valuation: 1.7 cents per point
• End date: April 14
• Buy World of Hyatt points

World of Hyatt’s promotion offers 25% off your purchase of 5,000 points or more. This lowers the price to 1.95 cents per point — nothing spectacular compared to our current valuation. Still, it could be worth buying a few extra points to complete your next redemption.

Which credit card should you use to buy points and miles?

Most of these promotions are processed through Points.com rather than directly by the hotel or airline, so you won’t earn bonus rewards with most travel rewards cards. You’ll want to use an everyday spending card that offers a solid return on nonbonus spending.

The main exception to this rule is American Airlines. This airline reportedly codes mileage purchases as airfare, so you may want to use a credit card that earns bonus miles on airfare for the highest return when buying AAdvantage miles.

Or, if you’re working toward a minimum spending requirement to earn a welcome bonus on a new card, using that card may be the way to go.

Remember that you could incur foreign transaction fees on some cards when buying points or miles from a program abroad. So, you may want to use one of the following cards:

• Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases and no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)
• Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card: 2 miles per dollar spent on all purchases and no foreign transaction fees (see rates and fees)

For a limited time, the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is offering an elevated welcome bonus of 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first three months, plus a $250 Capital One Travel credit to use in your first cardholder year.

Bottom line

Buying points and miles isn’t always a good idea, but it can make sense in some situations — especially if you can take advantage of a promotion. In most cases, it’s best to have a specific redemption in mind and confirm award availability before considering paying for points and miles.