How to Get Gift Cards With Your Points

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Folks in our hobby collect airline miles and hotel points to get Big Travel with Small Money.  But there are times where you might have a handful of miles or points with an airline or hotel you’ll never use.

Instead of letting them expire, you can use these miles and points to buy gift cards.

Converting airline miles and hotel points to gift cards is NOT the best use of miles and points.  But it could be useful for folks who won’t collect enough points for an award flight or hotel stay.

Transferring Airline Miles to Gift Cards

Link:   Points.com  

Through Points.com you can exchange, gift, transfer, and redeem airline miles and hotel points for gift cards at many retailers.

But not all miles and points can be redeemed for gift cards.

For example, you can NOT redeem Air Canada Aeroplan miles for an Amazon gift card.  But you can with Icelandair Saga Club miles!

Here are some examples of how you can turn your airline miles into gift cards:

• 6,412 American Airlines miles is worth a $25 gift card for 76 Gas Station
• 17,000 IHG points gets you a $25 Kohl’s gift card
• 9,160 Frontier Airlines miles earns you a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card
• 10,687 Hawaiian Airlines miles converts to a $25 Walmart gift card

Using miles and points for gift cards is only a good idea for folks who aren’t able to redeem them for travel.  Or if they have small balances with airlines and hotels they rarely use.

Folks with no immediate travel plans whose miles and points that are about to expire might be tempted to redeem them for gift cards.  Again, it’s not worth it unless you know you’ll never use them otherwise.

But there are lots of ways to keep your airline miles from expiring.  And here’s how to keep your hotel points from expiring.

How to Redeem Airline Miles for Gift Cards on Points.com

Before you can redeem miles and points for gift cards on Points.com, you have to register your award program.

Step 1 – Add to Loyalty Wallet

Scroll down to your airline (or hotel) loyalty program and click “add” to add it to your Points.com wallet.

Step 2 – Register Program

Enter your name, loyalty number, and password, then click “register program.”

Step 3 – Select Gift Card and Confirm

Pick your gift card, denomination, and award program to redeem your miles and points for a gift card.

Click “confirm redeem.”  You’ll be asked to enter your name and address.  And you’ll be able to confirm 1 more time in case you make a mistake!

Once you approve the transaction, you should receive your gift card in 5 to 10 business days.

Gift Cards From Airline & Hotel Loyalty Program Websites

Some airline and hotel loyalty program websites let you redeem airline miles and hotel points for gift cards:

• 16,000 Choice points gets you a $50 gift card to stores like Best Buy and Target
• 50,000 Hilton points gets you a $100 Starbucks gift card
• 15,000 Southwest points gets you a $150 gift card to Morton’s  

Redeem Gift Cards Into Miles

Link:   MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange

Sometimes United Airlines allows you to redeem unwanted gift cards for miles.

Your mileage amount may vary but you could get:

• At least 670 United Airlines miles for a $25 gift card
• At least 1,330 United Airlines miles for a $50 gift card
• At least 2,660 United Airlines miles for a $100 gift card

Bottom Line

You can trade your airline miles and hotel points to get gift cards through Points.com.

Buying gift cards is NOT the best way to use miles and points.  But it could work for folks with small balances on airlines and hotels they rarely use, or for folks whose miles and points are going to expire.

But you can keep your airline miles from expiring.  And you can keep hotel points from expiring too.