the BEST tools TO HELP YOU MANAGE AND REDEEM YOUR MILES AND POINTS
Ever wonder how travel pros always manage to snag Qatar Qsuites or Singapore Suites while you’re searching endlessly with no luck?
Here’s their secret: they use specialized points and miles tools to track rewards, set alerts, and grab award availability before it disappears.
The good news? These tools aren’t just for pros. They’re available to everyone. Many are free or low-cost and will save you hours of frustration. Below are the best apps, websites, and resources to help you organize your credit card points, redeem them for maximum value, and make sure you’re sitting in the best seat on the plane.
BEST TOOLS TO KEEP TRACK OF YOUR POINTS
Travel Freely: This free app is a must-download. It keeps track of:
Application dates
Annual fees
Sign-up bonuses
Your Chase 5/24 status
Card information for Player 1 and Player 2 under one log in
CardGenie suggests future cards based on current cards
Emails you when your annual fee is due
You don’t need to give them any of your account information. Perfect if you’re juggling multiple credit cards and want to stay organized.
Award Wallet: Once you’re earning points across airlines, hotels, and banks, it’s easy to lose track. Award Wallet stores all your balances, expiration dates, and even free night certificates in one place. You’ll need to link your loyalty program logins, but it saves a ton of time. I’ve used Award Wallet since 2014 without any issues.
Cardpointers: Like a personal points concierge, CardPointers not only tracks your annual fees but also tells you which card to use for each purchase. Enter “gas” or “car rental” and it will show you which credit card earns the most points for that category
Best tools TO HELP YOU REDEEM YOUR POINTS
Point.me: The ultimate award flight search engine. Enter your dates and destination and it shows you which programs have award availability and where to transfer your points.
Pro Tip: Don’t have a Point.me subscription? BILT Rewards offers a free version for members (no BILT card required).
To access on desktop or the Bilt app:
Go to Biltrewards.com
Log in to your account (you do not need a BILT rewards card to create an account)
From the main page, Click on the Rewards tab with the airplane at the bottom
Select “Flights” and enter in your departure and arrival cities
On the results page at the top right, you’ll see you can toggle between “Bilt Travel Portal and Transfer Partners.
Select Transfer Partners and you’ll be on the point.me site for searches.
seats.aero: This award flight search tool is one of my go-to’s for flight searches. Very user friendly. You can search by departure city, filter by what points you have, and a one-month pass is just $9.99. Try to the free version first. I have been very pleased with this search tool.
rooms.aero: By the people that brought you seats.aero, this is a hotel award search tool. Completely free and easy to use. Worth trying before you pay for others.
roame.travel: This award flight tool is fairly new and very user friendly. You can search for flights by specific dates and I like that they have a free version and a monthly subscription option so you don’t have to commit before you try it.
awardtool: This award search tool is for flights and hotels. I like that you can enter multiple departure and arrival cities for one search - that’s big timesaver. It has a free version and a paid version for just $11/month
Seatspy: free searches for economy flights only. On this award flight tool, you search by airline, rather than by points program. Free trial available and premium subscriptions start at $3.32/month
Awayz - This hotel award search is $11.99/month or $199/year. It allows you to search by date and even by using your annual free night award or search for the 4th night free which I haven’t seen any other site do. A Trip Pass is only $4.99 and allows you to have up to 50 searches in a 72 hour period which is a great day and I would consider this when I was ready to book rooms.
Staywithpoints: This hotel award search tool allows free searches with up to one alert. Subscriptions begin at just $4.99/month.
PointsYeah: This is a flight and hotel award search program. I actually think this is a good search tool for beginners. I like using the “Daydream Explorer” tab. Try the free version before you choose to subscribe.
maxmypoint: This hotel award search saves me hours searching for open award dates. It currently shows award availability for Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and IHG properties. I love that I can set alerts to be notified when a room opens up. Give it a try!
maxmypoint.com shows you which nights have award availability
Open Hotel Alert: This is similar to Expertflyer, but for hotels and you can use it for award nights. Just set up an alert and you will receive an email when a room opens up. If you have your eye on a certain hotel but can never find availability, this is a great app. It’s completely free to use.
Expertflyer: The go-to tool for serious award hunters. Use it to set seat alerts for premium cabins like Qatar Qsuites or Singapore Suites. The free trial lets you test it out, but the paid version is worth it if you’re chasing those bucket-list seats. My suggestion is to try the free version and really get to know how to work it and look up flights and seats. Then you can decide if it’s worth paying for. Try the desktop version as it’s much easier to navigate.
Award Flight Alert Subscription Services
These services send flight deal and award availability alerts straight to your inbox. They’re perfect if you don’t have time to constantly search or if you want to jump on mistake fares and limited award space before it disappears.
Thrifty Traveler Premium - I have subscribed to TTP for over five years. Thrifty Traveler Premium sends alerts for both cash flight deals and award availability. They specialize in finding business and first-class award seats that are notoriously hard to book and each email give you exact dates and how to book. But also super helpful for economy award flights too.
Straight to the Points - A curated email newsletter focused on premium cabin award space. If you’ve ever dreamed of flying Lufthansa First Class, ANA “The Suite,” or Qatar Qsuites, Straight to the Points highlights exactly when and where those seats are available.
Best tools to PICK THE BEST SEAT ON THE PLANE:
Seat Guru: This one hasn’t been updated in a while, but I still like to check it before I pick a seat. A classic site that lets you preview seat maps before choosing. Don’t get stuck in a window seat… without a window.
aeroLOPA: This is a new site that has an accurate layout of each plane depicting what the seat layout is, what kind of seat, where the window is, etc. I feel this is more for those looking for a specific business/first class seat and configurations. The layout is not clickable and doesn’t tell you if a seat is in a bad location or not. I would probably still refer to Seatguru for that. It’s free!
Seatmap: This one is fairly new and very similar to seatguru above in that it includes reviews of the seat (unlike aeroLOPA). It’s free to use and very user friendly.
seatmaps.com shows actual seat and window placement and includes flight reviews
Best Tools to manage and redeem your points at a glance
| Tool | Best For | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Travel Freely | Tracking applications, fees, 5/24 status | Free |
| AwardWallet | Tracking points & expirations | Free / Premium |
| CardPointers | Maximizing points per purchase | Free / Premium |
| Point.me | Award flight searches | Paid / Free via BILT |
| AwardHacker | Finding cheapest redemption options | Free |
| Open Hotel Alert | Award night availability | Free |
| ExpertFlyer | Seat alerts & availability | Free Trial / Paid |
| SeatGuru | Finding the best seat | Free |
| aeroLOPA | Detailed aircraft layouts | Free |
| SeatMap | Seat reviews & layouts | Free |
| Seats.aero | Searching last-minute award space & batch queries | Free / Premium |
Ready to learn more? Scroll through my “How to Book a Flight with Points” Guide
Final Thoughts
Before you commit to any paid subscription, I recommend playing around with each tool first. Run a few award flight searches, test out their features, and see which one feels the most intuitive for you. Remember, no single points and miles app covers every airline or hotel program, so it’s still important to learn how to run searches on your own. Combining these award search tools with your own knowledge will give you the best chance at finding the flights and redemptions you want.
Whether you’re just getting started with points or you’ve been booking family trips on miles for years, these tools can make the process smoother and help you unlock premium travel for less.
Do you have a favorite travel resource not mentioned here? Join the conversation on our Facebook page or Instagram page.
Happy Travels!
Ready to start traveling for (nearly) free? Read my FREE Guide for Beginner’s here.
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