New Tool Aims To Maximize Unused Travel Rewards

While individuals are traveling more than they did last year, the increase in road-tripping and hesitancy from others to travel at all still create a large pile of unused travel rewards from credit cards and airline loyalty programs.

A new tool from NerdWallet is helping travelers figure out how to get the best value for their loyalty points or miles.

The tool operates like a quiz; simply pick which points or miles you hold, which can range from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Delta SkyMiles or other airline memberships, then pick the region you’d like to travel to.

The tool then finds the best airlines for the rewards you have and explains why you should use them.

For example, a traveler with a Delta SkyMiles membership wanting to travel to South Korea or Japan is encouraged to use Korean Air or China Airlines, which can both cost at least 50,000 reward miles for economy seating.

If a traveler has a more generic bank travel points membership, like Chase Ultimate Rewards, then the tool recommends transferring those points to Air Canada’s Aeroplan or the Virgin Atlantic Flying Club memberships, which can cost around 30,000 to 35,000 points for round-trip economy flights.