You don't need hundreds of thousands of points and miles to book flights for nearly free. Heck, you don't even need tens of thousands of them!
Lately, we've been watching and hoping that the pattern of flights bookable for 9,000 points or less will become a trend. Now, we can safely say it has. From coast-to-coast in the U.S. and even down to Mexico and the Caribbean, you could book roundtrip award flights in the quadruple digits when you use points and miles. Booking with Southwest Rapid Rewards, Delta SkyMiles, and JetBlue TrueBlue points (or credit card points you can transfer to those airlines) is the easiest ways to get rates like these. But, there's also another crafty workaround to book flights outside of those programs if you have the right flexible points currencies, too.
While, there are plenty of big spenders and high-rollers out there flush with points and miles…I'm not one of them.
I've always been better at spending points than I am at earning them, which often leaves me with balances like these. My Thrifty Traveler colleague Long often finds himself in a similar leaking boat, too! But even for points-poor travelers like us, there are some flight deals out there you can book with just a few thousand points or miles.
Here's where to look.
Read next: No Bonus, No Problem: How to Keep Earning Points and Miles Without a Welcome Offer
Southwest Rapid Rewards
Southwest Airlines and its Rapid Rewards program is the best for dirt cheap points and miles redemptions. It's far and away the easiest airline mileage program to use if you want to find low, low miles fares. I've booked several Southwest flights with the “look what I found!” leftover Rapid Rewards points I didn't even know were in my account.
Southwest Rapid Rewards points are easy to earn by flying with Southwest, or on one of the Southwest co-branded credit cards. Plus, Southwest is a transfer partner with Chase, so if you've got a Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card in your wallet like the *chase sapphire preferred*, you've got Southwest points.
The only thing easier to do than earn Rapid Rewards is burn them. You can book Southwest flights one-way for half the points of a roundtrip, so when you find the cheapest fares, you can book them for under 2,000 points each way – or under 4,000 points roundtrip!
This Salt Lake City (SLC) to Denver (DEN) fare is a perfect example. Southwest often offers dirt cheap cash fares during its frequent sales. And the shortest, nonstop flights will usually benefit for some crazy cheap points and miles fares. When cash fares dip, Rapid Rewards always follow suit as those award rates are tied directly to the cash rates.
SLC offered the lowest rates, but travelers in the mountains didn't get all the fun to themselves. This Denver sale was widespread, with dozens of cities falling under 9,000 Rapid Rewards roundtrip! We searched all of Southwest's Denver flying and rounded up those fares for our Thrifty Traveler Premium members. Here's what we found.
We see sales like this happen in several regions, including Southern California, too. This sale to Long Beach (LGB), Ontario (ONT), Santa Ana (SNA), and Burbank (BUR) was another phenomenal example.
While not as cheap as Denver, this SoCal deal offered some crazy value, including 9,000-point roundtrip rates from places like Boise (BOI), the Bay Area, and other cities.
Southwest is known as a domestic powerhouse – criss-crossing the United States with low fares and great Rapid Rewards rates. But it has a small international network, too, focusing mostly on Mexico and the Caribbean. Earlier this year, Southwest went crazy with these nonstop flights to Mexico under 9,000 roundtrip.
This is the absolute cheapest fare you could possibly find from Chicago (MDW) to Cancún (CUN) at any time of year – not to mention the peak winter travel season on the Yucatán.
If you're looking to fly somewhere for under 9,000 points roundtrip, focus on Southwest Rapid Rewards. It's the number one program to do just that.
Delta SkyMiles
SkyMiles get a lot of hate, and most of that hate is warranted. SkyMiles are hard to use on business class flights (although that's getting easier), and the fluctuating rates make it frustrating for some travelers to use their miles.
But fluctuating rates means that they won't just rise – they'll also fall. Domestic flights like these are a sweet spot for getting the most from your SkyMiles.
Like Rapid Rewards, Delta SkyMiles are easy to earn. Delta's multi-billion dollar relationship with American Express includes the Delta SkyMiles Amex cards and the American Express Membership Rewards cards. Earning points on an Amex card like the *amex gold*? You can transfer those points to Delta to book flights (although keep in mind Amex charges you a small fee to do so).
Whether you've got just a few thousand SkyMiles or Amex points, you can make your next trip a reality. In many of these flights to and from Seattle (SEA) and Portland (PDX), you won't need more than 9,000 SkyMiles roundtrip.
SkyMiles Flash Sales are some of the easiest ways to get more bang for your buck in travel rewards, but Delta doesn't always advertise its best sales. If you watch closely or subscribe to our Thrifty Traveler Premium alerts, you can get outsized value on your SkyMiles this year.
JetBlue TrueBlue Points
JetBlue TrueBlue miles aren't quite as easy to earn as Southwest and Delta, but if you have Amex, Chase or even Citi ThankYou points, you can plump up your TrueBlue account with enough points to book a cheap flight.
But you might not even have to do that…
This latest JetBlue promotion offered some mind-blowingly cheap TrueBlue points fares. Several flights to and from Boston (BOS) and New York (JFK) were under 9,000 points roundtrip, and many others were just barely higher than that, too.
Especially for East Coast-based travelers, JetBlue is a perfect candidate for travelers looking to book flights for very few points this year or next.
Flights Under $99 Through Your Credit Card Portal
If you don't dabble in Rapid Rewards, SkyMiles, or TrueBlue points or just want to fly a different airline, there's another way to snag roundtrip flights under 9,000 roundtrip when cash flight prices are low.
First: You need to find the cheapest cash flights. To do that, you should always start your search with Google Flights.
So, lets say you find some cheap fares like these nonstop flights from Seattle (SEA) to Bend, Oregon (RDM) for a trip during peak ski season.
Once you find these low, roundtrip fares, replicate the same search in your credit card travel portal. If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, your points are worth 1.25 cents each booking through the Chase Travel portal, meaning that $77 roundtrip Alaska Airlines flight would only cost 6,087 points.
If you have Capital One miles, Amex points, or another flexible points currency, your points will be worth 1 cent apiece booking through the travel portal. That's still just 7,700 points to book this roundtrip flight!
Low fares can equal low points and miles rates if you use travel portals – giving you a chance to book almost any airline for quadruple-digit points and miles fares.
Bottom Line
You don't need many thousands of points and miles to book flights this year or next. And in some cases, you won't need more than 9,000 to get a roundtrip flight on your calendar.
Whether you're using Southwest Rapid Rewards, Delta SkyMiles, or your credit card travel portal, roundtrip flights under 9,000 points are out there if you know where to look.