my favorite points & miles Chrome extension.

Ahoy, travel lovers.

I just discovered a new tool that’s exploded my brain.

It’s definitely in the beta phase, but it’s already exceptional.

The tool?

Points Path.

It tells you the points price of a flight you’re looking at in Google Flights.

So cool.

If you don’t know why that’s super important, read on.

If you do, I already know you’re reading on:)

(Sadly, they did not pay me to promote this).

yay, math.

Cents per points (CPP) is the most important metric in travel hacking.

It measures the redemption value of your points.

How to find it?

(Cash price / points price) x 100 = Cents per point.

Ex:

($1,000 cash price / 20,000 point price) x 100 = 5 cents per point.

Is this a good deal?

Short answer: yes.

Long answer:

To know if it’s a good deal, you need to know if you’re getting more than what the airline or hotel points are generally valued at.

Let’s say the example I shared was with Air France miles. They’re valued at 1.25 cents per point (mile).

So, 5 cents per point is a KILLER deal.

Generally, I tell my clients that anything over 2 cents per point is a good deal. 4+ cents per point is a great deal.

so how does this help me?

Well, usually when we’re looking at points flights, we have no idea what the cash price is.

And when looking at cash flights, we have no idea what the points price is.

Let’s say we’re checking out flights to South Korea on Google flights.

Here’s what it looks like to normal people:

Now get ready to have your mind blown. After you download the Points Path Chrome extension…

And when I click for more info on the Korean Air flight:

This is so cool.

Not only do I get to see the points price & the cash price together, it’s calculating the cents per point and letting me know how good a deal this is.

Since we’re getting way above what Alaska Miles are valued at, this is a great deal.

38,000 miles for a $1,046 flight is awesome, especially nonstop across the Pacific.

Remember, Bilt is not the only card that transfers to Alaska - you can now transfer Amex points to Alaska by first transferring them to Hawaiian!

this is really good. kinda.

Old Colin had to find a points deal, then go to Google Flights and search the cash price.

The ability to see both together is saving me a ton of time.

I haven’t taken much more time to explore this new tool, but it’s solid.

A few drawbacks:

• They don’t have that many airlines yet.

• You can only search 60 days out.

• Like every points software, it’s just missing some stuff.

Until AI gets amazing, you’re going to need a human to help you figure all this stuff out holistically:)

And that’s why my business is on the up & up!

Check out my services here if you want to learn more about what I do for 1:1 client.

Check out Points Path!

Until next time…

~ Colin

P.S. Hey Julian from Points Path, brand deal?