You know the script: in the points-and-miles world, the “right” redemption is always a lie-flat seat that costs $8,000… booked for 60,000 points… with a champagne flute in the stock photo.
And sure — those redemptions can be incredible. Ours was.
But here’s the part nobody really posts about: most trips aren’t made expensive by the flight or the hotel. They’re made expensive by the other stuff. The unglamorous travel costs that still show up on your card statement, no matter how good you are at award charts.
Sometimes the best redemption isn’t aspirational. It’s practical.
It’s using points (or miles) as a travel eraser — wiping out expenses that don’t have a “book with points” button, but still matter just as much to the final cost of the trip.
The “good redemptions only” myth
There’s a certain strain of points advice that shows up anytime someone mentions redeeming for a statement credit:
“Never do that.”
“Bad value.”
“Always transfer to partners.”
I get where it comes from. Transfer partners can unlock outsized value — especially for premium cabins and nicer hotels.
But that advice usually assumes something that isn’t always true: That every meaningful travel expense is bookable with points if you try hard enough.
It’s not.
The travel costs that points don’t cover
Even on a trip where your flights and hotels are covered with points, you’ll often still pay cash for things like:
- Trains, buses, ferries, and other ground transportation
- Parking, tolls, and “how is this airport parking so expensive?” fees
- Taxes and fees on award tickets
- Seat selection, checked bags, and other airline add-ons
- Shuttles, transfers, and last-mile rides
- Resort/destination fees that points don’t always cover
- Random travel purchases you need to make quickly and move on
None of that is glamorous. None of it makes for a great “Look what I booked!” post.
But it’s real money. And it adds up fast.
Why “erase” redemptions can be the smartest play
This is why I’m not automatically opposed to using points at a flat rate — like 1 cent per point — to offset travel charges.
Because the goal isn’t always to “win the internet” with a wild cents-per-point story.
Sometimes the goal is simpler: make the trip cheaper.
And if you’re sitting on points that built up slowly over time — maybe from occasional targeted promos, or a card that randomly becomes a temporary earn monster — cashing them out for real travel savings can be precisely the right move.
The counterpoint: yes, transfer partners can be a better deal
The “transfer to partners” crowd isn’t wrong. If you have flexibility, timing, and award availability, transferring points can unlock amazing value — the kind that makes your spreadsheet feel like a victory lap. But that’s a lot of “ifs.”
Award space isn’t guaranteed. Dates don’t always line up. And even when you nail the flights and hotels, the trip still comes with costs that don’t fit neatly into any award chart.
So while transfer partners can deliver the highest value on paper, travel eraser redemptions can deliver the most reliable value in real life.
The “travel eraser” isn’t rare
One reason I don’t buy the “statement credits are always a bad redemption” argument is that multiple major issuers have built travel-eraser redemptions directly into their rewards programs.
Capital One is the most obvious mainstream example. With Venture-branded cards, you can redeem miles to cover eligible travel purchases you already made — typically within 90 days of the charge posting. Bank of America has a similar approach with Travel Rewards, where points can be redeemed as a statement credit for travel purchases.
And yes, this is also why I still get real value from the Barclays Arrival card. It’s a classic travel-eraser setup: redeem miles for a travel statement credit against qualifying travel charges (generally within the last 120 days), with redemptions starting at 10,000 miles for $100 (and smaller redemptions allowed in some cases). It’s not flashy, but it’s simple — and it works.
A real-world example: wiping out a trip expense
Here’s what this looks like in practice.
I had to buy a $125 train ticket to get to Miami for a cruise — the kind of purchase that’s squarely in the “can’t book with points” category.
So I did the simple thing: I erased it.
The redemption cost was 12,500 miles, which works out to a clean 1 cent per mile. Not flashy. Not aspirational. But it removed a chunk of trip cost that would’ve otherwise been straight out-of-pocket.
And yes — it was a Brightline ticket. Which is exactly the point: this is the kind of expense people forget to budget for when they’re busy optimizing the flight and hotel part of the trip.
Because at the end of the day, points are only valuable when they make travel easier, cheaper, or more enjoyable.
And sometimes the best redemption… is the one nobody brags about.
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