Points and miles

Terms on this topic

• Award availability: Award availability is the number of seats an airline releases on a given flight for redemption with miles, which is usually far smaller than the number of seats still on sale.
• Award chart: An award chart is a published price list stating how many miles an award flight costs in a given region and cabin, independent of the cash price of that flight.
• Award ticket: An award ticket is a flight paid for with miles or points instead of cash; taxes, fees and surcharges almost always still have to be paid in money.
• Blackout date: A blackout date is a day on which a programme refuses a redemption or certificate as a matter of rule, no matter how many seats or rooms are free.
• Buying points: Buying points is the direct purchase of miles or points from the programme for cash, usually at a rate above what those points are worth on redemption.
• Carrier-imposed surcharge: A carrier-imposed surcharge is a fee set by the airline itself and added to a ticket, payable in cash on award bookings on top of the miles.
• Cents per point: Cents per point is the measure of a redemption's value: the cash price avoided, minus any co-payment, divided by the number of points spent.
• Close-in booking fee: A close-in booking fee is a surcharge some programmes add when an award ticket is issued shortly before departure.
• Devaluation: A devaluation is a worsening of a programme's redemption terms: the same award costs more miles afterwards, or it stops being bookable at all.
• Dynamic award pricing: Dynamic award pricing is a mileage price tied to the cash fare of a flight, which is why it moves daily instead of sitting in a fixed chart.
• Elite qualifying miles: Elite qualifying miles are miles that count only towards reaching a frequent flyer tier and cannot be redeemed for awards.
• Fifth night free: Fifth night free is an elite benefit under which an award stay of five or more consecutive nights is charged for four nights of points.
• Free night certificate: A free night certificate is a voucher for one hotel night up to a fixed points ceiling, usually granted once a year as a credit card benefit.
• Hotel award category: A hotel award category is the price tier a loyalty programme assigns to a property, from which the points price per night follows.
• Married segments: Married segments are flight legs that a reservation system only releases in a particular combination; searched on their own, the seat does not exist.
• Mile: A mile is the currency unit of a frequent flyer programme: a credit in an airline account that can be exchanged for flights and other awards.
• Mileage expiry: Mileage expiry is the loss of a balance when an account shows no activity for a defined period, or when a fixed deadline runs out.
• One-way award: A one-way award is a redemption flight booked in a single direction, with no return flight on the same ticket.
• Open jaw: An open jaw is a round trip on one ticket where the return airport differs from the outbound destination, with the gap covered some other way.
• Partner award: A partner award is a redemption in which one programme's miles pay for a flight operated by a different airline.
• Peak and off-peak award pricing: Peak and off-peak award pricing is an award chart with several price levels depending on travel dates, typically high, low and shoulder season.
• Phantom award space: Phantom award space is an award seat a search displays but cannot book, because the operating airline's system does not confirm it.
• Points plus cash: Points plus cash is a redemption format in which part of the price is settled with points and the remainder with money.
• Points pooling: Points pooling is the combining of balances from several accounts so that an award can be paid for which no single account holds enough.
• Positioning flight: A positioning flight is a separately booked flight to the airport where the real trip starts, often because that is where award space was found.
• Redeemable mile: A redeemable mile is the spendable mile in a frequent flyer programme, the balance that pays for flights, upgrades and other awards.
• Redeposit fee: A redeposit fee is the charge a programme applies for returning already redeemed miles to the account after a cancellation.
• Round-the-world ticket: A round-the-world ticket is a single ticket for a journey circling the globe in one direction, with several stopovers inside a fixed set of rules.
• Saver award: A saver award is the cheapest award level in a programme, the level that is tightly rationed and the only one partner programmes are able to book.
• Stopover: A stopover is a planned break of journey on a single through ticket, longer than a normal connection, which effectively adds a second destination.
• Sweet spot: A sweet spot is a redemption where an award chart asks for far fewer miles than the cash price of the route would suggest.
• Transfer bonus: A transfer bonus is a temporary uplift on the transfer ratio: the same number of points briefly arrives as more miles in the destination programme.
• Transfer partner: A transfer partner is an airline or hotel programme that a bank or card programme can convert its points into.
• Transfer ratio: The transfer ratio is the rate at which one programme's points convert into another currency, such as one to one or three to one.
• Transferable points: Transferable points are points held by a bank or card issuer that can be converted into the currencies of several airline and hotel programmes.