Credit card reward maximization requires attention to detail at every step along the way. Maybe you're already a pro at collecting points, you know when to get which SUBs, how to work referrals, and how to squeeze every point per dollar you can from your purchases. But how good are you at maximizing redemptions? Maybe you've heard me evangelize about search tools, such as Roame. In this article I'll help you get the most from your searches and alerts on this tool.
If you haven't signed up yet, I'm excited to share that Tim Qin at Roame has provided me discount code "RMD" which can be used after singing up with my link here. Referrals and disclaimers at the bottom. Read my previous review on Roame if you're unsure about why you would want a tool, and why this one in particular.
Your First Search
First, a reminder that there are two main types of search options out there, live search and cached search. Cached search means that it collects data over hours/days to allow for more rapid searching of broad locations pairs (think "yyz to europe, or NA to tokyo" instead of single city pairs), across many dates (eg 60d window instead of 3 or 7 days) for multiple airlines or rewards programs. On Roame Cached search is called SkyView and can be enabled with a Toggle switch.
As discussed in my previous articles and group sessions, leveraging flexibility is the best way to find great values with travel rewards. So the below examples will be focusing on SkyView, just note that for popular/competitive routes, ticket availability may have changed since results were cached, so consider switching to live search once you've narrowed your plans.
Let's hit search and see what we see
1008+ flights, that looks great, but wait a minute, what is "smiles"? It's an award program we don't have access to... so we need to set some filters by clicking the button next to the search bar
Skip over the "Cards" filter as these are based on the American CC market, and start with arguably the most critical filters to "get right" ie. "Programs". Theres no sense in getting excited about a flight that is only bookable with a point system you have no access to.
Aeroplan collectors - you have it easiest, just select aeroplan and you're done
Canadian Amex MR collectors
Air Canada Aeroplan
British airways and its partners - note that BA has appeared as an option but does not appear to be fully supported yet
Aer Lingus*
Iberia*
Qatar*
Cathay - note this was just recently added and has incomplete data
Delta
Etihad
Air France/KLM Flying blue
Advanced users may consider
Alaska, American, Qantas and others**
Avion collectors
American Airlines
British airways and its partners
Aer Lingus*
Iberia*
Qatar*
Cathay - note this was just recently added and has incomplete data
Advanced users may consider
Alaska, Qantas and others**
*These partners are available by first transfering points to BA then transferring a second time. Note that linking Iberian specifically can take some additional steps. Availability seen on these providers can also often be booked in BA itself sometimes for different point/taxes. I find that they do not have comprehensive coverage through the tool and if your route is best covered by say aer lingus, you consider also checking their page.
**These airline points can not be transferred to, but can have overlapping availability with BA and Cathay in some circumstances
The next filter I'll draw your attention to is the premium percentage filter for mixed cabin fares. While I certainly don't want to waste my points on a mixed cabin booking where I'm in business LAS-LAX and then economy LAX to Japan, I wouldn't mind the reverse. By setting the filter around 60-80% you can avoid the point traps without filtering out the hidden gems.
The "stops" "fees" and "points" filters are pretty straight forward, just set them based on your own preferences, in my case I'm going to do 1 stop or fewer, $600 in fees, and 120k points
Airlines, Airports, and Aircraft
There are two approaches to these filters, either as a whitelist or a blacklist. Let's say you are looking to fly to Asia but keep hearing bad things about Air India's old business class, you could blacklist it by first clicking "select all" then de-selecting Air India.
You could alternatively make a whitelist of the airlines you're interested in flying for the route such as JAL, ANA, EVA, Singapore, Air Canada etc. Just note that this approach is limited to 5 airlines at a time.
Airports can also be used to the same effect, and you could blacklist DEL and BOM to effectively filter out Air India results, but I prefer to use this as a whitelist of airports I can easily fly from. This allows me to search "North America" as my departure region, but limit the search to YYZ, ORD, EWR, BOS, JFK if going to Europe, or YYZ, YVR, SEA, SFO, LAX if going to Asia/Oceania. You could alternatively make a whitelist of destinations. Note there is again a 5 airport limit.
Aircraft filtering is particularly important if flying with a carrier that has very different longhaul business products on different aircraft. To continue on the Air India example, they have a new A350 business class product that is quite nice.
I Found Nothing! - Alert Time
If you can't find what you're looking for, old results that are no longer available, or nothing for your specific search, there are a few steps to take. First consider if what you are looking for/filtering is even possible. A direct YYZ-HND flight with JAL does not exist at any price, so your searches will be in vain. I recommend using Flightconnections to check if you're unfamiliar with a route.
Same with Looking for a 50k point business flight on a route that typically costs 70k such as YYZ-ATH with Aeroplan.
Assuming the flight is possible and your filters are appropriate, you might be finding nothing because it is a niche route that is not yet being cached by Roame. Good news is that the alert feature fixes both of these problems. CEO Tim Qin has confirmed to me that adding an alert will force their system to cache data for it if it isn't already, and you will receive an email any time new flights are found on that route. If you have the Roame app you can receive app notifications instead (currently Apple only).
It is also possible that the program is not entirely covered by the search like some of the newly added ones, or that there simply is no availability. For the new programs you may want to manually check, or use some advanced search techniques if the trip is important and the search space isn't too large.
Advanced Techniques
I mentioned above the use of programs you don't have access to in order to indirectly search availability for programs that you do have access to but can't search. This requires some understanding of airline networks and who can book which flights. For example JAL is part of the oneworld alliance and can be booked with many programs such as BA, AA, Alaskans and others. This is not a perfect system as not every flight can be booked on all three, and the pricing can differ widely but because BA is tediously slow to search, so you can consider searching all programs and filtering to JAL before cross referencing as a way to search more rapidly and set up alerts.
In this example, there are 2 business class seats available on the 25th through BA, but none available on the 21st and 27th.
Now this discrepancy can either be because the cached results are stale (in this case 2 days old) and someone else has booked, or because the flights were not available on both programs. In this specific example, those two dates no longer have availability on AA either.
Conclusion
Roame is a user friendly and powerful tool to rapidly search multiple rewards programs, dates, and airports to try to help you save time and points for your next big redemption. Unlike some other paid services, the free version can search a year out making it a useful tool to try out - but the true power is in Skyview and Alerts, which do require a subscription. If you're considering signing up, be sure to use discount code 'RMD' to save on your subscription through the signup here.
Referral Links
With its best in market 5x multiplier Amex Cobalt is a powerful point earner that can get you on flying for free 5 times faster than much of the competition - sign up here. TIP: Consider waiting until a supplemental card promotion before adding the free supp card for even more points.
To see the access the best offers for different Amex card such as the Business Gold, or Platinum click here. Or to compare all the cards I can refer to, check out my card comparison tool.
You're going to need somewhere to stay after all of these free flights. The Amex Bonvoy or the Business Bonvoy card will earn you free hotel stays and can be combined with the Aeroplan eStore for some incredible double dipped rewards.
If you're on the fence, or wondering about other cards reach out to me for a free consult, and if you sign up for a card through my link, let me know and I will walk you through advanced tricks and personalized advice to help you get the maximum benefit both from earning and redeeming points - getting your travel journey going faster than you ever thought possible.
Check out my Keeper Cards series to see other cards worth exploring
Disclaimer
This should not be taken as financial advice and details are subject to change. I have made good intentioned efforts to be accurate but ultimately consult card terms and conditions
