The Safety Net for Travelers
00:00:00.000 | The last tactic in this section is backup flights.
00:00:02.420 | And so if you have enough points and miles in different programs,
00:00:05.700 | especially now that a lot of programs have very, very flexible cancellation policies,
00:00:10.300 | I will every now and then, when I think it might be necessary, book a backup flight.
00:00:15.180 | We've all probably been at the airport in a scenario where a flight was canceled or significantly delayed.
00:00:20.840 | If you already have a backup booked and that backup can be canceled up until departure for no penalty,
00:00:27.020 | there's not a lot of reason not to do it as long as you don't need those points and miles.
00:00:30.880 | And so I remember when we were coming back from Hawaii, I just booked a second flight.
00:00:35.160 | Just in case we show up and something was canceled and we wanted to get home, we had it.
00:00:38.980 | Turns out nothing was wrong, canceled the flight, got all the points back.
00:00:42.720 | Again, keep in mind, transfers to programs are irreversible.
00:00:45.700 | So this doesn't work well if you want to make sure you keep your points as flexible as possible.
00:00:51.440 | But if you already have points, especially in programs like Delta, American, Alaska, and United,
00:00:56.780 | where booking and canceling has no penalties and no fees,
00:00:59.360 | then this is something I use all the time just to make sure we're backed up.