I had three big takeaways for you. One deals pop up all the time, even for primetime travel. I was looking for flights to Europe for five people direct in business class in the summer, which is a very hard time to find awards. I got multiple options in the 45 to 75, 80,000 point range for that over the course of a couple of weeks on short notice, takeaway number two, don't forget that because you find a flight on one airline, like United in my case, it absolutely does not mean you need to book it through United's award program.

And in many cases, it's going to be a much worse deal. Takeaway number three, there is so much value in having transferable points, especially across multiple programs. In my example, if I didn't have chase points, then I wouldn't have gotten the 20% aero plan transfer bonus, or have even been able to transfer to United.

If that was the best option, if I didn't have Amex points, I couldn't you've gotten the 15% bonus to life miles.