timqin

Happy to help here. This is where we get into the complex world of points.

So with United, you're going to have a very hard time finding a first class flight for Zürich to Atlanta route in September. The only possibility is Lufthansa first class with a connection, but Lufthansa doesn't release their first class product to partner Star Alliance airlines (like United) until a few days before departure.

United does not have international first class anymore. SWISS almost never releases their First Class to partners.

You cannot book Air France first class with United because Air France is part of SkyTeam and United is part of Star Alliance.

You cannot book British Airways first class because BA is part of OneWorld. Not that you would want to, British Airways first class usually carries fees around $800-$1,000.

If you are married to just United, then the best tool is the United website award search. Roame shines when you need to search across multiple airline website at the same time.

No worries at all! I totally understand your point. We do have an answer for that based on our insights.

mmhmm. That shouldn't happen. Could you let me know where you are seeing this? Because I just did a quick search and didn't see that transfer option in the flight details.

Let me know if you have any questions or feedback in the future

Thank you!

So, if you're only booking economy flights, there could be a cash where the 25% points back makes. But we boil it down, Amex offers 1 cent per point and with the 25% back, you get 1.25 cents per point.

1.25 cents per point is decent for economy, but you can often find economy flights for 1.5 cents per point when you transfer to an airline partner (sometimes even higher).

The real delta in value comes from business or first class redemptions where sometimes you can realize 5-8 cents per point for business and 12-20 cents for first class.

From a pure numbers approach, you're usually losing out when redeem points on the credit card travel portals. BUT you get to save time by booking any cash fare availability.

Thanks!

None taken! We're focused on speed and providing the best travel product to our users so they can save time/money. Like PG says, only raise money if it will accelerate your growth.

Definitely possible. There are a lot of mispricings for cash fare flights

I get it. So we categorize any mixed fares by the highest class. We do offer a premium percentage filter to sort based on the percentage of the itinerary in business or first class

Yea, I've noticed that airlines categorize mixed cabins differently.

Appreciate the feedback. We need to add a tooltip to the premium percentage slider.

Yes, but it's a push and pull. Short term vs. long-term. If you devalue your points too much and make them too hard to redeem, then consumers won't want your miles.

Also, if airlines get too greedy with their points/miles, US government will step in to try and regulate and airlines certainly do not want that. (https://thepointsguy.com/news/congressional-investigation-ai...)

Good question. Can't get into our secret sauce on a public forum, but can say we are working on addressing those limitations

Got it. I just checked and don't see it on Roame live search.

80K points booked via AA and including JAL leg to Tokyo, sounds like a JAL First Class from SFO to Tokyo saver fare with an Alaska domestic leg thrown in.

If that is the case, it could be that the flight was booked or in someone's cart in between your search and going to the website. Japan routes are extremely popular right now.

Please let me know if you run into this again.

I get it where you’re coming from, but points travel could actually make air travel more efficient by helping fill capacity on planes.

Airlines would otherwise be flying planes with more empty seats without points redemptions. And airlines don’t like cutting routes because they will lost out to new competitors (JetBlue is a great example of a new entrant) or will lose their airport slots.

Thank you!

We believe that we are ultimately beneficial to the airlines because we increase the value of points and bring airlines, especially non-US airlines more US customers.

When more people find good redemptions for their points, they value their points more, and in turn will be more likely spend money using points earning cards.

Airlines benefit by selling billions of dollars worth of points a year to credit card companies.

I'm not sure about the tax implications of Canadian tax residency, but we do cover Air Canada Aeroplan, so as a Canadian, you would be able to use us for Air Canada.

We have that on our list to add! Would require also pulling in the matched cash fares

The biggest lesson is that design and UX is everything for a consumer product in a new category. There is already a lot of education needed with points redemptions, so any small changes to the design including just the color or placement of text, can have a big impact on the user experience.

We get a ton of support tickets when we move something around or make small tweaks to functionality

Thank you for help out

Thank you! On the European side, we do support Flying Blue (Air France & KLM), SAS, and Virgin Atlantic loyalty programs.

Hope our tool serves your needs!

So Brex only has 7 airline transfer partners right now, so results where Brex points can transfer to will be limited depending on the routes you are searching for.

Brex's current transfer partners:

1. Air France/KLM Flying Blue - Really good for Europe

2. Aeromexico Club Premier

3. Avianca LifeMiles

4. Cathay Pacific Asia Miles - US to Hong Kong flights are still significantly below 2019 levels.

5. Emirates Skywards

6. Qantas Frequent Flyer

7. Singapore Airlines

I don't have readily available hard data, but flying first or business class is glamorous and an aspirational luxury product. I believe the reason why the average consumer wants to buy luxury goods like Hermes, Chanel, Gucci, etc., is the same reason they would want to experience first and business class.

So this is an interesting question because there isn't a clear cut answer. The airline industry is fragmented globally, there are tons of national carriers. And each airline team has different incentives.

Airlines, especially US airlines are making billions of dollars a year by selling points to credit card companies. So in theory, they actually want as many people in the world of points as possible because they a consistent high margin revenue from credit card companies.

I believe the real difference between airlines is how they balance loyalty redemptions vs. revenue sales. Airlines full control the pricing of the points redemptions, but they have to balance pricing with capacity and fixed costs. If the flight is only 50% full, then that points redemption is going to help amortize the large fixed costs of operating that half empty flight. So having a bargain points redemption rate, would look attractive.

Now, if that flight is 90% full, then the airline may not offer seats to redeem with points or raise the price to something extremely high like 200,000 points.

Thank you! If you have any questions, please let me know

Great question. So the corporate travelers actually do not get the most value/benefit from points travel because corporate travelers already fly on business. Flying on business class is just a given. Corporate travelers also do not have as much flexibility with their travel schedule or destinations.

It's really the average consumer who has never flown business class that gets the most value and just 1 credit card bonus offer of 60,000 points can get them that flight. Some sign up offers are 150,000 points or more. To the average consumer, flying on business class is a dream experience.

In terms of math:

When flying on points, you can redeem business class flights at 4-8 cents per point. So if you're earning your points 1.5 cents per dollar (eg. Chase Freedom Unlimited), each dollar you spend can earn you 6%-12% back (1.5 points earned * 4-8 cents per point). You can redeem first class for even more at 12-20 cents per point.

This is just the low end. You also have category multipliers like 3X points earned on travel or 5X points on flights with some cards.

The problem is that these saver fare business and first class flights using points are hard to find and can take a lot of time. So Roame is stepping in to make it easier.

We have a guide on valuing points: https://roame.travel/guides/cents-per-point-calculations

We also have a Points 101 guide for the basics: https://roame.travel/guides/points-101

May I ask what browser / device you are using? I can take a look.