Confused About Airline Points? These Apps Help

Finance apps have grown in popularity to the point where, according to an August survey, 8 in 10 Americans now use them. But how many of them use apps to be more savvy about how they manage travel points and flight miles? “We often see travelers gloat about how they’ve accumulated points and miles as if they were assets like their savings account balances or investment portfolios,” says Sally French, a travel expert at the personal finance site NerdWallet. “Yet unlike the latter two things, point portfolios don’t earn interest or have the potential to grow in value over time.”

In fact, French says, it’s the opposite: Inflation eats away at the spending power of hoarded points. This should motivate travelers to burn their loyalty currency rather than stockpile it, but sometimes that’s easier said than done. “It’s difficult to peg a true value to a loyalty rewards portfolio,” French says. “When travelers are ready to finally spend down their balances, we tend to see people overspend or make otherwise suboptimal decisions.”