Points make prizes

Use your frequent travel perks for benefits beyond reward flights and room upgrades

- HANNAH BRANDLER

Many of you will have amassed thousands of miles and points over the years, redeeming such travel currencies for flight discounts, upgrades or hotel stays. That is, until the year of 2020, when earning and redemption cycles were scuppered due to the grounding of flights, closure of hotels and restrictions on global travel as a result of Covid-19. Thankfully those days are now behind us, but they did shine a light on alternative ways to redeem your loyalty, from discounted transport to once-in-a-lifetime experiences and charitable donations. Here we look at some of the non-traditional opportunities to use your hard-earned miles and points with frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programmes.

On the go

Accrued miles and points can make your life more comfortable from the moment you leave the house.

Members of airline loyalty programmes often get lounge access by joining or achieving a certain rank: Silver and Gold members of British Airways' Executive Club, or Sapphire and Emerald oneworld members enjoy this perk, for example. Some hotel groups additionally provide this benefit. Radisson Hotel Group's loyalty programme, Radisson Rewards, for instance, enables members to redeem 160,000 points for Priority Pass Standard Plus Membership, which includes ten free visits a year to more than 1,000 airport lounges in 500 cities across 130 countries.

You could also use your points to secure free transport to and from the airport. The Miles + More programme, which has 40 airline partners including carriers within the Lufthansa Group, gives members the option to exchange miles for Avis car hire, provided that they have at least 7,500 miles. Meanwhile, Avios, the currency for reward programmes of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus, Vueling and Qatar Airways, can be used for Avis or Budget car rental at thousands of worldwide airport and non-airport locations.