Points, cash and connecting routes, compared
Find the sweet spot between points, cash and time.
Honeyroute searches award seats and cash fares together, including routes through a connecting city that mix the two, and lays out the trade-offs so you can decide where your points go furthest.
Free to search · 3 searches a day · no account needed
- One cash ticket
- One award ticket, if seats exist end to end
- Points to a connecting city and cash onward, or the reverse
Illustration only, not a fare or a live route.
One trip, three ways to pay
New York to Nice
The same trip, priced the ways a search compares it. Pick one to follow its route. The middle option is two tickets joined in London, the kind of trip a points-only or cash-only search never builds.
Ticket 1 · Points
JFKLHR
50,000 points + $210
Award seat, booked with the airline program
Ticket 2 · Cash
LGWNCE
$95
A short cash fare onward
Points + cash: the trade-off
Points cover the long, expensive flight and a short cash fare covers the rest. It uses the fewest points of the three, but it is two separate bookings with an airport change in London.
- If the first flight is late, the second airline doesn’t have to rebook you
- Heathrow to Gatwick needs extra time, and the option says so
Or start from another route
- JFK → DBVA long flight on points, a short hop in cash
- BNA → HNDA cheap flight to a big airport, points from there
- JFK → LHREvery New York airport, not just one
Example routes to try, not live fares or availability. Results depend on that day’s award seats and fares. A link fills in the airports and cabin; you choose the date and your points.
How it works
One search looks wider than you would
You give it a route, a date, a cabin and the points you hold. Here is where it looks, stop by stop.
Every program your points can reach
Award seats in the airline programs you hold, plus the ones your card points can transfer to. Choose Amex MR points and the search also checks Aeroplan, Flying Blue, Avios and 6 more.
Whole cities, not single airports
Cities with several major airports are searched as a whole. If the better option leaves from Newark instead of JFK, you see it, clearly marked as a different airport.
Connecting cities that split the trip
A trip can be two tickets joined in another city: points then cash, cash then points, or two award tickets. Flights are only paired when there is time to make the connection, with extra time when you change airports, and a combined trip has at most two stops.
Every option next to the regular fare
Cash fares for the same trip set the yardstick: the regular fare is the cheapest single ticket, cash or points. Each option shows what it saves or costs against it, with points counted at an estimated value.
Then you get a short list of comparable choices.
What comes back
A short list, measured against the regular fare
Not a wall of flights. Each option shows its points, cash, travel time, stops and warnings. If nothing beats the regular fare, the results say so instead of dressing up a worse deal.
Best value
Cheapest · Trade-off · Fastest
Cheaper than the regular fare. You see the best pick for each balance of price and time, with what any extra cost buys.
Faster alternative
Costs more, arrives sooner
Above the regular fare but quicker than anything cheaper, with the difference in price and time.
Lowest cash
Least money out of pocket
The combination that needs the least cash, counting fares, taxes and fees, even if it uses more points.
Single ticket
For comparison
A nonstop award or cash ticket for the whole trip, when one exists.
Before you book
What Honeyroute does, and what it leaves to you
New to transferring points? The points guide covers ratios and what to check. The FAQ covers the rest.
Two tickets are two bookings
If the first flight runs late, the second airline doesn’t have to rebook you, and you may need to collect bags and check in again. Every option built from separate tickets says so.
Some trips change airports
Landing at Heathrow and leaving from Gatwick, for example. That takes extra time, and the option flags it.
Seats and prices move
Award availability comes from a third-party data source, and how recently it was updated varies by program, so it may not reflect recent changes. Always confirm the seat, the points required and the taxes and fees with the airline program before transferring points.
Point values are estimates
To compare programs, points are counted at a per-program rate shown on every option. Your own value for your points may differ.
It doesn’t book anything
Honeyroute shows options and how to book them. You book and pay for each ticket with the airline or loyalty program.
See the options for your own trip
Pick your route, date and the points you hold. Searches take one to three minutes.