Why You Should Never Use Cash + Points

As you start planning your next trip away often see airlines offering the option to pay with a mixture of points and cash.

On the surface, it may appear:

• Savvy – Get an instant discount on your airfare using points.
• Flexible – Choose how many points you want to use discount your fare by
• Convenient – Quickly calculate how much you’re saving at checkout.

But in reality, what you’re doing is selling your points back to the airline at a very poor rate. In most cases, it’s one of the lowest-value ways you can redeem them. Don’t fall into this trap.

The Math Airlines Hope You Never Calculate

Lets look at two examples with Qantas flying from Brisbane to Los Angles in Business Class.

Points Plus Pay	Classic Reward
Using Points Plus Pay with Qantas, 463,478 points covering $4,852 in airfare works out to roughly 1.05 cents per point in value.	For the same Business Class flight with Qantas, a Classic Reward seat requires 130,100 points compared to 463,478 points via Points Plus Pay, around 72% fewer points. This equates to delivering roughly 3.25 cents per point, or about three times more value overall. You’ll still need to cover taxes and carrier charges in cash, but even after factoring those in, Classic Rewards come out well ahead.

The Checkout Illusion

While the underlying concept of combining points with cash is consistent across many loyalty programs, each airline refers to it in it’s own manner.

Qantas – Points Plus Pay
Velocity Frequent Flyer – Points + Pay
Singapore Airlines – KrisFlyer Miles + Cash
Qatar Airways – Cash + Avios
Emirates – Cash+Miles

The Psychology Trap

Cash + Points is a masterclass in behavioural design. The concept has been so successful that the model has spread well beyond airlines into hotel loyalty programs and even credit card rewards ecosystems. Three principals of this behavioural design are:

Anchoring	Instant Reward Bias	Mental Accounting
You see a $1,800 fare. Reducing it to $1,550 feels like a win	Points feel “free.” So a mediocre redemption feels harmless	Points feel ‘free’ So a mediocre redemption feels harmless

Lets take another example, this time from American Express which allows you to redeem Membership Rewards points at checkout with many retailers online, typically offering you $5 off for every 1,000 points redeemed.

At the time, that instant saving can feel incredibly satisfying. There’s something psychologically rewarding about knocking a few hundred dollars off a purchase. But when you zoom out and actually compare the numbers, the value changes.

Those exact same points, if redirected toward a Business Class redemption like the Qantas example we covered you can generate three times the value, in many cases, significantly more than that.

Instead of shaving a small amount off online purchases, save your points and unlock a completely different experience: priority check-in, lounge access, extra baggage, and a lie-flat bed at 35,000 feet. More importantly, you’re extracting far greater value per point.

That’s the real shift. It’s not about the instant hit of saving a little now. It’s about understanding what those points are truly capable of when used strategically.

The difference isn’t subtle, it’s exponential.

When Cash + Points Might Actually Make Sense

There are limited number of situations where a Cash + Points redemption is worth pulling the trigger.

Points are expiring
This is common in loyalty programs such as KrisFlyer and Emirates Skywards, where each mile earned comes with a fixed expiry date (typically three years). In these cases, extracting some value can be better than losing them entirely.

Orphan points
You may have a small balance sitting in a program you don’t actively use, don’t plan to build further, or can’t easily transfer into to fund a full redemption. In that case, using Cash + Points can be a practical way to extract some value and bring your balance down to zero rather than leaving it stranded.

It’s Raining Points
If you’re generating points at a pace that far exceeds your ability to redeem them ,we’re talking balances in the millions, with more flowing in each month than you can realistically use, then squeezing out maximum value on every redemption becomes less critical. There are only so many journeys you can fit into one lifetime, enjoy those flight in luxury for free.

Strong value redemption
On rare occasions, the cents-per-point valuation can be high. These situations are uncommon, but when the maths clearly works in your favour the redemption is justified.

Keep in mind these are rare exceptions, not the default strategy to follow.

Knowledge Is the Key

The gap between an average travellers and those flying Business Class for a fraction of the retail cost isn’t income.

It’s knowledge, specifically, knowing when not to redeem.

Consider your points are a travel currency and with any currency, the exchange rate matters. You wouldn’t typically exchange money at a terrible rate, yet that’s effectively what happens when you use Cash + Points without understanding the valuation.

Earning points is only half the equation. Redeeming them strategically is where real value is to be had. If you’re serious about maximising both your earning potential and the true value of your redemptions, start with a Points Advisor Mastery course. You’ll learn how to optimise every dollar you spend, leverage airline partners effectively, and position your points for high-value Business Class experiences.

Once you understand how the full ecosystem works, you won’t be distracted by low-yield Points + Cash options again.

Final Thoughts

Airlines price premium cabins with precision. Every cash fare is engineered to maximise revenue, and award pricing follows the same commercial logic.

As we saw in the Qantas example, you could use Points + Pay for a single flight valued at $4,872. Or, by redeeming more strategically, you could use the same number of points for that same flight three times over, extracting $14,616 in total value instead.

That contrast makes the lesson clear.

The real leverage in a loyalty program isn’t found in simply accumulating more points, keep in mind your points doesn’t become more valuable with time. It all comes down to having a solid understanding the value of each potential redemption and having the discipline to avoid low-yield options that are presented.

With this knowledge in hand, you’ll now start using your points for Business and First Class redemptions when the numbers truly stack up, extracting maximum value from your hard-earned point balances.