My Favorite Apps & Tools

The tools I actually use to find deals, track points, and book award travel. Organized by what they’re best for.

Finding Award Availability

The most important step before transferring any points. These tools show you where award seats actually exist before you commit your points.

Point.me

The best all-in-one award search engine. Connect your loyalty accounts and it shows you every redemption option across all your points in one view. Paid tool, but worth it if you’re actively booking award travel.

Best for: Seeing all your options at once

Seats.aero

Searches award availability across dozens of loyalty programs simultaneously. Excellent for finding business and first class award space that’s hard to locate manually. Has a free tier with limited searches and a paid tier for power users.

Best for: Hunting business class awards

Award Hacker

Free tool that shows you which loyalty programs offer the best award rates for a given route. Great starting point before you search for availability — tells you which currency to use for your specific trip.

Best for: Figuring out which program to use for a route

Tracking Points & Staying Organized

Once you have multiple cards and loyalty accounts, keeping track of balances, expiration dates, and annual fee calendars becomes essential.

Award Wallet

Tracks all your loyalty program balances in one dashboard and sends expiration alerts before your points disappear. Connects to most major airlines and hotel programs. Free tier available, paid tier adds more program connections.

Best for: Never losing points to expiration

Travel Freely

Free app that tracks your credit cards, annual fee dates, and spending categories in one place. Great for making sure you’re using the right card for every purchase and never missing an annual fee credit.

Best for: Managing your card stack day-to-day

MaxRewards

Tells you which card to use at every merchant to maximize your earning rate. Tracks your balances, bonuses, and spending categories automatically. Particularly useful if you have 4+ cards and can’t keep all the bonus categories in your head.

Best for: Optimizing which card you swipe

Staying Informed

The best deal alerts, news, and analysis in the points and miles space. These are the sources I actually read.

The Points Guy

The largest travel rewards publication. Good for beginners and breaking news on sign-up bonuses, devaluations, and airline/hotel program changes. Can be heavy on ads, but the core content is solid.

Best for: News and beginner guides

View from the Wing

Gary Leff’s blog — one of the most respected voices in points and miles. More advanced content, sharp analysis on program changes, and strong opinions on what’s worth your time. Daily posts.

Best for: In-depth analysis and industry news

Doctor of Credit

The most comprehensive resource for data points on credit card applications — approval odds, reconsideration line tips, and bank-specific application rules. Essential reading before you apply for any new card.

Best for: Credit card application strategy