Points, miles and AI: How to fight back against airlines pricing you out of summer travel

Airlines are using artificial intelligence to squeeze every dollar out of your ticket. Brian Kelly, founder of The Points Guy, thinks you should use AI right back against them.

Airlines and hotels are using AI to screw us all … so as consumers, we need to use AI to fight back.— Brian Kelly, Founder, The Points Guy

Kelly made the case on Bloomberg's 'Everybody's Business' podcast that the single biggest mistake travelers make is assuming the price they booked is the best they'll get. His fix: automate the hunt. He uses Autopilot to track booked flights and rebook automatically if the price drops, Google Hotels for accommodations, and AutoSlash for rental cars, according to Yahoo Finance.

The bigger play, Kelly argues, is credit card rewards — and right now the competitive landscape among issuers is unusually generous. 'The banks will give you thousands of dollars for free,' he said, referring to sign-up bonuses and transfer partners that can dramatically cut the cost of a trip.

Don't go with the big U.S. airlines.— Brian Kelly, Founder, The Points Guy

That's Kelly's blunt advice on redeeming points, and the math backs him up. He cited Air France's Flying Blue program, which offers one-way business-class seats to Europe for 60,000 miles all summer — compared to 500,000 points on Delta for the same route, according to Yahoo Finance.

Nick Ewen, Senior Editorial Director at The Points Guy, offered a complementary view in a Forbes interview: the shift away from airline co-branded cards toward flexible transferable programs like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards is accelerating, because airlines are now selling 80–85% of premium cabin seats rather than upgrading loyal customers into them.

Fifteen years ago, elite status almost guaranteed an upgrade. Now, airlines are selling 80-85% of first-class seats, making free upgrades much harder to come by.— Nick Ewen, Senior Editorial Director, The Points Guy

The advice from both Kelly and Ewen converges on the same principle: flexibility beats loyalty in today's market. Transferable points — earned on cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum — can be moved to whichever airline or hotel partner offers the best deal at booking time, rather than leaving you locked into one program's award inventory.

For travelers anxious about cancellations, Kelly recommends booking multiple award tickets simultaneously, since most are fully refundable. Prices often drop to saver levels in the week before departure, allowing you to cancel and rebook — even if a $50 cancellation fee applies, the savings typically outweigh it, he said.

Bloomberg's 'travel czar' Nikki Eskin, also on the podcast, added a less obvious option: semi-private carriers like JSX, where a one-way flight from the New York area to Miami starts at $499 with no membership required — and 'empty leg' flights on private jets returning from a destination with no passengers can be had at steep discounts, according to Yahoo Finance.

The backdrop to all of this is a travel market under real strain. The Points Guy's 2026 Travel Trends Report, released in December 2025, found that the U.S. dollar dropped roughly 10% in value in the first half of 2025 — the largest six-month decline since 1973 — making overseas travel more expensive for Americans. Meanwhile, premium credit card annual fees have climbed sharply: Chase Sapphire Reserve now runs $795 a year and the Amex Platinum $895, according to the report via PR Newswire.

The report also found that 16% of Americans plan to focus 2026 travel on less-crowded destinations specifically to save money — a trend airlines are responding to with new routes to smaller airports and secondary cities.

Instead of flocking to crowded, expensive cities, Americans are embracing shoulder-season trips and seeking more unique, affordable, and nature-focused destinations.— Brian Kelly, Founder, The Points Guy

One caution Kelly flags: points inflation is real. If you're sitting on a balance and not actively redeeming, check expiration dates and avoid letting accrued rewards go to waste — especially if a staycation ends up being the call this summer.

Why it matters — With the dollar weaker, airline upgrade perks shrinking, and card fees rising, knowing which loyalty programs and tools to use — and which to avoid — can mean the difference between an affordable trip and paying full fare.

Reported by thepointsguy.com, finance.yahoo.com, forbes.com, parade.com, prnewswire.com