Even as an experienced traveler, I’m always looking for ways to make my life easier. This is especially true with a toddler at home as I seem to not have as many hours in the day as I once did. Because of this, I’ve identified a few different tools that help make my life easier when traveling and trying to maximize rewards.
Point.me
While there are multiple award finding tools on the market, I never pulled the trigger on one as I always felt I could easily find the flights that I needed with enough advance notice. Now, with less time on my hands and points redemptions, especially in premium cabins, becoming harder to come by, I’ve become a religious user of Point.me when searching for award flights.
Over the last year I’ve used the tool to book Business Class flights to and from Japan, Dubai, and Istanbul with fantastic results. I even used it to find last minute award availability for my parents to Athens in Lufthansa Business Class after a change in their plans.
I don’t currently pay for the service but rather utilize the limited version that I have for free as a perk of my American Express Platinum Card. The site functionality is the same but it is limited to award bookings that can be booked with American Express’ Membership rewards transfer partners.
While I do have a Chase Sapphire Preferred card, most of my spend is on my American Express cards meaning there isn’t much functionality lost for me. If you primarily use Chase, Citi, or another transferrable points currency, I’d look into purchasing a full membership.
Currently, Point.me offers a Standard plan for $129 annually and a Premium plan for $260 annually. While the premium offers some additional perks, it is primarily geared towards those with less experience utilizing points and miles. Personally, I find the Standard plan to be more than enough. You can sign up for the service directly through the Point.me website.
Thrifty Traveler
Thrifty Traveler is a newer tool in my travel toolbox but one that is already paying dividends. The service aggregates all of the best travel deals across all cabins, airports, airlines, and even provides updates on hotel deals.
The best part about Thrifty Traveler is how customizable it is. While the site finds a ton of different deals, you can curate what appears in your inbox by adjusting the settings as necessary. This allows you to select everything from departure airports to classes of service, and even individual hotel chains. The service will also text you, but only if you opt in, when it finds crazy mistake fares or last minute deal that will go quickly.
Currently Mrs. ATX and I are planning a trip to Europe in Summer 2026, specifically looking for flights to Rome, and the Caribbean this winter. Thanks to Thrifty Traveler, multiple deals have landed in my inbox including Business Class tickets to Rome that can be booked using Avianca LifeMiles.
Thrifty Traveler offers three different subscription options depending on your needs. The most basic service (Limited) is free and offers Economy fare deals from your home airport(s).
If you’re like me, you’re probably interested in First and Business Class deals that can be booked on points and miles. For that, you’ll need a Premium membership which runs $99.99 per year. To unlock even more deals, including hotel alerts, you’ll need a Premium+ membership which runs $149.99 annually. If you’re new to the points and miles world, Thrifty Traveler provides booking instructions in each alert.
In a special offer for readers of this site, Thrifty Traveler is offering $20 off your first year of the service should you choose to sign up. You can use this link or enter the code ‘ATXJETSETTER’ at checkout.
If you’re curious as to whether or not Thrifty Traveler is right for you, you can see the recent deals you’ve missed on the service’s website.
Google Flights
Google Flights is the original travel hack, giving users the ability to search multiple routes across multiple dates at once. The tool provides a variety of features that allow you to pick your preferred class of service, including the ability to remove Basic Economy from Economy search results, departure time, and preferred airline or alliance.
Even Southwest, which has historically driven all bookings through its website and mobile app, joined Google Flights in 2024.
Every time I begin planning a trip, regardless of whether I think I’ll redeem points, I always check Google Flights first. You never know if you’ll find a cheap cash fare. Also, for those with some flexibility in their travels, the ability to search for flights from my home airport to, say, anywhere in Europe, over a six month span, is amazing and has caused me to travel to some places I never expected to.
In addition to showing prices from airline websites, Google Flights also pulls in pricing from various online travel agencies (OTAs) which can offer lower fares in some cases. However, I always recommend booking flights directly with the airline.
CardPointers
If you’re like me, you think that you can keep track of all of the different offers and credits that help justify high annual fee credit cards. Though I thought I was doing a good job, I found myself missing various benefit windows and, at the suggestion of a friend and FlyerTalker, decided to give CardPointers a try.
While this is less of a travel tool and more of an “allow me to travel tool” I wanted to include it here as it has been immensely helpful in my accumulation of points, miles, and credit card rewards.
By linking my credit cards to the app I’m able to see exactly what benefits I’ve utilized and what I still have left to go. While the app is free to use, a CardPointers Plus account will automatically add every offer across all of your cards to your account. This is especially helpful for my American Express Gold and Platinum cards.
A Plus account also fully integrates your cards into the app and shows you what ones are best to use when making purchases. With all of the changes we’ve seen across the credit card landscape recently, especially for the AmEx Platinum and Chase Sapphire Reserve, having this tool certainly helps.
CardPointers is offering ATX Jetsetter readers 30% off their annual and lifetime Plus plans when signing up through this link. Annual memberships are currently $50, down from $72, while lifetime memberships are $168, down from $240.
Flighty
One thing you all may not know about me is that I’m a huge data nerd. Whether it’s fitness tracking, tracking credit card rewards, or even tracking how many steps our dog has taken, if the data is available I want to be able to see it. While it is probably the least useful travel tool listed, it is also my favorite.
I’ve been tracking my flying in a spreadsheet that goes back to 2017. This is something I picked up from a grad school buddy of mine shortly after we both entered consulting. I’ve tracked every tail number, seat, class of service, arrival and departure time, and more in an Excel spreadsheet since.
Earlier this year, a frequent flyer friend of mine introduced me to Flighty as we sat in the New Orleans Airport waiting out a delay. Flighty is my spreadsheet on steroids and showcases an amazing amount of information in an easy to use app. I find that the information displayed on Flighty comes quicker and is more accurate than you’ll find on the airline mobile apps and I check it religiously on travel days.
The app itself is free and provides you with unlimited flights, pilot grade data, and access to the smartwatch app, I paid the $299 for a lifetime Flighty Pro account (did I mention that I’m a data nerd) which gives me access to more information than I could ever need. You can learn more about Flighty via its website or by downloading the app from the App Store.
Summary
While everyone has their own favorites, these five travel tools have made my life so much easier when it comes to earning points, redeeming credit card rewards, booking, and taking flights. I’m curious as to whether any of you have used these tools and if there are others that I may not be aware of that could be helpful.
Disclosure: ATX Jetsetter earns a referral bonus when you sign up for some of the services listed above. The opinions expressed here have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by these entities. For more information, click here.