The free Points Path browser extension shows you how many reward miles a flight costs in Google Flights

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It’s no hidden secret that redeeming your points and miles for award travel can be a tedious process, but fortunately, there are many tools out there to simplify the process.

Over the past year, we’ve introduced you to Point.me and Awayz, but there’s a new player in the market called Points Path. It’s a beginner-friendly tool designed for travelers who want to ensure they are getting a good value from their travel rewards using a familiar interface.

Points Path — founded by former CNN Underscored editor Julian Kheel — is a browser extension that shows the mileage cost of a flight ticket alongside the cash fare in Google Flights. This makes it easier than ever to redeem your miles for flights around the world.

Let’s take a closer look at Points Path and why you might want to install it on your web browser.

What is Points Path?

As mentioned, Points Path is a free browser extension that brings award pricing for popular loyalty programs into Google Flights. The tool will even go as far as recommending which is a better value — paying cash or redeeming miles.

Since points and miles are worth different amounts among each loyalty program, Points Path has its own valuation of each program and will use this to determine whether you should pay for a flight or redeem your miles.

Right now, Points Path works with three major US airline loyalty programs — American AAdvantage, Delta SkyMiles and United MileagePlus. That said, it’s working to add other loyalty programs like Air France/KLM Flying Blue, Air Canada Aeroplan and British Airways Executive Club in the future.

As previously mentioned, Points Path is free. It’s currently available for Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (although Safari is coming soon). To install the Chrome extension, just fill out this form on the Points Path website.

How to use Points Path to find award flights

Once you add Points Path to your browser, you can use Google Flights as normal. The only difference is that award pricing will now appear alongside the fare price. You’ll also see an arrow letting you know whether you should pay with cash or miles.

You can use Points Path to search for one-way and round-trip flights, both domestically and internationally. The best part about round-trip pricing is that it’s the true roundtrip price, not the price of two one-way awards added together.

This is beneficial as there are times when the cost of a round-trip flight is less expensive due to a special offer or because the taxes are reduced (in the case of an international flight).

In this example, I searched for a one-way flight from New York-LaGuardia (LGA) to Boston (BOS). You can see that the Delta flight at the top of the list is best to book with Delta SkyMiles, while you’re better off paying for the American and United flights.

You’ll notice a points-booking option after you select a flight. Clicking the “Continue” button will bring you to a Points Path page where you can view more details about the flight. When you’re ready to book, Points Path will redirect you to the airline’s website to check out.

Bottom line

If you’re looking for an easy-to-use and efficient tool when it comes to redeeming your airline miles, Points Path will help you search and book award flights. And without having to take out the calculator yourself, it’ll guide you as to whether you should use your miles — or pay with cash — every time you search for a flight.

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