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Points Path Review 2026: Is It Still the Best Free Tool for Award Flights?
July 1, 2025
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If you've ever stared at a Google Flights result and wondered whether to pay cash or burn miles — with no idea which is the smarter move — Points Path was built for exactly that moment. The free browser extension adds real-time award pricing directly inside Google Flights so you can compare both options side by side and get a clear recommendation, without opening a single airline loyalty portal.
After testing it across dozens of searches, here's what you actually need to know before installing it.
What Is Points Path?
Points Path is a free browser extension built by Julian Kheel, former editorial director at The Points Guy. It integrates directly with Google Flights to show you award pricing alongside cash fares — and tells you which option delivers better value based on its proprietary point valuations.
One thing worth stating clearly upfront: Points Path is not an award discovery tool. It doesn't help you find the cheapest possible routing to a destination or surface sweet spots across programs. Tools like Point.me and Roame.travel handle that job.
Points Path serves a more specific and practical purpose: you've already found a flight on Google Flights, and you need to know — is it better to pay $300 in cash or use 25,000 miles? That question is what it answers, instantly, without any extra work on your part.
How It Works
Setup takes under two minutes.
Download the extension from pointspath.com and install it on Chrome, Safari, Edge, Brave, Opera, or Arc. Then search for any flight on flights.google.com with English (United States) selected and dollars as your currency. Award pricing appears automatically alongside every result.
For each flight you'll see the cash price, the miles and fees required, and a deal indicator showing whether cash or points is the better move. Click the "i" icon under any points price to see all supported programs with availability for that flight, which bank transfer currencies apply, and any active transfer bonuses. When you're ready to book, one click sends you to Google's standard checkout for cash or directly to the airline's award booking page for miles.
All award rates are pulled live from each airline's loyalty program — the same numbers you'd see if you searched manually.
Supported Programs: Free vs. Pro
Free Version — 5 programs:
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
- Delta SkyMiles
- JetBlue TrueBlue
- United MileagePlus
Pro Version ($79.99/year or $7.99/month) adds:
- Air Canada Aeroplan
- Air France/KLM Flying Blue
- Emirates Skywards
- Etihad Guest
- Qantas Frequent Flyer
- Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- Virgin Australia Velocity
- Avianca LifeMiles
Pro also unlocks a 7-day award calendar to find the cheapest award dates across a full week, price tracking alerts for specific routes, Delta Amex 15% discount integration, and a Lufthansa First Class availability dashboard.
What's New in 2026
Two meaningful updates worth knowing about.
The iOS Safari experience has improved significantly. Previous versions were limited enough that the extension was essentially desktop-only. App Store reviews and user reports from late 2025 and early 2026 indicate the Safari iOS integration now works substantially better — making mobile use a genuine option rather than a workaround.
The free tier remains unchanged and unusually generous. Five major U.S. airline programs, no time limit, no trial expiration. Most tools in this space push users toward paid tiers quickly. Points Path hasn't.
The Good
It saves meaningful time. Checking award pricing manually means opening five or more airline websites and running separate searches for each program. Points Path collapses that into a single glance. For a casual traveler deciding whether to burn miles on a domestic flight, that's the entire job done.
Transfer partner visibility is genuinely useful. Seeing which bank currencies — Chase Ultimate Rewards, Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One Miles, Citi ThankYou Points — transfer to each supported airline is one of the extension's best features. Even if you don't hold Delta miles, you might be able to transfer Amex points to Delta. Points Path makes this visible without any extra research.
It's completely passive. Once installed, you don't activate it, maintain it, or change your search behavior. It runs silently every time you open Google Flights.
Recommendations are directionally reliable. The deal indicators won't satisfy advanced users who have strong opinions about points valuations. But for someone who genuinely doesn't know whether burning 20,000 miles on a $200 flight is a good idea, the guidance is sound and consistently useful.
The Not-So-Good
It only works on Google Flights. If you search on Kayak, Expedia, Skyscanner, or anything else, Points Path doesn't help at all. You're locked into one platform.
The free tier misses a key program. Air Canada Aeroplan is one of the most valuable transfer partners for both Amex Membership Rewards and Capital One Miles — particularly for Star Alliance partner flights. The fact that it requires a Pro subscription is a meaningful gap in the free version.
Point valuations are opinionated. Points Path's deal recommendations are based on its own median cents-per-mile estimates, which may not match your personal point values. Advanced users who are saving Amex points for a specific premium cabin transfer will sometimes see "Use Cash" recommendations that don't apply to their situation.
Desktop is still the stronger experience. iOS Safari has improved but Points Path remains most reliable on desktop. Heavy mobile searchers will still notice the difference.
Points Path vs. Other Award Tools
It helps to understand where Points Path sits in the broader tool landscape before deciding whether to install it.
Points Path answers: "I found this specific flight — is cash or points the better deal?" It works passively inside Google Flights and requires no effort after installation. Best for everyday travelers making individual booking decisions.
Point.me and Roame.travel answer: "What's the best way to fly to Tokyo using any of my points currencies?" They search award availability across multiple programs simultaneously and are designed for travelers hunting the highest-value redemptions, not evaluating a single flight.
These tools solve different problems. Many experienced travelers use Points Path for everyday domestic flights and Google Flights searches, while using Point.me or Roame for complex international itineraries. The tools complement each other rather than compete.
Who Should Use It
A good fit if you:
- Use Google Flights regularly for flight searching
- Have accumulated credit card points or airline miles and aren't sure when to use them
- Hold transferable points currencies and want instant visibility into your transfer options
- Want a passive tool that works without changing your existing habits
- Are newer to points and want straightforward guidance on cash vs. miles decisions
Less useful if you:
- Do most of your searching on non-Google-Flights platforms
- Are an advanced award traveler who already evaluates redemptions confidently
- Are primarily focused on finding complex international routings across partner programs
Free vs. Pro: Is the Upgrade Worth It?
For most people, the free version is enough. It covers the five major U.S. airline programs and handles the most common use case — deciding whether to pay cash or use miles on a domestic or straightforward international flight. There's no expiration, no feature throttling, and no pressure to upgrade.
Pro earns its cost most clearly if:
- You travel internationally and want award pricing for Aeroplan, Emirates, Qantas, or Virgin Atlantic inside Google Flights
- You have flexible travel dates and will actively use the 7-day calendar view to find cheaper award windows — this feature alone frequently justifies the cost for flexible travelers
- You want route price tracking alerts so you're notified when award pricing drops on routes you watch regularly
If you fly primarily on U.S. carriers and don't have date flexibility, the free tier will likely serve you well indefinitely.
Tips for Getting the Most Out of It
Always check the "i" icon. The expanded view shows all supported programs with availability for that specific flight, not just the cheapest one. Sometimes multiple airlines serve the same route at different award prices, and the "i" view is where those options appear.
Don't treat the deal indicator as final. The recommendation reflects median point valuations, not your personal point values. If you're saving points for a future premium cabin transfer, your points are worth more than the median — and a "Use Cash" indicator may not apply to your situation.
Factor in taxes and fees. Award flights carry carrier-imposed fees ranging from modest to substantial depending on the airline and route. Points Path shows these fees alongside the miles price — read the full cost before deciding, not just the mileage number.
Use it as a learning tool. After a few months of using Points Path on regular searches, you'll build an intuitive sense of what good award pricing looks like. The extension is educational as much as functional.
Bottom Line
Points Path does one thing exceptionally well: it tells you in seconds whether a specific flight is worth booking with points or cash, without requiring you to open a single airline website. For casual to intermediate travelers who use Google Flights and want straightforward help deciding when to use their miles, the free version is worth installing immediately.
It won't replace dedicated award discovery tools for power users, and it's not designed to. But for the far more common situation — you found a flight, you have points, you want to know if using them makes sense — it's one of the most cleanly useful travel tools available.
The downside is two minutes to install. The upside is never confidently burning 33,000 miles on a flight that would have cost less to buy outright.
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Editorial Disclosure: Opinions expressed here are those of Kudos alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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