Lately many of the frequent flyer programs have been offering points redemption for PreCheck.  Not a bad idea in general, except all the redemption rates have been horrendous. I already warned about this with Southwest and Club Carlson.

Hilton jumped on the train today with an offer to get the $85 PreCheck for 30,000 Hilton points. Given that people generally value HHonors points at half a cent, you are paying $150 to get an $85 value. Hopefully I don’t need to explain why that is a terrible redemption!!

The better move is to pay the extra $15 and get Global Entry – and better still to use one of the many credit cards that will credit you back the $100 when you do so….

Examples:

  • Citi Prestige
  • American Express Platinum card
  • Citi/AAdvantage Executive World Elite MasterCard
  • Ritz-Carlton Rewards
  • The coming Chase Sapphire Reserve

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here