points.com
Points.com is a legitimate loyalty-commerce platform owned by Plusgrade that helps airlines, hotels, and other businesses sell, manage, and expand the use of loyalty points and miles.
What Is Points.com and How Does It Work?
Points.com is a technology platform that connects loyalty programs with services for buying, gifting, transferring, exchanging, and managing reward currencies.
Rather than operating its own universal rewards program, the company provides infrastructure that established airlines, hotels, and other businesses use to support their members.
For example, travelers who need additional miles for a flight may encounter Points.com while purchasing them through their airline's website.
The transaction can be processed through Points.com technology, while the purchased rewards belong to the airline's loyalty program.
The company also offers business-focused services designed to increase customer engagement and generate revenue from loyalty programs.
According to its website, Points supports more than 60 loyalty programs and processes over 92 billion points and miles annually across its network.
These are company-reported figures, not independently audited performance statistics.
Who Owns Points.com in 2026?
Points.com is owned by Plusgrade, a Canadian travel technology company specializing in ancillary revenue solutions.
Plusgrade completed its acquisition of Points.com Inc. on June 30, 2022, in a transaction valued at approximately $385 million.
The acquisition brought together Points' loyalty-commerce technology and Plusgrade's established travel revenue products.
Before the acquisition, Points operated as a publicly traded company with shares listed on Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Its history dates back to 2000, when the business began developing loyalty-commerce solutions.
Today, Plusgrade reports partnerships with more than 250 companies across the airline, hospitality, cruise, passenger rail, and financial services industries.
That broader figure represents Plusgrade's business, not solely Points.com's loyalty partnerships.
What Services Does Points.com Offer?
Points.com organizes its loyalty currency services around three activities: getting, moving, and keeping rewards.
Getting points and miles includes buying additional rewards, topping up an account, and accelerating certain earning opportunities.
Moving rewards covers gifting points to another member, transferring rewards between eligible accounts, and exchanging currencies where participating programs permit it.
Keeping rewards includes services for extending the validity of points or reinstating expired balances under applicable program rules.
Points also operates an Everyday Earn & Burn solution that connects loyalty programs with merchants, allowing customers to earn or redeem rewards through qualifying everyday purchases.
One example highlighted by the company is the Hilton Honors and Lyft partnership, which allows eligible members to earn hotel points from rides.
However, not every loyalty program offers every Points.com service.
Transfer fees, exchange rates, annual purchase limits, and expiration rules depend on the individual program.
Which Airlines and Hotels Use Points.com?
Points.com works with major airline and hotel loyalty programs, although the exact services available differ between partners.
Travel industry publication Upgraded Points identified programs using Points technology in its updated May 2026 coverage.
Examples include Air Canada Aeroplan, United MileagePlus, Delta SkyMiles, Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer, Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG One Rewards, and World of Hyatt.
These relationships are useful because purchasing loyalty currency can involve a third-party payment processor even when the purchase begins on an official airline or hotel website.
However, a partnership should not be interpreted as confirmation that every transaction within that program uses Points.com.
For the latest supported services, members should check their individual loyalty program's official purchasing page.
How Can You Buy Points or Miles Through Points.com?
The recommended way to purchase rewards is to begin with the airline or hotel loyalty program rather than searching for an independent seller.
Sign in to your membership account and locate the option to buy points or miles.
If the program uses Points.com, the official purchasing process may direct you to a Points-operated transaction page.
You can then review the number of points, promotional bonuses, total price, applicable taxes, and purchase conditions before paying.
After the transaction, the rewards should appear in your loyalty account according to the program's stated processing period.
Keep the payment receipt and transaction confirmation until the balance is updated.
Most importantly, check that your intended flight or hotel reward is available before purchasing additional points.
Buying enough miles does not guarantee that an award seat or hotel room will remain available.
Is Buying Points Through Points.com Worth It?
Buying points can be worthwhile when the purchase helps complete a specific redemption at a lower total cost than paying cash.
However, loyalty currency should not automatically be treated as equal to money.
Consider a hypothetical hotel reservation that requires 20,000 points.
If you already have 10,000 points and purchasing the remaining 10,000 costs $100, compare that expense with the actual cash price of the room.
If the same reservation costs $180 in cash, using existing points plus purchased points may offer savings.
But if buying the missing points costs $200, paying cash could be better.
A useful calculation is:
Cost per point = Total purchase cost ÷ Total points received.
For example, purchasing 10,000 points for $150 means paying 1.5 cents per point.
Bonus promotions can reduce the effective cost, but a 100% bonus does not automatically make an offer valuable.
Travel publication The Points Guy regularly warns against accumulating large quantities of purchased rewards because airline and hotel programs can change redemption prices.
A sensible approach is to buy only the amount needed for a confirmed or immediately bookable reward.
Also account for taxes, surcharges, cancellation policies, and possible changes in reward availability.
What Happened to the Points.com Loyalty Wallet?
Points.com previously offered a consumer-facing Loyalty Wallet that allowed users to track multiple loyalty balances in one place.
The service also supported selected exchange and redemption functions.
However, Points officially discontinued the Loyalty Wallet on September 6, 2022.
That means travelers can no longer use the former wallet to consolidate and monitor their airline and hotel balances.
The company directs members to their individual loyalty program websites to check their rewards.
Importantly, the retirement of Loyalty Wallet did not mean Points.com itself closed.
Its business-to-business loyalty technology operations continue.
Some individual programs still offer exchanges or transfers powered by Points, but these are separate from the discontinued universal wallet service.
Do Points.com Purchases Earn Credit Card Travel Rewards?
Purchases processed by Points.com generally do not qualify for the same category bonuses as purchases made directly with airlines or hotels.
The reason is merchant classification.
A credit card transaction processed by Points may be categorized differently from an airline ticket or hotel reservation.
Upgraded Points specifically highlights this distinction in its 2026 guide to purchasing airline miles and hotel points.
For example, a credit card offering extra rewards on airline spending may not award that bonus when the merchant processing the purchase is Points.com.
The transaction may instead receive the card's ordinary purchase earning rate.
Actual rewards depend on the card issuer, merchant classification, and transaction details.
Check the payment merchant and your card's reward conditions rather than assuming every airline-related purchase qualifies as travel spending.
Are Points.com Purchases Refundable?
Refund eligibility depends primarily on the loyalty program's terms and the circumstances of the transaction.
Points.com's customer support guidance directs members to their airline or hotel when requesting refunds for accidental purchases.
It also states that the airline or hotel must authorize the refund.
Some loyalty point purchases are nonrefundable, while other programs or jurisdictions may provide limited withdrawal rights.
Consequently, there is no single refund rule that safely applies to every Points.com transaction.
Before purchasing, review the applicable program's cancellation conditions, account eligibility requirements, transfer restrictions, and payment terms.
If purchased rewards do not arrive, contact the loyalty program with your transaction number and receipt.
For an unfamiliar payment appearing on your bank statement, first compare it with recent loyalty transactions.
If the charge remains unexplained, report it promptly to your card issuer.
Is Points.com Safe and Legitimate?
Points.com is an established commercial platform with a documented operating history, recognized travel industry partnerships, and a completed acquisition by Plusgrade.
These facts provide stronger evidence of business legitimacy than anonymous website reputation scores.
The company publishes privacy documentation, security information, and a vulnerability disclosure program coordinated with Plusgrade and Bugcrowd.
Its privacy policy describes technical safeguards, encryption, and processes for protecting personal information.
However, these company disclosures should not be interpreted as an independent guarantee that every transaction is risk-free.
Users should confirm they are visiting the genuine Points.com domain or an authorized checkout page reached through their loyalty program.
Avoid entering membership credentials into unfamiliar websites advertising unusually cheap airline miles.
Also review how personal and payment information is handled.
One important detail in Points' privacy documentation is that, when it processes information on behalf of a loyalty partner, that partner's terms and privacy policy may govern the transaction.
What Are the Main Advantages and Limitations of Points.com?
For travelers, Points.com makes obtaining additional loyalty currency relatively convenient through established programs.
Promotions can sometimes make expensive flight or hotel redemptions more affordable, particularly when only a small number of additional rewards is required.
For businesses, the platform offers technology for monetizing loyalty currencies, expanding earning and redemption opportunities, and encouraging program participation.
Nevertheless, there are important limitations.
The former consumer Loyalty Wallet is unavailable, loyalty currencies cannot necessarily be transferred freely between programs, and purchasing rewards may cost more than the value ultimately received.
Furthermore, Points.com primarily provides the transaction infrastructure; airlines and hotels control many of the rules that determine whether a purchase is worthwhile.
Is Points.com Worth Using in 2026?
Points.com remains a relevant and legitimate part of the global travel loyalty industry in 2026.
Its strongest value for consumers is the ability to purchase or manage eligible rewards through participating airline and hotel programs.
For loyalty operators, it provides established technology for managing reward currencies and generating additional revenue.
However, travelers should evaluate each purchase independently, compare cash and reward prices, confirm availability, and understand restrictions before paying.
The bottom line: Points.com can be useful for obtaining extra airline miles or hotel points, but the quality of the deal depends on the loyalty program, purchase price, and redemption value—not simply on the platform processing the transaction.