{"id":76419,"title":"✈️ Pointhound - earn and redeem credit card points for free flights 💳","tagline":"Do you like free flights? We'll help you get *lots* of them in economy or business ","body":"# **TL;DR**\n\n[Pointhound](https://pointhound.com) helps you earn and redeem your credit card points for free flights to amazing destinations 🛫🏝️🗼\n\nIf you’re like us and like the idea of getting free flights _for free_, read on! 👇\n\n# **🤫 The situation — and a big secret**\n\n120m Americans have credit cards, but almost none of us know how to use them or which one(s) to get. We think that cash back cards are the best because they give us, well, cash back.\n\nThe reality is, instead of cash back, earning **points** when you spend will get you _far, far_ greater ROI than cash back — upwards of 10-15x, in fact, when you use your points to book flights.\n\nBook flights with points, you say? How do I do that? Great question: by **transferring** **your points** from your credit card portal (like Amex) to an airline (like Delta) and booking with an airline.\n\nExample: let’s say you found a flight that retails for $1000. If you booked that flight through your credit card’s travel portal, it would cost you 100,000 points (or $0.01 per point — the industry standard). By transferring your points from your credit card’s portal to the airline flying the route, it might only cost you 90,000 points. Not bad.\n\nBut If you booked the Delta flight through their partner, Air France-KLM’s website, **it might only cost you 10,000 points** — 10x cheaper!\n\n_Yup, really._\n\n![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Ybt3eTOD1Q5hY_qPmvTpU0Zr7PRHjgPk-esFb3v5pENdVIscLo6Nx1UQmHWCtw09Xl7m_Se3vOw4U-jXu-l7ChWZlejksxzGW-q-NmmL7Hm9YO5ECgCUfjRvBkq6TKvypbtIQpBDP0ozp8En53VjWSw)\n\n# **❌ The problem**\n\nOk, so now we understand that earning points are better than cash back, let’s talk about the problem:\n\n* Figuring out which point-earning credit card(s) to sign up for is complex.\n* Knowing which card you should use to maximize the points you **earn** is even more complex.\n* And figuring out how to **redeem** your hard-earned points for good, no, _great_ value may be the most complex.\n\nSure, there are the blogs and content-heavy websites that _try_ to help you navigate the world of points. But they require you to read and digest thousands of full-length articles to understand what to do.\n\nAnd there are a few companies who have built flight search tools for points, but none seem to holistically address the complexities of both **earning** points and **redeeming** those points. Oh, and they also charge you a monthly fee.\n\n# **✅ The solution — Pointhound**\n\n[Pointhound](http://pointhound.com) is a _completely free_ way to help you earn and redeem your points for free flights 🏝️☀️\n\nOur goal is simple: to simplify the complex world of credit card points and airline miles. We do this by providing our users with a few delightfully designed tools. Our tools help you:\n\n**Redeem your points**. Not sure how to use your hard-earned credit card points? You’re in luck! Our flight search engine searches over 140 airlines at once and surfaces incredible deals using your points and miles. And our [Top Flight Deals](https://pointhound.com/explore) page shows you the cheapest flights from your home airport to destinations all over the world.\n\nWe then tell you where you should transfer your points from (ex. Chase) and to (ex. Air France-KLM Flying Blue) to get the absolute best deal using your points.\n\nFor example, I just booked a flight from SFO to Tokyo in business class for only 60,000 points, when the retail price was $6500 – more than 10 times cheaper when booking with points! _Now you can too._\n\n![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/G-JvDBpItFU2r2HzbXVzxX3jmIAv9YP8nluGgDZ5aFrRdvs20-jrNVTM6ygH38DBfCst80WZOCxapnecQY207t-7zeaHSbkQIJk26v39PM_3QJWNfWmVsxv4NYv8faNMhB12r7c7n7h7xS8xQmS79yo)\n\n**Earn more points**. Newly obsessed with finding and booking free flights and want to get more points? Our personalized credit card algorithm helps you get the right card(s) for you so you can maximize the points you earn (and free flights you can get).\n\nOur goal is to equip the “points beginners” – many of us who have a card or two and would like a simple product to help us earn and redeem our points for free flights.\n\n![](https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/1Q51EUtGWI6LLfJtSPthI-q2QN2dSowTFKu_D8_KX5k957PRhe73c01FhSiEKK9wrrA2jymjG-bA-gUk5n91Ym-_-uV8Ywp9JkfrAlZMPWtgxot1uGm3BbNvMUZsEZh3i3B6CtFuWehXmDhbXKfk8eQ)\n\n# **👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Why us**\n\nWe’re a mix of point junkies _and_ point beginners. We understand our user, because we _are_ our user.\n\nWe can relate, but we also ask questions and listen. Learning from our users directly is critical.\n\nWe’ve seen industries in need of a shake up — we’ve been here before. Our founding team previously founded and built the consumer startup, [Feather](https://livefeather.com/), a YC S17 company, where we raised $75 million from Kleiner, Bain and NEA, and sold the business.\n\n* [Jay Reno](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayjreno/) 👨‍✈️ - Co-founder \u0026 CEO\n* [Jake Malone](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakemalone/) 👨‍🏫 - Co-founder \u0026 CTO\n* [Samantha Clark](https://www.linkedin.com/in/clarksamantha/) 👩‍🎨 - Co-founder \u0026 CPO, Design, Brand\n* [Jeffrey Flynn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreynflynn/) 👨‍💻 - Founding Engineer\n\nWe’re combining our consumer experience building Feather with our passion for travel to build a once-in-a-generation travel business.\n\n# \n\n# **🙏 Asks**\n\n1. Find and book yourself a [free flight](https://www.pointhound.com/explore). _Is that a real ask?_ It sure is.\n2. Share with your friends who you think might love booking free flights! _Thanks in advance_.\n3. Please share feedback by sending an email to [founders@pointhound.com.](mailto:founders@pointhound.com) _But, like, pls don’t spam_ 🤞.\n\nWe’ve made Pointhound free for everyone, so if you find this at all valuable, your support and upvotes would be super valuable and motivating for us.\n\nHappy (free) flying! 🛫☀️","slug":"JsZ-pointhound-earn-and-redeem-credit-card-points-for-free-flights","created_at":"2023-11-28T15:00:18.920Z","updated_at":"2026-05-25T00:21:18.272Z","total_vote_count":80,"url":"https://www.ycombinator.com/launches/JsZ-pointhound-earn-and-redeem-credit-card-points-for-free-flights","share_image_url":"//bookface-static.ycombinator.com/assets/ycdc/yc-og-image-c440a0ad1dacfb86eeeb343717479cc54d256614449b4ef719977a0a451f8bc8.png","company":{"id":28807,"name":"Pointhound","slug":"pointhound","url":"http://www.pointhound.com","logo":"https://bookface-images.s3.amazonaws.com/small_logos/d2ca619520c27a962f58e863e40ff3811fb10853.png","batch":"Summer 2023","industry":"Consumer","tags":["Artificial Intelligence","Fintech","Consumer","Travel"],"search_path":"https://bookface.ycombinator.com/company/28807"}}