Anyone sitting on a trove of frequent-flier miles or credit-card points that piled up during the pandemic might be closer to done with their holiday shopping than they realized: They can give the gift of travel.

The Covid-19 pandemic and emergence of new variants continue to be X-factors in booking air travel. But award tickets can provide more flexibility than tickets booked with cash.

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Anyone sitting on a trove of frequent-flier miles or credit-card points that piled up during the pandemic might be closer to done with their holiday shopping than they realized: They can give the gift of travel.

The Covid-19 pandemic and emergence of new variants continue to be X-factors in booking air travel. But award tickets can provide more flexibility than tickets booked with cash.

Nearly two-thirds of American travelers reported that they would feel either happy or very happy to receive a travel-related gift this holiday season, up from 47% in 2020, according to recent survey data from market-research firm Destination Analysts.

Award travel can be complex and overwhelming. If you are considering converting your pile of points into an airline ticket for a friend or family member, consider these tips as a starting point to make the most of your miles.

Consider booking a gift ticket directly

Many people assume they need to transfer their miles to give them as a gift, says Adam Morvitz, founder and chief executive officer of point.me, formerly known as Juicy Miles, a New York City-based award-booking service.

But transferring miles can be costly. If you transfer 5,000 United Airlines miles, a relatively small number, it will cost $75, or $7.50 per 500 miles transferred. There is also a $30 processing fee.

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Instead, Mr. Morvitz suggests using your miles to book an awards ticket in someone else’s name. The largest U.S.-based carriers don’t have restrictions on whom you book award tickets for, he says. The downside: This method could require a conversation with the person you’re treating, so there aren’t any surprises if you buy the ticket before you give it as a gift.

It is better to make the gift a promise of a flight instead of locking the traveler into specific dates and destinations, says Jordan Rozum, award consultant with PointsPros, a boutique reward-consulting firm in Tampa, Fla.

Keep in mind that if you buy a ticket in December for a trip months later, the schedule or aircraft might change. And booking with miles still requires paying applicable taxes and carrier fees.

Booking an award ticket can also provide some flexibility in times of uncertainty. Airlines used to charge significant fees to change flights or to redeposit your miles, Mr. Morvitz says. But in response to the pandemic, many U.S.-based carriers waived change fees for flights, including for those booked with miles. You should check each airline’s policy for specifics on rebooking award travel, and any fees associated with last-minute changes or fare differences.

If you cancel a ticket for which you paid cash, you will often be given a travel voucher with an expiration date, says Leigh Rowan, founder of Savanti Travel, a full-service travel-management company based in San Francisco. But if you cancel a flight booked with miles, you will have more flexibility, Mr. Rowan says, as most award miles don’t expire. This could prove useful for anyone who changes their mind about travel later because of the pandemic or for any other reason.

Think international before domestic

Airlines have different redemption rates for award tickets. Most North American airlines have dynamic pricing, meaning you might not get a great deal when you redeem points for certain types of fares, such as some domestic economy tickets, Mr. Rozum says.

When you book in advance, economy prices can be low, while points and miles redemption rates can be high, he says.

If you are flying internationally, particularly business or first class, you are more likely to get outsize value from miles and points, he says: “You can book tickets that are otherwise prohibitively expensive for a relatively low number of points.”

A PointsPros customer recently booked a business-class seat on a flight from Rome to Chicago, which cost 77,000 miles. The next leg of the trip, from Chicago to Santa Barbara, Calif., would have cost 44,700 miles.

Mr. Rozum says a good redemption rate is at least 2 cents per airline mile. The cash price for the business-class ticket for Rome to Chicago was $2,600, making the value more than 3 cents a mile. The cash price from Chicago to Santa Barbara was $497, meaning the person would only get 1.1 cents a mile.

Anyone planning to travel internationally should keep track of their destination country’s latest pandemic policies on foreign visitors.

Be strategic about when you transfer points

Although it is possible to book flights directly through a travel credit-card portal, it is often a better deal to transfer the points to an airline loyalty program account and book from there, says Mr. Rowan.

The timing of when you transfer the points also matters. Sometimes airlines will offer a bonus to transfer points from a credit card to their loyalty program, but these speculative transfers don’t make sense, Mr. Rowan says.

If you transfer points without a specific flight in mind, those points are then stuck in the loyalty program, and not available for other bigger transactions. You should move the points to an airline account when “you’re ready to pull the trigger on whatever flight they want,” Mr. Rowan says.

Explore the option of pooling points with others

Some airlines allow you to pool miles with others with no additional fees.

JetBlue allows up to seven people to pool points, so multiple family members can combine points for a gift for someone else. The “Pool Leader” can nominate certain members to redeem points.

Canceled and delayed flights, long lines and packed planes have become the new normal for air travel. WSJ reporter Alison Sider explains the reasons behind the airline disruptions and the ripple effects for passengers planning to travel during the holidays. Photo: Daniel Slim/Getty Images The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition

Write to Allison Pohle at Allison.Pohle@wsj.com