We did not have experience with using our CC for airline tickets and had no idea of how to proceed so we called the company. They were able to answer all kinds of questions. We ended up purchasing plane tickets to Kauai on Expedia - pretty reasonably - with points they ended up being free........
You might call you CC company and ask them things like:
How does my purchasing merchandise instead of cashing points benefit you?
What is the most beneficial thing to do with my points from a cardholder perspective?
Good luck! Have fun with the $$ in whatever form you take it.