Mileage Pro The Insider's Guide to Frequent Flyer Programs

AS WE HAVE WRITTEN, EARNING miles is easy these days but redeeming them for awards can be difficult.

Here is a simple, if hard-to-believe fact: On any given day, 100 percent of airline seats are available for award redemption.
We thought that would catch your attention.

One hundred percent? Then how come you are rarely awarded one? To understand award redemption we need to take a step back to 1981. When frequent flyer programs were invented, every seat on the aircraft was available to members each and every day. No blackout dates or capacity controls existed. The price? Awards were set at 40,000 to 50,000 miles for a seat in coach class.

By 1988, concern that the number of outstanding frequent flyer miles could eventually become a problem for the airline industry was a real reason to re-evaluate. United Mileage Plus began to let miles expire after a certain period of time. Members were not exactly thrilled with the idea, so to ease the pain, programs began to offer new awards at lower levels that at the time started at 20,000 miles. These lower level awards came with restrictions limiting the number of free seats per flight.

Members clamored to take advantage of these new, lower cost awards that were adjusted in the 1990s to an industry
standard of 25,000 miles. Today, nearly 83 percent of all awards are at the lower, more restricted award level. Nonetheless, the fact remains that 100 percent of airline seats daily are available for award redemption at the original, higher level (40,000 to 50,000 miles)—a category often referred to as “any time” awards.

The past few years have been particularly difficult for the redemption of frequent flyer awards. Because a number of airlines are in and out of bankruptcy, and because the possibility of labor strikes and mergers is so real, a significant number of award redemptions maintain “ghost” itineraries. That is, people are redeeming awards solely to protect miles should an airline liquidate. For instance, during the past two years, many members of the US Airways Dividend Miles program redeemed their miles on partner United Airlines, fearing that US Airways was not going to make it. Of course, this made it even more difficult for members of United’s program to redeem their miles. In this case, US Airways members were booking only temporary awards, hoping to redeposit their miles upon news that US Airways would survive.

Even in the best of times, many frequent flyers report that they are not able to redeem award tickets. This is especially true for elite-level members who have followed all the correct procedures. Even the Delta SkyMiles membership guide specifically states: “Seats available for Award Travel are limited and may not be available on all flights.”

It seems that airlines are making the effort to structure their award redemption processes with less mystery and difficulty, although many frequent flyers consider these efforts to be too little, too late.
There are a few important issues that as a frequent flyer, you should be aware of. These factors could affect how and when you use your miles.

Blackout dates (restricted travel dates), peak travel periods, origination points and length-of-stay restrictions can be formidable obstacles. Since all programs have different policies, procedures and technologies for securing award travel, the entire process can be overwhelming. Tighter seating restrictions because of the rise in travel, additional fees and changing program rules are just a few of the hurdles you may have to face. Below are some common restrictions that accompany programs.

• Increased miles: Since 2001, most airlines have raised the mileage requirements of select awards or upgrades. Most often these have been in the premium class awards such as business and international first class, and for upgrades when used with a lower cost coach ticket.
• Extra fees: It is not free travel if you are required to pay additional money. If you change the date or time of your flight, you may be charged a fee. If you change your flight’s destination, that could mean another fee. Want to cancel and use your mileage for something different? You guessed it—you could be charged a fee. Award tickets include the 9/11 Security Fee of up to $10 per roundtrip, as well as U.S. or foreign user, inspection, customs, security or other similar taxes, fees or charges of up to $250, depending on the itinerary.
• Seating restrictions: If you are hoping to plan a family vacation with your miles, make sure you are prepared to divide and conquer. On some flights, you may be limited to a maximum of two seats, meaning the family may have to fly on different planes and/or arrive at different times.

The following pointers will help flyers stay on the right track to award redemption.

• Plan ahead. Award seats are best booked ahead of time. Generally, flights are available for award booking 11 months in advance. Note: It could cost you if you need express reservations.
• Understand upgrades. Many programs have restrictions on using award miles to upgrade your ticket. To avoid frustration, ask before redeeming.
• When planning your award travel, strive to make it worth every penny you spent earning all those miles. Check airfares to your desired destinations before spending any miles. If you find the cost is low (less than $225), then do not use your miles for this trip. Save your miles for a more expensive ticket, or to purchase an upgrade.
• Look at the big picture before spending your money.
• It may behoove you to pay for vacation flights as they usually have high competition for award seats. Use your awards for flights that are less popular, particularly if those routes are shorter and do not earn many miles. Your mileage earning potential on long trips is obviously greater. Also, keep in mind that many airlines offer special deals on awards for short-haul trips. For instance, American and United both recently offered awards for flights less than 750 miles each way for only 15,000 miles.
• Before you book your reservation, know how many miles are in your account then make sure all the miles or points you need are available, especially if you have to transfer them from one account to another. Also, ensure that miles from all of your most recent trips are posted in your account. Not having enough miles when you book will definitely preclude you from getting a seat, even if you know the miles will be in your account soon.
• Decide what you want to do and where you want to do it yet do not be too attached to your plans. Choose several possible destinations, keeping in mind that popular destinations are often booked three to 11 months in advance. After you have decided on several possible destinations, choose your travel dates with just as much flexibility.
• Plan your vacation to begin and end midweek. Fridays and Saturdays are unfavorable days on which to start an award trip. Avoid flights close to holidays. By planning travel that avoids peak travel times, you can increase your chances of getting the travel award you want.
• After trying—but not succeeding—to redeem your miles online, decide whether or not to book your award reservations through the service center, keeping in mind that Mondays and Fridays are high call volume days.
• If your program’s service center is open 24 hours a day, try calling at night or late in the afternoon on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Service center agents can assist you in rerouting an award through various city pairs, something an online system has not yet perfected.
• Do not call a service center until you are ready to book. You may not get a second chance because many airlines will not hold a reservation for an award seat if you do not immediately book. Do not let high demand seats slip away because you were not ready to commit.
• Ask for suggestions from friends. Instead of just talking about the latest bonus promotions, find out who is actually enjoying good luck in getting the seats they want and to which destinations they desire. Consider choosing places that are not tourist attractions. If a friend suggests a place you have never heard of, keep an open mind. Remember the adage: “The greatest adventure awaits those who have nothing planned.”
• If the flight you want is booked, try to waitlist and call back frequently to check your status. A seat that is not available today can be yours tomorrow if you are persistent. Unsold seats on regular flights are opened up for award travel at the last moment.
• If your program does not allow waitlisting, it is still worth your while to call back on a frequent basis. Most awards are capacity controlled and, while there may not be a seat available today, someone may change plans tomorrow and you could get that reservation with a well-timed call.
• Do not be too choosy with your departure and arrival times. Flights scheduled for late at night and during the midmorning often have greater availability.
• Try several routes to your desired destination. Making connections through different airports may allow you more opportunity to arrange a seat. Also, try making your final destination a city that is close to where you really want to go. A nearby city may not have as much traffic and, therefore, may offer more available seats. For example, if you want to go to San Francisco, and the award seats are gone, try Oakland or San Jose. You can then drive the short distance to your actual destination. This applies to Europe as well.
• If London is your destination, it is easy to get there after landing in, say, Brussels or Dublin. Look for flights that include stops. Traditionally, nonstop flight availability is the first thing the reservation system searches out. Though stops require you to spend a few more hours in the air or a few more hours at an airport, you may have a layover that is long enough to allow you the luxury of checking out a new city.
• When making award flight reservations, ask about stopover options. A three-day stopover in Hawaii on your way to Bangkok could be just the ticket that will transform your award travel into the vacation of a lifetime. Some programs allow two stopovers, while some only allow stopovers for less than 24 hours.
• Some programs allow members to opt for “open-jaw” award flights. For example, you can depart from New York, fly to London, travel through Europe by train or car, and depart from Athens back to New York. Open-jaw tickets typically cost twice as much as normal tickets. Consequently, open-jaw award tickets can (but do no always) cost you more miles. In fact, because of the open-jaw flexibility you are more likely to get the award you want. Open-jaw tickets are flexible because you do not have to return from the city to which you flew. You can choose any other return city. It is similar to buying two one-way tickets rather than a single roundtrip.
• Consider flying in first or business class. Because they require fewer miles, coach awards are usually the first to go. By redeeming more miles for a business class or first class ticket, you will be pampered (OK, at least you will enjoy more legroom) and may have a better chance of getting an award.
• Consider a vacation during the off-peak season, which typically is not during the summer. Because of year-round schooling, there are more options these days to travel on awards than just during the months of June, July and August.
• If you do not want to bother with blackout dates or capacity controls (which can limit your award choices) then spend more miles. Although they usually require twice the miles, “any time” awards offered by all major airlines can assure you a seat when regular awards are hard to come by.
• If your schedule is flexible, look into last-minute online award sales offered by programs such as American AAdvantage and Continental OnePass. For a significant reduction in miles, you can take domestic and international trips, but you will have to have your bags packed at all times.
• Finding award seats becomes more difficult when you are traveling as a family. Singles and couples usually have the best chance of getting a free seat. Your best bet is to get as many award seats as possible and then purchase the additional seats as needed. Remember, if you are traveling with family members who rarely fly, use the award ticket for your family member and purchase your own ticket. This way, you will be replenishing your account with the miles you earn from flying, while your family enjoys traveling for free. Plus, companion award tickets usually require less mileage than a normal award ticket does. A great example of a companion ticket using hotel points is Hilton HHonors. You can redeem 40,000 HHonors points for one companion coach ticket on United Airlines within the continental 48 United States and Canada with the purchase of a valid published fare with the same itinerary. By itself, one coach ticket within the continental 48 United States and Canada costs 100,000 HHonors points.
• If you are not able to get an award with your airline, check out your hotel programs’ point balances. Hotel programs such as Best Western, Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and TripRewards offer flight awards, or a combination hotel and flight award packages. The flight awards offered by hotels are often taken from a different inventory than award seats offered by the airlines. You may have much better luck getting your dream vacation if you go through a hotel program. This is because airlines will often hold extra award seats for their program partners. Note: You will not lose miles converting hotel points into airline miles. You can lose miles when you go through a double conversion, for example, hotel to airline to another airline, or airline to hotel and back to another airline.
• Go that extra mile for elite status. Many programs waive blackout dates and capacity controls (the two biggest obstacles for getting an award ticket) for certain elite-level flyers. Furthermore, with many programs, booking agents are trained to respect your status. It is well known that employees staffing the elite-level desks at airlines are senior in rank and often have many more years experience in making reservations of any kind, whether that is free travel or paid fare. Use that extra experience to your advantage.

Award Alternatives

• Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a free trip is not always in the cards. We suggest the following alternatives.
• Do not get hung up on free airline travel. We find that many travelers make the mistake of assuming miles should always be redeemed for airline tickets. Here is something to consider: Many flyers complain about not getting the free ticket they want due to capacity controls yet they spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on hotel rooms. Consider purchasing an airline ticket and applying your miles to a hotel room.

Both American’s and United’s frequent flyer programs allow their members to convert their miles into free hotel stays. American allows all members to redeem miles for free nights at Marriott and InterContinental Hotels, while United only allows their 1K, Premier Executive and Premier members to have the benefit. For instance, you can redeem 4,000 Mileage Plus miles and get a voucher for $100 off a two-night stay at any U.S. Hyatt hotel.

• Combine paid and award travel. For example, you could pay to fly to Los Angeles or New York using a low cost carrier and then pay for the next leg of your trip with miles as you continue on to Hawaii or Europe. Or simply buy the extra miles you need. Many programs allow mileage purchases if you have accumulated close to the necessary amount for a free ticket.
• View companion awards and upgrades as viable alternatives to free awards. Each of these suggestions requires you to purchase a paid ticket from the airline, and airlines always want to sell a seat even if it costs them one; for example, when the companion is flying for free.
• As strange as this might sound, unless you are an elite member of a program, consider switching to a program that has a better history of providing awards. Among the programs that have the best award seat availability are Alaska Mileage Plan, Southwest Rapid Rewards and American AAdvantage.

Other Tips

• With Hilton and Marriott, know the award code you wish to use, and persuade the reservations agent to call the hotel directly if award availability is gone. Sometimes exceptions will be made. Each reward available through Marriott Rewards is assigned a unique reward code. For example, the award code for seven free nights split between any three Hawaiian hotels participating in the Marriott Rewards program is 563.
• Programs like Diners Club Club Rewards and American Express Membership Rewards offer the most flexibility to “put miles and points where you need them.” American Express alone has 20 airline partners and more than 150 worldwide hotel properties as partners.
• Several hotel programs’ all-inclusive awards that include air, hotel and even car rental are terrific because they offer several airlines from which to choose, and they can usually get the awards you want, regardless of the time of year.
• Short haul U.S. destinations —at least those that do not go through a hub connection—are always a good bet for a free ticket because the more flight segments your award has, the more problems you will incur in securing award availability.
• Elite members have much more freedom when booking awards. Airline and hotel programs often make more awards available to their elite members and in some situations even lift restrictions from blackout dates. These exceptions often make earning elite status that much more of a benefit.

The battle for more award seats on desirable flights will likely be a heated one and one that will not soon be resolved—given that travel is on the rebound and award flyers do have to share the same plane with paying customers. If the current trend continues to lower the cost of paying to fly, then these flights will certainly continue to be full. Until then, the best advice for getting the award you want is to use your head and be flexible. Remember to use your knowledge and consider all the angles before you start planning an award trip.

10 Best Ways to Redeem Your Miles

10. While the attention has always been on redeeming frequent flyer miles, we advise members of all programs to brush up on the value of hotel points. Hotel points have much more flexibility than airline miles based on the variety of “brands.” For instance, if you have a problem redeeming hotel points with Marriott, inquire about other brands in the Marriott family such as Courtyard, Renaissance Hotel, Residence Inn or Fairfield Inn properties. Fact: We rarely hear complaints about hotel redemption. Also consider that these days hotel rates have been climbing while airline prices have been falling.

9. You have heard about planning early for frequent flyer award redemption. Now try this: Plan late. Airlines are getting better at releasing seats at the last minute for award redemption. Best time? Try two weeks before a scheduled flight. Even better is to know the airlines’ “sweet spot” for seat inventory adjustment. In recent research, Continental’s award availability was spotty at 330 days in advance, six months in advance, 30 days in advance, and even two weeks in advance. However, in the test, which involved 12 different city pairs for award redemption, awards were available at the three-month advance time frame 100 percent of the time. While this does not guarantee you will be so lucky, it does mean that Continental has a sweet spot.

8. Codeshare an award. With airline alliances, sometimes airlines only have half the plane to give away as awards since their codeshare partner owns the remaining seats. Because one airline will only see their available seats, try asking about their codeshare partner’s free seats.

7. The family plan. Most people do not have enough miles for the whole family to fly for free and often purchase a ticket for one of the kids to go along on the vacation. Tip: Whenever you have to purchase a ticket along with an award, transfer your award to a family member and fly on the purchased ticket yourself. Why? You will replenish your miles plus you will qualify for selected benefits like upgrades when using a revenue ticket. Another trick for using miles for a family vacation is to use miles from one of your frequent flyer program’s partners. Perhaps you can only get a single award seat using your SkyMiles on Delta. Try using your Continental or Northwest miles (either you have them or can redeem them from a credit card or hotel program) for other seats on the same Delta flight. (Remember: These airlines are part of the same airline alliance, SkyTeam.) Sometimes, each airline partner has a different award bucket and seat allocation for a particular flight.

6. Mini awards. Both American and Continental offer weekend awards to select cities for fewer miles than normal. Fly out late on Friday or Saturday, and return Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. While restrictions do apply, you can claim an award for as few as 7,500 miles. Nearly every member we spoke to did not even know these special award offers existed but they do! This is a great way for a savvy traveler to find awards at only 12,500 miles or even less.

5. Use your mileage pool. If you have been smart, in addition to your airline miles you also have points with American Express or Diners Club, or with hotel programs like Starwood Preferred Guest, Hilton HHonors or Priority Club Rewards. If so, take advantage of these programs’ flexibilities and try award travel on an airline other than the one you normally fly. Remember: You can transfer points from all five of these programs into an existing or a new frequent flyer airline account for award redemption. Just because you have not flown with an airline does not mean you cannot redeem an award with them.

Note: There is no loss of miles or points because we are only referring to a single redemption and not an “exchange” in which case points or miles would likely lose some value. An “exchange” is when hotel points are converted into miles via a middleman such as Amtrak Guest Rewards. (See chapter 8 for more information on exchanging miles and hotel points.)

4. Know the best days to travel. Best Days within the United States: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; to Florida: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; to Hawaii: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; to Asia: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; to the Caribbean: Tuesday, Wednesday; to Europe: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday; to Mexico: Tuesday, Wednesday; to South America: Tuesday, Wednesday. Worst Days within the United States: Friday, Sunday; to Florida: Friday, Sunday; to Hawaii: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday; to Asia: Friday, Saturday, Sunday; to the Caribbean: Saturday, Sunday, Monday; to Europe: Friday, Saturday, Sunday; to Mexico: Friday, Saturday, Sunday; to South America: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

3. Go where no one else has gone (yet). The secret is to look for new routes opening up. Those seats have not yet been available for either ticket sales or award redemption, which means everything is available. This requires you to read travel news about an airline’s new “second daily flight” or their newly released “winter schedule.” Frequent Flyer magazine’s Regions section (www.frequentflyer.oag.com) is a great source for new routes.

2. Book an award by segments. Because of the “hub and spoke” system that most major airlines use, the problem with getting a free ticket is not that the entire route is booked, but that a single segment of the award request is unavailable. You may want to try to book each segment , and once done, ask the airline to combine them for a single award. An example: A Delta award request from Dallas to Honolulu reads as not being available because the airline’s booking engine would have only looked at Dallas-Los Angeles-Honolulu. So, try to book a flight segment from Dallas to Salt Lake City and then from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and then book from Los Angeles to Honolulu. Once you have that done, request that the airline combine all the segment bookings into a single award. The good news is that this is still considered a single award redemption regardless of the number of segments it took to get the seat. In other words, this will cost you no more miles than if the award had been available on the Dallas-Los Angeles-Honolulu route.

1. Pick up the phone. Many programs have worked hard to convince members to book their awards online. The unfortunate problem with this is that most programs have faulty online award booking systems. Most do not include the award inventory for their airline partners. Most do not intelligently reroute a member through various hubs or city pairs. Most do not identify the problem with the award request such as a single segment not being available. Most do not allow you to register and be notified later on if a seat becomes available. Because of these limitations and more, we have no problem suggesting that if you have any problems booking an award online, you take the request to the phone line and try to work out the award through a reservation agent. Although most programs will now charge you to do this, we feel it is worth the cost.

BONUS TIP: Here is a bonus tip—a tactic of last resort that unfortunately should be in every frequent traveler’s playbook.
If you have tried everything else and still cannot snag an award seat, consider bypassing capacity restrictions and parting with more miles to get an “any time” award. Generally priced at twice the number of miles required for a capacity controlled award, these unrestricted awards are much more plentiful than lower priced awards.

Redeeming 40,000 or 50,000 miles is a bitter pill to swallow if you have based your mileage earning campaign on the assumption that a free domestic ticket would be available for 25,000 miles or less. And if you simply do not have enough miles for an unrestricted award, the point is moot. But, like it or not, more and more frequent flyers are being upsold to higher priced awards.

Now that we have ruined your day, we actually have some good news. Most program members only know how to “talk coach” when redeeming their miles—and for good reason as coach miles tend to go further. But if you are spending 40,000 to 50,000 miles for a coach award because none of the 25,000-mile awards are available, it is time to “talk first class.” Here is why: In the Northwest WorldPerks program a saver award is 25,000 miles. A “Rule Buster” award for that same coach seat is 50,000 miles. Did you know that a saver first class ticket is only 45,000 miles? That is right. When coach is not available ask about the availability of a saver first class award before paying double miles for coach. In this example, you would have saved 5,000 miles and had a much better seat.

REMEMBER THIS:

• It is almost Ripley’s Believe It Or Not! On any given day, 100 percent of airline seats are available for award redemption.
• The past few years have been unusually tough on frequent flyers trying to cash in miles. This is mostly due to people redeeming awards solely to protect miles should an airline liquidate. Called ghost itineraries, people book an award ticket and then redeposit the miles back into their account once they know the airline is safe from liquidation. This takes up valuable award space from other members who actually want to use their miles for a free ticket.
• One of the best reasons for going that extra mile to earn elite status: Many programs waive blackout dates and capacity controls for their elite-level flyers.