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Put your frequent flier miles to good use |
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Written by Knight Ridder
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Wednesday, 19 April 2006 |
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China, Mongolia, Britain, Italy, Mali, Bali: These are some of the places that I’ve traveled on frequent flier miles.
Yes, despite the limited number of seats, it can be done. But don’t expect to snag the well-timed direct flight on a high-season Friday or Sunday.
Using your miles for that trip of your dreams takes perseverance and flexibility, and sometimes, a little detective work.
First, you need to decide how to use your miles. Some of our friends save their miles for upgrades to business class, but my husband and I long ago decided we’d sacrifice comfort for frequency. So it’s the back-of-the-bus for us, which means we’re competing with every other travel junkie out there.
Still, more often than not, we win at The Miles Game. Here’s our advice for how you can, too:
Concentrate your mileage
We stick with two programs — both with partners that go to the exotic locations we long to visit. My husband, who travels to Atlanta on business, takes Delta, and uses a credit card that earns miles on many airlines, including Delta. My company uses American, so I stick with it and its mileage partners, and have a personal credit card that also earns American miles.
Book early
Our trip this past Christmas to Bali was booked in June — later than we should have reserved, but workable due to a recently announced routing that began later in the year. If our plans tanked, we figured we’d just pay the fee to redeposit the miles in our account — a reasonable risk to us, since it was much cheaper than buying the tickets.
Research
Obscure or new routes are often the key to finding a free ticket. Before calling the airline to try to snag seats, I go online and try to figure out every possible routing on my airline. I also find out which of its partners go to my destination. When the agent says she doesn’t see anything, I’ll helpfully add, “Is there anything through Chicago to Nagoya? How about from Dallas through Narita? Does Cathay-Pacific have anything through Hong Kong?’’
Call the airline
American now charges a $15 fee if you book an award ticket on the phone rather than booking online. But landing tickets is tricky business, and if you can’t find one online, you often can get a helpful agent who will find the magic route.
Call again
If the first agent isn’t so savvy, or there’s just nothing available, call back on a regular basis. We moved our Christmas tickets from one date to the next by simply calling every day for a few weeks until something opened up.
Have patience
Even when you get a great agent, this process can take time. For us, it’s worth an hour or so on the phone in trade for two free tickets to Asia or Africa — valued at several thousand dollars each.
Be realistic
Don’t expect convenience, direct flights or seats on those busy travel days of Friday and Sunday. Free has its own price — it’s called time. Q | Only registered users can write comments.
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