Hints on Turning Your Miles Into a Free Ride

Frequent-flier miles are not the same as cash on the counter, and unless you want to wallow in disappointment, you need to accept that. At the same time, while airlines don't want to give you seats they can otherwise sell, they want you to burn off your miles in their otherwise empty seats, which they do have. (Most airlines last month were reporting capacity levels of 80 percent or so, meaning they had seats it would cost them almost nothing to give away.)

If you're willing to shop hard and make some compromises, the following tips could put you in the air.

· Know your airline's partners. If your favorite airline's frequent-flier program doesn't have an award seat, check availability on their partners. For example, mileage on Delta can be cashed in for award tickets on any of Delta's 19 airline partners, including Northwest, Continental, Air France, AeroMexico, Air Jamaica, Alitalia, Virgin Atlantic and Singapore Airlines, to name a few.

· Talk to a live person. If you can't find an award seat online, call the airline's awards reservation desk. It will probably cost you about $15, but only if the agent finds seats you decide to book. "The online booking tool for award seats is rather primitive. It doesn't always show partner inventory, and doesn't show some connecting city availability," says frequent-flier guru Randy Petersen, editor of InsideFlyer, a magazine and Web site devoted to frequent travelers and the miles and points they strive to accrue and spend.

"There is a growing sense that seats are not available, when sometimes people are just using the wrong booking tool," Petersen says.

· Try early, keep trying, try late. At least some seats are released for award travel when inventory is first released, usually 330 days in advance of flight dates. If you shop then, "you'll be first in line" for whatever inventory is released at that time, says Tim Winship of FrequentFlier.com, a site for mile hounds.

But sophisticated software is constantly evaluating how sales are going, and many seats are released for award travel only when it's clear that sales on a particular flight are languishing. "Many award seats often don't open until 30 to 90 days prior to departure," says US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder.

The best time to redeem miles for summer travel: December. "About 60 to 70 percent of people redeem miles for summer travel in January," says Petersen. "Beat the rush to improve your chances."

Then there are the last-minute giveaways. A couple weeks out, when it's clear that a flight isn't selling out to revenue-paying customers, airlines make additional awards on that flight.

Keep in mind that many airlines are now charging fees, starting at $30, if you book less than 14 days before departure. The fees are usually waived for "heavy metal" fliers -- those extremely frequent fliers who've earned elite silver, gold or platinum status.

Airlines will not reveal how many awards seats will be available in a given year. In fact, United is being particularly transparent when it shares the info that it "has reserved a percentage of Saver Award seats [those that require the fewest number of miles] on every flight to every international and domestic destination United flies."

· Be flexible on departure airports. Sure, Dulles might be right down the road from your home, but you'll improve your chances if you're willing to schlep to Reagan National or BWI. Most search engines allow you to shop all three airports at once by putting "WAS" in the search field.