Hints on Turning Your Miles Into a Free Ride

For an award on a long-haul flight that would be extremely expensive if you had to spend dollars, you might even consider departing from far-flung airports such as Philadelphia or New York.

· Be flexible on dates. A willingness to adjust your travel dates, either by days or weeks, could mean the difference between getting and not getting an award seat. Consider searching for tickets before locking in vacation requests. (Some airlines now allow you to put a hold on award tickets, giving you time to coordinate plans before committing.)

Your chances are much better if you depart and return on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. Friday-night departures and Sunday-night returns are the hardest options. Traveling midweek "improves your chances about 30 percent," says Petersen.

· Be flexible on arrival airports. Like Washington, many major cities have nearby airports that should be considered. For example, Oakland, Calif., is nearly as convenient to San Francisco as San Francisco International. If Los Angeles isn't available, consider Orange County's John Wayne Airport.

A free ticket might be worth an even longer drive. Montreal, for example, is about a two-hour drive from Burlington, Vt. If you can't get Toronto, try Buffalo, a 90-minute drive away. If Oakland or San Francisco doesn't work, consider San Jose. A glance at a map will provide more ideas; some travel booking and airline sites also allow you to view flights at nearby airports.

· Be loyal. As much as possible, gather your miles in one airline's basket. Of course, it makes no sense to pay hundreds of dollars more for an inconvenient flight just because you want to put the miles in your primary frequent-flier account. But it might make sense to pay a bit more, or leave a bit earlier than you'd like, to keep piling up miles with one airline.

You can also fly one airline but assign your miles to that airline's partner. For example, if you have most of your miles with Northwest, give your Northwest frequent-flier account number when booking on Delta. You have to do it when you book or fly; once the miles are with Delta, they can't be switched.

If you're a fairly frequent flier, this advice becomes even more critical: If you earn enough miles to win elite status, all kinds of extra benefits come your way, including better access to award seats on most airlines.

If you already have elite status, make sure you type in your frequent-flier number when searching online for an award ticket; if using an agent, mention that you're a heavy-metal flier. That way, the search will include award seats set aside for the airline's most valuable customers.

The lack of partners is a downside of most discount carriers, but keep in mind that Southwest recently partnered with ATA, so you can fly one airline but assign your frequent-flier miles to the other. Later this year, the two airlines plan to strengthen the partnership so that a Southwest award ticket can be used on ATA, which flies to Hawaii, a highly prized and usually hard-to-procure destination.

· Consider alternate destinations. Say you want to redeem miles for tickets to Jamaica and the destination isn't available. Would it be that awful to go to the Dominican Republic or Barbados instead, to say nothing of more than a dozen other Caribbean islands?

If Europe calls but you can't find a ticket for Paris, how about Amsterdam or London or Brussels? You might change vacation plans altogether and discover you enjoyed your second choice as much as you figured you'd enjoy the first. Alternately, take a train or plane to your first choice and think of the city to which you fly as a bonus.