Sunday, May 14, 2006
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.
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.
· Use airline tools. It would be nice if airlines could come up with a search engine that would show available frequent-flier seats if you typed in, say, "Europe" and "July," or "Caribbean beaches" and "December." Alas, none goes that far. But some have tools that clue you in to your best chances of finding a destination that, while not your first choice, might fit the bill nicely.
American Airlines, for example, has a handy "HotSpots" section on its Web site ( www.aa.com ; type HotSpots in the search field) that suggests destinations with good availability for award tickets. Granted, some of the "featured destinations" didn't mention any departures from Washington area airports. But the section called "Hot Spots -- Most Requested Cities" listed good availability for summer travel out of Washington to 14 destinations, including Honolulu, San Francisco and Tortola.
US Airways also lists travel award suggestions at its Web site ( http://www.usairways.com/ ; click on Dividend Miles). The site is now showing, for example, award ticket availability every day in May for Glasgow, Scotland, and Frankfurt, Germany. At Continental's Web site ( http://www.continental.com/ ), after you pick an award destination, a calendar shows dates when tickets are most likely to be available.
· Part with more miles. No one wants to use more miles than necessary to get a seat, but if you have extra miles, using them can open up award ticket inventory exponentially. Most airlines require about 25,000 miles for a regular domestic award ticket, and those tickets have strict inventory control. All airlines also have award tickets by various names that require you to spend about twice as many miles. The upside: little or no inventory control, meaning that if a seat is open, you can probably get it for miles.
If no economy seats are available for miles, you might find a business-class seat for miles. Again, the number of miles needed increases; for a round trip, it could as much as double. However, keep in mind that most airlines allow you to split a reservation so you can fly for the fewest number of miles one way if a low-mileage seat is available and pay the extra miles for just the other way.
· Use miles for other expenses. If you can't find an award ticket, consider rearranging your budget: Buy the airline ticket and use the miles to cover the hotel and car rental. Airlines have so many partners these days that using miles for other travel expenses is ever more possible. Increasingly, airlines are also offering non-travel products for miles. So if you plan to buy a television and take a trip, maybe you'll do as well using miles for a TV and buying the plane ticket. Be wary, though, and consider the value of what you're getting for your miles to make sure it's a fair exchange.
· Stay informed. You can make a science of earning and redeeming miles, or simply find more and better ways to earn and redeem, with a simple check now and then. The Web site of your preferred carrier will carry news of special deals, both for earning and redeeming. For example, American this month is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its frequent-flier program with a 25 percent reduction in the number of miles needed for an award ticket.
Frequent-flier Web sites such as FrequentFlier.com and InsideFlyer.com update readers on deals at all the airlines. Even reading your credit card statement might alert you to a special. At least once a year, for example, credit cards aligned with Northwest alert passengers to award tickets requiring fewer miles than usual.
Just don't get obsessive-compulsive about it. Sometimes that frequent-flier energy can be better spent playing the stock market, or helping your spouse around the house.
-- Cindy Loose
View all comments that have been posted about this article.