Recession Frequent Flyers
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If airline mileage was cash, more of us would be smiling.
Earning and saving miles is easier than ever. Hotel loyalty programs are plying guests with bonus miles on top of free nights. Credit card companies are jamming mailboxes with mileage offers in exchange for minimum spending. Sites like www.milehighswap.com even enable fliers to swap miles for merchandise, and vice versa.
Most eager for you to earn mileage are the airlines themselves, handing out bonus miles like never before and for nominal fees permitting fliers to buy extra mileage and in some cases re-activate mileage that may have expired many years ago.
The airlines are desperate in this economic climate, but, these “bad times are actually really, really good times for the frequent flyer” according to airlinemileage guru Randy Petersen, founder of frequent flier sites www.flyertalk.com and www.insideflyer.com, among others.
He adds “when times are flush, everyone wants to travel and the competition for those awards [is] very competitive. Airlines gave away more frequent flyer seats last year than ever before, so indeed, bad times mean less paying passengers to fight for award seats.”
So it’s a good time for award travel. And if it’s a good time for you to travel, too, a question remains: what’s the best way to spend that stockpile of miles?
Be flexible.
While award seats are more plentiful today, you’ll still want to book them as soon as possible – most airlines permit you to book award seats about six months in advance. You’ll also increase your chances of snagging an award ticket if you’re not rigid about your travel dates or final destination, says tour leader and Trip Chicks co-owner Ann Lombardi. Hoping to explore Europe during high season? “If your preferred city or dates are sold-out, ask the reservations agent to check an alternate destination,” Lombardi says, adding that “budget airlines like Snowflake, Germania, Central Wings, Easy Jet, BMI, and others connect many cities from hubs such as London and Amsterdam.”
If you’re determined to get specific flights, Lombardi notes that you can “request that the airline put you on a priority waitlist for award travel flights that were showing not available when you made your frequent flyer ticket reservation. Then call the airlines back every few days to see if ‘anything has cleared’ for your frequent flyer award ticket.” Be sure to request a place on the waitlist immediately after booking your award ticket, she says, otherwise you’ll “have to pay a big change fee if the flights open up after you’ve been ticketed.”
July 16, 2009
Copyright © 2009 Fox News
