Any tricks on using frequent flyer miles?

[Chesie]

Hello everyone,

 

I have miles with Delta and find it difficult to use them. Seats always seem to be "gone" even the when I call the first day they are available.:(

 

Any tricks on using these miles? Especially international flights.

 

Many Thanks!!

[fbgd]

Look at using Skyteam or Delta partners instead or different, less direct routings.

[JJPNYC]

Also look at off-peak travel days & times. Airlines have been getting stingier & stingier for frequent flyer rewards.

 

I just recently used up 25,000 of my Delta skymiles for a trip from DEN-EWR. But in getting creative, neither flight is actually on Delta. The DEN-EWR leg is on Northwest and the EWR-DEN leg is on Continental - both SkyTeam partners.

 

I know just have a couple of thousand miles left which I'm burning up by getting some magazine subscriptions as I'm not really flying with Delta any longer since I left NYC where it seemed like I was on the Delta shuttle at least once every-other week.

[chipmaster]

Hello everyone,

 

I have miles with Delta and find it difficult to use them. Seats always seem to be "gone" even the when I call the first day they are available.:(

 

Any tricks on using these miles? Especially international flights.

 

Many Thanks!!

 

 

I feel for you, I have a similar situation with my Alaskan and find them very useless as I am always looking for 4 seats. I've tried looking a year out and on partner but no luck for the planned vacations.

 

Going forward I think finding anything on international will be very very far and few. Interntational is the one cash cow for all airlines right now and to give away high revenue seats while they lose billions isn't something we should expect. Makes me and i'm sure lots other unhappy we can't reap the benifits we earned, but I'd rather see airlines survive right now :mad:

[JJPNYC]

Also just a note is that on most airlines frequent-flyer seats are yield managed just like fares are. So some days you'll find seats, other days you won't find seats. You have to check consistently for frequent-flyer seat availability as they can change many times in a single day.

 

Also one way to get around this is to purchase the seats using the unrestricted number of miles (typically double the saver price).

[traveler/]

I feel for you, I have a similar situation with my Alaskan and find them very useless as I am always looking for 4 seats. I've tried looking a year out and on partner but no luck for the planned vacations.

 

Going forward I think finding anything on international will be very very far and few. Interntational is the one cash cow for all airlines right now and to give away high revenue seats while they lose billions isn't something we should expect. Makes me and i'm sure lots other unhappy we can't reap the benifits we earned, but I'd rather see airlines survive right now :mad:

A possibility is to use your miles for 1 or 2 seats and buy the others. Your overall price is reduced and you would be using some miles. Based in part on what has happened lately with some airlines, I will be using up some miles or points so that I don't risk lose them. I also went for the magazine subscription offer for Northwest since I don't plan on flying them again.

[chipmaster]

A possibility is to use your miles for 1 or 2 seats and buy the others. Your overall price is reduced and you would be using some miles. Based in part on what has happened lately with some airlines, I will be using up some miles or points so that I don't risk lose them. I also went for the magazine subscription offer for Northwest since I don't plan on flying them again.

 

Thanks, that is the plan for upcoming plan to Cancun. Use mileage even if it is 2x for a couple freebies and pay the rest. Sometimes I wish my airline miles could convert to something else like my Starwoods can convert to airlines:rolleyes:

[eandj]

I gave up on f-f miles. Too many restrictions. Now I only use my Cap One card and have no black outs, time restrictions or airline choices. They just credit the ticket amount back to my charge card after I purchase the tickets. So easy.

[Globaliser]

Seats always seem to be "gone" even the when I call the first day they are available.

They may not be there yet, or they may never be there. Seats in any booking class, including award seats, are not "made available" as if it were a first-come, first-served stall. Unfortunately, that's the way airlines work. You have to check all the time.

 

I was recently reminded of how I got my free Concorde seats: checking about once every waking hour for a couple of months ...

[Chesie]

Thank you everyone! I feel better I'm not alone on this one. Is everyone

"checking" on the telephone with the airlines or is there a website to check this out on?

 

Chesie

[Shorex]

IMO, there are four elements that contribute to maximizing your ff miles: 1) knowledge of how the system works, 2) creative thinking, 3) perseverance, 4) luck.

 

1) Knowledge – a few tips: if you have status with the airline, always log in when doing an online search for award availability. DH and I are NW plats. When we log into our account, more award seats show up than when we are not logged in. It’s an important benefit for frequent flyers.

 

On the NW website, click this series of tabs “Worldperks”, “Redeem miles”, then chose from these tabs “Flight awards”, “Perkchoice”, “Mileage Upgrades”, “Other award options”, “Award charts”, “Award travel details”, “Worldperks auctions.” Read them all, including the fine print. Know all the partner airlines you can use. Other airlines than NW have similar information on their website about their award program.

 

Do online research before calling the airline. Give the representative several options in order to minimize her/his work. Be very pleasant on the phone – make this call stress-free for the call rep, she/he will be more inclined to give time/effort. If the rep is not interested in helping you, call back and talk to someone else.

 

Know the window when your airline routinely opens up award seats. 330 days is typical – but not locked in stone. Sometimes it’s sooner, sometimes later. I have a simple excel sheet set up that calculates the interval between two dates. If my desired travel date is, for example, March 26, 2009, I know instantly that we are 330 days out as of today. Better start the search. On the other hand, sometimes award seats open up within a few weeks of a flight – makes for an adventure if you have the time to spare. Go to Paris or Singapore for a long weekend.

 

Know the lingo including the airline definition of layover. Know the limits. The limits are different for international travel. If the “next available flight” is not for a day or two, you can score extra days in some exotic locale.

 

And there’s much more. One of the mods from the flyertalk website actually travels around the country giving seminars on how to work the award ticket system. Know the rules and maximize them to your benefit.

 

2) Creative thinking. Want an award ticket from the US to South Africa? Don’t just think of going to Europe then heading south. Instead, think of going to South America and heading east. (This strategy worked for us several years ago. Unfortunately we had to cancel the trip and redeposit the miles.) Just going to Europe? Don’t limit your thinking to the obvious gateway cities or the one nearest you. Include Boston, Detroit, Baltimore, Houston, etc. Get the international legs nailed down first, then figure out how to get to the gateway city.

 

3) Perseverance. Be like the energizer bunny and keep going, and going, and going. As Globalizer experienced, the really great award seats don’t come easily. And you’re not the only one who wants them.

 

4) Luck. To slightly misquote Dirty Harry: “Do you feel lucky?”

 

We’ve traveled first class to Asia on Singapore Airlines (DL miles), generally considered to be one of the very best airlines in the world. I’ve been to spas where I was less pampered. We’ve traveled business class to South America and Europe. Two trips are currently on the calendar, business class open jaw to IST and return from BUD and business class to BKK. All award travel – if we can do it, you can do it.

[fbgd]

IMO, there are four elements that contribute to maximizing your ff miles: 1) knowledge of how the system works, 2) creative thinking, 3) perseverance, 4) luck.

 

Great advice and a nice post too.

 

Those who give up on FFPs or complain they are useless are often just need a little basic understanding of how the system works.

 

If you think you are going to get tickets to Hawaii in peak season two weeks out you are going to be disappointed. If you know to look at partner airlines, alternative routes, using the miles to upgrade to F etc then increase your chances dramatically.

 

I'm top tier status in Star Alliance and oneworld and find there has only been one time that with knowledge of the system I wasn't able to get what I was looking for when using miles. Whether that be a free ticket or using miles to upgrade. As it happened I was able to upgrade one leg of my ticket at booking, availability showed up on the return leg a couple of months later and I got it done in one phone call.

[FlyerTalker]

Shorex really hit the nail on the head. I would only add one more thing: flexibility.

 

If you are ABSOLUTELY locked into a specific set of dates, you will likely be disappointed. If you are flexible in dates (can move it a day or two or three) you will be much more successful. Also, really be willing to route in strange ways. I once got seats on this routing: Athens to Rome to Frankfurt to Amsterdam to the USA gateway, then a connection stop and finally to home. I grabbed it!! It was available. Later, I was able to change it out for a much simpler Athens-Rome-USA-home itinerary. But then, I was working with a sure thing in my pocket.

 

Also know that DL has made some changes in the way they allocate FF seats...it is no longer at the 330 mark, nor will they put FF seats (even at the premium-redemption level) on all flights. DL has put in a new "cash and miles" redemption....got to DL's website and to FT for more info on how to use them. Early reviews is that this is a good option for the somewhat infrequent flyer who wants to use his miles, not so good for the road warrior with balances in the quarter-million plus range.

 

If you need specific help, let us know. Also, there is a "tool" (paid) that might help you with your searches. Check out "KVS" on FT or through Google. Also ExpertFlyer, though I don't know how good their award engine is for SkyTeam (DL) miles.

[Chesie]

Thank you all for great advise!! You well educated a novice.

 

Chesie

[TrqoisWtrs]

Agree with all the advice. I just went thru my own nightmare trying to use miles for just one ticket to Fiji and buying another. AA does not offer availability for int'l FF online so it was a huge pain having to keep calling. Had booked our rental house months ago because their availability was filling up fast. However, only FF seat I was able to get was leaving 3 days later than when I had originally booked our house, plus added in an extra night. So luckily got our house dates switched and yes, we are paying $220 for an extra night, but sure beats paying for a second ticket running around $1400 - plus its an extra night in FIJI! hello!:D

[JJPNYC]

AA does not offer availability for int'l FF online so it was a huge pain having to keep calling.

 

Do you mean AA doesn't offer availability on partner airlines online?

I have been able to purchase JFK-LHR tickets using my AA miles via the online redemption site.

[Nodakboiler]

I agree that you must be persistent and a little lucky. Two of the last three years we have used FF miles to get a pair of us to Europe and back. In Nov. we are cruising on the Splendour of the Seas from Venice and we booked our flights for 75k miles each; we are flying business class back from the cruise. Best of luck!

[SelectSys]

Hello everyone,

 

I have miles with Delta and find it difficult to use them. Seats always seem to be "gone" even the when I call the first day they are available.:(

 

Any tricks on using these miles? Especially international flights.

 

Many Thanks!!

 

For international travel, I have used skymiles for both Virgin Atlantic and Signapore Airlines tickets. This has worked reasonably well in the past for me.

[greatam]

Do you mean AA doesn't offer availability on partner airlines online?

I have been able to purchase JFK-LHR tickets using my AA miles via the online redemption site.

 

Can't use the web for partner award flights. Just too many combinations of partner and OneWorld. I find it much easier to just put the flights together, give them a call and ask for the specific flights.

[mek]

I just booked RT flights from Cincinnati to Rome, Italy in October on Delta using FF miles to tie in with a Med cruise. I was quite surprised that I was able to get seats at super saver rates. The taxes were high - $114 pp, but to buy the tickets would have bee $1,100 pp. We're flying in a day early just in case there are some problems with canceled flights as we get closer to our sailing date. I'll buy insurance as well.

[vivian02]

Like MEK I was able to get tickets into Rome this coming August. I booked the flights in December 2007 after hours of frustation. I remember coming home from work thinking everything else had gone wrong that week and just thought I might as well get rejected again by Delta. To my suprise there were available flights (Supersavors) on the 13th with a return flight on the 26th. The next week those seats on the 13th had disappeared. At that time the taxes were great....$45 per person. I would try to book six to nine months in advance of your trip and once you get that itinerary you want...grab it. Don't give up. Tim

[TRacanoUK]

I would just suggest being flexible and not giving up. I do travel over 75,000 miles per year, but I can honestly say I've never not been able to redeem miles when I wanted to for premium cabins (and at the discounted/standard levels). My suggestions would echo what some of the others have said:

 

1) Know the system. Different airlines operate differently. Continental for example doesn't do the whole 330 day thing--they do it on a yield management basis, so seats get released at random times (basically, if they think they will sell it, they won't release it for rewards). I find with them 3-6 months out is the ideal time to redeem, and business class availability tends to open later on. Other airlines are different. Some still do the 330 day thing and if you call at midnight (know what time zone they're in--midnight for AF is different than midnight for Delta) you stand a good chance.

 

2) Flexibility is key. Look at partner airlines (for my honeymoon, I wanted to fly in business/first on continental from EWR to LAX and then AF from LAX to PPT (Tahiti) . . . I was able to get the LAX to PPT seats but couldn't get the EWR to LAX ones. I kept trying and eventually got JFK to LAX on Delta. For another trip we booked recently we were very flexible and just knew where we wanted to go, so we worked with the agent to find when the direct business class flights were available and booked our vacation accordingly.

 

3) Try and try again. You have to keep calling. For the honeymoon above, I knew the exact dates I wanted, so my flexibility was limited to what airlines I'd go on . . . at one point, I was calling on a daily basis and about 60 days in finally had the tickets I wanted (at one point, I was in coach for one leg and my wife up front!!!--thankfully that got solved).

 

I guess my point with this post is to tell you not to just give up. See what you can get, be flexible, work with the airline and as others have posted, you might want to redeem one, but pay for the others . . . there's a lot of options out there for you.

[paul929207]

My only suggestion is to keep checking. I am trying to get buiness class tickets to India for November on Continental or partners. So far I have not found ones that meet my schedule, but I have seen some days pop up and then go away.

[mek]

Tim - you were lucky with the taxes. I'm sure I got hit with a fuel surcharge, but even then at $114 to Europe from Cincinnati ( which is an extremely expensive terminal ), how can I complain? And the fact that I got them using Super Saver miles makes it that much sweeter.

[auntdot]

I am trying to plan for our next trip. We are new to AA and haven't figured out the best plan of action yet!

 

First the background... we are booked on AA for our South America cruise in Feb: YYZ-MIA/MIA-EZE and the return SCL (operated by LAN) - MIA/MIA-YYZ. How many AA points would we accumulate for this itinerary?

 

Then - can we use those points for a ONE WAY trip from YVR, preferably, (or alternatively YYZ) to SYD for an upgrade to better seats? We would also consider a stopover in Hawaii for a couple of days and would love to be able to upgrade the seats for the long haul (HNL-SYD).

 

Hope someone can help lead us through the maze!!

:D

 

Dot