Have Miles, Will Travel

Britney and I love to travel. Having a baby has put a halt to some of the trips we'd LIKE to take - but we'll get around to them eventually. In the meantime, I plan on accumulating as many frequent flier miles as I possibly can so that when the time comes, I'm able to do the trip that I want to do and not have to pay out the ear to do it.

I used to have a job that required a ton of travel. I left my travelling consultant job in 1999 to go back to graduate school but, believe it or not, I've still got miles on US Airways from way back then! Given that I rarely travel on business anymore, I now look for other ways to earn miles without leaving the ground. Just as important, I also look for ways to maximize my miles so that the ones I do have go a little bit farther. Here are some tips that will help you earn AND maximize frequent flyer miles!

Plan Ahead - Planning is the key to using your frequent flyer miles effectively. According to The Economist magazine, frequent flyer miles are the world's main currency - with more than 14 TRILLION frequent flyer miles in circulation worldwide! What does that mean? It means that you're not the only person hoping for the 25,000 mile reward ticket to Las Vegas that doesn't require a red-eye return flight. So...remember this number: 330. Airlines take reservations for frequent flyer seats starting 330 days in advance. If you can plan a year ahead, do it. You'll have a much better shot at getting the seat you want.

Use the Alliance - Several years ago, a couple of airlines decided that if they banded together, they could advertise a 'global network' that could fly you anywhere in the world you wanted to go. The fallout years later is that there are 3 large networks of airlines. What you may not know, however, is that the miles you have on an airline are redeemable for any airline in that carrier's alliance. Here is the landscape:

One World Alliance
American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberian, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malev, Qantas, Royal Jordanian

Not a great alliance for domestic travel - but British Airways has a huge global route system, you have 2 large Asian carriers (Japan & Cathay) in this network, and Qantas is really the best way to go to Australia.

SkyTeam
Continental, Delta, Northwest, Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Czech Airlines, Korean Air

Much better domestic options in the SkyTeam network. Air France/KLM is a big player in Europe and has a huge route system. Asian options are limited to Korean Air. Your dream getaway to Siberia or that whirlwind trip to Vladivostok are possibilities on Aeroflot, however!

Star Alliance

US Airways, United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana, Austrian, BMI, LOT Polish Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss, TAP Air Portugal, Thai

This is a huge network and, if you live in Charlotte, the one that's most likely to have the routing you want. US Airways and United cover all of the domestic routes, Asia is covered by Asiana, ANA, Singapore Airlines, and Thai, Lufthansa is the national carrier of Germany meaning total European coverage. This, honestly, is the network I like best.

So - what this all means is that if you have miles on one carrier, you can redeem on a bunch of others. All you have to do is call the airline and ask them to check availability across the alliance!

Be Realistic - Airlines have thought of a lot of ways to get you to spend your miles. A few years back they instituted two flavors of tickets - the 25,000 mile standard ticket that's virtually impossible to get and the 50,000 mile easier to get, much more availability ticket (both domestic tickets by the way). If you are not planning well in advance, you're paying 50,000 miles per ticket for your trip to Las Vegas. That's the bottom line. If you want to go somewhere really popular, you can plan ahead or pay top dollar. A better use of your miles might be on a route that isn't so common. We have good luck on Charlotte to Little Rock for instance. I booked 25,000 mile tickets one day ahead of time last month.

FYI - I refuse to use 50,000 miles on a domestic seat in economy. Unless that's like an $800 ticket (which doesn't exist unless it's Charlotte to Anchorage or somewhere like that), that 50,000 mile ticket is a terrible use of miles.

Tomorrow, I'll continue (this is getting long) on ways to earn more miles without leaving the ground. Safe travels!