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10 ways to maximize your miles

If you're not able to redeem your miles or points for the flights you want, it could be that either you’re in the wrong program or you’re not employing the right strategies.
/ Source: Condé Nast Traveler

If you're not able to redeem your miles or points for the flights you want, it could be that either you're in the wrong program or you're not employing the new tools and strategies you need in this changing landscape. Here's a step-by-step plan for using your miles to fly where you want, when you want, and in the best seat possible:

1. Make sure you're in the mileage program that best suits your award goals

"Ask yourself what the purpose of your miles is," says Randy Petersen, the world's leading expert on mileage programs and the founder of WebFlyer.com and FlyerTalk.com. "Let's say your goal is to travel to Hawaii. Make sure you're enrolled in a program that requires the least number of miles to go to Hawaii or that has the most airline partners that fly there. Don't rely on only one carrier."

Determining the best mileage program for you is actually a three-step process, says Gary Leff, who writes FlyerTalk's View from the Wing blog and recently founded BookYourAward.com, an award concierge of sorts. First, look at the route maps of the airline you're currently collecting most of your miles with and its international partners and see whether they fly to the places you have in mind.

Second, consider how expensive your program's awards are for where you want to go. "If you want to fly business-class to Paris," says Leff, "it'll cost 80,000 miles on Air Canada's Aeroplan but 105,000 on United or Continental." (You don't need to fly Air Canada to collect miles in its program or to redeem them for a free trip—you can earn them by flying any Star Alliance airline.)

Third, factor in how generous—or stingy—your program is with award seats. US Airways, for instance, gives away only 3.9 percent of its seats, Petersen points out, whereas American gives away 9.7 percent. To find out how generous a carrier is, check InsideFlyer.com, which every April reports the percentage of seats each airline gave away during the previous year (search for "award patrol"). Another way is to compare programs using WebFlyer.com's Head2Head tool. Leff says that, in his experience helping travelers redeem their miles for premium-class international awards, it's toughest with Delta and its SkyTeam partners and easiest with Continental, United, and their Star Alliance partners. "If you want to fly business-class to Africa, you don't want Delta miles," he says.

2. If your home airport is a carrier's hub, don't assume that your main program has to be that airline's

"Hub cities are difficult for the middle class," says Petersen, explaining that those who don't travel or charge enough to earn elite status lose out in the competition for seats—especially premium-class ones—to more-frequent fliers and big spenders. If you're a hub captive without elite status, consider choosing the program of an alliance partner of the hub airline. Say you live in Atlanta and you don't have elite status with Delta. Leff suggests crediting the miles you fly on Delta to its partner Alaska Airlines. That's because you can redeem Alaska miles not only for flights on Delta and several of its SkyTeam partners but also for flights on American and several of its Oneworld partners. This makes more award seats available to you out of Atlanta. In addition, you have a better chance of earning elite status.

3. Consider using a credit card that allows you to earn miles that can be redeemed across alliances

It's smart to have at least one credit card that provides the flexibility of being able to redeem miles on a wide array of airlines. American Express's Membership Rewards program, for one, lets you transfer your points to 18 carriers across all three alliances, which means you'll have many more possibilities of finding an available award to your destination. The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card lets you transfer your points to a whopping 30 mileage programs.

4. Look for award seats six months in advance of your trip

A lot of people mistakenly think that the trick to using your miles is to book your award seats the moment a flight gets put in the reservation system—often 331 days ahead of departure. Statistically speaking, says Petersen, you have the best shot at nabbing the award seats you want six months before the flight date.

5. Look for award seats on code-share partners

If the flights you are interested in are code-shared, there may be award seats available on the code-share partner. Say you want to fly from Denver to Montreal and the flight is code-shared by United and Air Canada, says Petersen. It could be that United has no award seats left but Air Canada does, in which case you could redeem United miles for the Air Canada seats. Or it could be that you can fly United one way and Air Canada back.

6. Consider flying into one airport and back from another

Some frequent-flier programs now offer one-way awards, allowing you to fly into one airport and return from another, Petersen points out, which can be helpful if your destination has more than one airport. For example, if you want to travel to Los Angeles, you could fly into LAX and return from Ontario or Orange County airport.

7. Look for award availability on midweek dates

If you need several seats on the same flight or flights, plan to fly out and back midweek. You'll likely find the most award seats on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

8. Phone the airline just after midnight on a weekend

Airline Web sites often don't display all the available award seats, so if you're not finding what you need, call the mileage-award redemption desk. Booking by phone will cost $20 to $25, but it's a small price to pay if you find a reservations agent who thinks creatively. Petersen suggests phoning just after midnight over the weekend. That's because carriers change their award inventory on Friday afternoons and occasionally on Saturdays—changes that go into effect at midnight—yet most people don't phone the airlines till Monday, so over the weekend you have extra award availability and agents who have the time to work with you.

9. For domestic award seats, look at connecting in an airport that's not a hub for the airline you're redeeming miles on

"Say I'm a United flier and I want to get from Denver to Miami," says Petersen. "Rather than flying via Chicago—where big-time fliers hog all the upgrades—if I fly via Dallas I'm more likely to find award availability."

10. For international award seats, start with the routes connecting the hubs in your carrier's alliance

Suppose you need to fly from Cleveland to Venice. "Never ask whether award seats are available from Cleveland to Venice," explains Steve Belkin, the founder of Competi­tours and a frequent-flier extraordinaire who has redeemed more than 17 million miles' worth of premium-class international airline tickets. Instead, he says, start with the hub-to-hub routes flown by the carriers in your alliance.

Say it's the Star Alliance: Look for availability on flights from Chicago, Newark, Philadelphia, Toronto, or Washington, D.C. (hubs for Star Alliance partners Continental, United, US Airways, and Air Canada) to Frankfurt, Vienna, Munich, or Copenhagen. That gives you more than 20 possibilities. Once you've found a hub-to-hub flight with award seats, tack on the short-haul spoke-to-hub or hub-to-spoke options (Cleveland to Chicago or Dulles, for example, and Frankfurt or Vienna to Venice).

"This strategy is key especially for business-class awards," says Belkin, "because the shorter segments are often in one-cabin regional jets. If you do a business-class Cleveland-Venice search, it's likely to show up as unavailable. In 12 years and more than 70 international business-class redemptions, I have never been shut out of an award seat using this strategy."