Win a trip to the Gold Coast of Australia (Official Post)

sdm1130 said,

Earn the miles/points in the cheapest possible ways and then burn them for the most luxurious travel!

Iceman said,

If you have to get the dates/itinerary you want without question, plan ahead. Way ahead.

AirShadow said,

Life is short, use those miles!

Matt said,

Be consistent. Why spread your points around and never have enough to do anything with? Find what works for you and stick with it. We recently found a nightly price on a hotel room that we felt we couldn’t pass up, but we really should have gone to the adjacent Intercontintental Hotel in order to get some Priority Club points while we were at it.

Ryan said,

Fly within one global airline alliance and credit all of your miles to one FF account. That way, your miles aren’t spread around to different accounts, making it hard to ever accumulate enough to redeem them for anything.

David said,

One of the better mileage earning opps is choosing Fixed Miles for Hilton stays, and crediting them to bmi Diamond Club. You can earn 1000 miles/night, up to 3 nights.

Lindsay said,

Get a relevant credit card to focus your spending on.

jerry said,

Checkin with boardingarea.com and Flyertalk daily, don’t miss out on the 100000 mile deals when they come around.

Jason said,

Chose one airline programs and get their credit card which will earn miles. Charge everything you can to the card and pay off at the end of the month. My favorite is AA.

Steve said,

Two tips for the price of one entry! I know this doesn’t increase chances of winning, but I surely hope it doesn’t break the rules

1. If you think you might lose elite status the following year due to changes in travel patterns, focus more on paid (point/mile-earning) flights and stays while you still have status. Two reasons this helps: (A) you take advantage of the elite benefit of bonus earning (10%, 25%, 50%, 100%, etc) that should more than compensation for the risk of devaluation in the coming year, and (B) you will continue to take advantage of upgrades associated with your status in the paid flights/stays. This means avoiding redemption of miles, points, and “free” vouchers (e.g. VDB) that do not earn miles — use these for your family and friends instead, or maybe offer a tit-for-tat exchange (you’ll pay for someone else’s trip using points, and they’ll pay for your similar or less expensive trip using money).

2. Don’t overestimate the value of your miles/points or be overzealous of spending money just to collect rewards, since this is counterproductive to your more important personal finance goals (that will fund more travel!). For example, if you would never pay $20,000 for an international first class flight, don’t benchmark your miles based on that cost! If you do the math, you might find that cashback cards will be more beneficial to your pocketbook than mile or point-earning cards. For example, the Schwab InvestFirst Visa gives 2% cash back on all purchases; would you rather have 2 cents in your pocket for every $1 you spend, or one mile/point? If you always redeem for domestic flights for 25k miles, are those limited-availability flights worth $500 to you?

adastra said,

Consider the less popular destinations for your reward vacation. Places like Hawaii and Paris will book early and book fast – and very few awards will be allocated for these popular revenue destinations. A trip off the beaten path can be just as wonderful… and easier to book as a reward, even at the last minute.

Daniel K said,

Points = Money

Earn’em, Track’em, most importantly spend’em!

Paul said,

Understand your situation. I want miles for airfare rather than hotel points because I most often take tours that provide the hotel rather than me selecting a hotel.

Gregory said,

Always sign up for loyalty programs, even if you don’t think you’re going to fly with the airline/alliance a lot. They’ll collect over time, and you never know when your situation might change (along with your primary carrier or alliance).

marc said,

1)never use cash
2)go against the conventional wisdom of participating in only one FF program–join those in which you anticipate mergers(much like stock investing), get the credit cards when there are a minimum of 25,000 bonus miles for sign-up, and hold those like a long term investment, using them on the occasions that your primary carrier is not attractive.
3) churn wherever possible

Acker said,

Resist the temptation to never use your miles/points. Force youself to use your points/miles at least once a year. Life is short, points/miles are easy to accumulate.

gba said,

Try to consolidate your points/miles in as few programs as possible, that way its easier to save up for the big award. I use Alaska and United as my two airline programs and I can earn (and redeem) miles on ALL of the major domestic airlines and many, many major international carriers. Where possible, use a program like starwood or american express membership rewards for your credit card so you can move the points easily into many programs. When booking an award, plan as far in advance as you can, and be flexible, never, ever, ever redeem miles for a non-”saver” award – if you’re going to be paying that many miles the game just isn’t worth playing.

eric m. said,

it’s not that exciting, but my top tip is to be sure you’re in the mileage dining program– it makes it easy to quickly top off points and keep accounts “alive” while you’re building the balance.

EagleClass said,

Keep a log of ALL points earned and any promotion associated. Regularly reconcile your earnings. So many points are just lost because they were never awarded. Think about hiring one of your children to help you keep track.

alliance said,

Redeem awards for places that are expensive to fly to, buy tickets and earn miles on places that are cheap to fly to.

Jen said,

If you’re a business traveler, ask if your company would allow you to charge your air fare to your own card, and reimburse you. That way, you get the frequent flier miles without having paid for the initial air travel in the first place.

bunsai said,

Use miles for redeeming premium class air ticket. Economy is just a waste of miles

jumpcut said,

Check airline partner websites for seat availability to international destinations. Then call your airline and suggest the dates that you found available on the partner sites.

Brian said,

Being a novice to the whole FF miles game I have come to rely on advice from the intelligent crowd that frequents http://www.flyertalk.com/. I try to use my miles to upgrade to the front of the cabin rather than free flights.

Linda said,

Select a credit card with an airline you will fly often and use that card for all your purchases. Take advantage of bonus points offers when you can and soon you’ll be packing.

Peter Kavaler said,

Read FlyerTalk every day.

hiu said,

Try to focus your miles/points to a few programs (don’t spread yourself too thin). If you have a cc, charge all your bills/expenses and earn miles/points towards vacation travels!

James Bernie said,

If you can swing it, use your own credit card that gives you the miles for the purchase which gets reimbursed by your employer, then get miles from the flight.

Also, make sure the FF program you sign up for is actually useful in your region so you can actually use the points from your location.

buschoi said,

Read boarding area blogs and Flyertalk for great mileage-earning opportunities.

Dan said,

Use the dining for miles web sites…and when you need to spend a certain $ amount by certain to get a bonus, buy a gift card from one of the participating restaurants

MT said,

Pick your primary plans carefully and don’t forget the expiration policies.

Julie said,

For someone just starting out, figure out which airlines you would be flying most. Then choose one that has the most flights and most partner airlines available for your desired routes. No matter which partner airline you fly, make sure to always credit your miles to the one frequent flyer program that you signed up with. Eventually you will have enough miles for your first award, whatever that may be.

Don’t let anyone tell you how you should use your miles. In my opinion, your miles are worth whatever they are worth to YOU. Use them to fly coach, to fly premium, for upgrades, for merchandise, or for magazines. Redeem them however you wish, and enjoy your hard-earned work!

wei said,

Plan ahead of time and grab the deal before figuring out what it is! Stay tuned and be loyal.

Albert R said,

Don’t let the miles expire – watch that statement carefully…

Udi said,

Burn as you earn…

Ken said,

Keep everything in one family: Hotel stays, credit card usage, car rentals, airlines. Always ‘take the points,’ never the gifts.

deltaPMflyer said,

Use your Delta AMEX earn lots of miles!

Rob said,

Actually be loyal – within monetary, time, and location constraints, shift your spending to concentrate on a small number of brands. This also allows you to read up on promotions that are specific to your brands and learn the ins and outs of redeeming from that brand, instead of spreading yourself thin to the point where you never have enough points in a single program to redeem anything, nor any idea what the good values are and how to get them.

Paul said,

Do your homework. Read as many travel blogs as possible and register for as many promotions as possible, those points will add up!

Rob said,

Don’t let points or miles expire unused! You can easily credit a car rental that you’re already going to make to extend the life of miles in most programs, or use many programs’ online shopping malls to buy a giftcard or something as small as a single iTunes song.

Hayley said,

Stick to your favorite companies (airline, car rental, hotel) to really rack up the miles! Sometimes they will offer their most loyal customers really great bonus mile options.

Jim H said,

My tip. If the offer seems too good to be true, consider the source. If you trust it , act fast. It may not last.

iahphx said,

Always consider an airline’s partners when trying to book award travel. More likely than not, this will open up new possibilities to redeem at the lower mileage levels.

Andyandy said,

Don’t overlook earning opportunities that may not be obvious. Sometimes all that is required to earn miles is a single purchase (e.g., 750 miles from deluxe.com through e-miles.com). While the cheapest items on websites may be hard do find, our friend Google will allow you to search a single domain (e.g. deluxe.com). Try searching for terms like “$1.”, “1.”, “$2.”, etc. to find cheap items. With this method, I earned 750 US miles for buying a $3 check cover shipped free. .4cpm!

elizabeth said,

Concentrate your miles and flights on one Alliance and exploit it for all its worth: car rental, dining, flying, purchasing toilet paper from drugstore.com… Be sure you also sign up for all the bonus mileage offers that your airline of choice offers, even if you aren’t planning to fly the route immediately. You never know where IRROPS will take you. Subscribe to ExpertFlyer. Check Flyertalk obsessively.

Matt said,

Use a spreadsheet to keep track of your miles/points. You never know when the company might make a mistake, and it will help you plan your travel to make sure you get the most out of each trip.

Diane said,

Use your points-accumulating credit card(s) for every possible purchase including household bills and the entire meal bill with friends (hopefully they’ll pay you back in cash or by check!).

Allison said,

If you have miles that are about to expire, it’s usually pretty easy to extend them my purchasing something small (preferably something you would have purchased anyway) in the airline’s online mall.

Don said,

learn from those who write these blogs and post on flyertalk. the information available can put you on your way to frugal, while luxurious, travel

holycow said,

*** Learn the intricacies of status matching ***

Occasionally there are promotions with hotels and airlines that temporarily boost status in their program. Take your new status level and match to competing programs! With some careful planning you can quickly attain status in several programs with an opportunity to
“challenge” to further upgrade or keep your new level of status.

Tracie said,

Look for bonus offers on your programs’ respective web pages. You’ll find ways to earn miles that may require nothing more than opting in that you never would have known about had you not looked first.

Dan said,

Buy a subscription to Mileage Manager and use it to keep track of all of your balances. If you want to redeem for a trip to a specific destination, it will do a daily check of all your qualifying programs to see what’s available, when, and in what class and keep you up-to-date by email.

Jeff said,

I use Yodlee MoneyCenter to keep track of my miles. It’s free.

flyingfish said,

Don’t always choose the frequent flyer program of the airline you fly on. Check their alliance partners, another program may be better suited to your needs and wants.

Happy Flying!

-Fish

Nathan said,

Make sure to provide your frequent flier numbers when you go to a hotel, especially when you stay in hotels often. The points add up FAST!

Jess Gibson said,

Ask my friend Sandy Y. She knows everything about frequent flying. That, and read FlyerTalk.

Sapan said,

Focus. Do you research and figure out which cities you visit often and what airlines you tend to take the most. Then try to rack up as many miles as you can with those airlines by flying and through their credit cards. Don’t spread yourself too thin by having couple thousand points in different accounts, but not enough to get a trip or qualify for a status. Limiting yourselves to two or thre alliances will do you a lot of good.

Zora said,

Get a credit card to go with the program (or, if it works for you, the Starwood AmEx)–even if only for the signup bonus. It gives you a big head start on miles, and makes the whole game seem a lot more worthwhile.

Win a trip to the Gold Coast of Australia (Official Post) - Fly … Counseling on me said,

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Nelly said,

Consolidate your miles

Aaron said,

With respect to airlines – learn how to redeem the points. Learn the partners, the different types of awards available for your given program etc… Just because the online search tool only gives you limited availability, doesn’t mean your award isn’t available. Even calling in isn’t a sure bet. If you know the rules and the booking classes, you can help guide a helpful phone agent to craft the itinerary you want.

Parag said,

If you are a student or under age 26, use sites like student universe for cheap fares. Also if you are a college or graduate student, enroll in college plus and get 10,000 free United miles after you graduate!

Melody said,

Fly on one airline or alliance and make sure your miles post!

Isaac said,

Set clear goals for your awards to figure out which program(s) is right for you.

Ann said,

Read flyertalk and blogs like this one! Don’t redeem miles for flights (except BF upgrades, natch) until you’ve reached your desired elite status for the year.

Xyzzy said,

Always double-check that your loyalty program information is in your reservation. Many times (particularly with airlines) this data is mysteriously dropped, particularly when flying on codeshare segments.

Jim said,

Pick a program that you like and stick to it, even if it ends up costing a little more. They’re not called loyalty rewards for nothing.

Biggles209 said,

Pick the best alliance for your travel needs, and back that up with another airline. For me, in Seattle, United (Star Alliance) and Alaska offers a good mix of earning and redemption choices.

JAR said,

Think big. Domestic flights are (relatively) cheap, so aspire to earn enough miles for international tickets only. The kind of trips that will make your friends jealous.

LDN said,

Pick the best alliance for your travel needs, and back that up with another airline.

Daraius said,

Every mile counts so try to get every mile possible from dining, shopping etc. Use SPG as your primary credit card for easy ability to convert to other programs.

Chris said,

Churn credit cards and bank sign up bonuses

Novsf said,

Airline miles are usually more valuable than hotel points, in addition to all the perks reserved for elites. So the quickest way is to get an airline-branded credit card and shoot for the bonus miles.

astroGG said,

My top travel tip:

For airfares:
use kayak.com

For hotels:
use hotelscombined.com to search for many travel agencies at once and pick the best price. Or for those with Best Rate Guarantee, I can pick one with slightly more expensive price, and claim a best rate guarantee immediately (with difference cash back and $50 voucher which I can use in the future).

Joe B. SFO said,

Try to fly international economy as long as possible. You can see the world while saving copious miles. Once you experience international business class, economy will never seem the same.

James said,

There are so many ways out there to earn miles to get activity credit. Don’t let those hard earned miles expire. Use the shopping malls to earn with minimal purchases. Just remember to use the airline specific links to ensure you get credit for the spend.

mineola said,

Sign up for your points provider’s newsletter- and actually read it! You’ll often be pleasantly surprised by chances for bonus points. Consider buying points in small denominations when they are sold at a discount- I see them often listed at 20-30% off.

And follow your faves on Twitter, IHG_Deals & Lufthansa_USA for example have in the past offered points or flights as promotions- If you have a good experience with a travel provider, talk them up on social media sites since they all like to build their reputations up with positive comments, etc. And it’s a good way to keep up with special offers.

Julie Vessigault said,

Network with frequent fliers.

Ron said,

Pay for everything you can, no matter how small the amount, with a mileage earning credit card.

Jean Wilson said,

Get a Hilton Surpass Amex and stay at lots of Hiltons, so you’ll earn 9 points to the dollar on every stay. Put $20,000 on your card in a year and score Gold VIP status with Hilton. Then, when you have 225,000 points, redeem them using one of Amex’ VIP Hilton special booking codes, GLONP, which will get you six free nights at a top of the line hotel in London – where the exchange rate isn’t favorable to U.S. travelers. You’ll wind up scoring a stay worth something like $3600, and it’ll only cost you about $8500 in spend if you stay at Hiltons a lot and earn the 9:1 rate.

Also – when you book the trip, use your Premier Rewards Gold Card to book your flight and get 3:1 Membership Rewards on the purchase. You can top up lots of airline and hotel programs using Membership Rewards, which makes PR Gold an extremely valuable card to carry (although I for one am very sorry to see Southwest Airlines leave Membership Rewards in June of this year.) You can even use MR points to transfer to Hilton at a great rate – more than 1:1 – so you can use them for another 225,000 point reward.

Also, don’t forget to add on Amex’ awesome baggage claim and trip delay protections, which will stop you from sightseeing in dirty clothes or having to sleep overnight in the airport – flights delayed more than three hours or past 9 P.M. mean you get generous rewards with these policies, up to $250 per night for a hotel. Enjoy!

Jerry Mills said,

Get elite statues at one hotel chain and then ask other to be comped similar status so you acrue max points wherever you stay, but aim for one main brand and one fallback – so you have booking options.

Ruilin said,

Get a mile-earning credit card and use it for everything

Dieter said,

My tips are simple: First, make sure you are earning miles/points on the major airline serving your home airport. Secondly, do the research on the best credit card for earning miles/points for the way you travel. There are many websites that will help you compare the various credit cards programs

Larry said,

Keep track of your credit score and if it can stand the small hit, apply over time, for a steady stream of credit cards that give you a sign-up bonus. Those bonuses are the foundation for building miles in many programs. You can easily earn 150,000 miles a year doing this, with no appreciable affect on your credit score. And you can do this for several years before exhausting all of the card possibilities.

Bobmargjack said,

Use your points before they devalue.

Earl Christie said,

Save your boarding passes. After your travel is finished, check your frequent flier account for the miles you traveled to show up. Once they do, you can toss the boarding passes. I use my boarding passes as bookmarks since I often travel with one or more new books. See, there’s two tips for the price of one!

gobluetwo said,

Don’t just credit flight miles to your FF program, but also take advantage of partner offers where they make sense – credit cards, dining, etc. This can go a long way to earning those rewards, particularly for infrequent fliers. Through credit card use and partner offers, I earned enough miles to fly myself and my wife to Hawaii for our one year anniversary. Although I’m now mid-tier (Premier Exec) on United, I was a 3-4 times a year flier at the time.

JoshUK said,

My tip is always be aware of partnerships for both earning and burning. I know a number of people who have lost out because they’ve collected in multiple placed when they would have done better by collecting in one location–i.e. collecting on both United and USAir, or not knowing about Alaska’s various partnerships. Status in one progam is better than halfway to status in many programs.

Michelle Adkins said,

Stick with one airline and hotel and even car company. It will be worth it when you can take a complete trip for free! Also, make sure you are signed up for all newsletters so you are aware of double miles/points, etc. And don’t be afraid to use the miles/points for upgrades!!

michael kennedy said,

Use miles only for upgrades. It’s the biggest bang for the buck. It’s a total waste of miles for hotel nights etc. as well redemption reward tickets.

Aitchly said,

When looking to book, use a dollop of ITA, gobs of patience, plenty of flexibility and a good dose of bull headedness.

Cindy said,

Save your miles for big trips – don’t burn them on small ones. I have used miles for trips all over the world and have always had great luck getting flights when I want to where I want. Don’t believe those who say you can’t book flights anymore with miles. Use a credit card that gets points for all purchases.

Criddy123 said,

Try to fly only one airline most of the time. It is more likely that you will earn elite status than choosing the cheapest flights. It does eventually pay for itself.

Drury Bagwell said,

Use your miles to upgrade from a cheap economy fare. You get miles for purchasing the ticket and still get to fly first class.

Kristin said,

Do your research to find the alliance that best meets your needs. Also, subscribe to blogs such as this one for tips and advice on maximizing points!

Jonas Eberle said,

Fly within one global airline alliance (ie. Star Alliance) and credit all of your miles to one FF account. That way, your miles aren’t spread around to different accounts, making it hard to ever accumulate enough to redeem them for anything.

Michelle said,

At least once in your life, go for a airline mileage run to get status. Go somewhere, just for the sake of going, someplace you’ve never been, wanted to see, just for a day. Flying with status is less of a chore. Life is short, travel is (relatively) cheap.

Reb said,

Credit card sign-up bonus is a great way to get started.

nun said,

If the flight you want isn’t available, before paying double miles to get what you want, check business and first class, even for flights where the cabin makes little difference. Sometimes there’s unexpected availability for no extra miles.

Sharon said,

Find the airline or airline alliance network that works best for your travel routes and your base city. Then join that group and be loyal to it so that you make all your flights through that alliance. This allows you to accumulate more points via one source especially when you move to the elite status which may be possible through a credit card with that airline. Happy Travels!!

tootalltofly said,

In my experience there are 2 types of travelers who collect and use miles; 1. those that are very occasional travelers and collect for a long time and 2. those who are frequent travelers and collect and use often.

My advice would be to those who collect for a long time, to either use large chunks of miles to travel in business or first class (choose your airlines carefully as the products vary greatly!) or save up and use 1/2 the miles for an upgrade. For those who travel frequently I would use my miles almost exclusively for upgrades as your value for the money is much greater. It only costs twice the miles to book a reward business over economy but the cost in money is more like 4-6 times more. So for the same miles you can upgrade instead.

Above all do your research and know that you can get 2 completely different answers on availability from 2 different agents.

If you combine your loyalty program with a credit card then you will quickly earn enough points to use.

Lastly, it is always best to collect and use miles with airlines that are part of an alliance. That way you have much more seat availability at your disposal.

David said,

Attend the 6th Annual Ann Arbor Art Fair DO. This year is devoted to discussing the ins and outs of award ticket booking. It is the perfect opportunity to network with fellow points and miles fiends. Details available at Flyertalk.com

R K said,

SPG AMEX

Scott M said,

Focus on one hotel program to concentrate your loyalty point earning. Oftentimes, once you reach top tier status, other hotel loyalty programs will match status with a minimal night/stay requirement. Some hotels say they will only match status once, but in the past few years, status matching has been easier than ever…follow-up and don’t take no for an answer.

FrozenDonut said,

When trying to redeem miles for an award ticket plan on doing all the leg work yourself – most airline phone agents will search the simplest routings, find no availability, and stop. Know all your airline’s partners (both in and outside the alliance) and all hub and gateway cities, and tell the agent exactly what you want.

For example, Delta had no availability for a West Coast to Israel award. But the agent only checked Delta flights. By knowing ahead of time that Air France serves Seattle, SFO, and LAX, and that Alaska serves my city and the AF gateways, I got the outbound on the exact dates I wanted.

Similarly, secure the international flight first. There is only one SEA-CDG flight a day. Find availability for that, then work on getting to SEA – there’s likely many more options for the domestic flight. Many agents will not even search the international flight on a particular day if your first domestic segment doesn’t appear to be available.

mechteach said,

Top tip: Flexibility. Be willing to be a little bit flexible when it comes both to dates and destinations. Also, be flexible about using the points at all – keep an eye on the costs of booking the hotel or flights that you have chosen, and be willing to cancel if the economics are reasonable.

Son said,

Just read the flyertalk forums and the boardingarea blogs!

Andy said,

Initially focus on one or 2 programs to learn all the tips and tricks as well as building up miles or points.

Craig said,

Set up your bills to be paid automatically using your American Express Card.

Mrs_H said,

My #1 trip is to consolidate spending on a single card. Most cards let you add “additional users” to your card. By giving our college-age kids “additional user” cards with points that report back to my husband’s frequent flier mileage program, and my linking my card to his account, too, there are five people spending every day (and boy, do the kids spend) with my husband collecting 2 miles for every dollar we spend. Check out the program requirements — this works with our card, but we have heard from others that their program didn’t allow it. We actually have 10 cards all collecting miles for the same airline rewards program — five debit cards, five credit cards. And, of course, we also have a Platinum American Express card that earns points for any airline program, so that makes a total of 12 cards. (No, we didn’t give a high-limit Amex card to the college kids. We like having a good credit score.)

The trick is to really be loyal — link everything to a single program, preferably a coalition program where your miles can be used and earned on multiple airlines.

beaubo said,

Suppose you need to fly from Cleveland to Venice. Never ask whether award seats are available from Cleveland to Venice. Instead, 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).

Terry Erickson said,

Keep adding pts to your various travel accounts whenever possible. Small additions keep the pts / miles alive. You never know when an account will have just the right pts for something you need. Recently got bonus hotel pts for transferring a small number of unuses air miles I might not have ever used.

Elin Pierce said,

Earning miles quickly is much easier than you think. Every time you go to pay for something, think of gaining mileage points. Get a credit card (like AmEx) that gives the most mileage points for your favorite airline every time you use the card; I use just that one card for just about everything. Then, check out what companies your airline partners with and shop through them (for i.e. hotel stays, car rentals, and even for significant things like home loans, larger purchases, loans, insurance and even home purchases). Many airlines have “dining for miles” programs (linked up to your credit card), and also online shopping sites (like Delta’s SkyMall) where you get points for money spent (that’s in addition to the miles your credit card will give). You can also rack up the points by completing online surveys for companies linked up to your airline (like erewards.com for Delta miles). Also, check your airline’s frequent flier webpage every now and then for specials offering points. It all adds up quickly! Once you have enough miles on an airline, plan to use them, but give yourself good planning, like 2 months advance reservations, to ensure availability of your preferred travel dates. Remember: once made, the reservations cannot be changed. Lastly, enjoy your free trip to the max!

JasonJ said,

read boarding area blogs; browse flyertalk discussions; use Starwood Preferred Guest Card from America Express.

Debbie K said,

Read everything you can on flyertalk weekly. On flyer websites, try every option for redeeming, change price to schedule etc. One little change can be the difference between a seat or not.

Deena Quilty said,

Set up a Google Alert with keywords for your favorite airline’s name and something like “frequent flier miles” or “miles promotion”–go crazy and do all the combinations–it costs nothing and can help make sure you don’t miss out on an opportunity you might not have otherwise noticed.

Josh said,

Dont spend your miles on upgrades, use them for free flights. You will get more bang for your buck.

Scott said,

My miles-earning tip is to frequently try to use the shopping portals offered through airline and hotel sites (for example, Mileage Plus Mall for United Airlines, or Priority Club Shopping for Priority Club Rewards) to buy things that I need. Not only do I earn miles on my airline or hotel affiliated credit card, but also an additional minimum of 1 mile per $1 spent. Even better though is when you come across an item that you might not particularly need, but after the free shipping and mail-in rebate, the item is free. I then immediately post it on ebay and walk away with more money in my pocket that I started with, and a bunch of miles or points.

shoegarqueen said,

Try to consolidate travel and therefore mileage earning into one airline program and make sure that the airline is convenient to your home location. That way elite status is more within reach.

Monica said,

Sign up for every hotel/airline/train loyalty program out there. Just because you think that you aren’t going to actually fly on a particular airline or stay in a particular hotel chain, does not mean that’s a reason not to sign up for these programs. After that, make sure that you participate in every bonus, sign-up promo or opt-in promo available (think Continental’s frequent 100 mile promos). You never know when those couple hundred miles or points will come in handy for a larger promotion that is being offered. Often you can transfer points or miles to other programs via points.com to get that last necessary partner participation.

Cheri said,

Use a single credit card for everything you purchase including travel, household and personal expense, utilities, and paying your taxes. The card you use should be the one that has the best rewards program and flexibility for your personal lifestyle.

K20 said,

Read the various blogs and follow their tips. I’ve added thousands of miles this way.

Ryan said,

Always be sure to keep up to date with promotions and special offers of your favorite loyalty programs. These promotions allow you to earn points, miles, and rewards at greatly accelerated rates. Read the T&C’s carefully and be sure to follow up with Customer Service if any bonuses do not post.

Victor Y said,

Weigh your luggage before you head to the airport to avoid embarrassing repacking in public in case you are a few pounds over.

Robert said,

Enjoy reward flights sooner with a Household Account.

You and up to six other members of your household, including children, can earn and spend British Airways Miles together. Each member has an individual account, which is linked with the others so you can pool BA Miles, making it easier to take reward flights sooner.

Morris said,

EARN- Sign up for a credit card affiliated with miles,(if possible CHURN!); always makes sure that your hard earned miles actually post; travel when double miles are being offered; and look around at boardingarea.com, and FT, for the many bonuses out there.
SPEND- If you’ve got the miles, USE AND ENJOY THEM, unless the price to pay is the same value as the points or cheaper, when then you might as well save your miles for a different occasion, and actually earn miles on your current flight or stay.

Pete Martin said,

Pay attention to promotions within your chosen program and consolidate your travel within the time periods of the promotion

Alison said,

Always have a spouse/partner/friend take part in the promos and deals so you don’t have to fly first class all alone!

Brenda said,

When booking a hotel in a busy city location or at a busy time of year, hotels are less likely to let you use points for free nights or upgrades. Many programs,like SPG (Starwood) allow you to pay cash + points. I’ve found this a great way to book a nice room ( usually the free rooms are by an elevator, ice machine, lower floor etc). But by using the points and cash option, the rooms are usually upgrades. You still earn points on the portion of the room paid in cash so it’s a win/win.

Kathryn said,

Sign up for the promotions that link two travel partners together when taking a trip, like get bonus Delta miles for staying at Marriott or get bonus Hertz points for staying at Hilton. That way you get extra points from the promotion with one company and regular with the other. It’s a win win for sure!

jeann said,

Often, when a hotel stay has been paid for by your company as a business trip, the hotel will allow you to use your personal miles number for that hotel stay. Ask at the front desk.

Matt said,

If you accumulate points mostly on spend and can’t decide on a card—- the American Express charge cards and the SPG Amex offer flexible points that can be redeemed for hotels, merchandise or highly sought after upper class international airfare.

reallyct said,

Don’t neglect mileage credit on partner airlines – sometimes really small lines are affiliated with your program. It’s worth a little extra time on the website to ensure that you can be credited for trips on small carriers.

CM said,

My best tip is to use the program at partner businesses, too. Use it at hotels, when ordering flowers, etc. and accumulate the points in transactions when you aren’t traveling.

Nicholas de Wolff said,

The short answer is “use ‘em while you still can”.

Another tip would be to ALWAYS read the fine print of the program: almost all rewards programs have blackout dates, expirations, and other restrictions. The past decade of price wars has put carriers and hotels in a very tight corner, now that cost of service (fuel, building materials, etc) have skyrocketed.

Michelle C said,

If travel is flexable wait unil you find a good promotion before booking. I never travel unless I can get at least double points.

Lewis said,

Stick with one airline or its’ partners and don’t forget to sign up for promotional emails. And, don’t forget to register for the promotions when required.

Laura said,

Be flexible with travel dates–experience new places when the price is right and earn miles along the way

Use farecompare.com searcher to get best deals regarding cost per mile and to find those new places to see. http://www.farecompare.com/search/flyertalk.html

Stay loyal to one airline to get even more miles with elite bonus miles!

Take advantage of promos & join flyertalk.com community to keep up with the latest.

Always look for the new route bonuses!

Get a credit card that gives you miles per $ spend (my pref Delta Plat Amex) and charge everything paying balance off at end of the month. Track what you spend and when you hit the annual spending that gives you more miles–switch to 2nd point card (for me SPG Amex).

And most importantly—Enjoy life & the adventures!

Karuna said,

Look at the terms and conditions carefully.

Eileen said,

Attain elite status with your favorite airline and hotel to maximize the value of your free and paid travel experience.

Sherri Ziff Lester said,

Charge EVERYTHING on one miles card, pay it off monthly! – And then go somewhere amazingly unexpected and serendipitously(sp???)fabulous. Enjoy the ride.. see the beautiful spirit in your fellow travellers and have an off the charts, love crazed adventure in a new spot on this dazzling planet earth. xxx.

NW said,

When booking an award ticket with miles, use allowed free stopovers to get the most value out of your miles and see new places that you may not otherwise have seen.

Zabes said,

Make sure every fare/hotel you stay at “actually” earns points, I don’t know how many times people book something and they end up not earning points on it. Look for promotions and BE FLEXIBLE when it comes to redeeming. The farther out you can book the better off you are!

Steve said,

Have flexibility with your dates, think outside of the box on routings, and be nice to the people helping you on the reservation!

ruthann said,

Donate points to your favorite charities.

Paula said,

Use your point earning credit card for EVERYTHING Yes, I mean EVERYTHING (but pay it off at the end of the month of course). I even use it in the soda machine at work. And be sure to sign up for all of the extras such as ‘dining for miles’, special airline promotions, and miles earning surveys. Fun to watch the miles add up.

John MacDonald said,

Mileage cards are often the best bang for the credit card buck, and Amex often does have the better mileage offers than many other cards. I personally prefer to get cash back on my cards, though, and spend it as I choose. (Up to 4%).

Can’t really come up with anything better for building miles than have already reported on. Choosing an alliance that services your local airport(s) to destinations that you tend to fly to, sticking with that alliance when possible, and picking the longer route if available that’ll still get you there on time.

Lisa said,

Add the American Express Premier Rewards Gold card to your wallet and earn 3x points on airfare and 2x points on gas and groceries. Plus, if you spend $30,000 in a calendar year, you can earn 15,000 bonus points. There are more than 140 partners with whom to redeem your points for a wide selection of travel, shopping and dining rewards.

karenkay said,

don’t ignore status in hotels. when i started, i collected united miles but still stayed at priceline hotels. after learning a bit more, i started spending a bit more money but also collecting starwood points. now, i might pay a bit more for my hotel stays overall, but instead of the room with the view of the parking lot i’m in a suite with free internet…and for vacations, my room is free! you don’t get that with priceline.

Helen said,

An airline upgrade award can be a better use of points than a roundtrip award ticket. Usually you use more points per dollar for a roundtrip award ticket than for an upgrade award ticket.

Matt O'Hara said,

Pay for all purchases with a mileage earning credit card.

FT:pshuang said,

At the same time that you want to focus your earning on specific programs, remember — you didn’t get married to your primary frequent flier program. Sometimes you will be better off just buying the best available value even if that won’t earn points in your primary program.

ess said,

subscribe to flyertalk threads to stay current on promos

Scott Sharick said,

I use Priority Club PointBreaks when a travel around the country for my photography. Many times my driving itinerary allows a lot of flexibility in where I spend the night. At 5,000 points per night my points go a lot further than they would using them for a standard stay. On a recent four week trip I used PointBreaks fifteen times.

Michael K said,

Find several (in our family, three) credit cards that are free or very low cost, and that have good points programs with elite (silver, platinum, etc) bonuses. Then split up your charges (for us, reaching $20K per year on each card does the trick to get elite status.

Sharon Slomovich said,

Want to feel fabulous and sit in First Class?

Then use your points earning credit card and enjoy your upgrade!

Connie said,

When dining out with a group of friends and the bill comes on one ticket they always choose to pay cash. I take all their cash and then pay the entire bill – along with my portion of course – on my credit card simply to get the miles.

I’m disciplined enough to put the cash in my banking account and make a payment towards the credit card right away.

Tiffany said,

Plan in advance to maximize award redemptions. For example, even though AA essentially eliminated stopovers, they still allow stopovers in North American gateway cities for international departures. So, although my base airport is a gateway city, I’ve tacked on what is essentially a one-way from another trip as the “stopover.”

Adam said,

When redeeming remember to use partner award travel options. Several times they will not be displayed online and the agent will not list them over the phone. Make sure you know the alliance and non alliance airline partners and try to create your own itinerary using a travel site. Once you have an itinerary call the airline and ask the agent for availability on those flights you’ve selected. Have several options in terms of airlines, dates, and flight times. For earning miles use your credit card for everything. I use my SPG Amex card for something as small as a 99cent purchase. The SPG Amex actually allows you to earn 1.25 miles per dollar as for every 20000 points transferred to an airline you received a 5,000 bonus.

Colette said,

Don’t let your points expire! It’s a great idea to get and hoard as many miles as possible, but make sure to know the rules of your particular program as they can all go to waste if you don’t meet minimum activity requirements…

Peter said,

Know where you are going, research the award chart, get enough miles (a much easier job with Amex MR), finally be flexible and secure the award seat EARLY!

Gary Heller said,

Keep a spreadsheet of all your point activity. That way if the program makes a mistake- and it happens- you can get it corrected.

In addition, it’s a positive motivator and helps you manage your points (to keep them from expiring for instance.)

Noam said,

Be smart about what you use your points for. International tickets and international upgrades tend to be the best uses of points.

Diane said,

I use Club Bing to put a few points in my son’s and husband’s accounts so that they won’t lose their miles. We lost them once, and it will never happen again!

Tim M. said,

My top tip is to maximize your rewards is by combining flight miles, credit card spend, and hotel points – meaning if you are earning miles by flying in a certain program, go ahead and sign up for that program’s credit card. Additionally, sign up for any credit card program such as American Express membership rewards or the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card, in which you can earn points in the program and potentially transfer the points into miles.

Djlawman said,

Sometimes it makes sense to pay the fee to transfer points from one family account to another. Points sitting in your spouse’s account might help you get to the level necessary for 2 business class tickets to Asia, for example.

Nischal said,

The Best use of your miles are international Business/First awards, don’t waste your miles on anything less.

Jen G said,

My best tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points is to save your points for flights. Especially with American Express Points and Airmiles points, the miles go way further as far as value goes. For a certain amount of points you could get some merchandise or a gift card worth maybe a few hundred dollars, or you could get a flight worth almost double. Also, NEVER use cash if you don’t have to. Put your credit card on file at the hotel and charge EVERYTHING to your room. If you have the cash on hand to pay for something, keep it in your pocket until the end of the month and use it to pay the bill without interest. Using cash is basically throwing points (or free rewards) out the window – don’t do it unless you have no other option.

Kai said,

Burn them when you can. Points/mils will devalue over time.

Karlyn said,

Don’t be afraid to check costs of adding additional legs (and miles) to your flight! I wound up paying a lot less by adding 2 more stops to my cross country trip, gaining me segments and EQM!

Nirav said,

Stick to one or two programs for each of air, car, hotel, etc and be completely loyal to those, for example, go with SPG + SPG Amex + stay only at SPG hotels and sign up for as many promotions as possible via milemaven/pointmaven

Matthew said,

Don’t let your miles expire.

Lilia Lewis said,

Do your homework! Know EVERYTHING about the loyalty rewards program you chose: one-time promotions, how to get bonus points, who are the partners, etc.
Every time you make a reservation/pay for something (store, hotel, restaurant, purchase on-line, concert, trip to a museum, etc) remember to check if you can use your loyalty card. EVERY LITTLE BIT ADDS UP!!!

Bill said,

Keep it simple! Choose one loyalty program that best suits your personal needs. They sometimes change so get updates, because what you don’t know about your loyalty program can hurt you.

Jerry Mills said,

Earn airline miles with one carrier/alliance but with at least two hotel chains to ensure that there’s a location you can use points on a trip and in case the hotel of choice has no rooms available, that way you have a backup to use when you want to cash in points for a trip.

Matthew Sinclair said,

Always know the promotions for your program and do your best to take advantage of them.

Marisa said,

Do the math. Even if a domestic ticket seems expensive, it’s almost never worth it to burn miles. Save them for your international trips.

ivk5 said,

One tip that has served me well: be aware of opportunities to transfer miles/points from one program to another for free without devaluation.

A good one is Amtrak Guest Rewards -> Continental OnePass. Limit of 50K per year – and even that might only be for Amtrak elite pax. It’s a steal. Eg right now there’s an offer for the co-branded Chase MC that yields 18K Amtrak points upon activation and another 18K with $2K spend. Easiest 36K Continental miles I’ve every heard of.

Similarly know how much the miles/points are worth to you so you know when to earn and when to burn.

IndyDavid said,

As I’ve gotten older, my time has become more valuable and I’ve had more disposable income. Therefore, I recommend being a little more willing to spend money instead of sacrifice time to build mileage balances.

On Continental, I have the Presidental Plus credit card, which gives a 25% redeemable miles bonus. I pay in advance for the Extra Mile bonus, which is another 50%. I have Platinum status, offering a 100% bonus. And I frequently purchase B fares, which are upgradeable at booking and earn 150% EQM, good for keeping status.

Ravzie said,

I use my miles credit card for everything! I get miles for all purchases and it keeps any of my miles from expiring! Also, try to only use one airline when you fly.

Elizabeth (LizzyDragon84) said,

Know what your programs’ expiration rules are and what it takes to keep your miles/points from expiring. Even if you don’t have enough miles in your account to take a flight, you may have an opportunity in the future to get enough for a ticket. Keeping miles alive in many programs can also be done cheaply. For example, buying a song on iTunes keeps United miles alive for another 18 months.

Kay McLaughlin said,

Many airline carriers allow for one-way award redemptions. If you have trouble finding round trip award availability at the lowest redemption level, do some one-way searches before ponying up the higher amount of miles

alexandria789 said,

What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points? At Christmastime, do all your shopping online for FF miles! I’ve racked up lots of points this way and have traveled to Europe and California using my FF miles.

jbos said,

Use the Starwood AMEX to accumulate points, then transfer to your favorite airline program with a 25% bonus for 20,000 point exchanges. Alternatively keep Starwood Amex points in reserve so you can transfer smaller amounts to “top off” airline accounts to reach the award you need.

Sharma said,

My top tip:

Never let a mile go waste: Never pay cash when you can charge to a mile earning card, never let any miles expire, never miss a mileage promotion and never use miles for free flights for yourself.

Elizabeth said,

I have never found the “miles” credit cards to be worth it — having lots of miles but no elite status = getting poor service, whether on flights or hotels — and then you end up doing inconvenient things to use your miles before they expire, e.g. spending lots of time in the Atlanta airport. I prefer to stick with one airline & hotel brand and try to max out my elite bonuses for a better experience.

Nick said,

Consolidate to one or two rewards programs, enter all promotions, and use points as they accumulate so much as is reasonable to counter any fears of inflationary pressures the points may face (and limits the need to worry about expiration dates).

Istvan said,

If you only travel a moderate amount, make every hotel stay one night and then switch hotels for the next night. This is the qucikest way to elite levels at the hotel chains. The hotels always require less stays than nights to reach elite levels, so by switching hotels nightly, you can earn elite status with just 2-3 stays per month.

Jonathan said,

Read Flyertalk and blogs like this for the latest advice on mileage earning and burning opportunities.

Andrew said,

Stick with one alliance to maximize your mileage earning abilities; make sure you check mileage earning on partners (you never know which airlines partner with one another!). Save those miles for your dream first-class trip anywhere! Luxurious air travel is the best way to get the most out of your miles.

Thanks!

Marcia MacDonald said,

Pick an alliance, use it. Pay for everything with your miles card. Use any opportunity for double and triple miles offers. Use up the miles before the airline goes out of business.

Wayne said,

sign up for every program. I sharply regret the stays and flights I made before enrolling thinking a one night stay here and there it was not worth it.

KELLY said,

Stick with one program and BE FLEXIBLE!!

Ilana Elfassi said,

know the program rules, be flexible, & stay w/ one program.

Shawn said,

Obtain the credit card for your favorite airline. If you’re going to be spending money anyway you may as well get something for it. Also the program I use you can use mile to upgrade to first class on international flights. For example on a discount economy ticket from New York to Tokyo, which can run about $900 roundtrip, you can upgrade to first class for 60,000 miles and $1000 roundtrip. That same first class ticket would cost over $11000 and because you still earn miles for the flight that means it only costs you 45000 miles to save $9000.

Jewel said,

I tell my husband to buy lots of stuff on our rewards card and then I use the rewards for trips!

boxo said,

Read Boarding Area blogs – they boil down the fluff into the nitty gritty. Join Flyertalk and forge invaluable friendships with people who can help cover all the bases. They got my back!

Kim said,

Don’t ignore the hotel side of award trips. A one-week vacation will set you back just as much in hotels as airfare, so maximize your hotel stays. I like the Starwood American Express card because of the flexibility of the points, good award availability and options (eg. cash+points, redeem 4 nights and get 1 free), and the nice properties. And you can transfer the points to airlines if you want.

Kim

Jonell said,

Leave good instructions for your heirs on how to access your miles in all your accounts. You don’t want them to go to waste– rather, you want your kids to be able to use them should you die unexpectedly. Once the airline knows you’re gone, they will probably lock your miles.