Closed: Austrailia Trip Give Away – Official Entry Post

• Ron Stern said,

  My wife and I both applied for the BA 100,000 mile award. We will use 35,000 each to go to Hawaii and then the remainer to go to London (from Denver) and one direction will be business class. Not bad for what the requirement were.

• Paul said,

  Read the blogs every day! Deals come and go quickly.

• Ryan said,

  Choose one airline and credit all your miles to the one account.

• Mickc said,

  Once you are in a program do not miss out on any bonus offers – they often require registration

• Adam said,

  Bookmark a site like evreward.com, and anytime you make an online purchase, check it out. It lists all airline/hotel points available for shopping at a particular site. The little miles add up, and are also great for keeping accounts “fresh.”

• David said,

  Don’t be scared off by credit card annual fees. Look at the bonuses and the possible accrual, and most of them may be worth the potential earn.

• AirShadow said,

  Life is short, use those miles!

• neal carpenter said,

  Use your Amex to earn points (especially the places that give double points) and then use them for the longest flight posible. A transcontinental flight is the same as a flight to the next state.

• Frank said,

  Don’t forget the additional bonus ways to get miles and points. Never know when you might be justthismuchshort.

• Brent said,

  Sign up for all programs whenever you use a service. Without realizing it, you frequently earn plenty of miles or points.

• sdm1130 said,

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

• Scott said,

  You’ll be much happier when you recognize that you’re only entitled to what you pay for, and everything else–awards, upgrades, etc.–is just a benefit.

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• Melody said,

  Fly one airline or one alliance, and make sure your points get credited!

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• Guggu said,

  When redeeming your miles it is always better to avoid school holidays and to travel off season to get the best value for your miles with airlines and hotels.

• David said,

  Make sure you sign up for all promotions you can even if you don’t think you’ll be able to use it. You never know when you might end up qualifying unexpectedly.

• Emily J said,

  Use ANA to research award travel and expert flyer/KVS for other airlines. Do NOT rely on the agent to find you a routing!

• Peter said,

  Top tip: Be organized. Know what programs will get you where you want to go. Be sure to have annual activity in all of your accounts to avoid losing your earned miles. Use mileage-based credit cards whenever possible-be disciplined enough to pay off the balances each month.

  Then, relax and look forward to your next (nearly free) trip!

• Anu Singla said,

  As a Canadian resident with only 2 national air carriers (and therefore no competition), I find it amusing that it often costs more to fly domestically than it does to fly to europe or even the U.S. Because of this, I find that I get the best value in my airline miles if I use them domestically. Fly across the country for 25,000 miles when the same ticket would cost more than flying to europe which is 60,000 miles.

• Iceman said,

  To use your loyalty points when you want to use them, plan ahead. Way ahead.

• 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.

• Erich said,

  Nothing against seeing Grandma again, but is that really a vacation? What ever happened to experiencing a pleasant climate, using that foreign language, or at least seeing a wonder of the world?
  Whenever possible, every action you take should include movement toward living that dream, so look into how credit cards, loyalty programs, and promotions can get you there. You’ll see Grandma next year, and she’ll appreciate the postcards.

• Christine said,

  Great post. Hope I win!

• Katie said,

  look for hotels offering discounted point stays. That way, you make the most of your points. For instance, on certain dates 25k Marriott points can be used for a night at a Ritz-Carlton.

• Craig said,

  All miles are not equal. Know the strengths and weaknesses of the programs you participate in so that when it comes time to redeem an award, you’re using the currency that gets you the most bang for your buck (or mile or point).

• 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?

• jan said,

  American Express Membership Rewards is a good place to consolidate a lot of miles for use on a good selection of partners, and they have some good double/triple point promotions from time to time. Bonus idea – read blogs like this one for excellent tips and reviews – I’ve earned a lot of points from just a couple of easy ideas – information is your friend.

• Jonathan said,

  It never hurts to ask… just for asking I’ve recieved status matches, waived CC fees, gotten agents to round up total miles to book a flight or hotel when I was short. If you have a bad trip/stay be vocal, write a letter and an email, I’ve been well rewarded for my valued consumer feedback.

• Ashley said,

  Adopt a multi-faceted approach in order to earn the most miles possible! Sure flying on the airline will get you miles but so can a host of other activities! Check out what airlines your bank or credit union has aligned with and get the mileage debit and/or credit card. When shopping online, check out your airline’s website first as many of them link to the e-commerce sites you shop most and allow you to earn miles as well. Check out sites such as http://www.e-rewards.com and http://www.e-miles.com to take quick and simple surveys to earn miles. Also, sign up for your preferred airline’s e-newsletter as they will send you chances to earn more miles when you fly or buy. Most of all, have fun and use those hard-earned miles on something great!

• Ben said,

  Starwood Amex indeed on every single purchase you do. Not only can you use those miles on hotel stays but you can also use them for flying to your dream destination!

• VEGASDEALMAN said,

  Take advantage of 2 stays=1 free night promotions by staying in 2 cheap local hotels and splurging on a high end luxury one for your free night (Hyatt and hopefully SPG again)

• Patrick said,

  Focus on one or two programs to maximize your benefits, then be flexible and plan ahead to get the most use out of the miles/points you’ve accumulated.

• Isaac said,

  Set clear award goals to help prioritize earning and redemption programs.

• Chris K. Costanza said,

  Earn points with American Express 3x gold card or the starwood Amex for more flexability.

  Then try to get your award with the following information.

  If you don’t get what you want the first time, hang up and call again. Always be informed about where you want to go and what routes you can take to get there and use the ANA website and expertflyer to be informed about what availability is out there.

  Use your points for Business or First Class to get more bang for the buck.

• Ken said,

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

• Siobhan said,

  Be flexible! You never know what’s going to happen when.

• imm2b said,

  Use your BA miles to Buenos Aires with a stopover on Easter Island for 80K BA miles in Business or 40K in Economy on LAN. Best use of BA miles IMHO.

• Carson said,

  Scour the web and pay attention to program e-mails for promotions such as double points/miles, etc. I’ve found this to be a great way to increase my account balances for very little effort (often clicking/entering your account number)!

• 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.

• prncess674 said,

  No matter how small the purchase, use your mileage/point earning credit card. Every point helps!

• Ed said,

  If you (and your spouse) are participating in a number of different programs, a service that tracks all of your award programs in one place (such as Award Wallet) is very helpful and a big timesaver.

• 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.

• Marilynn Storms said,

  My tip is to never leave points on the dinner table. When eating with friends volunteer the use of your CC and when you combine this with iDine opportunities you’ll rack up points and miles on a budget.

• Dave said,

  Concentrate your efforts on one or two programs. Use the Boarding Area blogs and FlyerTalk to find great deals and tips on making the best use of your miles/points.

• connor said,

  My top tip for earning and using rewards points: focus, focus, focus! There’s no sense in spreading out 60,000 points to different airlines, credit cards, and hotels plans. Focus on the plan that makes the most sense for you, and work it. Check the plan’s site frequently for bonus opportunities, credit card signup bonuses, and other earning opportunities, and — if they make sense — take advantage. Secondary tip: don’t become so enamored with points that you spend uneccesarily just to earn points

• Rick said,

  Be loyal and loyalty will reward you. Use a card for your top airline or hotel, and always fly the same airline (or alliance) and stay at the same hotel.

• Henry said,

  In the beginning, stick with one airline and one alliance so one can achieve status faster and have less orphan miles.

• jerry said,

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

• Kevin said,

  Using an airline specific miles credit card for all purchases and monthly revolving bills allows building of miles without flying and then booking flights with that card often provides double (or higher) miles.

• Erik said,

  Open jaws and stopovers – these are huge advantages to get more out of award bookings if your airline permits either of them.

• Daniel K said,

  Points = Money

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

• Brian Futterman said,

  If you fly with several airlines, maintain loyalty with only one carrier per alliance. Consolidate those miles so awards come faster and easier.

• Jeff D said,

  try to concentrate your travel, hotel and credit card usage to programs that can be tranfered between, that way if you need to boost point in one for a particular aware it is easier to do.

• Lindsay said,

  Focus spend on SPG credit card

• 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.

• mowogo said,

  Be flexible with your plans, and sometimes consider traveling somewhere near your intended destination

• Brandon said,

  I’ve always tried to work out deals with friends where I’ll pay for their travel via awards, and then they give me the money for what they would’ve paid (within reason). That way, you can essentially convert your miles into cash (at a rate acceptable to you), and you don’t lose out of miles that you could’ve earned by paying for trips that you would’ve spent miles on.

• Chris said,

  Think about which account to use when flying partner airlines.

• Jonathan said,

  Hire Gary to book your award ticket!

• gba said,

  Follow the boardingarea.com blogs and when you see an offer like the 100000 mile BA visa signup bonus, don’t let it slip past you!

• 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.

• Donna Maupin said,

  For seat pitch, width, and legroom which makes a big difference on long flights, compare each airline’s first-or business-class product on SeatGuru.

• YD said,

  When booking award travel, be flexible and be EARLY!

  The magic number is 330. Most airlines load new inventory into their reservations system 330 days prior to the flight date. If there are any award seats on the flight you want, they will be available right after that flight is loaded into the system.

  Of course, popular travel days (i.e. holidays, spring break, etc.) and popular travel routes/destinations may cause these seats to disappear nearly immediately after release, but be patient, plan well in advance, and mark (and double-check) your calendar for the correct day to start your search.

  Happy travels!

• Kevin said,

  Focus on a single airline alliance and hotel chain as much as possible, having 50,000 miles in one program is infinitely better than having 10,000 in 5 different programs. It sounds basic (they’re loyalty programs after all) but the first decision as to which program to focus on is the most important.

  Go ahead and collect the scrap miles/points for the others too, but donate them to charity or order magazines or other cheap redemptions.

  Also – burn those points as soon as they reach a significant value you can use! Saving money today is better than maybe saving slightly more in six months.

• Seo said,

  Sign up for special promotions (i.e. Continental’s Twice as Fast promotion) that will get you double miles on all trips taken during a specific period. It’s also useful when you need to meet elite mileage requirements.

• 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).

• Russ said,

  Join Flyertalk.com

• Chuck said,

  Don’t just travel, be an adventurer. One year while booking reward travel to Athens, the agent told me she could get us to Athens, but couldn’t find a return flight. I asked, is there anything available from a nearby city. She responded, “Two days later, I can get you out of Bucharest Romania.” Without thinking how I was going to make it work, I told her to book it.

  That trip to Greece ended up taking us through Turkey to Romania. We traveled on boat, bus, prop airplane and taxi to complete the trip. It became one of the best vacations of our lives.

• Chris said,

  Top Tip – Read the blogs on Boardingarea.com. The bloggers on the website do a fantastic job gathering and synthesizing all of the information out there in order to keep you up to date on ways to maximize earning rewards. On the “using” side of the equation, they stay abreast of all of the best deals to use points, and also provide detailed advice and comparisons on using your rewards.

• Victor said,

  Always keep your eye out for free mile reward credit cards. It is one of the best deals anywhere, since it’s a free domestic flight usually.

  Practice using the reward booking engine, so you have an idea of what kind of flights you can get both within a few weeks and a few months out. This helps when you are discussing possible vacations times with others!

• Ripper3785 said,

  Explore ALL your options when booking Award flights. Pull up the route maps for airlines in your alliance and look for the obscure/unusual, and then check availability. Never trust a phone agent to help you find a creative award routing. Do the legwork if you want to find that dream trip, and be flexible.

• bunsai said,

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

• oah said,

  Keep updating the promotion so you can get the first class ticket without flyong with them.
  For some frequent flyer program keep calling until you get what you want

• Allen said,

  Don’t use your miles for domestic trips, save up for a big international trip in First or Business class and your miles will be worth much more.

• 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.

• Christine said,

  Consolidate earning miles into a small number of accounts.

• Chris said,

  Continue to follow all the blog posting in the Boarding Area on a regular basis and follow FlyerTalk threads for your chosen programs. Opportunities to earn and redeem often come fast and disappear even quicker.

• George Pap. said,

  My tip is to avoid Delta Skymiles since it is impossible to use those miles for awards at the lowest tier level!

• Michelle Barkdoll said,

  This is easy – I use one card for everything Keeps track of all my points and when it’s time to use – so easy! PLUS I’m always looking out for specials where I can get double the points or even free along the way!
  Safe travels and Happy flying!

• Peter said,

  Read FlyerTalk every day.

• 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.

• George Holub 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!

• hiu said,

  Try to focus your miles/points to a few programs (don’t spread yourself too thin). Get a mileage earning cc and charge all your bills/expenses to it to earn miles/points towards vacation travels!

• 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 (work travel) air fare in the first place. Then, when you cash out your frequent flier miles, it is truly a “free flight.”

  What a great incentive to take a vacation!

• wei said,

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

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• Jack said,

  If you have a family mileage account, make sure that your dad doesn’t dip into your balance and steal miles for his business class upgrades

• 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!

• Albert R said,

  Go to flyertalk and nerd out on it all.

  Pick one program from each alliance and stick with one of those!

• Jill said,

  flexibility

• nbdona said,

  USE A SPG CARD!

• jeremy g said,

  Book SPG awards in Europe; often easy to get a 350 Euro/night room for a few thousand points + $100 cash / night.

• DavidWesley said,

  I can only speak for Air loyalty programs, but my best advice is to pick one carrier and aim for Elite status. Once you travel as a top tier elite, you will never want to go back.

  If you are elite in multiple airlines, make sure they are in seperate alliances so that all of your bases are covered for trips that your one carrier may not fly to. Eg… Oneworld and Skyteam.

• Udi said,

  Burn as you earn…

• Martin said,

  Use the miles/points before they are devaluated!!!

• GoingAway said,

  Read FT, keep up with the blogs, register for the promos even if you don’t think you’ll get anything from it. You never know what’ll pop or what changes will happen to your travel where you’ll be able to take advantage of an offer

• 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.

• Damon Billian said,

  I use the American Express Starwood Card to earn points. I also have a mileage card from an airline, which I rarely use, because the rules and restrictions to actually earn a flight have taken a turn for the worst.

  Key benefits of the American Express Card through Starwood:
  1. Unless I am mistaken, you’re automatically upgraded to Gold Status if you spend xx amount of dollars per year. I’ve received a ton of room upgrades, even governor suites, simply by being a Gold Preferred member with Starwood using the Starwood Amex. The bonus is that I have always been offered a free upgrade & haven’t had to ask. If I don’t get one, that’s fine…I’ve received more than enough.

  2. I earn even more points when I stay at a Starwood property.

  3. Starwood has multiple redemption options (cash + points, or just points).

  I spend a great deal of time in Southeast Asia, which means I can get some rooms for as little as 2000 points per night. If I want to stay at a great 4-5 star resort as an option, I can generally stay for $45-60 USD per night if I use some of my points towards the rate (this can drop the price from 100 USD + per night up). I also tend to get special offers from the hotels/resorts simply be being a member.

  You can also earn extra points by shopping on the American Express site and/or earn additional discounts:)

• Sean said,

  “SPG Flights”-a fairly recently added redemption option for Starwood points usually isn’t a deal, but I’ve found that their lowest tier award: 10k points for a trip up to $150 can be a nice way to redeem a ’short hop award’ for little cost in points. It certainly beats the 25k miles most of the airlines would charge for a similar short hop redemption.

• 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.

• Christy said,

  Keep an eye out for bonus promotions from airline credit cards or frequent flier programs sent in email or snail mail. Don’t forget to register for the promotion. Once I bought a $2 cookie on a flight with the airline’s credit card and received 1000 miles.

• 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.

• Hunter said,

  Stay loyal to one program for sure, especially if your hometown is a hub or “focus” city. Then make sure you are earning all points, for flights, credit cards, hotels (sometimes), car rentals, dining, and shopping online for the same airline. Hopefully it is with a Star Alliance member! (I learned the hard way that Skyteam miles are very invaluable). G’day mate!

• snoozzzzz said,

  My tip is to have the credit card with the program you are in. This will be most efficient in earning points per spending. For instance, if you are platinum, Marriott credit card allows you to earn 20 points / $1 spent at Marriott (10 base pts + 5 Plat pts + 5 credit card pts); Amex Starwood allows you to earn 5 points / $1 spent (2 base pts + 1 Plat pts + 2 credit card pts), etc…

  My tip on spending is to be flexible and make use of the benefits offer by each program, such as staying 4 nights and get 1 night free, pointsaver stay. Plan and make reservation early since more options are available and the reservation can be cancelled should your plan changes.

• 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.

• Bianca B said,

  Stay organized and document every promotion you enter/sign-up for.

• Andy said,

  Plan a group trip with friends and be in charge of all the booking. You get all the miles and points on your card and your friends are happy to let you organize it and then pay you afterwards.

• 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!

• Samir said,

  Be loyal to one of the global airline teams (which has the many flights from your point of origin) and try to have all of your miles credit to one Frequent Flyer account. Also, try finding different credit cards/ programs that give you non-flying miles/points bonuses on that account This will ensure that your miles are always dumped to one account, making it easy to accumulate enough miles/points to redeem anytime and anywhere.

• 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.

• Stephanie said,

  Don’t be afraid to use airline/hotel credit cards to accumulate points in order to prevent older points from expiring. Sending a bouquet of flowers to someone can be an easy way to prevent thousands of points from disappearing.

• 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.

  Also utilize online tracking consolidator websites like http://www.yodlee.com to keep track of multiple travel accounts in 1 convenient location.

• 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!).

• Chase said,

  Accumulating miles takes a bit of work, much like making money. So continue doing your homework & overtime you will be successful as I continue to be.

• 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

• 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.

• Tanya Craig said,

  SPG…The best points program ever! Earn points through American Express and then use them for a lot of different programs. I use mine to get discounted hotel rooms, for example, I’m staying using a few points and only $60 bucks to stay a night in Hawaii! And they convert to a lot of airlines miles programs. I gave 20K SPG points to Hawaiian Air and got 25K miles!

• Kitty said,

  1)Make sure your miles program matches your
  award goals.
  2)If you have a mileage credit card make sure it
  allows you to redeem awards with numerous
  carriers.
  3)Start looking for your award seats 6 months in
  advance of your trip.
  4)Don’t forget to check code-share partners for
  award seats.
  5)Look for award seats on midweek days.
  6)Since carriers change their award inventory on
  Friday & Saturday nights at midnight, check then
  for award seats.
  7)Try BookYourAward.com. Worth the price to get
  the seat you want.(According to Wendy Perrin at
  Conde Nast Traveler.)

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• holycow said,

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

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

• Xyzzy said,

  Check out all programs in an area of interest. If you just concentrate on one you are familiar with you could be missing out on some great opportunities being made by competitors.

• ed said,

  Never ever buy one of the catalog gifts–stick with the “native” program (hotel awards at a hotel program, etc.)

• 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.

• 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

• Jeff said,

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

• Terry said,

  When the CSR says no, don’t give up!

• tivoboy said,

  Set a goal and work towards it. This year, my goals was free travel in F to Africa. Best way for that, is BA mileage card from CHASE and spend my 30K a year on that card. Badabing, we (yes, two is better than one) will have two F tickets to SA.

• ian said,

  Try to be nice to your fellow passengers. Constantly grabbing their seat-backs and talking loudly on cell phones are a sure way to ruin someones trip.

• Rick said,

  Take advantage of credit card sign-up bonuses for new card applications.

• Zora said,

  Get a credit card to go with the program–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.

• 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.

• Amazing Larry said,

  What’s your top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points?

  The value of points tends to decrease with time, so burn ‘em rather than earn ‘em…. when you have enough for a nice premium intercontinental award.

• 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.

• Iolaire McFadden said,

  Always apply for credit cards when they have high mileage promotions for opening a new account.

• DoubleF said,

  to maximize earning, put everything you buy on a mileage earning credit card, no matter how small the expense. To use miles, be as flexible as possible. I usually call and ask the agent to find seats at a specific airport, and anything within 100 miles and within 2 or 3 days. I’ve always found seats, even to Italy in the summer on Delta.

• Michael said,

  Always sign up for every loyalty program where you can earn any points. Even if you think you’ll never earn points again, or if you think your kids are too young to get a meaningful amount of points, sign up!

  These programs offer bonuses, or they consolidate when they merge, and the bits and pieces add up to rewards after a while.

  My TWA points got me something, years and years later.

• adastra said,

  Look into the connections between various programs – besides major alliances and families, some programs are more closely aligned than others. For instance, some hotels offer much better earnings on Southwest than other carriers… or some airlines offer special perks at Hyatt. Take advantage of these connections.

• Aaron said,

  Top tip is to make sure you choose one airline partner and stick with the program. If you really want to maximize points, make sure that partner is one which has partnerships with hotels.

• Nelly said,

  Consolidate your miles

• 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!

• Jason Steele said,

  Think outside the box. Accrue miles on the best partner of the airline you are flying, not the necessarily the airline itself.

• 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.

• Carol said,

  Pay Attention! Watch your statements to catch any errors or missing trips, keep an eye out for promotions to increase your miles/points or standing, don’t forget to check for cross-promotions with credit cards or other businesses…

• Jonathan Heckman said,

  Pick a milage program and stick with it. The milage program you chose depends on the type of traveler you are – what kind of hotels do you like? Rental cars? etc. If you ever have questions about milage programs, checkout flyertalk.com.

  Jonathan

• Cassyt said,

  I don’t always get to choose who I fly, so I make sure to maximise my miles by using companies with partnerships.

  Be sure to keep an eye on those expiration dates! Sometimes simply renewing a magazine or buying flowers online will extend your FF miles expiration dates.

• 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.

• Peter said,

  One useful trick is to register for very promotion you come across on these blogs. Even if you think it cannot possibly apply to you (it may in the future), or if it’s just 50 miles (wouldn’t it suck to be 50 miles short for an award?), or for a program you don’t participate in (there are ways to transfer miles)… one never knows.

• Wen said,

  Read blogs like this one and grab the deals when they are there. Be sure to only apply for the most rewarding credit card and combine offers with your travel plans. If you don’t have one, just create.

• 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.

• bmvaughn said,

  It may take a long time to save the miles for two international premium class awards, so if you’re just a casual flier don’t worry about spending the miles on a domestic coach ticket – just make sure you’re getting a good value for the miles, such as using them for a late booking or a holiday period!

• beltway said,

  Use car rentals (which often earn pitifully small miles bonuses) to reset the clock on expiration of miles accounts in which you lack activity. This works not only mile accounts in your name, but for family members too: the rental companies report only the FF account number you give them, and not the renter’s name. I’ve used this many times without a hitch.

• Joe B. SFO said,

  If you are about to lose miles or points, call the company and ask about ways to prevent such loss. Sometimes it as easy as registering a credit card for dining points and spending a few bucks at a nearby restaurant.

• dcfan said,

  You can transfer SPG points to over 30 different airlines at a 1 to 1 ratio. Transferring 20,000 SPG points gives you a bonus of 5,000 miles, for a total of 25,000 miles — enough for a domestic award ticket.

• 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.

• Rachel said,

  Decide on an airline/alliance, get the miles/points credit cards + PLAN AHEAD!!!!!!

• 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.

• Chris said,

  Concentrate on one of the airline alliances, and funnel all of miles to one frequent flier program within that alliance. This way, you don’t “orphan” miles over several different programs.

• astroGG said,

  My travel tips:

  For airlines:
  Get to elite status as soon as possible. Do Mileage Run if needed.

  For hotels:
  Use the promotions as much as possible. Do Mattress Run if needed.

• Richard B said,

  (1) Never miss an opportunity to earn points, no matter how small; (2) Earn and burn — miles and points are only going to lose value with time.

• 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 (I won 50,000 Priority Club points this way!) & @Lufthansa_USA for example have in the past offered points or flights as promotions- but there are tons of travel & points providers breaking into social media- 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.

• Andrew said,

  Read FT and these blogs for good tips, like 10k for car rentals and 20k for free hair appointments. Will definitely keep you updated as to the latest opportunities.

• Julie Vessigault said,

  Network with frequent fliers.

• 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 it 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!

• 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.

• Joe said,

  Burn your miles for a few nice vacations with your better half. This way, you’ll at least find your keys still working when you get back from a MR.

• Ruilin said,

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

• Andrew C. said,

  Make sure your miles aren’t expiring.. redeem for a magazine or use the iDine service

• 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

• Billy Suratt said,

  Bonus offers from airline partners, like hotels. Some offer double miles for multi-night stays, etc.

• Mike Kenneavy said,

  Points have a cash value. Don’t get so blinded by earning a few more points that you spend way more that you may have. Sometimes a different brand may be a better value, even after loyalty.

• 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.

• 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!

• ofer said,

  My top tip is to try and accumulate miles in Membership Rewards by American Express since it allows you maximum flexibility to redeem the points and you can earn points for purchases, up to 10X points in the membershiprewards.com earn section and earn 3X points when you shop through the Bonus Points Mall® website.

• 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.

• Gale said,

  Go with friends! It’s amazing how far you can get if you pool group resources — one person’s hotel upgrade with another’s free car rental etc. Works on three levels (1) You can often score a “stay with your friends” freebie (i.e., two of you have access to the first class lounge, the third can usually come along) (2) Friends who don’t have miles are often happy to pay any cash portion of a status change etc. as their contribution (3) Travelling companions!
  Also, friends who “don’t bother” with “the whole miles thing” are often happy to lend a hand if you make it easier for them – i.e., “Hey friend, in advance of our trip – click this link, sign up for this promotion, earn 100,000 miles. I’ll show you how we can use them!” Then you have more to work with.

• Alex said,

  Read read read! Educate yourself! Learn the ins and outs of the mileage and award programs so you can get the best bang for your buck. Only a savvy customer gets the best deal!

• 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!!

• jfkeze said,

  Run a few MRs or other enhanced itineraries in order to accumulate miles, once you have the miles redeem them for international Business or First class tickets… I spent 130,000 AA miles for a 20,000 miles RTW trip in Business Class

• michael k 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.

• Ron said,

  Pay for all of your purchases, no matter how small, with a mileage earning credit card.

• Aitchly said,

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

• monkey3367 said,

  Don’t overreach. If your travel is moderate, stick with one program and milk it all you can.

• 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.

• yosithezet said,

  Read BoardingArea blogs!

• AndyTLe said,

  Stay loyal to one airline alliance or hotel brand. That’s the quickest and easiest way to accumulate points/miles and reap the benefits.

• 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!

• chitownflyer said,

  Concentrate your loyalty to one hotel or airline program and try to earn the highest status level as possible in that program.

• James said,

  Use rewardsnetwork to earn miles on meals out. Even better if you can find a restaurant near work and do lunch runs for co-workers too to reap all those miles.

• Reb said,

  I try to accrue my miles flown to one FF account that will serve me best for future travel.

• 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.

• alisinna said,

  Make sure to check the actual airlines/codeshares you’re flying on if you book from a third party site(especially discount ones) to make sure you get full mileage accrual.

• pavel said,

  Collect miles as cheaply as possible in one program and redeem on partner travel.

• Mbelle said,

  concentrate your earnings in one or two programs, and learn the rules going in, to maximize earnings, keep those points active, and get the best redemptions for you.

• Sharon La said,

  Do a bit of research and decide which alliance network is best for your travel style. Join and work to put all your flights through that alliance. This way all your points are put into one source. Additionally, finding a credit card with the main airline of this alliance increases your base of points and sometimes your status. When you purchase tickets make sure that the tickets count towards your miles.

• tootalltofly said,

  Join a loyalty program with household accounts that pool miles. Combine that with a credit card program and you will have more miles to use faster!

• Alexander said,

  Stick to one airline and aim for elite status!

• Tim said,

  Collect miles and points only for airlines and hotels that you really like and that are readily available for use.

• R K said,

  SPG AMEX

• Bikeguy said,

  Come to the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO, commonly known as the points and miles maximization DO. Elusive award ticket booking is one of the presentations this year. See thread in CommunityBuzz. July 24 and 25.

• Tim said,

  For miles that are about to expire, usually it only requires a transaction to keep them from expiring. One time I donated 1000 miles in order to save 100,000 miles. Something as simple as this can keep your miles from expiring.

• 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.

• Jeff said,

  Check your account regularly to make sure all miles get posted. Keep your boarding passes to retroactively get any miles to post that slip through the cracks.

• Chris Metzgar said,

  I’d suggest reading up on all programs offered by those you most frequently use, and spend points smart…get the most out of it, but also be aware of all the rules involved with spending the points.

• 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.

• Andy said,

  Focus your travel in a single program, but always be open to earning bonuses and taking advantages of great promotions in other programs you don’t typically use.

• Son said,

  Just read the flyertalk forums and the boardingarea blogs!

• snoozzzzz said,

  My tip is to have the credit card with the program you are in. This will be most efficient in earning points per spending. For instance, if you are platinum, Marriott credit card allows you to earn 20 points / $1 spent at Marriott (10 base pts + 5 Plat pts + 5 credit card pts); Amex Starwood allows you to earn 5 points / $1 spent (2 base pts + 1 Plat pts + 2 credit card pts), etc…

  My tip on spending is to be flexible and make use of the benefits offer by each program, such as staying 4 nights and get 1 night free, pointsaver stay. Plan and make reservation early since more options are available and the reservation can be cancelled should your plan changes.

• Craig said,

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

• Susannah said,

  Choose a loyalty program that allows you to earn points over a wide variety of opportunities, airline tickets, hotels, car rentals, meals, shopping opportunities, as well as bonus offers.

• 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).

• scott said,

  My tip is to plan early and be persistent. In order to maximize your miles, you have to be patient and organized.

• Zach said,

  Many semi-frequent flyers don’t realize that they can often credit their flown miles to a different airline miles program within an alliance or through other reciprocal agreements. Doing so can keep all your miles in one place (or at least just a few places), with a potentially significant impact on how soon you’ll have enough miles for award travel.

• ElinP 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!

• New Thoughts on Budget Fast Break - Points Miles and Martinis said,

  [...] you enter into the win a trip to Austrailia promotion here, its a no brainer with 20 chances to win by simply answering a question on each of the Boarding [...]

• JasonJ said,

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

• Ada said,

  Log onto Flyertalk.com every day and learn.

• Grativi said,

  My hint is to use to manage all your frequent flyer program information – it’s like Mint.com for points.

  It will pull in all of your points (flights, hotels, car, and others) and show it to you in a 1-page dashboard, while also showing the detailed information just 1 click away. What makes it different (and better) than other point management sites is that, in addition to showing your points, it will show what you can buy (eg “how many round trip coach tickets to Europe can I buy?”) with your points!

  It’s in private beta right now, but I’ve set up 100 invites for BoardingArea.com users so that they can test it out themselves and see how it makes managing points easier than anything else out there.

• April said,

  My two power strategies are to select a few travel partners and be loyal to them to maximize your benefits. Secondly, use a single credit card with a good reward program for everyting. Yes I mean everything. You should have heard me and the Acura salesman negotiating over a $42,000 purchase being put on my American Express card!

  As for the travel partners, I have a friend who has used Hyatt hotels exclusively for 25 years. He hasn’t paid for an exotic luxury hotel detstination vacation in 12 years and he can get a great room at any Hyatt anytime – they never tell him they are sold out!

• John Policastro said,

  Follow these blogs and flyertalk.com for your favored airline to see as soon as special promotions such as double points become available. I find these sites usually announce before I get e-mails from my airline.

• Gloria Lin said,

  My top tip for using airline points is to be ready to plan several months in advance, be flexible and pick a few dates and surrounding airports to chose to fly into, and if you’re unable to find a flight by yourself online, try calling a points representative. You may have to pay a small fee but often they are able to search with partner airlines and get you where you want to go! You may want to check back a few times if you aren’t able to get it on the first try, as sometimes ther is an extra special agent that will go out of their way to help you a litte more. Be nice!

• 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.

• Andy said,

  If you are just starting, focus on one or 2 programs to learn the tips and tricks as well as building up points or miles.

• Chris said,

  Sign up for your airline’s Dining Rewards program and sign up for every bonus there. It’s an easy way to make miles on stuff you’d do anyway. Always offer to pay the bill, you’ll look like a nice guy and get the miles, you can double dip if you have a mileage earning credit card.

• 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.

• Jiangning said,

  Establish a habit to check flyertalk.com at least Twice a day!

• 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.

• Karen said,

  Details, details, check the details!

• 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 blogs for tips and follow their advise. I’ve scored thousands of miles this way.

• Eileen said,

  Attend a flyertalk DO and get to know some of these professional points and miles guys. They have a wealth of information!

• 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,

  Take advantage of stopover rules if your program offers it. It can allow you another destination for virtually free!

• Lina said,

  Jumpstart your miles by getting status on one airline. AA offers a Platinum challenge that can help you get status very quickly. Once you have status with AA, many other airlines are willing to match it. When you fly with status, you get more miles. Now you just have to earn it the hard way next year.

• Loran 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.

• mike said,

  All of the blogs have a very similar # of posts… hmmmm, cant imagine why.

  Go mobile, any decent airline has a good mobile site. Still weary of paperless BP’s though, how do I prove mileage if it doesn’t get credited.

• YJ said,

  You can borrow portable DVDs in some airport. Just look around. There’s a good way to kill time in some not so exciting flights.

• 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; also, often cash & points can be your best option.

• paul said,

  putting all your family members on one airlines card is a good way to consolidate credits and points.

• Dallasanne said,

  Look for coalition programs that let you redeem your points on multiple airlines.

  Check out the partner programs that your favorite airline has, and consider whether you want to spend money with partners. For instance, we had to choose a mortgage a few years ago – and wound up getting 1,300 airline miles for every $10,000 we borrowed (plus the same rate we’d been offered elsewhere without the points). So we got enough miles by picking one bank over another to fund a trip. Spending money isn’t fun, and borrowing it is less fun. But if I can turn spending I have to do anyway into miles or points, by picking between two equivalent companies, I’ll take the miles every time.

  Check your airline frequent flier program website often for bonus offers – and subscribe to (and read) the email alerts the loyalty programs send out. Some of the offers are really cool. For instance, United Airlines wanted to boost travel from the U.S. to Madrid, so they recently offered a 5,000 mile bonus. We were headed to Mallorca anyway, and had normally flown through Barcelona on another airlines. But with four travelers, we got 20,000 bonus miles (plus actual miles) just for flying through another airport. That’s an easy change to make.

  Make sure you get miles on EVERYTHING when you travel – the rental car business is very competitive. If you’re not getting triple miles PLUS a discount for carrying your loyalty card, you aren’t asking the right questions!

  We get miles every time we pay our electric bill, and with every cell phone plan. (Shop around – and check your airline frequent flier program website. It’s easy to leave miles on the table if you aren’t careful.)

  There are TONS of partner programs – Netflix, Bose, and FTD Florist, are just three of the ones we’ve gotten miles or points from so far this year. Check the frequent flier program website for partners, and read the enewsletters they send

• Bob said,

  If you aren’t a business traveler who flies a lot, I tell my friends in the US to gravitate towards Continental’s Onepass program. It’s the only program where miles never expire, so you can slowly but surely build towards a reward over however many years you need. Nothing is more discouraging for an aspiring frequent flyer than to have their miles erased for no good reason.

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• Shaun Lefeuvre said,

  Use the credit card partner for your airline of choice and any related utility offers. Miles collect extremely quickly this way.

• Pete said,

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

• Tim said,

  Remember you can transfer miles into most programs from other programs (i..e Amex into airlines and hotels). This can help give you enough miles for a free trip if you are short of some in the airlines you fly least. There are online calculators to help choose the best option

• Cecilia Rose said,

  Just calling in to a live person always works best for me. Unfortunately, the websites never seem to show the same availability that you can get dialing in directly. It is a hassle, but worth it when you need to get complex trips for multiple people

• Shellie Anne said,

  She’s a no brainer mate- use a the same credit card for ALL OF YOUR PURCHASES and the same for travel – you will say DANG! I EARNED ALL THOSE MILES!? Fair Dinkum?

  Don’t limit yourself to a hotel chain…there is no worse way to travel…be free…go where the road leads you. It is about the journey not the destination!

• jeffyl said,

  Tip: Start a mileage program only with the major airline serving your area, and search online for free mileage contests and promotions! (and check this site frequently, from some really knowledgeable flyers)

• 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.

• Janna Steele said,

  SPG points to LAN kilometers is the best credit card deal out there per dollar spent, especially for short, expensive flights on OneWorld partners.

• Narayana Sundaram said,

  I am not an expert on using and earning miles but I follow the leaders a little bit especially Points Miles and Martinis, View from the wing, Frugal Travel Guy and try to have as much fun as possible along the way.

• 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.

• Sam W. said,

  Sign up for one of those services that adds points to your loyalty account while dine out.

• Henry said,

  My top tip for travelers who want to earn and use their loyalty points is to do their research and utilize as many resources as possible. For example, utilize partnered dining websites and shopping websites. If you are going to buy something you might as well get points for it. Additionally, always ask if a loyalty program is doing a promotion for bonus points (there is always one going on). For those looking to use their points my best advice is to research forums and ask question sof experienced travellers. We are a community we are always there to help! Also, see if there are combined packages that are available. It may cost less points to transfer your airline miles to hotel points and take advantage of a combined vacation package. In summation, ask questions! The worst answer you could get is no, and usually you will get tips and advice on how to maximize your points.

• Lewis said,

  Try to stay loyal to one airline or airline partner. Be sure to read carrier emails for bonus and promotion news.

• 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!

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

  And most importantly—Enjoy life & the adventures!

• scott finkeldei said,

  Use RSS feeds and SMS alerts on your phone from favorite travel and deal websites to ensure you see the best points deals and promotions that you can take advantage of while you are traveling.

• Karuna said,

  Look at the terms and conditions carefully.

• 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.

• Jonathan Khoo said,

  look into alliance partners and non-flight earning opportunities, such as miles for shopping online.

• Alissa said,

  Don’t let your miles expire due to inactivity! To keep them active, either buy some token miles or redeem a small amount for a magazine subscription.

• Nilima said,

  Make people around you and your family aware of the benefits of miles. You”ll be surprised to find how many people just let go of miles and don’t know how to take advantage of them. You can benefit from miles of your friends and family members too by doing certain promotions together and doubling your miles.

• Eugene said,

  Pay attention to hotel points – they are often more valuable than airline miles.

• Ben said,

  Pick your loyalties and stick with them! Switching around between airlines and hotel chains will scatter your points around and probably not earn you elite status anywhere. It’s worth it in the long run to not always go with the cheapest price in order to maintain your loyalty to that carrier or brand!

• 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!

• Tanya said,

  Concentrate your loyalty to only a few programs(at most) and take advantage of all their bonus promos! They add up surprisingly quick.

• 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!

• Jason in AZ said,

  Use a mileage tracking tool for a consolidated view of your portfolio of air, car and hotel accounts. It can be easy to miss expriring miles, etc otherwise.

• Karol said,

  Nothing beats the Starwood Amex card. Easiest way we’ve found to earn and use points. Starwood also has the excellent cash+points option which I haven’t seen from other loyalty programs.

• chrisw said,

  Don’t let your miles expire! Of course you can EARN some miles to keep them alive, but to avoid outlaying any cash and generate activity in a hurry, remember that in most major programs, both earning and REDEEMING miles resets the expiration counter — redeem a few miles for a magazine or donate a couple of miles.

• 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.

• Allen said,

  Check your main airline’s foreign partner airlines for earning miles, not just alliance airlines.

  For example, one can fly direct to Taipei on EVA Airways and earn Continental One Pass miles, even though EVA is not in the star alliance. EVA is cheaper than United and United no longer flies direct.

• 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.

• Nathan Roemer said,

  Starwood Preferred Guest points are powerful currency, especially since you can convert them 1:1 into most airline programs, allowing you some of the best flexibility for finding and redeeming awards, depending on which airline may have availability.

• Tina said,

  Watch out for SPG/Hyatt/Hilton/Marriott/Priority Club free night promos… burn those and save the points! Also, look for the best free night promotions: longer redemption period, less restrictions on hotel categories the free nights can be used for, less nights/stays needed per free night earned.

• Doug J said,

  credit card sign on bonuses are addictive and are a really lucrative way to get miles and points.

• Terry Erickson said,

  When booking a hotel on Priceline earning hotel points is by policy not an option. It doesn’t hurt to ask if your frequent stayer number can be added to your stay for incidentals. Sometimes the stay is “incidentally” credited to your account.

• Patrick said,

  We use our points to fly grandchildren home when unable to travel

• 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.

• Helen said,

  If your airline miles or hotel points are expiring, you can order something from a partner vendor to keep your account active (and earn points at the same time).

• chontz said,

  I go through my “travel checklist” before every trip that includes bringing a printout of all my FF and FH account numbers. Just in case I have to switch flights or hotels.

• ess said,

  Make sure to subscribe to flyertalk threads to stay current on promos

• Lisa said,

  Keep all your miles accounts in order by signing up for awardwallet.com

• Jason R. said,

  Use a credit card that awards points for money spent on it. It is an easy way to collect points each month without flying.

• 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.

• Gary said,

  Read the blogs every day. The advice and firsthand experiences are usually unerring, up-to-date and priceless.

• Michael said,

  My tip is to use credit card offers as much as possible. I do that, earning sign-up bonuses, and occassionally retention bonuses. Some cards allow you to get the sign up bonus multiple times. I also transfer some AA miles I earn to Hilton to allow me hotel points also.

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• Deb said,

  Use credit cards that give points. Charge every monthly bill. Trade points with family members who are earning in other programs.

• 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.”

• Cem said,

  Earn some points and use them wisely

• Kelly said,

  Save. Go in style. If you have “world points” or any sort of airline reward points, use those for big trips. Use smaller trips you can pay for “out of pocket” on your credit card towards more reward points.

• 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.

• Robert said,

  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.

• Frederic Sautet said,

  You don’t need to be a customer of an airline to take advantage of their loyalty programme – think alliances. For example, I am one of BMI’s best customers despite having never flown on one of their flights. The same has been true of Air Canada in the past.

• 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!

• Pei said,

  Use your miles to travel to exotic places where the tickets are extremely expensive, such as Norway, but you need to plan ahead. Well, sometimes you don’t have to, because not many people know those places

  Anyway, this usually yields the best value of miles.

• Noam said,

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

• Samantha said,

  Take advantage of low fares to boost up your mileage total. Quick weekend trips can rack up the miles if you pay attention to what you earn versus what the trip costs.

• Eugene said,

  Concentrate your mileage/points to a few programs

• Joe said,

  The good thing I found using BA pts is that they have several partners where I can use the pts. I am flying to Australia. It costs 140,000pts if i fly BA or 80,000 pts if I fly quantas.

• Tracie said,

  If you are planning a reward trip and your favorite airline or hotel doesn’t have availability, look at parters or converting your points so you can still take your dream trip!

• Amy Rubins said,

  Sign up for all the loyalty programs you can then track the detailed information, membership numbers, benefits, enrollment dates etc. Use this information every time you book travel or stays for frequent upgrades, perks and free stays. There are a lot of programs out there so search and track once you find them.

• Djlawman said,

  Sometimes, travel companies have some incredibly lucrative promotions (like the LatinPass promotion, through which we earned a million miles, most of which were used on USAir, or transferred to Hilton and Marriott). When these promotions happen, DON’T delay! They frequently get pulled, or closed to additional entrants. You have to figure out the benefits and pull the trigger quickly.

• Johnny said,

  Check the FT fora for your airline and hotel programs. Promotions come and go, so you have to stay on your toes if you want to maximize your points/miles.

• Nischal said,

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

• Marco said,

  1 Consider using your airline rewards for upgrades to first class or business class.
  2 Read flyertalk and the blogs like this
  3 Plan ahead for better availability
  4 some good luck

• laurie said,

  Try to use some of the new one way awards, often these have more availability than the regular standard (25K) awards. I have found them to be available when I cannot a round trip.

• 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.

• Sean said,

  Keep a positive attitude and the longview about reaching your destination. Actual airtime goes quickly when you are calm and content.

• Kai said,

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

• Justin P said,

  Concentrate on quickly gaining the highest elite status in one program, because you can parlay that into status at others through matching. Plus it makes the travel that much more comfortable

• 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

• Oliver said,

  Follow blogs with an RSS reader to efficiently keep up with promos and deals.

• 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

• Barry said,

  Cheapest way to keep your miles from expiring; buy a song from Itunes via the particular airlines shopping mall’s link to Itunes. For $1.29, you start the clock all over again.

• Demetrios said,

  Find a program and stick to it. Pay very close attention to the expiration dates on your rewards, especially the free car vouchers and such (like the 1 2 free promo by National, those things expire really fast.
  Especially when dealing with rental cars try and break into a higher tier as you’ll get better service and better cars usually.
  For what it’s worth I’ve found points don’t matter as much as the perks to me. I would much rather get upgraded on 20 domestic flights than get one free international flight.

• Matthew said,

  Newspaper subscriptions can be a great use for your miles–5K miles for a year of the LA Times!

• 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!!!

• Judy said,

  There are so many good tips, and here is the only one that hasn’t already been said and resaid:

  When you have a lousy experience with an airline, CONTACT the airline immediately; often you will receive double miles or at least courtesy miles. And if you don’t, you’re not being descriptive enough!!

  I’ve had great experiences with Delta’s customer service responding to some horrid flight experiences (when you fly 80,000 miles a year, you’re bound to have a few ugly ones!)

• Ryan K said,

  Keep a close eye on the blogs hear at BoardingArea. The information presented is much cleared and less cluttered than what you’ll find on Flyertalk.

• Karlyn said,

  Be sure to look up loyalty promotions BEFORE booking, as many have registration requirement that only does out awards for trips AFTER registration!

• J said,

  Sign up for AwardWallet.com to keep track of your mileage balances if you are a member of several programs (like me!). The free version is great, but for as little as $1 for 6 months, you can also keep track of expiration dates for your programs, so that you don’t lose your hard-earned miles & points due to inactivity.

• 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.

• Drury Bagwell said,

  Be sure to enter as many programs as you can, but try to concentrate your miles/points in one or two.

• Matthew Sinclair said,

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

• Erik E said,

  My advice would be to “get loyal” with a favorite hotel chain/ airline/ rental car company – higher level loyal members, Starwood Platinums, Hyatt Diamonds, United 1ks, for example not only earn base points but bonus points for these member classifications, as well as other perks and upgrades (free) that rewards the loyal frequent traveler.

  Also, using a branded credit card to pay for these hotel rooms and plane tickets (United’s Visa, Starwood’s Amex, for example) have a way of being a point multiplier for increased earnings ad well.

• Anne A said,

  My top tip for using mileage points is to plan well in advance and to fully understand the specific restrictions of the program.

• taylor said,

  If you get a rep that says it cant be done, hang up and call again until you get a rep that will work with you and is knowledgeable. Try try try again.

• Debbie said,

  If travel is not available at the points level you need from your airport, try all nearby airports and use off days like tuesdays-wednesday for travel.

• ivk5 said,

  Be aware of opportunities to transfer miles/points from one program to another for free without devaluation.

  A good one I’ve used heavily is Amtrak Guest Rewards -> Continental OnePass. Limit of 50K per year – and even that might only be for Amtrak elite pax. Still, it’s a steal. For example, right now there’s a (possibly targeted?) 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.

• Anne said,

  Make sure to return to the most awesome travel blog ever to get all the latest info and hot deals!! I use my miles credit card for everything! I get miles for all purchases and it keeps any of my miles from expiring! Thanks.

• 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.

• Sara said,

  Take advantage of the alliances, and use your miles for flights on other airlines which normally offer a far higher level of service than the American carriers. An award trip is just that – so award yourself with the best carriers in the alliance.

• 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.

• Vinny said,

  Focus on your goals – where do you want to go/what do you want to do – that way you can really focus on the loyalty programs that will get you to your goal quickly and easily.

• 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.

• MS said,

  Earn/consolidate to one frequent flyer program of an alliance. Always check the ‘Fare basis code’. Starwood Preferred Guest card is best credit card for earning miles, gives 5k bonus for redeeming 20k miles to 30 different FFP program.

• RayW said,

  Use RSS to read all the blogs such as this one!

• 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.

• jerry said,

  Do not let your miles expire. No activity in two years or less may drop you from the program. Be sure to earn some miles with a credit card or through their shopping portal.

• A. Renee Pobjecky said,

  When traveling with a group of friends I reserve their plane tickets and hotel rooms with my credit card and they simply reimburse me later. My friends are grateful for the fact that they do not have to spend the time making reservations and I am grateful for the extra points!!!

• Zheng said,

  Air miles and some hotel points expire. When you sign up to earn these miles, ask the related parties how long you have to accrue the points, how long they are valid and if there are policies on extending earned miles or awards. Be careful!

• Susan said,

  To maximize use of your miles, travel on airlines that have shared mileage agreements. When you need to use miles that require more than you have in one account, transfer the partner miles to the chosen account and you’re off to your chosen destination.

• Elizabeth said,

  With the volatility/instability in various travel industries, I always figure I should use my miles rather than saving them — you never know when your preferred provided will go bankrupt or change the terms of service.

• 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. Once you have status, you’ll start earning additional bonus points and upgrades.

• Elisse said,

  If you find you are getting “spun” by the hotels and airlines when you try to use your points/miles, write directly (and nicely) to the CEO of the company (registered mail), with all the facts and details, enclosing all relevant documents. We had hundreds of thousands of points and miles but couldn’t use them for one reason or another for years… UNTIL I did that. We were contacted Immediately and got to have the honeymoon of our DREAMS, and the hotels and airlines treated us like GOLD! I have used this technique effectively with CEOs from several major corporations (inc. Marriott and Delta) to resolve a variety of issues. As my dad said “You don’t ask, you don’t get”! But ask Nice!

• Buddy said,

  The best advice I ever received is to pick one carrier/alliance and one hotel chain and stick with it. It’s much better to be the top of one program than the middle of many. You want all of the points you achieve to get you the most you possibly can, not spread out across different alliances or chains.

• 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/rental car companies/hotels/credit cards/etc. 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!

• Lisa said,

  follow travel sites on Twitter for deals & bonuses….know your loyalty partners

• 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.

• Arch said,

  Focus on a few – preferably one loyalty programs – for flights and hotels and try to maximize the amount of points you can gain for these programs. Like George Clooney says in “Up in the air” – never spend a dime without trying to gain points for it. Taking advantage of the excellent resources on the web – like boarding area blogs that will help you find all the ways to earn those points. Then use ‘em quickly and enjoy!

• Nancy said,

  Earn every chance you can and credit to as few programs as possible (consolidate). For example, credit flights to one airline program per alliance and when staying at a hotel outside your “preferred” hotel program(s), try to credit to an airline rather than holding just a couple of points in every program.

• Wayne said,

  Study flyertalk.com and 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!!

• Wilson said,

  I use my rewards card to pay for almost everything, and then have my wife book trips. It just works better that way.

• Ilana Elfassi said,

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

• 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!

• 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.

• Halothane said,

  Use the points and miles as soon as you can!

• Anne said,

  Don’t let your accumulated miles take on too much OR too little importance; use them as a tool that fits your personal circumstances. If you don’t often travel internationally, resist the urge to hoard miles for international vacations. If you need a quick, last-minute flight to visit an ailing relative or get to a job interview, use your miles! Put your miles to work for the things that matter to you.

• AS said,

  My Tip:
  Finding award availability on the internet is not always easy – each airline website has its own quirks. Some don’t show partner award availability, some have a very poor search feature, and some don’t make it easy to look at multiple days at a time. I like ANA.co.jp for most Star Alliance availability, BA.com for OneWorld, and you have to work a combination of Airfrance.com and Delta.com to find SkyTeam awards. Each has its pluses and minuses. Sometimes you have to search segment by segment and piece together the whole trip. It can be frustrating, but assembling this information will be essential to finding the award you want.

  Once you have the data – and a few alternatives – pick up the phone and call an agent. You will pay a few extra dollars, but if you are looking for Business Class or First Class it will be well worth it. And, try not to overpay for awards: often times the easy way to find a seat is to pay extra miles for the “Flexible” awards but with patience and the right search tools you can usually do much better as long as you are flexible.

• Jewel said,

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

• 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

• Brendan said,

  To garner miles, put every possible necessary charge on an airline-affiliated credit card and sign up for every offer that provides increased miles, such as double for groceries or drugstore purchases. Don’t be afraid to be the person who quarterback’s the end of group dinners by putting them on your card and receiving cash from others, even if you hate math.

• 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.

• Simon said,

  Try and sketch out your years travel at the start of the year. This lets you calculate your flight miles goal and predict when you’ll reach it. You can then estimate when you’re likely to reach your goal and look into other methods (hotels, car rentals etc) to speed things along.

• Pat said,

  Just pay attention to boarding area, and that way you can get all the best point bonuses info. Also, use 2 credit cards. 1 a free one that you just get $ back, the second a hotel or airline card. Whatever you travel/stay at.

• Australia Trip Give Away is Now Closed - Points Miles and Martinis said,

  [...] The official entry for the Australia Trip Give Away is now closed.  You can see the comments posted here. [...]

• Chuck said,

  If you use one point club often, get the platinum credit card. Marriott’s almost doubles your points on every stay.

  Also, do a bi-weekly scan of the program websites looking for bonuses, as they almost always require registration.

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