miles & points

Some of the best places to spend miles aren’t with airlines at all.

What are some new and interesting ways to use miles, aside from purchasing airline tickets? One of my favorite uses for miles is an award option offered by United Airlines. For 1,000 United Mileage Plus miles, you can get a $25 Restaurant.com certificate; or, for 2,000 miles, you’ll get four Restaurant.com $25 certificates. The certificates are accepted at more than 7,000 restaurants nationwide so it’s easy to find somewhere new to spend them. They also make great gifts.

Another interesting and fun option for using your miles is to take part in mileage auctions, which are offered by several programs. A recent offer that caught my eye was Delta’s auction, which allowed SkyMiles members to bid toward joining Delta employees in building 100 houses for 600 residents in an impoverished rural area of India through Habitat for Humanity. Now that’s a great way to travel—knowing and helping out new people—and it’s a good PR move by SkyMiles. Members who work alongside Delta employees will no doubt form friendships and memories that will last a lifetime.

Delta also recently opened up its online Medallion Marketplace to all elite members. In the past, the award site was available only to the airline’s top-tier elite members. The Medallion Marketplace features such awards as good seats to Broadway plays, brand-name merchandise, and hotel and condominium stays. Members can pay the whole bill with miles or elect to pay part in miles and part in cash.


Delta is not the only program to offer extended award options for their most frequent fliers. After spending so much time in the air, sometimes the last thing business travelers want is to get in another plane. The programs are addressing this need with online malls available only to elite members, filled with enticing merchandise to motivate them to part with their miles.

American AAdvantage members can use their miles to pay for complete vacation packages that can include theater tickets, rental cars, theme park tickets and airport transfers. They can put as few as 500 miles toward the total cost of the package and pay the rest with a credit card, or pay for it all with miles.

Although the airline programs shine with award options at times, the hotels and credit cards are offering the most interesting non-flight award options. American Express Membership Rewards provides members with just about anything their hearts desire — if they have enough points. Membership Rewards will also tailor an award to a member’s specifications.

Moments by Starwood Preferred Guest auctions off once-in-a-lifetime events, such as a Gwen Stefani VIP concert package, complete with a photo op with the star. Last year, the program offered a package to attend The Simpsons Movie premiere, including the VIP after-party. (One member got this award for only 39,000 points—not bad at all). Another auction winner got great seats to see the 2007 Eastern Conference NBA final, complete with a personal visit with Rip Hamilton of the Pistons and autographed game shoes, a jersey and a ball. These members will never think of their memberships in these programs as ho-hum again.

So don’t limit yourself to airline tickets when you have miles to spend. You might just be amazed by all the other surprises available out there.
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RANDY PETERSEN is publisher of Inside Flyer magazine and president of Frequent Flyer Services. Email Randy at editor@executivetravelmag.com.