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Use 'Em Or Lose 'Em
Frequent Flyer Miles – Use Them or Lose Them Many major airline frequent flyer programs have recently announced they are reducing the time periods in which miles in inactive accounts will expire. And reward seats are seemingly harder to come by than ever. So now may be a good time to audit all those mileage balances and put that hard earned currency to good use before it disappears like a Depression era savings account. Here are some easy (and always available!) reward options you can take advantage of with those miles you have that otherwise may soon expire:
- Subscribe to the Wall Street Journal – While many frequent flyer programs allow you to redeem miles for magazine subscriptions, members of United’s Mileage Plus program have access to a little known but high value reward option: a free subscription to the Wall Street Journal. For only 1,200 miles you receive a 13 week subscription (an $84.50 value!) to the essential business daily delivered right to your door starting almost immediately. Redeem on line at United.com
- Turn Them into Hotel Points – Hilton’s HHonors program still allows members to transfer airline miles into HHonors points and normally at a very attractive 2 to 1 exchange ratio. The line up of Hilton’s airline partners is not as impressive as it was prior to the industry downturn, when Continental OnePass, Delta SkyMiles and United Mileage Plus were all participating programs. However, you can still transfer miles from American Airlines, Hawaiian, Midwest Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and others in increments of 5,000 miles. It is a great way to consolidate unused balances into one highly flexible loyalty program with many terrific redemption options. All details can be found at HHonors.com
- Help a Worthy Cause – Rather than let those unused miles expire, donate them to a good cause. Most airline programs feature this redemption option. US Airways’ Dividend Miles program for example, which has no other redemption choices other than flight related awards, at least allows the option for a charitable donation. You can donate your Dividend Miles in 1,000 increments to a variety of charities such as the American Red Cross and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Find out more at usairways.com
- Give ‘em to Friends and Family – Delta Airlines allows SkyMiles members to transfer miles directly from one account to any other member’s account which works well to consolidate balances and reach a desired award level. The catch? It is a bit expensive to do the deed. Every 1,000 miles transferred costs $10 plus a $25 processing fee. You can move up to 30,000 miles at a time in 1,000 mile increments. But if they are about to expire, better to give them away than lose them.
- Go Shopping – Continental Airline’s OnePass program includes a feature called “Miles for Merchandise”. The way it works is that for a cost of 100 miles per item, members have access to an exclusive on-line retail outlet which claims to offer large discounts off manufacturers suggested retail prices. Selection is impressive - a virtual department store where you can find everything from golf equipment and electronics to signed sports memorabilia and jewelry. See for yourself if the prices are worth the mileage investment by visiting continental.com. Free shipping is included as well.
- Low Cost Carrier Options– Low cost carriers have always had tight expiration periods on their point or credit based loyalty programs to limit the liability on the books from frequent flyer programs. For example, all points earned in JetBlue Airways’ True Blue program, and credits earned in AirTran Airways A-Plus Rewards expire 1 year from the date they are earned. For Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards members the credits expire in 24 months. Even less exciting is that pretty much the only awards available in these programs are flights on the given airline or other low cost domestic airline partners. However, JetBlue and AirTran do allow you to redeem for one-way flights as opposed to requiring a round-trip like most competing programs. Also, a new perk for holders of the JetBlue credit card from American Express provides that all accumulated points get an additional 1 year extension as long as there is some earning activity in the period prior to expiration – like using the Card for example.
Latest page update: made by Leftofthedial
, Mar 19 2007, 3:53 PM EDT
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Edited by Leftofthedial
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Edited by Leftofthedial
767 words added
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- complete history)
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| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | |
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| Anonymous | Very helpful | 0 | Mar 24 2007, 1:06 PM EDT by Anonymous | |
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