10 ways to maximize your miles
March 25, 2010 ·
4. Look for award seats six months in advance of your trip
A lot of people mistakenly think that the trick to using your miles is to book your award seats the moment a flight gets put in the reservation system—often 331 days ahead of departure. Statistically speaking, says Petersen, you have the best shot at nabbing the award seats you want six months before the flight date.
5. Look for award seats on code-share partners
If the flights you are interested in are code-shared, there may be award seats available on the code-share partner. Say you want to fly from Denver to Montreal and the flight is code-shared by United and Air Canada, says Petersen. It could be that United has no award seats left but Air Canada does, in which case you could redeem United miles for the Air Canada seats. Or it could be that you can fly United one way and Air Canada back.
6. Consider flying into one airport and back from another
Some frequent-flier programs now offer one-way awards, allowing you to fly into one airport and return from another, Petersen points out, which can be helpful if your destination has more than one airport. For example, if you want to travel to Los Angeles, you could fly into LAX and return from Ontario or Orange County airport.
7. Look for award availability on midweek dates
If you need several seats on the same flight or flights, plan to fly out and back midweek. You’ll likely find the most award seats on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
8. Phone the airline just after midnight on a weekend
Airline Web sites often don’t display all the available award seats, so if you’re not finding what you need, call the mileage-award redemption desk. Booking by phone will cost $20 to $25, but it’s a small price to pay if you find a reservations agent who thinks creatively. Petersen suggests phoning just after midnight over the weekend. That’s because carriers change their award inventory on Friday afternoons and occasionally on Saturdays—changes that go into effect at midnight—yet most people don’t phone the airlines till Monday, so over the weekend you have extra award availability and agents who have the time to work with you.
9. For domestic award seats, look at connecting in an airport that’s not a hub for the airline you’re redeeming miles on
“Say I’m a United flier and I want to get from Denver to Miami,” says Petersen. “Rather than flying via Chicago—where big-time fliers hog all the upgrades—if I fly via Dallas I’m more likely to find award availability.”
10. For international award seats, start with the routes connecting the hubs in your carrier’s alliance
Suppose you need to fly from Cleveland to Venice. “Never ask whether award seats are available from Cleveland to Venice,” explains Steve Belkin, the founder of Competitours and a frequent-flier extraordinaire who has redeemed more than 17 million miles’ worth of premium-class international airline tickets. Instead, he says, start with the hub-to-hub routes flown by the carriers in your alliance.
Say it’s the Star Alliance: Look for availability on flights from Chicago, Newark, Philadelphia, Toronto, or Washington, D.C. (hubs for Star Alliance partners Continental, United, US Airways, and Air Canada) to Frankfurt, Vienna, Munich, or Copenhagen. That gives you more than 20 possibilities. Once you’ve found a hub-to-hub flight with award seats, tack on the short-haul spoke-to-hub or hub-to-spoke options (Cleveland to Chicago or Dulles, for example, and Frankfurt or Vienna to Venice).
“This strategy is key especially for business-class awards,” says Belkin, “because the shorter segments are often in one-cabin regional jets. If you do a business-class Cleveland-Venice search, it’s likely to show up as unavailable. In 12 years and more than 70 international business-class redemptions, I have never been shut out of an award seat using this strategy.”
