Get the most out of your frequent flier miles
(MoneyWatch) When it comes to frequent flier miles, I've noticed that some people seem to have their act together, always earning free flights and smartly leveraging the points they earn. For most of us, though, those miles are at best an afterthought. We let them accrue without really paying attention to them, and never seem to know the best ways to cash them in.
The folks at Real Simple have the antidote to this problem, with a half dozen tips for making the most of your frequent flier accounts. Here are some things you should keep in mind to make better use of your own miles:
Get started early. Waiting till the last minute is never a good idea for air travel, and even worse if you want to cash in miles. Frequent flier tickets go on sale as much as 11 months in advance, so check in early to ensure you can get what you want.
Make a phone call. When it comes to dealing with miles, you'll have better luck talking to a human being than using the web, even if there's a service fee associated with the contact. That's because service reps can find you seats on a partner airline, which is something you wouldn't be able to do on your own.
Consolidate your awards. You'll accrue points faster and have better luck by doing most of your flying with a single airline, or at least one alliance group. And it's important not to open multiple accounts within the same alliance group, because that needlessly dilutes the value of your miles. Delta, KLM and Air France are all in SkyTeam, for example - one account leverages then all.
Don't let miles expire. You need to redeem miles regularly - usually once every 18 months - or you lose them entirely. If you don't have enough miles to get a ticket, consider upgrading a flight to keep your miles in play.
Get a credit card to push yourself over. Close to a reward? Signing up for a credit card can net you a bonus of as much as 25,000 miles -- a quick fix to push yourself over the edge and into reward territory.
Photo courtesy Flickr user InSapphoWeTrust
