Miles Wrapped with Ribbons
Miles as Gifts or as Merchandise for the Holidays
Dateline: 10/08/00
Making Miles Count
Some airlines also allow you to donate miles to charity. Delta's Skywish Donations program allows you to give at least 5000 Skymiles to select charities, with the airline giving one mile for every five donated. The gifts are not tax deductable.
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Resources from About. |
Air Travel: "Pudding Man"Air Travel Guide Linda Nelson recounts the story of a man who beat the Frequent Flier system buying, of all things, pudding!Budget Travel: "Charging Through the Air"Find a credit card that earns you frequent flier miles every time you make everyday purchases.Business Travel: Frequent Flyer ProgramsA comprehensive listing of links to airline programs, from Business Travel Guides Sara Cusick and Bruce Goldberg. |
What if you are on the receiving end of a mileage gift? How best to use those frequent flier miles?
Check the expiration dates carefully. Some airlines are now giving miles that never expire. But as we've already noted, those purchased or given as gifts usually do vanish into thin air after a year.
Use frequent flier miles only for expensive trips. If you purchase miles at two cents, 25,000 miles will cost you about $500 USD. That amount is usually enough for a round trip within the 48 states or Canada. Yet some will use the miles for a flight between, say, Boston and Fort Lauderdale. Delta recently posted a fare of $176 USD for that trip. Even on a trans-continental flight like New York-San Diego, they had a fare of $398 R/T. Save up frequent flier miles for trips overseas or to small domestic airports.
Be prepared for the airlines to make mistakes. With the explosion of miles and ways to earn them, it's only natural to expect errors. Naturally, many of these errors will not be in your favor. Expect miles you purchase to take about four weeks to show up on your statement.
Managing Your Miles
The first rule of thumb is to concentrate on just one airline's mileage offering. Patronize the vendors they're affiliated with to earn double or triple miles for your purchase. Use the credit card or cards with which they have agreements for award miles.
If you're like me, this is probably more effort than you wish to exert on something like frequent flier miles. In our Join the Club subject heading, you will find several clubs that will manage all of this for a modest yearly fee.
One example is MaxMiles, a site that promises to "take your miles to the max." Their fee is $30 USD/year, for which they offer to "gather all of the current mileage offers and tailor the list so you see the offers which apply to you." They also provide statements showing your mileage, and places where credits might be missing.
When should you trade miles for merchandise? The first answer is only after careful consideration of the prices. Is the on-line deal offered really better than what's available at a local store?
The more important travel consideration is your balance. Let's say you have 5600 miles remaining in a program you're unlikely to use again. Trading in those miles for merchandise or donating them to charity makes a lot of sense. Remember, you're better off concentrating on one program. An exception might be if you're a frequent business traveler and you use two airlines for your trips.
Happy Holidays
The holidays seem to get here earlier each year. I'm not trying to perpetuate that irksome trend. But frequent flier miles could play a key role in saving you from the shopping malls. They'll do wonders for your closet space, too.
