Concentrate more on mileage credit cards where the points can be redeemed with any airline.
This strategy allows you to choose an airline at the time of your trip, when the financial health or illness should be plain. There are scores of credit card companies and banks more than willing to issue a frequent flier mileage card.
Capital One, for example, offers a Visa card where miles can be redeemed on any airline.
But this strategy comes with strings attached. Capital One changed the redemption rules recently. The change will cost people money.
In my own case, I had been saving for two round-trip tickets to Europe. When the saving plan started, 110,000 miles was good enough for two free seats.
But Capital One now takes the mileage total and divides it by 80. The result is the money you may spend on tickets.
So although I now have more than 140,000 miles, I can only buy $1800 USD worth of tickets. That amount might not be sufficient in the summer timeframe in which I need to travel.
It's fairly obvious advice, but sound nonetheless.
Travelers who had been saving for longer trips are now taking a series of shorter flights.
If these developments have caught you well short of the goal--perhaps a dream trip to Thailand--consider using your mileage nestegg for several long weekends to another part of your own continent.
Another variation: Use the frequent flier miles on hand to reach coastal airports and then try for low conventional fares. For example, flights to Europe often are cheaper from New York, Boston or Toronto; flights to Asia frequently are less expensive from places like Vancouver, Seattle, or California.
This sometimes ends with disappointing results, but it can also beat taking trips for which you are not ready, or losing all your mileage earnings.
Points.com is a Web site where you can spend frequent flier miles for a variety of products and services.
These folks are operating a business, and it's only reasonable to assume they must make a profit. So don't expect to redeem $1000 worth of frequent flier miles for the same amount of goods or services.
AirAwards.com offers a Web site where you type in your mileage, and they respond with an offer to purchase. Rule of thumb: a frequent flier mile is worth at least one U.S. cent. Take less than that only if faced with a certain and pending loss.
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