Practical Tips to Maximize Airline Miles and Hotel Points!
The Economics of Airline Miles: Part V – Is it all really worth it?
The ‘Economics of Airline Miles’ started off as a single article I was writing on the topic of the ‘Value of Airline Miles’ to us, the travelers. It grew and evolved and took on a life of its own. It is now a five part series, with this being its fifth and concluding installment. I would like to thank all my readers for the interest and the feedback that helped set the direction of this series and …
In the first three parts of this series on the Economics of Airline Miles I discussed: The Value of Airline Miles (Part I), The Value of Elite Status (Part II) and How to Maximize Airline Miles Earnings (Part III). In this fourth part of this ongoing series, I will go into the topic of how to effectively redeem your airline miles. Once you have earned all the miles by focussing your earnings, the eventual goal is to redeem these miles for rewards and awards from the airlines.
Remember, at the end …
I liked this so much, I had to put it on my page. Thanks to MatadorNetwork for the original post. Video was created by FlightStats.
Every yellow dot is an aircraft in the air! If only they were color coded by Airline or Airline Alliance. Star Alliance has a screen saver that shows the same information for Star Alliance flights.
Discuss by leaving comments below.
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How to get Airline Miles for Free?
I have written multiple articles that deal with earning miles by flying. These include – How to Maximize Airline Miles and How to Maximize Status Miles. If I look at all the miles I have earned over the years, more miles actually come from non-flying activities than I have earned by putting myself on a plane. Here are some ways to get miles without flying or without spending any money other than what you were going to spend anyway:
Get a Credit Card:
Probably the easiest …
How to Maximize Elite Status Miles
In my last article I talked about How to Maximize your Airline Miles. But as I discussed in my article on the Value of Elite status, while earning award miles is great, earning status miles and hence qualifying for different Elite levels is where all the real returns begin. I also talked about the how and what of Elite status in detail in another article. In this article I shall cover some tips and techniques that can help you maximize your Elite Status Miles and …
How to Maximize Airline Mile Earnings
In my previous articles in the series ‘Economics of Airline Miles’ I covered the Value of Airline Miles in part 1 and the Value of Elite Status in part 2. Continuing in the series, in this article I will discuss practical tips on how to maximize the airline miles you earn. As I mentioned in part 1 of this series, your airline miles are an asset. Treat your collection of airline mile accounts like a portfolio. To borrow a quote from the greatest portfolio owner …
In my last article – The Value of Elite Status, I discussed why you should have a goal to be an Elite on the airline program you earn miles on. I discussed the benefits airlines offer to their Elite Customers. This article was Part 2 of my series on the Economics of Airline Miles. In Part 1 I talked about the value of Airline Miles. In this article, I am taking a break from that series to do an in-depth description of what Elite Status is and how you qualify …
The Value of Elite Status
As I mentioned in part 1 of this series on the ‘Economics of Airline Miles – The Value of Airline Miles‘, to me the most valuable miles I earn are status miles (EQM). That does not mean that award miles (RDM) are unimportant to me, but earning Elite Status is a critical goal. If I earn Elite status, earning award miles will become easier too, as I will talk about in this post. The benefits of Elite Status are tremendous and worth a lot to you …
The Value of Airline Miles
Airline Miles are an asset. They hold true value. Like any collection of assets, your miles in the multiple programs you participate in need to be treated like a portfolio. They need to be managed. Their value to you evaluated (it is subjective, as I will discuss). Over time their value will change and it needs to be monitored. And eventually they need to be redeemed. Their value to you will determine what you should redeem them for and when. I will talk both on the …
Why you should never redeem miles for an award ticket for yourself.
For a Frequent Flyer like me who does not travel so much that I make the highest Elite level on an airline with no struggle, I have an axiom:
He who earns the Miles should never redeem the Miles on himself for a free flight!
That statement gets a lot of quizzical looks whenever I make it. Here is my reasoning:
You do not earn any miles when you fly for free!
That’s it, plain and simple. Of course, it all depends upon …
US Airways has long been the black sheep of the American airline industry. I remember back when they were called UA Air, people referred to them as US Scare (They had a couple of bad crashes). Today it is all over the web. “Friends don’t let friends fly US Airways’ is the signature of a user on FlyerTalk.com. Do a search on US Airways on Twitter and you find tweets such as ‘I hate US Airways’, ‘US Airways is the worst’ and others I cannot repeat. But how much of …
