Exchange Frequent Flier Miles
 

Will someone refresh my memory as to what website I can use to investigate this option?

Related question: Are you having more trouble redeeming FF miles recently? I have never had a problem until today when I attempted to acquire tickets from either of 2 different airports to the west coast in October (9 months from now) and was told that there are only first class seats available for FF redemption. Comments, anyone?

Redeeming miles - getting more and more difficult on many airlines. Whether or not it is because so many people have so many miles or because airlines can not afford to give away many seats - in any event, I have found it almost impossible to get a seat for 25,000 miles unless it is on some awful schedule (like leave at 5 AM).

Bear in mind that there are no set number of FF seats on a flight - could be anywhere from 0 on up - so getting in at precisely the time seats are available does not get you any guarantee of a free seat.

Why don't you sell your miles and then you don't have to worry about blackout dates, seats not available for FF, etc... Most brokers will give you about $400.00 for each 25,000 miles.

Angellyn, isn't it against the airlines rules to sell your FF miles?

You might look at

http://www.webflyer.com/

I haven't used their services, so I can't vouch for them, but they seem to have a lot of information.

I think its correct that most airlines bar selling your miles. However, most of them also have partners, and if you can transfer miles from Airline A to entity B (a partner of Airline A), then from entity B to Airline C (a partner of entity B) you may be able to accomplish your objective.

Also, you might look at

http://www.awardplanner.com/

I think this is run by the man who started Flyertalk, but again I have not used their service. I think you sign up for a subscription for a fee, and they put their experts to work getting you what you want using your miles. Frankly, with awards getting harder and harder to schedule, I am edging toward trying this service. I think a main problem is that the agents at the airlines are familiar with their own flights, but not with their partners' flights, so you have to ferret out all the possibilities before calling, then hope you get an agent with the time, inclination, and knowledge, to look at your suggested routings.

bettyk,

I have been selling my miles for thirteen years and no problem. Look in the classified section of your newspaper under "tickets". you will find several brokers willing to work it out for you.

Make sure you ask the FF agent to check all possible routings and partner airlines for flights on your day of travel.

It may help if you tell what city pairs are acceptable to you and what FF miles you have. For example, you can use UA miles on USAirways (which include America West flights now) and vice versa; or Dl/NW/CO. Alaska Airline is partner with several airlines, and they do have some routes to the east.

Converting mileage from one airline to another via third party programs usually means losing most of it. AMTRAK's Guest Reward program was a way to convert among a few with minimal loss, but that's getting more restrictive too.

As for selling your miles, only do it if you have no intention of keeping that mileage account, and you're cashing out everything all at once. That way, even if you get caught, you don't lose anything. I highly recommend against it.

You will not get caught. As far as the airlines know you are giving your certificate/miles to a friend, which is allowed. Once you sell them, use that cash to pay for your airline tickets. It is nice because blackout dates, FF seats on a particular flight etc... become a thing of the past.

Yes, you can buy a ticket for a friend, or for anyone, but selling the miles, or buying a ticket and selling it, is not allowed by any airline with which I have dealt.

Many people do things that are not allowed, and not all are caught, but that does not mean the behaviour is allowed.

I'm sure that the people who do this pay the income tax on their transactions, too. Does the IRS still have their bounty program?