Frequent Flier Miles
 

I travel a lot this past two years but never got around to get any FF cards/memberships. Most of my airline tickets are bought online and from the least expensive carrier.

Anyone knows how I can maximize my ability to accrue FF miles?

In the past year, I've probably written a small book on the subject and several others have as well. I suggest you search here for FF miles and you will get a ton of information. I'm too lazy today to write it all out again. There are dozens of ways to tackle it. But I'll be honest. If you "never got around" to even registering to get a membership despite the fact you were doing a lot of traveling, I doubt you'll have the 'stamina' to really maximize your miles, because it takes quite a lot of effort.

Which airline do you fly most? You need to concentrate your miles on ONE FF program - either on that airline or its partners.

Let us know where you fly and which airline you fly, and we'll tell you where you should bank your miles.

There is also a great deal of info at www.flyertalk.com

I flew Delta to Brussels, British Airways to London/Paris, and will be flying American Airlines to Zurich next month. Domestically, I've flown JetBlue to Ft. Lauderdale, AirTran (before it went bankrupt) to Kansas City, then LA, United to Minneapolis, etc. I buy which ever airline has the lowest fare. I never registered for a FF account because I almost never choose my flight plan based on the airlines.

:-(

mingt..For years I had the same problem and was never faithful and kept changing airlines everytime I went abroad..until I joined Fodors and saw the light..
Now I fly only with Continental or AA and I am amazed of how fast the miles keep multiplying..

"Frequent Flyer" miles are designed to reward passengers that stick to one carrier and its partners. If as you said, you have no loyalty to any airline, then forget about FF miles.

You may still sign up all the plans for free, but you probably won't get anything for years, if at all. And if you do, know about the alliances. You can earn USAirways miles on United flights and vice versa; same thing with CO/NW/DL.

Get a credit card (American Express or selected mastercards, I think Capital One is among them) that will let you get points for everything you buy, that can be converted to miles. These can be used to "top off" miles that you get from your assorted airlines. Then put *everything* on the cc's, including groceries, bill payments, etc. It adds up fast.

But as others have said, the key is to be willing to put the effort into it; I hope you're ready now. Some airlines will let you count trips retroactively so sign up right now!