Could someone please explain frequent flyer miles to me. I almost never fly except every two years to Europe. Would these FFM's do me any good? I've never checked on them because I didn't figure they would help me since I don't fly very often.

I only know United's program. With them, as long as you fly at least once a year (even a short hop like SF to LA) then your miles don't expire. It may take 8 years to add up to a free trip to Europe (about 4 RT from SF to London, for example) but as long as you don't buy more expensive tickets just to fly on that one airline then it doesn't cost you anything to save them up.

Frequent flyer miles can be a great deal. You can acquire them by flying on a certain airline and/or using one of the airline affiliated credit cards (you get 1 mile for each dollar you charge). We charge everything we can just to accrue our miles. Some people use the miles they accrue for free economy class tickets. We buy economy class tickets and use our miles to upgrade to business class when we travel. By doing this we still get the miles credited for the miles flown. Its also a much nicer way to take those long flights to europe. In the United Airlines program, miles do not expire unless there has been no activity on the account for three years. I believe other airlines do the same thing now. Other good programs are the ones provided by Delta and American. We started using United because it is the most convenient airline to fly from our local airport. If you have one airline you usually fly, I would join their program and find out who issues their credit card.

Thanks, GGinSF and Tony. I always fly AA to Europe. I had no idea FFM's would last for up to 3 years; I will certainly contact AA's program and see about joining!

Most airlines have a policy where you can extend the miles beyond the three years fairly easily. Usually, simply earning a few miles through an airline credit card, your phone service, a hotel stay, etc will be enough to buy you more time.

As Tony mentioned, there are other ways to get ff miles, besides flying. Most airlines have affiliated credit cards that will get you miles on their airlines (usually 1 mile per dollar). <BR><BR>Several other credit cards, including American Express, will give you ff miles that can be transferred to several airlines. If you have the discipline not to "run up" your credit cards, this can be a great deal. I put EVERYTHING on my credit card -- groceries, gas, medical co-pays. My friend even put her son's college tuition payment on her card!<BR><BR>Then there are the deals offered by long-distance companies etc. -- I got 1000 miles per month for transferring to MCI. There are websites devoted to discussing these deals.<BR><BR>Bottom line: You might get to fly more often if you can latch on to some of these miles!

Go to WWW.flyertalk.com and you'll learn more than you ever wanted to know about FF programs!<BR>BTW, I also charge everything to my Continental CC. It's amazing how it adds up!

My husband and I are going to Europe in May, Delta Business Elite on flyer miles. I wanted to buy coach fare and upgrade, but they wanted $1500/each for upgradable coach fare, so we just bought the two tickets on flyer miles. At the time of puchase, others were getting trips to Europe for $500 and less, so check prices even if you plan to upgrade. I put everything I can on AX for flyer miles. I tried to pay my daughter's tuition with AX, but the school didn't take it. Excellent idea if you can do it. I don't fly much, so I get my miles from my AX purchases and other promotions. AX miles do not expire.

My husband and I have ff miles with Northwest. These miles do not expire. The only inconvenient aspect about ff miles is that they are hard to redeem. You have to book your flights more than a year in advance (to europe, at least). For domestic flights, it's easier. However, they utilize flights with multiple stops to get to your destination.

I'm sure that the earlier you book, the better selection you'll get. But last year in March I booked 3 ff seats together from Boston to London and back for July/August.

I am an American frequent flyer mileage grabber. (And for you in Dallas, that should be perfect). I don't fly a lot either, in fact have only paid for one flight in the past two years! But over the years I have racked up almost one million ff miles with American. I too use a Citibank card that gives me a mile for every dollar I charge, and I charge everything I can. When I bought a new car, they let me put the first $5000 dollars on the credit card which I then paid off with my equity credit line (the way I was paying for the car anyway -- so I got a bonus free month for paying any interest in that first $5000.) I belong to their aadvantage dining program and get 10 miles for every dollar I spend at a whole lot of restaurants -- automatically when I use the citibank card -- no record keeping or calling it to their attention. While in New York for a month I gained over 20,000 miles just for eating at about 18 restaurants, most of which I didn't even know were giving me miles. I have switched back and forth to MCI three times, each time getting anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 miles for doing so. You have to keep it for 5 or 6 months, then I switch back to my local carrier. Soon I have another offer for another 5,000 to switch to MCI again. I look for double and triple mileage benefits when I stay at their selected hotels. When I send my mother flowers for Mother's Day through Flowers.com, I get 500 to 750 miles. Well, you get the idea.<BR>American is one of the few airlines that lets you upgrade with ff miles on any fare, so you can still get a "super saver" fare to Europe and upgrade with miles. Yes, you need to do it 11 months ahead, but hey, I plan that far ahead anyway. So far I have cashed in miles for business class upgrades to Europe three times, and totally free business class tickets to Europe three times, plus free business class tickets to four cities in Asia, and to New Zealand and Australia. If you work at it, it is amazing how quickly they add up.

I am a FF point junkie and proud of it!<BR><BR>In the last ten years, I have flown free from Canada to San Francisco (2 First CLass tickets), Hawaii (3 business class tickets during the Christmas break), Aruba (2 economy), Alaska ( 3 business class), and many short haul trips within the country.<BR><BR>How? Like a previous poster, I charge everything. The $120 annual fee is redeemed the first time each year that I rent a car and don't pay the CDW fee as the CRedit card provides PRIMARY coverage. I walk in the case of an accident.<BR><BR>I just booked 2 reward tickets to the UK for the summer. NO, they don't need to be booked a year in adavnce. In my experience, they won't let you book until 9 months in advance anyway.<BR><BR>The only downside is the waiting on the phone so it requires some patience!<BR><BR>Happy travelling!!!

Thanks for all the information! Patrick, can you choose the day and flight on American if you book a year ahead with FFM's?

Yes. I forget the exact number of days ahead you can book, but it is right at 11 months. I always check just ahead of that time and ask the exact day I can first book for the flight over. I chose exactly the flight I want. They will put that on hold until the same number of days ahead of the return, and then I book that as well. This past summer I missed my day to call for the return by almost a week. The flight I wanted was already gone (since they only allow a few seats for free business class), so I had to stay over in Europe an extra day or two (a rough job, but somebody has to do it!).

ttt

My husband and I use the United FF program. We both have their affiliated credit cards. Between travel and the use of the credit cards, the miles really add up. In addition, you sometimes get bonus miles when you reserve flights online with the United web site. Our two daughters also are registered for FF miles. Between traveling with us on vacations and bonus miles received, one of our daughters will be able to go to Washington, DC this summer on a school trip using only the miles she has accrued.

Just to amplify/clarify: You can't transfer ff miles to someone else's account, but you can use your miles to "buy" a ticket for anyone you want. I've bought one for my sister, who has a different last name, and nobody even asked if we were related.<BR><BR>

It's easier to get a single ticket than it is to get two tickets. It also helps if you're flexible. In March 2001 I decided I wanted to go to Europe from California in business class on United in June. I called them, gave them the dates I wanted to travel and asked where could I go. I wanted to fly into one city and out another; my desire was to either fly into or out of Brussels. They were able to fly me into Brussels and out of Frankfurt. This year I booked in early February to fly to Thailand in November. I wanted to fly first class but there was nothing available in that class so I'm going business class. It usually helps that I want one ticket. In this case, booking ten months out didn't get me exactly what I want, but it's close enough. Staying flexible and being courtesous to the person on the other end of the phone works wonders.

I'm a member of the AirFrance (useless -air) club and the United club, and because I'm signed onto United's Safeway and Giant (where I spend a king's ransom), I get a free airfare about every year. The Air France deal is worthless; their restrictions are ridiculous. I usually get the best deals on United, though this spring I'm headed to France on Air France for the first time in several years.<BR>To answer yur question: I generally get the best deal with Air France.I get the next best deal with United.

I, too, live in Dls and fly AA almost exclusively. Altho I fly approx 8 times a year, I add to that total by doing all the things Patrick mentioned. I put every five dollar lunch on my AA CC but you must pay it off every month as the interest is quite high. With AA, as long as you add miles, they do not expire. For me I never worry about that as I use at least one ff ticket a year.