Are frequent flyer miles worth it?

Are frequent flier (or flyer, depending on who you are ) worth it?

As every great politician said, YES and NO.
Like everything else in life, it depends. Are you a frequent flyer, are your travel plans flexible, etc.

If your intention is to score a round trip ticket to a glorious destination, and you are not an Elite member of your chosen airline's frequent flyer program, then forget it. There isn't any such animal.

I belong to every major U.S. airline program, Mexicana airlines, British Airways, China Southern, and Air Canada. Why, because I've been able to leverage their relationships, promotions and specials for my benefit. It"s really a game, with frequent flyer miles being the points in the game.

There are tons of sites out there telling you how to amass lots of miles without flying. I wont belabor the advice. However, air travel in the U.S. really has become a commodity. Every coach seat blows. It's a sad fact of life. Even some airlines First or Business Class is just O.K.

A better option for the infrequent flyer who wants to use miles or points for that dream vacation is to concentrate on Hotel points. Many people don"t know that you can easily generate free nights at hotels by being loyal to one or two brands and using their partner companies.
With the exception of oversees travel, I’m only going to spend a few hours on the plane, but I"m going to spend several days at the hotel.

Thinking about getting one of those credit cards that give you frequent flyer miles? Don't! If you read the fine print, you'll see that holding the card is costing from $85 to $300 a year. If it's going to take two or three years to get enough miles for that ticket, you could have paid for it outright with the savings from not having the card.

I'll leave you with some quick tips to successfully use frequent flyer miles.

1. Never use frequent flyer miles on any ticket that costs less than $800.
2. If you"re going to a resort destination, get your frequent flyer tickets well in advance. Most airlines release their award tickets 330 days in advance.
3. Consider converting airline miles into hotel points. Go to http://www.webflyer.com/, who has a good tool for showing you how to do this.
4. Take advantage of every point earninopportunityty. Most of the major playerallowow you to search for point earning opportunities on their websites.
5. Go in the off-season.
6. Think about using non-direct flights, open jaw flights or alternative airports to get yourself to your destination.

I"m happy to discuss your specific situation. Drop me a line at jeff@travelbysignature.com and maybe I can help you figure it out.