Hidden Costs of Flying for Free
The days of no fees and taxes are long gone when using frequent flyer miles!
- Check with the airline to find out what their basic booking fees are, but they typically charge at least $25-$35 plus tax for booking 21 days in advance and up to $150 plus tax when booking last minute!
- A few of the airlines allow you to still change the time of your flight, the day of, if a seat is available. However, many airlines will charge you up to $150 to change your reservation once booked!
- If you book an award ticket, and then decide to cancel the trip, it will most likely cost you a fee to redeposit your miles into your account.
Get the Most Bang for Your Buck
- A recent Consumer Reports article quoted the advice of Webflyer.com chairman Randy Petersen: “Use miles when you need to, and look for deals that make it easier to get a free seat. To make your own decision, do the math. Large U.S. airlines typically charge at least 25,000 miles for a round-trip domestic flight. At 1.2 cents per mile, that’s $300. So if a flight costs less than $300, don’t ‘spend’ 25,000 miles. If it costs much more, go ahead!”
- The most cost effective way to use your miles is to UPGRADE your seat to business or first class.
Tricks of the Trade
Check out Mahalo.com’s fantastic frequent flyer insider tips!
- If you can’t find a seat for the minimum number of miles to your destination, ask the representative if they can route you through a city that can get you that seat!
- Check nearby alternate airports for a seat too!
- Airlines typically release seats for frequent flyers 330 days prior to the departure flight. Savvy travelers know this and take FULL advantage. Do the math and plan ahead! (330 days = approximately 11 months.)
- Play chicken with the program if you can’t find anything right away. The opposite of booking far ahead is waiting until the last minute. Often, airlines will release award seats close to the travel date if they believe these seats won’t sell to regular paying customers. While you may have to pay a late booking fee, it may still be cost-effective depending on the route you are flying!
- If you don’t have enough miles for a certain flight, you may use your miles and pay the difference. Make sure that you are aware of the charges before going ahead with the redemption!
Like so much in life, getting the most out of your miles does require some advance planning. So take a look at all those miles you’ve been accumulating – you may just have enough for a Fab & Fru freebie flight!
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Great way to break this info down in an easy to read manner! I think people underestimate the #/amount of miles it takes to great a free flight!
Denise
http://frugalluxe.blogspot.com/
I can’t believe they have the nerve to charge $150.00 for a seat that you have PAID miles for. What a rip-off!!
Good information in this article.
Great way to break this info down in an easy to read manner! I think people underestimate the #/amount of miles it takes to great a free flight!
Denise
http://frugalluxe.blogspot.com/
found your site on del.icio.us today and really liked it.. i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later
I just want to add my two cents worth after much investigating.
Try and cash in on some of your FF miles, you will be in for a surprise.
I will use Delta the example I have tried, the advertised amounts required for European trips round trip are “supposedly” 60k each way for business/first class.
I would like Delta to show me one ticket available for those amounts in a 365 day calendar. Not one..
I took the time and did numerous searches on their “Three level Tier” , low, med and High tickets.
The lowest I could find was 200k from Lax-Ist (Istanbul, Europe), round trip ticket in Biz class, flying time 36 hours. (this was in their “low tier”)
It gets more ridiculous, the fares went up to as much as 465k, miles and flying times of in excess of 30 hours.
They were very keen that you travel with Delta in the onset, but try and use them now, no wonder people are letting them expire, they cant get seats.
Delta , fix this issue please, I am very flexible for travel , I can practically go anytime, so you tell me when I can find a ticket for the minimum,(low) advertised rates.. 140k r/t to Europe.
FREQUENT FLYER PROGRAMS HAVE BECOME A JOKE..
I forgot to add, last year I did the same trip with American Airlines and it cost 200K, mid July. Biz class.
This year I did a Delta to Amsterdam, outbound in coach(paid to go into preferred seating), return in Biz class, cost, 160k. a bit steep wouldnt you say.
What about the converting the FF miles into Points.com and using the points for gift cards, hotels and cars. I had enough miles on AA to go to Europe for 2, and they would not book me as they said the flight would fill up with paying customers. Am I not a paying customer by using their credit card? I will wait to hear what you have to say about the Points.com exchange?