Frequent Flyer Basics

The frequent flyer program (FFP) is an incentive program operated by an airline to reward customers for their continued loyalty. As a traveler, you earn free miles for the miles that you fly on a particular airline. The concept behind frequent flyer programs is that the airlines want their passengers to become lifetime customers. It is much more costly for the airlines to get new customers than it is to retain the ones they already have. So how do they reward you? The more frequently you fly with them, the greater your awards.

Your frequent flyer miles reside in your account; much like your dollars in the bank. They accumulate as you travel, although unfortunately they don't earn interest. At this time, most of the larger domestic airlines use a fairly uniform policy: mileage does not expire, but there must be some activity in your account once every three years. The airlines may change their mileage expiration policies, so you should read their most current guidelines. When the mileage total reaches a certain amount, you can "redeem" them for an award, usually air travel.

Managing Miles

If the ticket would cost less than $300, you're probably better off buying it outright than using your miles. Frequent-flier miles typically expire after three years of inactivity.

Convert Miles

Points.com lets you take all your orphan miles or points from participating plans and consolidate them into one of your own choosing. Points.com allows 3,600 different exchanges for airline miles, hotel stays, free flowers, Starbucks coffee and gift certificates at Barneys New York, Crate & Barrel and 180 other retailers. Company charges $5.95 per individual transaction, or $19.95 for a year. The average exchange ratio at Points.com is just under 1.7-to-1, critics claim it is far more costly.

Convert miles to cash:

You can turn extra miles and points into cash via of mileage brokers. Just keep in mind airline rules prohibit such conversions. As the brokers on Dallas-based MrMileage.com clearly state on their Web site, "It's not against the law for you to sell your frequent flyer miles or awards, but it is against airline policy.