Use those frequent flyer miles now, and be prepared to pay
Posted by
George on Monday, June 30, 2008 to
Airline Industry News
It was bound to happen. American, US Airways, and Delta are now charging to cash in your frequent flyer miles, and it's almost certain that others will follow, and that these fees will become a permanent fixture. On Delta, you'll pay $25 now for domestic frequent flyer tickets and $50 for international. On US Air, beginning in August, "free" tickets for US and Canada travel will now be assessed a $25 fee. Flights to Mexico and the Caribbean are $35 while flights to Hawaii or to international destinations outside of North America will cost $50. American Airlines charges a flat $5 fee.
Keep in mind the other fees associated with these once "free" tickets. You'll pay $100 or even $150 to change a frequent flyer ticket after issuance; $100 or more to rebank your miles should you decide not to use the ticket; an additional fee to issue a frequent flyer ticket over the phone or in person with a ticketing agent.
And get this: American recently announced copayments for certain business class tickets on various routes. Meaning that you'll have to fork over miles plus cash!
Plus there is no doubt in my mind that the standard 25,000 mile award level (which is virtually impossible to get in any case) will soon be history, as will the 50,000 "anytime" award (meaning there are no blackout dates).
So if I were you, I'd cash out. In fact, I just cashed in 150,000 miles in the British Airways Executive Club to buy a first class New York-London ticket. BA raised the price of their frequent flyer seats a few years ago and caught me unawares, and I vowed it would never happen again.
Cash in those miles! And beware of expiration. Miles are expiring faster than ever unless you have some activity in your account. And then look into a cash back credit card rather than a mile-producing one.
US Airways' Frequent Flyer Fee Structure
As you can see from the chart below, copied from US Airways' site, there's no such thing as a free ticket anymore. If you book a "free" frequent flyer ticket by phone with insufficient advance notice a domestic ticket will cost you $100 in fees ($25 processing fee plus $75 quick ticketing fee). Change your mind? Up to $150 to re-deposit your miles or change your flight. Want to fly confirmed standby on the same day of travel? That's $25.
Share this post:
Comments
Click here to post a comment.
By Mark Kowalsky on
Monday, June 30, 2008 at 1:48 PM
While it is getting more difficult to cash in miles, we (2 people) recently(4/20-5/4) flew coach from Chicago to Zurich on Frequent Flyer Miles (on 2 different airlines). We had no problem getting the dates we wanted(outbound and inbound on Sundays).
In order to cash in miles, frequent flyers will have to travel over Spring breaks (April-May) or Fall (September-October) to fly on the days you want. We were able to fly for the minimum miles needed for Off Season Off Peak Travel (AA 40K and UA 50K).
In addition because my spouses return flight was delayed 4 hours, our account was credited 10K miles! So we got credited miles on a Free Ticket! A pretty sweet deal, I'll take a delayed flight if I can get 10K miles :).
Also, there isn't yet a checked baggage fee for international flights. It's not all bad folks, you may have to be more creative to use those miles but I've flown free 4 times with no problem booking a flight on the days I wanted to fly.
By turtletrot1 on
Monday, June 30, 2008 at 5:42 PM
Guess I should have kept the 50K mile charge to Frankfurt, Germany from Florida. I think there will be fewer for the 50K, too. Already it is not easy to find them except going far out in date.
By Marlies on
Monday, June 30, 2008 at 7:08 PM
I just got two tickets through flying blue from SFO to AMs for 50,000 points each. Great! Until they slapped me with the taxes and fees charge of $498.85 each....hmmm. I checked the Delta Website for the same flight, according to the website, I would have had to pay about $133 per ticket for taxes and fees.
By joey on
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 12:37 PM
i have about 60,000 ff miles on capital one cc i think i can fly almost any airlines anyone know about extra fees with them¿
By Louis Beil on
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 2:47 PM
Ah, sweet Southwest Airlines, where FREE means FREE, and those free tickets are easy to use. You can even give them to others. Two bags go free. The peanuts are free, too.
By Norm on
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 6:28 PM
Within the last few weeks I have booked 3 trips for 3 different people on United from Boston to Los Angeles and return with no problems. I had to adjust the dates I wanted by one day on one of the flights. I simply called United and asked them to walk me through the online use of 25,000 miles per ticket. They did the first one with me and I found that it was simple enough for me to do it myself. No problems and no fees on three separate transactions on three different days; seat assignments included and itineraries emailed to me correctly on each. Every big airline has an online customer service department which will help you with no fee attached. I did it again with Delta two nights ago; there procedure was confusing, their system went down so the online guy did all the work and didn't charge me anything---there were three reservations and I used 2 different e-vouchers. You must be willing to work at it and must be willing to ask for a Supervisor; get a little pissed off when they are condescending. After all, no matter what, you are still the customer.
By cacrooks on
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 7:14 PM
This is just crazy. In a sense, you've already paid cash for the miles when you buy the ticket in the first place. I like & use Alaska's milage program frequently. It allows me to lower the cost of a fare up to $250 (used to be 50%) off the ticket price when I cash in 15,000 miles. Sometimes it really pays off!
By Wilmar on
Tuesday, July 01, 2008 at 7:58 PM
Delta also charges $75 for late booking fee if you want to redeem your miles, on top of $10 redemption fee. I think this happens if you make reservation less than 2 weeks before you fly. I found this last week when trying to get an award ticket to DC for the weekend.
I finally got a free roundtrip ticket from Northwest with 25000 Worldperks miles, they only charged $10 redemption fee. And guess what? I got Delta flights on my itinerary!!
By Mark Miller on
Thursday, July 03, 2008 at 2:48 PM
The airlines are just now employing the gestapo fee tactics the banking industry has been using for years. Next we'll have an additional fee for ripe bananas vs green ones.
By LJ on
Friday, July 04, 2008 at 11:46 PM
Thanks for the tip;I've cashed in all my miles and now I'm holding two round trip tickets, I hope I'm not left out in the cold. I definitely have changed my travel options and I'll do anything possible NOT to fly. Most of the brochures I receive nowadays regarding these type of trips are going straight to the garbage can.!
By s owens on
Friday, August 08, 2008 at 2:17 AM
Just flew free to Kauai from Phx, 2 of us, on HAWAIIAN AIRLINES on frequent flyer miles. No issues whatsoevr, no fees, no BS,on time all the time, I only fly hawaiian or southwest airlines. America worst did it to, aka USAIRWAYS, me once and I will never fly them again, ever. s owens
See more blog entries ...
