Be alert to taxes and fees charged on award tickets by foreign airlines, however. U.S. airlines don

Miami to Venice First-Class Roundtrip Ticket July 13-20, 2013: It pays to shop around: American Airlines offered only 125,000 miles for this trip, with connections between London and Venice on British cheap airplane tickets to houston tx Airways in business class. US Airways cheap airplane tickets to houston tx charges 250,000 miles for flights on partner airlines.
While new data show how hard that quest can be, there are ways to improve the odds. ExpertFlyer.com, an automated service that can alert shoppers cheap airplane tickets to houston tx when award seats open up on particular flights at desired mileage levels, says its average success rate at scoring desired seats has hovered at about 55% to 60% since 2009, said President cheap airplane tickets to houston tx Chris Lopinto. That s down from about 70% in 2006 to 2009.
It s the time of year when people hoarding frequent-flier miles start trying to book holiday trips or seats for next summer with miles 11 months out. Scott McCartney cheap airplane tickets to houston tx on Lunch Break looks at how you can be an expert shopper for frequent-flier award tickets. Photo: AP.
The reason is simple: Airline websites don t have the full inventory of available award seats. One of the best advantages of using your frequent-flier miles is to book awards on partner airlines. Cash in your American Airlines miles for a trip to Asia on partner Cathay Pacific
Those possibilities don t appear when you search American or US Airways online. They do exist in each airline s reservation cheap airplane tickets to houston tx system, however. An airline agent or a travel agent has access to the entire inventory.
United cheap airplane tickets to houston tx Airlines says it has inventory from all its Star Alliance members available on its website, but United is the exception. Delta and American airlines cheap airplane tickets to houston tx each have inventory from some, but not all, partners available online. For its part, US Airways doesn t make inventory from any of its partners bookable online.
You also need to be wary of airline website award calendars, purporting to show dates when bottom-level awards are available. Many shoppers complain that when they click on a date, the price goes up, or the routing offered at a cheap mileage amount includes long overnight cheap airplane tickets to houston tx stays or airport changes.
Most airlines waive telephone reservation fees for trips that couldn t be booked online. It s best to call during the day Monday-Friday when the most-senior agents are on duty they are more likely to know the best tricks and most clever routings.
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Be alert to taxes and fees charged on award tickets by foreign airlines, however. U.S. airlines don t charge fuel surcharges on their own award tickets, but international airlines often require cash payments of several hundred dollars in addition to miles.
Eli Portnoy of Miami Beach, Fla., doesn t fly Air Canada, but becoming a frequent flier with that carrier let the brand-strategy consultant score first-class round-trip tickets to Venice for less than half the number of miles United Airlines wanted. Mr. Portnoy s neighbor, a travel agent, had suggested to him that he could redeem American Express Co.
credit-card points on many different airlines. One of the best carriers for redemption these days is Air Canada, which spun off its frequent-flier program into a separate loyalty company, Aeroplan, that does an aggressive business selling rewards. You can use Air Canada to book trips on other Star Alliance carriers, such as United, US Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore and Air China
New York to Vail round trip, Dec. 22 to Jan. 5: Air Canada: Seats offered at 25,000 miles weren t available until the 23rd, and required two stops. United Airlines: A nonstop flight was offered for 50,000.
Shopping on his own for a first-class ticket cheap airplane tickets to houston tx to Venice on several U.S. airlines, Mr. Portnoy couldn t find anything cheaper than 250,000 to 350,000 miles round-trip. But five weeks before he wanted to go, he called Aeroplan and was told he could fly first class in private cheap airplane tickets to houston tx sleeper beds from Miami to Venice in late April and back in early May for 125,000 miles, cheap airplane tickets to houston tx using Air Canada partners Lufthansa and United.
Mr. Portnoy enrolled online in Air Canada s program cheap airplane tickets to houston tx and the Aeroplan agent told him how to arrange the mileage transfer with American Express. For a few hundred dollars in fees and 125,000 miles, he got a ticket worth at least $12,000. It worked cheap airplane tickets to houston tx amazingly well, he said.
The current price for first class round-trip between the U.S. and Italy at Air Canada, is still 125,000 Aeroplan miles. United s standard award for the same trip is 295,000 miles. A saver award of 135,000 miles is listed with limited availability.
Most airlines open flights for booking some 11 months before departure, during which the availability of mileage seats fluctuates considerably, without apparent rhyme or reason. The best tool for continuous hunting is website ExpertFlyer.com. Pricing starts at $4.99 a month and the service is used mostly by hard-core road warriors steeped in the intricacies of airline fare codes and upgrade availabilities. ExpertFlyer has a function that will constantly hunt for availability of an award you want and alert you when a seat opens up.
These days, airlines manage inventory of award seats aggressively, often holding back inventory to see how well flights will sell, then opening up seats for lower-level awards as departure gets closer if seats aren t selling as quickly as expected.
The downside: The award alert only works with certain airlines, including American cheap airplane tickets to houston tx and United cheap airplane tickets to houston tx in the U.S. and almost a dozen internationally. (Many big names are missing.) cheap airplane tickets to houston tx The service can search Delta for upgrade awards, but not for Delta s award tickets.
Using miles for last-minute trips instead of buying expensive tickets is one way to get the highest value for your frequent-flier points. Having cheap airplane tickets to houston tx a stash of miles for funerals, the hospitalization of relatives or flying kids to and from college can be prudent.
Last-minute domestic tickets can easily cost $500 to $600, even on discount airlines, cheap airplane tickets to houston tx and often run more than $1,000. That s the same ballpark as that summer trip to Paris or winter vacation in Hawaii.
If you have to spend full price in miles for a domestic ticket, typically 50,000 miles, you get perks such as being able to change your plans without penalty. That s especially useful when dealing cheap airplane tickets to houston tx with a family emergency when you don t know when you ll return home. And often airlines will offer late-booking mileage tickets at lower rates to fill planes as long as your relatives don t live in vacation hot spots.