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Get The Most Out Of Your Rewards Points

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 11, 2007

I remember sitting in my grandmother's living room and licking S&H Green Stamps and pasting them in prize booklets in hopes of getting something for free.

Funny thing is I can't recall a single thing we got for those stamps - and for all the gluey taste on my tongue.

Fast forward and the Green Stamps of today are frequent-flier programs or hotel reward points or some loyalty program promising you free airline tickets, hotel stays or car rentals in exchange for your repeat business.

But I often wonder if our loyalty is worth the aggravation it takes to redeem those miles and points.

I once spent a considerable amount of time trying to redeem miles for two tickets to Hawaii for my 10th wedding anniversary. I'm about to celebrate my 16th wedding anniversary and the ticketing ordeal is still fresh in my mind.

I found a flight outbound but couldn't find seats for customers like me - folks redeeming miles - for the return. There were too many blackout dates - restricted travel dates. Finally, I was told that to get a flight home, I would have to relinquish extra miles. In desperation, I relented.

Becoming A 'Mileage Pro'

It's that kind of frequent-flier frustration that led Randy Petersen and Tim Winship to team up and write "Mileage Pro: The Insider's Guide to Frequent Flyer Programs" (OAG Worldwide, $19.95). It's the November pick for the Color of Money Book Club.

For years, "members of frequent-flier programs have been trying to make sense of these deceptively simple yet endlessly complicated programs," they say.

These two men have made a career out of helping frequent fliers. Petersen publishes InsideFlyer magazine and several travel-related Web sites, including WebFlyer.com and FlyerTalk.com.

Winship is the publisher of FrequentFlier.com and is a contributing editor for Frequent Flyer magazine and SmarterTravel.com.

He spent 20 years working in loyalty marketing for Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Hilton Hotels. Winship developed frequent-flier programs.

"Mileage Pro" is a book many of us need. You have to know how to work the system to "squeeze every ounce of value" out of membership-has-its privileges programs.

"Many rewards go unredeemed because travelers either do not have the time to use them or have not learned how to manage them," the authors write. "Other travelers do not concentrate their loyalty, finding themselves with miles and points scattered everywhere except in the program from which they are seeking free travel."

Track Your Points, Miles

The authors believe that if you manage travel loyalty programs well, you can enjoy some nice perks and minimize the headaches in redeeming your rewards. For example, they point out that more than 50 percent of all miles and points are earned without leaving the ground. Use the right partnerships to boost freebies.

Petersen and Winship say it is particularly important to keep track of your points and miles. An estimated 7 percent to 8 percent of travel is improperly recorded, they point out. That's not a high figure but you don't want to be cheated out of a mile or point.

This primer covers a lot of ground, including why it's worth trying to gain elite status, how best to exchange miles and points among programs and what strategies to use in converting miles and points into money.

The authors compile the 52 best pieces of frequent-flier advice. There also is a useful resources section with travel-related Web sites and publications.

This is one book you will want to take with you when you travel. Read it while waiting to board your flight and maybe next time, you can enjoy a free ride.

Michelle Singletary can be reached at The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. N.W., Washington DC 20071.

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