Even experienced reward travelers make mistakes when using airlines and miles. This can lead to comfortable flights, extra costs, and even inability to travel.
Fortunately, the most common mistakes when booking an airline rewards trip are easy to avoid. We will explain the most common mistakes and how to ensure that your future reward redemption goes as planned.
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Limit your rewards and do not earn transferable points and miles
While getting a generous welcome bonus on a credit card is an easy way to improve your reward balance to ensure your next dream redemption, devaluation is an unfortunate reality of perspective and mileage industry.
For example, when the plan suddenly raises the rate to 70,000 miles without notice, you could save 60,000 miles, close to the 63,000 miles booked to Europe.
Suddenly, you stay away from that trip.
As we have seen, plans can (and do) improve redemption rates without notifying their members. Therefore, the general rule is not to hoard your perspective and mileage to avoid the risk of unexpected price increases in your favorite airline loyalty program.
Another way to protect yourself from depreciation of the airline program is to earn transferable credit card points or miles instead of points or miles in a specific plan. This allows you to keep the option on until you are ready to book and avoid depreciating in one program.
Related: How (and Why) You Should Earn Transferable Credit Card Points and Miles
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Rely on airline websites only
For beginners, being told that the airline’s website is not always reliable when looking for reward tickets. Despite significant improvements over the past few years, you may still not see all the possible options to use your hard-earned rewards.
For example, partner airlines don’t always appear. Even if they do, your website may not show all available routes. Programs can also allow for stopovers or other flexible redemption options, but are not always obvious.
You can search for reward availability in three major alliances in a variety of ways, but no airline provides the perfect user experience. Some allow calendar searches if your dates are flexible, while others have valid filtering options. If you’re just starting out, it’s worth spending some time exploring the websites of major U.S. airlines, Delta, and United Airlines, but you can also start with more general websites like Google Flights or Flight Connections. Explore airlines that fly on the desired date and filter through alliances or individual carriers.
Remember that partner airlines don’t always show up online. With some awards, the best option is probably to call.
It’s also a good idea to be familiar with SEATS.Aero and Expertflyer (the latter both owned by TPG’s parent company Red Ventures). Doing this can help you track hard-to-find reward spaces to redeem points and miles more efficiently.
Related: Start your trip with points, miles and credit cards
Rely on phone agents only
Just as an airline’s website may not be completely accurate, don’t assume that its phone agents are always in obvious places. Many people don’t understand routing rules and don’t know how to search for reward lists on partner airlines. We often find that agents are reluctant to search on multiple dates, just telling us there is no availability and ending the call. Understand your routing rules and guide the agents if needed.
Building an understanding of airline fare courses is also helpful. In short, the fare code for each ticket corresponds to your ticket type. If you know the correct fare course for reward bookings, you can push agents to confirm tickets.
For example, Star Alliance standardizes the fare category for its member airlines’ reward tickets – X is for economical, I am for business class, O o for first class. If you find an I-Fare ticket on Star Alliance Ariance Airlines, you should book through the frequent flyer plan of any operator in the alliance.
When you don’t get a satisfactory answer, a good strategy is to hang up and try again. Don’t think that the agent knows more than you do, especially if you confirm that there is a reward space.
Related: Don’t Wait: Here’s How to Get to Airline Customer Service Quickly
Search by segment
Another critical error applies when you book a complex itinerary with multiple stops. Sometimes, you may encounter situations where the website fails to properly determine the price or displays all flight options for one or more reasons:
- Unable to combine two or more partner airlines
- Unable to combine low-level business-level flights with low-level coaches to set tickets as low-level business-level rewards
- Inclined to “force” you to your own flight
Some sites allow you to search for market segments using multiple searches, but to be safe, try searching for one flight at a time. If you are unable to find the website for correctly combining flights, please call to book your ticket. This way, you will have the exact flights you need and you can rewind them to the phone agent.
Unfortunately, it is worth noting that this does not always work. For example, American Airlines uses the “married segment” logic when pricing tickets on its own flights. As a result, if you fly from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) through John Kennedy International Airport (JFK) in New York at the savings level, this does not mean that you can automatically book Kennedy International Airport to lax.
Related: How to Find the Cheapest Exchange Rate with Flying Blue Mileage
Not suitable for dates or airports
Airlines have sophisticated systems to determine which flights are available for redemption rewards. If your travel plans are completely strict, you may lose your luck. Flexibility may be impossible in some cases, but sometimes, being able to change schedules on a single day can make successful redemptions and rejections.
The same is true for choosing which airport to use. If you can’t find the reward you want in the first place, cast a wider network. You can try an alternative portal that is far away, or consider starting from a major hub and booking a separate positioning flight to achieve this.
Remember to leave enough time to go from one airport to another.
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Don’t plan ahead
A common myth is that reward tickets must be booked, i.e. the second second the flight is available.
While most seats are usually loaded for the first time in some plans, usually 11 or 12 months before the flight, some plans release last minute reward seats on the days before departure.
Many people are reluctant to leave the plan until the last minute, even if they find a good seat in Europe, such as tomorrow.
It’s worth knowing when your selection program will load seats and whether additional seats will be added at the last minute.
Booking nine months in advance is usually a good idea. At this point, almost all programs will load their seats and be far enough in advance that the availability of rewards is still abundant.
It is best to book early during peak trips. For example, if you want to fly to Australia for Christmas, book early.
Related: The best time to book a business-grade reward flight: Last minute and Premium booking
Book instead of rechecking your reward flight
After booking any flight, it is best to check it regularly. Schedule and equipment changes completely mess up the itinerary may allow you to rebook tickets on a more ideal flight (free). The sooner you recognize these changes, the easier it is to find alternative routes.
Additionally, you may book a financial incentive ticket, but then see commercial-grade availability a few weeks before departure. Depending on the airline, you may be eligible to move to a higher cabin without changing the fees, although you have to pay for the mileage difference.
Think of your flight reservations (including reward tickets and cash reservations) as a plant that needs attention. Otherwise, you may experience significant timetable changes or cancellations that will harm your trip.
Related: Avoiding Fees: How to Change and Cancel Airline Reward Tickets
Ignore the possibility of stopover and opening
Some airlines allow you to book a free stopover on your way to your destination, or fly to different cities. These are great ways to maximize reward tickets without spending any (or many) other points or miles.
For example, the Alaska Airlines Mileage Program allows you to add stopovers on international award flights for free, even with one-way tickets. Meanwhile, Air Canada Aeroplan allows stopovers at 5,000 miles.
Additionally, you can use your points or miles to combine one-way reward flights and then book cheap cash tickets (or other form of shipping) to travel between cities.
Don’t limit yourself to round trips. Flexible routing rules can help you visit other cities and get more from your holidays.
Related: How to Maximize Open Jaws for Stops and Awards Ceremonies: Check out these airlines’ loyalty programs
Pay unnecessary fees
Auxiliary fees are a huge business for airlines and certain programs impose it on reward tickets. Some airlines charge fees for departures from specific regions, while others add fuel surcharges to ride certain carriers. If possible, you should always look for alternative flight options to avoid these fees.
If you have transferable credit card points or miles, consider transferring them to a procedure where there is no fuel surcharge, such as Air Canada Aeroplan or Avianca Lifemiles.
In particular, what you need to note is: phone ticketing fees. Agents usually increase this fee when you call to redeem points or miles, even on awards that cannot be booked online. If the website does not allow you to book a flight, politely ask the telephone agent to waive the booking fee. After all, you have no choice to call. You have to call.
Related: Dynamic Pricing vs. Fuel Surcharge – Are the Two Disadvantages of Your Next Redemption Smaller?
Redemption points and miles for things other than aircraft
Usually, when redeeming a flight, you usually get the most value from the rewards, rather than items like gift cards, on-board purchases, or online shopping. With a few exceptions, you should resist the urge to seek other redemptions, even if you can’t find the best reward seat for you right away. Indeed, redeeming Skymiles from the Delta for peak travel dates may not have the best value, but it almost always beats you what you can get by using points or miles of merchandise or gift cards.
Overall, reward redemption usually provides the best value for your points and miles.
Bottom line
Starting in the world of points and Miles requires a lot of work, and you inevitably make mistakes. But educating your own booking awards ceremony is a key first step to avoiding them.
Hopefully these suggestions will help prevent accidents and ensure maximum rewards when booking your next trip.
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