Insider Travel Tips

Many people are aware of frequent flier programs and the fact that they can earn you free flights. However, not everyone travels often enough to be members of these reward programs, and not everyone knows how they actually work. Frequent flier programs are actually not the only way to earn free flights. Many reward programs offer you the chance to transfer reward points into frequent flier miles, including credit cards that offer airline miles as a reward.

MyPoints.com offers a free membership. This reward program gives you points for shopping that you do online, when you buy through their vendors. Since their vendors include popular sites like Barnes and Noble and Overstock.com, it is usually very easy for people to earn reward points through this program. The reward points can be transferred into frequent flier miles for several major and discount airlines.

American Express also offers reward points for shopping, and has teamed up with Southwest Airlines to allow card holders to transfer their points to frequent flyer miles. Chase Bank also offers credit card users to transfer reward points and earn frequent flyer miles on Continental flights. This can be a great option for those wanting to earn points quickly, because you earn 15,000 frequent flyer miles with your first purchase.

Many other major credit cards and banks with reward points systems allow those points to be transferred into frequent flyer miles for one or several major and discounted airlines. These companies include major credit card vendors like Citibank. If you have several major credit cards but do not belong to a frequent flyer program, you should check your agreements with the credit card company to learn if your reward can be transferred into frequent flyer miles. If so, you may find that your flight is entirely free just by transferring all of your various reward points into one airline’s frequent flyer program. It is also advisable to search or perform credit card reward miles program comparisons online or through frequent flyer handouts.

Another way that you can use reward points for free flights is through hotels. If you travel a lot, weather by car or by plane, you might earn free rewards from the hotels that you stay in. While discount hotels like the Red Roof Inn offer free hotel stays as rewards, major hotels like the Hilton offer reward points that can be used to earn free flights. If you’re a road warrior, you should check out which hotels offer rewards in the form of free flights and frequent flier miles. Choose a hotel that offers rewards that you enjoy and can afford, then use that hotel exclusively in your travels. When it comes time to take a plane for business or pleasure, you will find that you have racked up so many reward points that your flight may be free.

When you go to use your reward points, you will find that you can only use the points for free flights. Reward points do not often earn you discounts on flights. Instead, you save up your frequent flyer miles until you have enough to get that one free flight. Often it can take years to build up enough frequent flier miles to earn a free flight. But with the help of reward points programs in conjunction with frequent flier miles, earning enough points to get a free flight just gets easier and easier.

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“Learn How To Earn an Extra 83,647 Frequent Flyer Miles, without Getting Out of Your Office or Living Room Chair.”

There is nothing more frustrating and less enjoyable than an overcrowded flight with crying babies, screaming children, sobbing mothers, and mindless chatter. Especially when taking a long flight that will likely result in jet lag, these overcrowded flights can be a horrible start to even the most fabulous vacation. Thankfully, there are a few ways that you can increase your potential for a last minute upgrade, and escape the noise and frustration of a crowded economy flight.

First, a few fair warnings. Do not ask for an upgrade outright unless you are a frequent flyer with an upgrade certificate. Also, the situations in which you can get an upgrade, while they can be manipulated to receive the upgrade, do not always occur. In short, getting a last minute upgrade is usually a matter of luck.

That said, there is some preparation you can make to put yourself into a better position of getting a last minute upgrade on your flight. First, pay attention to the seat that you are assigned when you book your flight. If you have a seat in the middle of the plane, you are more likely to get an upgrade on an empty flight where balance becomes an issue, and someone needs to be moved toward the front or the back of the plane.

Second, pay attention to your dress. Do not wear sweats to the airline. Dress in business or business casual clothing. If a flight is overcrowded and someone needs to be upgraded, you will be more likely to be that someone if you look the part. Additionally, being kind to the gate attendant and giving him or her a big smile will go a long way toward getting you chosen when upgrades are being handed out for an overcrowded flight.

Barring other tactics, getting a last minute upgrade can be as simple as giving up your seat. If a flight is over sold, and your flight time or day is not vitally important to your plans, you can opt to give up your seat in exchange for a seat on a later flight, or a flight on the next day. By giving up your seat willingly, you may receive an upgrade on that flight, or on the new flight you are booked on, as a thank you from the airline for helping them resolve the issue.

The overall best way to get an upgrade is to be a member of the airline’s frequent flyer program and have an upgrade voucher in hand. If you don’t have a voucher but you are a member of the airline’s frequent flyer program, you will be more likely to be upgraded in the case of an oversold flight. If you are a member of the frequent flyer program of a competing airline, you may also manage to be upgraded in an oversold flight in the hopes that you will switch to that airlines frequent flyer program in exchange.

Again, getting a last minute upgrade on your airline ticket is largely a matter of luck. However, if you follow these guidelines you may just find yourself out of economy class and in business class if your flight is oversold, overcrowded, or overly empty.