March 19, 2009
Calling All Airline Mileage Experts
by Wendy Perrin
A great question has come in from reader Will Davis of New York City. I don't know the answer, but I have a feeling some of you savvy FlyerTalk addicts might:
"Hi Wendy, I have 5,000 to 10,000 miles on 6 or 7 different airlines. Is there any type of service that you are aware of that will allow me to trade them all in for either cash or miles on another airline?"
Any of you road warriors out there know the answer? Just click on "Comments" below. And, if you like, please include your Web site's URL in the text of your comment so we can click to learn more about you (and discover how you know so much). Thanks!
RSS Feeds
Convert your miles into merchandise that you can then sell on the web. Loyaltymatch.com allows you to do just that. Users can basically trade their airline miles for cool stuff like Vtech Nitro Notebook, or an Apple Ipod Shuffle. You can then sell those things for cash through Loyaltymatch or other sites like Ebay.com.
Posted by: TheBrooklynNomad | March 19, 2009 at 06:23 PM
A lot of hotel point programs will let you turn airline miles into say points... Starwood's SPG program would be a good place to start. www.spg.com.
In my opinion hotel points are more valuable anyway. If you can't get them all into one guest program spread them out. They are easier to redeem.
Also check airline mergers. NWA and Delta have a cool program now where if you combine miles you get xtra bonus miles. That will most likely narrow 5-6 down to 2-3.
Will - http://worldwidewill.medjet.com
Posted by: WorldWideWill | March 19, 2009 at 06:23 PM
www.points.com I have registered for the site but I have not yet used their services. The participating airlines include: Aeroplan®
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
American Airlines AAdvantage®
Asia Miles"
BMI
British Airways Executive Club
Delta SkyMiles®
DISTANCIA
Frontier Airlines EarlyReturns®
Hawaiian Airlines® HawaiianMiles®
Icelandair Award Points
JetBlue TrueBlue
Lufthansa Miles & More®
Midwest Airlines Midwest Miles
Scandinavian Airlines EuroBonus
US Airways® Dividend Miles®
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Posted by: franceshsieh | March 19, 2009 at 06:56 PM
Miles with some frequent flyer programs can be transferred out. See WebFlyer's mileage converter app for information.
http://www.webflyer.com/programs/mileage_converter/
However in most cases poor value. There are also some unsanctioned ways to swap/trade miles, but for these relatively low amounts it is most unlikely to be worthwhile.
Instead, I'd consider ways to use them up - perhaps oneway awards (where available). Or if it doesn't cost much to top up the miles required for an award (either by buying extra miles, flying, or other promotional activity). As long as the miles aren't about to expire there is no need to rush this top-up process. I have some odd accounts I use when flying airlines that are not part of an alliance, and earn a few miles every year to keep them current. Eventually I'll have enough for an award.
Going forward try to rationalise into just 1 or 2 programs. It's less hassle and a faster way to earn awards for most people.
Posted by: TheGlobalTraveller | March 19, 2009 at 07:32 PM
Trading in small accoutn balances is rarely a worthwhile endeavor. YOur efforts will be better spent adding to the balances you already have until reaching the minimum domestic award level. There are constantly opportunities to pick up a few miles here and a few miles there. Keep your eyes open on the blogs (try frugaltravelguy.blogspot.com)for consumer promos that offer great value and will get you to those goals reasonably. Example use your milage credit cards to buy coins from the US mint. No cost, no shipping and a healthy increase in mileage balances are available across many programs.
good Luck
Posted by: ingy104 | March 20, 2009 at 07:07 AM
Hi everyone, This is Kishore, For airlines phone numbers, airlines address, contact numbers, customer service, mail ids, history of airlines, USA, UK airlines information, IATA code, baggage info, check in visit Altiusdirectory.com .
http://www.altiusdirectory.com/Travel/airline-phone-numbers.html
Posted by: kishor4u | July 09, 2009 at 02:29 AM