Jumping through hoops to redeem rewards
Various colorful visa stamps (not real) on a passport page. International business travel concept. Frequent flyer visas. Credit: Fotolia
Many air travelers are irked by their inability to do what airlines promised they could when they signed up for their frequent-flier programs: redeem their miles for free airline tickets. Now, they are turning to professional consultants to help them navigate the confusing world of travel loyalty programs.
"Awards seats are definitely scarcer," says Brian Kelly, who operates thepointsguy.com.
REWARDS IN DEMAND A 2011 study by the market research firm Colloquy found that Americans accumulate an astounding $48 billion in rewards points and travel miles but fail to redeem at least one-third of them. A study by IdeaWorks the year before singled out US Airways as the stingiest airline: Only 4 percent of its traffic came from frequent-flier awards, compared with 14 percent for market-leading Southwest Airlines.
HELP REDEEMING Some airlines now charge fees and taxes to travelers redeeming frequent traveler points
When Dan Zacharia of Syracuse, N.Y. tried to cash in 100,000 miles to book a round-trip business-class ticket to Europe on Air France, for example, the airline would happily take his miles but taxes and other "surcharges" would set him back $900.
Given the challenges, travelers may prefer to spend several hundred dollars per ticket for a consultant.
Ryan Lile runs the Savvy Traveler (savvytravel.net), a company that helps frequent travelers turn their points into tickets. He charges clients $75 an hour. Lile's accomplishments include maneuvering his way around obscure rules restricting United Airlines frequent fliers from booking seats with certain airline alliance partners.
Kelly predicts that more frequent fliers will hire mileage experts as the economy rebounds. "Many of the bookers I know are already at capacity," he says.
