Anyone who flies any airline, foreign or domestic, is usually a member of their frequent flier program. For those who travel and accumulate a lot of miles every year, some do not realize those miles do have a value. This article will explain just what monetary value those miles can have.
Frequent flier miles' value actually can vary from carrier to carrier. For the most part, the actual average monetary value placed on a mile is roughly 1.5 to 2 cents each. The airline industry and its executives try to maintain a fair value system for flier miles.
However, you can actually place your own value on your miles, but you must be thrifty in doing so. For example, if you were looking to redeem your miles for a trip to Las Vegas and say you wanted to use 20,000 miles from your account, and at the industry rate value of $0.02 per mile ($400), it is most likely you can find a low-cost airline, book a cheaper flight than it would have cost using your miles and end up saving them for another time. Most travel experts would agree that it makes more sense to purchase a ticket if the ticket price is less than what the actual value of the redeemed number of award miles would have been.
For those who enjoy travel, there are some not-so-well known secrets in ways to use your miles. When you travel and overnight stays are required, you can actually use your frequent flier miles to pay for hotel lodging and car rentals.
Many reward programs now exist that allow a member to buy various merchandise, which can also be non-travel-related, with their miles. The one item a person does need to be aware of is that often enough, there is a different value placed on the miles used for these types of purchases than what the airline itself may place the value at.
In most cases, airline miles do not expire unless there is no account activity for at least three years. If you realize you are a member of a rewards program and have not flown in a long time, try to use your miles for free magazine subscriptions offered by the airlines or you can usually find a charity that accept frequent flyer miles as donations. One such charity that accepts these types of donations is Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Much like the adage that when you work, pay yourself first, why not treat yourself to an upgrade on your next flight? Just be sure to ask the customer service rep or your travel agent how you can use your miles to move up to business or first class.
If you have cut back on the amount of travel you do, or simply do not feel that you can get any real use of your miles, you can ask the airlines about their rules on transferring the miles to another person. It might be that you can transfer these miles but pay a fee (have the person getting the miles pay the fee) to the airline for the transaction.
You can also just use your miles to let a family member or friend have a trip award issued in that person's name. This should not more than the standard fee the airline would normally charge for issuing any award.
