From Tom Parsons - Be Strategic With Your Frequent Flyer Points and Mileage Awards
Oct-18-2013

When it comes to getting award tickets, there are ways to get a better value for your frequent flyer points or miles. The tips below can help you make the most of your miles and points.

When Southwest airlines changed its frequent flyer program from segments to points back in 2011, no one was happy with the change. The old program was a popular one, where you earned a free ticket after flying 16 segments, and we all loved the award availability.

It was super popular for the travelers who were buying the cheap Wanna Get Away airfares. I know travelers who used to buy a roundtrip ticket from Dallas to Houston and routed it with a connection in Austin to rack up more segments and more free tickets.

The current points program can be a really good deal if your strategy is to redeem points when Southwest is offering a shorthaul blowout sale. Southwest currently allows travelers to redeem approximately 60 Rapid Rewards points per dollar value of the cheapest tickets, the Wanna Get Away fares.

When Southwest offered its blowout sale in early October, there were 16 cities from Dallas that you could fly to for $100 roundtrip, or 6,000 points, including flights within the state of Texas, like Harlingen and Corpus Christi, and also to New Orleans. If you want to fly on a shorthaul trip you can get an unbelievably good deal if you're a frequent flyer on Southwest. With other airlines, you would have to use 25,000 for domestic travel, even if you're just going to Oklahoma City.

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Posted by Ken at 6:49 PM - Link to this entry  |  Share this entry  |  Print