The Extra Mile

Winter Is Peak Season for Earning, Redeeming Miles

Earn 'em and burn 'em while you can!

January 22, 2007 - Winter is travel's slowest period, which paradoxically means that it's the ideal time to earn miles and points in travel rewards programs, and to redeem miles for free flights.

New Year's resolution: More miles for dining

Earning miles for dining has become one of the most lucrative sources of airline miles, offering mile collectors up to 10 miles per $1 spent at participating restaurants. And the earnings are even more generous when the programs shift into promotional mode, as many have done in the first quarters of recent years.

This year, dining promotions ranging from extra miles to accelerated dining elite status are on offer from American, Delta, Northwest, and United.

Through February 28, members of American's AAdvantage program who are signed up to participate in AAdvantage Dining will earn 500 bonus miles for qualified dines totaling $100 or more, 1,000 bonus miles for spending $150 or more, 2,000 miles for $250, 5,000 for $500, and 10,000 miles for spending $1,000 or more.

Registration is required.

LINK: https://aa.rewardsnetwork.com/registerbonus.jsp?id=A054

With Delta's "Bon Appetit" promotion, SkyMiles participants can earn as many as 10,000 bonus miles in the SkyMiles Dining program.

Members must first register, by February 28. Thereafter, they'll earn 1,000 bonus miles for every $100 spent at participating restaurants through March 15, up to a maximum of 10,000 bonus miles.

LINK: https://skymiles.rewardsnetwork.com/registerbonus.jsp?id=DL34

Northwest WorldPerks members can earn Tier 1 Dining for Miles elite status by spending $250 or more in qualified dines (including tax and tip) between January 1 and February 28. (Elite status is normally earned after 12 dines within a calendar year. Tier 1 members earn 10 miles per $1 spent at participating restaurants through the end of 2007, and five miles per $1 thereafter.)

To qualify, members must register in advance.

LINK: https://nwa.rewardsnetwork.com/registerbonus.jsp?id=NW66

In United's "Ten Dine" offer, Mileage Plus members can earn both bonus miles and accelerated elite dining status.

Members must first register, by February 15, after which they will earn 5,000 bonus miles and be upgraded to Elite Dining Status for the remainder of 2007 after dining out ten times at $25 or more (including tax and tip) by March 31.

LINK: https://mpdining.rewardsnetwork.com/registerbonus.jsp?id=UA44

United's is potentially the most lucrative of the offers, awarding program members up to 20 bonus miles per dollar, plus accelerated Elite status, if the spending target is met. Delta's offer amounts to an extra 10 miles per $1 spent, while American's ranges between five to 10 miles, depending on the total spent during the promotion period. By comparison, Northwest's offer is only so-so.

While most of the current dining promotions are offered through the airline programs, there is one available from the frequent-stay program of the InterContinental hotels network.

Priority Club Rewards members can earn elite Priority Club Dining status by spending at least $250 on qualified dines between January 1 and February 28. (Elite dining members earn 16 points per $1 spent at participating restaurants during 2007, versus five points per $1 earned by non-elite members.)

Registration is required.

LINK: http://priorityclub.rewardsnetwork.com/index.jsp

Formula for award travel success is seasonal

If tracking down an available award seat often seems like finding a needle in a haystack, during the winter months there are at least a few more needles lurking in the hay. That's very simply because the sale of paid tickets falls off following the year-end holiday travel surge and remains soft until the traditional Memorial Day weekend start of summer excursions. And the more empty seats there are, the more likely the airlines are to make seats available for award usage.

So this would be the best of all possible times to redeem miles for an award trip.

But while the overall odds of securing award seats are heightened during the winter, there remain seasonal supply bottlenecks to work around. For example, flights to such ski destinations as Salt Lake City and Aspen are routinely filled close to capacity. And at the other end of the temperature spectrum, travel to such warm-weather destinations as Phoenix, Palm Springs and Hawaii will be strong as well.

Since both cases involve leisure markets, travel will tend to be heaviest around weekends. So would-be award travelers will fare best by avoiding Friday and Sunday when booking trips with miles.

These strategic considerations suggest a general rule for intelligent, hassle-free travel management: purchase tickets for travel during the high-demand summer and Christmas holiday periods; schedule award trips for the off-peak fall and winter months. And be ever mindful of the exceptions to the rule.