The Extra Mile

Cash In Frequent Flyer Miles and Cross Your Fingers

Q&A: Where Can I Find Blackout Dates?

April 27, 2003 - As the airlines' financial losses mount, so does the anxiety level of frequent flyer program members, whose miles seem increasingly at risk.

One popular strategy for managing that risk is "park and wait": redeem miles for award tickets now, in hopes of either redepositing the miles or traveling on the award ticket.

In the best case scenario, the airline and its associated program survive the current shakeout, and members redeposit their miles back into their accounts. The normal redeposit fees of $50 to $100 are currently suspended, due to the uncertainty associated with the Iraq war.

The worst case is more complicated. If the airline which hosts the program (as American hosts AAdvantage) ceases operations altogether, award tickets redeemed for miles in the now-defunct program may or may not be honored for travel on other carriers.

Rule 145 of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act requires U.S. airlines to accommodate passengers holding tickets on a failed carrier, on a space-available basis, for a handling fee not to exceed $25. Unfortunately for consumers, the Department of Transportation has declined to clarify whether the rule applies to award tickets. In the absence of DOT guidance, stranded award travelers will be at the mercy of other airlines' discretion.

If the award ticket were issued for travel on a non-U.S. partner airline, rule 145 definitely would not apply, and other airlines would be under no legal or contractual obligation to rescue stranded ticketholders. However, they might do so anyway, for commercial and public relations reasons.

(There is recent precedent for a positive outcome. When Australian carrier Ansett shut down in March 2002, award tickets issued to members of Ansett's Global Rewards program for travel on Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines were honored.)

Although "park and wait" is not without risk, leaving miles in the account of a failing airline is riskier still. If the airline goes bust, unredeemed frequent flyer miles will almost certainly be lost altogether.

Current News & Offers

While the airlines have throttled back on mileage promotions recently, there are newsworthy changes to the programs themselves.

Beginning May 1, American's AAdvantage program, the world's largest, will charge more miles for selected awards.

For travel within the continental U.S. and Canada, PlanAAhead first/business class awards will increase from 40,000 to 45,000 miles; AAnytime coach awards increase from 40,000 to 50,000 miles; and AAnytime first/business class awards rise from 80,000 to 90,000 miles.

For travel between the U.S. and Hawaii, PlanAAhead first/business class awards will increase from 60,000 to 75,000 miles; PlanAAhead premium awards rise from 80,000 to 95,000 miles; AAnytime first/business class awards increase from 120,000 to 150,000 miles; and AAnytime premium awards increase from 160,000 to 190,000 miles.

AAdvantage members planning to use any of the above award types soon should book now, before the increases take effect.

On a more positive note, as of Apr. 1, members of United and US Airways' programs may redeem their miles for free flights on either airline. With the addition of reciprocal award redemption, each carrier is now a full partner in the other's program.

Readers: Miles on their Minds

Question from James

Is there a website or other resource which shows the blackout dates for using frequent flyer miles?

Answer

No, there is not. And for good reason: In early 2002, award blackout dates were dispensed with by all the major airline programs.

The absence of published blackouts does not mean, however, that you'll find frequent flyer seats available every day, on every flight. Airlines manage their seat inventory with an eye toward maximizing revenue, which means minimizing the odds of a non-paying passenger displacing a revenue passenger. So the availability of award seats is inversely proportional to a flight's popularity.

So there will still be an effective blackout on award travel to Hawaii during the Christmas holidays, for example, even though it's not published as such.