These days there are tons of things you can use miles on besides actual airfare. Over at Smarter Travel, a bunch of "mileage geeks" recently offered suggestions for the best ways to use the "inscrutable form of currency" known as frequent flyer miles. Some suggested the obvious -- booking a flight -- but there are plenty of more creative suggestions too. In no particular order, here are the top ten ways to use frequent flyer miles, according to Smarter Travel.
(For further reading, check out our sister publication Incentive's recent feature on airline loyalty programs.)
10. Book a flight. "Booking a free flight is the most obvious way to use your miles. But there are so many nuances to this -- and ways to maximize -- that mileage geeks had a lot to say on the topic."
9. Upgrade. "The best value from frequent flier miles almost always comes from redeeming them for international business or first-class tickets. Second place goes to redeeming for first-class tickets within North America."
8. Add a destination. "If you can get a free stopover, travel to more than one city as part of your award. Alaska Airlines allows a stopover even on a one-way redemption. If you're connecting in Hong Kong anyway, why not visit there a few days?"
7. Give a gift. "A less obvious way to use miles to make someone happy is to send flowers. On United's website, for example, we recently saw a bouquet of sunflowers offered via FTD for 2,400 miles."
6. Bid on an experience. "Frequent flier and hotel points programs can deliver things that you couldn't access yourself at almost any price....A few years back, Chase cardholders could cash in points to attend Conde Nast Traveler's 25th anniversary gala along with Richard Branson and Susan Sarandon."
5. Shop with miles. "Keep alert for sales: Around holidays, especially, airlines are known to let their offerings go for up to 40% fewer points."
4. Donate your miles to charity. "You can make donations directly via some charities' websites, like Make-a-Wish, to help get sick kids where they yearn to go; and Fisher House, to give airline tickets to wounded veterans and their families."
3. Reserve a hotel room or rent a car. ""Occasionally you'll find some options to use airline miles for hotel and car reservations, but those occasions are rare. So you should only use airline miles for hotels or rental cars if you are particularly points-rich and cash-poor."
2. Turn miles into employee perks. "If you own a business, you can use miles to make your employees happier, more loyal and more productive."
1. Abstain. "For all but the most dedicated frequent traveler, you're better off buying the best ticket and forgetting about the loyalty program, which often seduces you into buying more expensive tickets from an airline with terrible customer service."
Source: Smarter Travel