ELLIOTT: Points - Or Perks?

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Points - Or Perks?
The Travel Tightwad · June 5, 2002

Why do you do collect frequent flier miles? Is it the free flights or the preferred treatment? Or both?

Maybe it's time to ask. Because the answer will determine how you earn your points - and what you do with them.

Jim Bunch, a hotel consultant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, doesn't rack up the miles for the tickets. Cashing in rewards is difficult, and it's sometimes easier to just pay for the flight. But he still stockpiles the miles because he gets treated better.

"When my wife and I went on our honeymoon we cashed in American AAdvantage miles," he remembers. "I happened to mention in conversation with the agent that it was for our honeymoon. When we checked in with American, we are met with, 'So, how are the newlyweds today?' Wow, what a moment of truth. Then they put us in business class to Frankfurt, Germany, even though we had coach class seats."

For others, the rewards are what keep them coming back to the same airline, hotel or car rental agency to collect more points. "I like getting something for nothing," says Kate Schwarz, a self-employed consultant and frequent traveler based in Fairfax, Va.

She should know. Last year she redeemed her miles to fly to Australia and New Zealand from the United States. She spent two weeks at the Renaissance Sydney Hotel (rooms start at $195 Australian at this time of year). She spent another two weeks at a timeshare property in New Zealand. Total cost for a month-long "dream" vacation: less than $800, which included $300 for a rental car. That's an average of $26 a day - an unbelievably good deal.

So why do you do it?

Joel Widzer, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on what factors lead business travelers towards loyalty of a preferred travel provider, says the trend is now toward the perks - the room upgrades, first-class seats and spiffier rental cars. "Loyalty programs lead to preferred service," he says. "That's why people do it."

Either way, your mileage collection strategies are likely to be slightly different, depending on your goals.

Perk plan: elite levels. Your benefits increase as you move up the ranks, from silver to gold to platinum. On the "perk" plan, your aim is to reach those levels and stay there. For example, American Airlines' AAdvantage Gold program (for travelers who rack up at least 25,000 qualifying miles) offers attractive benefits, like a special reservations hotline or preferred check-in. But if you fly 100,000 qualifying miles and reach AA's Executive Platinum membership level, you've hit the jackpot. The upgrades are very generous, there's a discounted airline club membership and many of the fees that ordinary mortals are saddled with are waived.

The idea is to accumulate miles in such a way that you reach the desired reward level and stay there. This may mean scheduling trips at certain times of the year in order to qualify for your status, and it will definitely mean that you have to fly, because the operative word is "qualifying" miles. You can't just buy a car with your credit card and expect to be an elite member for life. You have to actually fly, or stay at a hotel or rent a car.
Award plan: ticket levels. If you don't care about status - say you're doing a lot of travel temporarily and you don't plan on being on the road for the rest of your life - then your strategy will be slightly different. Qualifying points are all but irrelevant in this case and you'll probably be fixated on reaching the 25,000-mile mark needed for an economy-class seat in the U.S. and Canada. Often, mileage collectors don't realize that there are attractive rewards at lesser levels - sometimes as low as 5,000 points. Nor are they aware that through various partnerships that an airline has with a hotel or car rental agency, they can redeem miles for rewards other than a plane ticket.

In fact, some of the most generous rewards programs are for hotels, as Brian Todd, a lobbyist in Bakersfield, Calif., discovered. "I only collect frequent guest points for the rewards, and with Hilton and Starwood, it's the free stays that keep me coming back," he says.

Todd says he's intrigued by rumors that Hilton Diamond Elite members "always get the best room in the house," but in the end, he'd rather just have a free room.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.