Traveling? Don’t leave home without this book

So what can you do? The answer is that you have to think outside the box, be a contrarian, and play the game.

On your primary carrier:

1. Pick alternate airports. Don't just look for award seats to Los Angeles International, for example, but to Burbank, Ontario, and Long Beach as well. Visit www.alternateairports.com for a listing of airports nationwide.

2. Pick alternate routings. Don't just think point-to-point or nonstop flights. Seats might not be available on nonstop flights, so make a stop in Chicago en route to San Francisco from Miami. Or, as was the case in our search for Hawaii flights, throw out the map entirely. On one routing offered to us to redeem our miles to Hawaii, United told me the only way they could get me there was Los Angeles to Denver to Chicago to Honolulu (ouch!).

If all else fails, look to mileage partners. Want to redeem your miles on a flight from Los Angeles to Frankfurt on United? No seats available. Then try flying United to Chicago and then Lufthansa to Germany (a United mileage partner). How about Los Angeles to Hong Kong? If there are no seats on American Airlines partner Cathay Pacific, try Qantas, another partner, through Sydney.

Here are the three major mileage partner programs.

Star Alliance: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, ANA, Asiana Airlines, Austrian Airlines, BMI, LOT Polish, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, South African Airways, Spanair, Swiss International, TAP Portugal,  THAI Airways, United Airlines, and US Airways

Oneworld: American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Iberia, Japan Airlines, LAN, Malév, Qantas, Royal Jordanian Skyteam: Aeroflot, AeroMexico, Air France–KLM, Alitalia, Continental, Czech Airlines, Delta, Korean Air, Northwest

In many cases, you may need to book as much as 320 days in advance to get those seats.

Some airlines, like Continental, offer a feature on their Web site that allows you to check mileage seat availability up to 11 months ahead. That's the good news. The bad news: You have the luxury of being disappointed online. But again, go to the partner airlines and see what's out there.

And if all else fails — and the reservations agent tells you there are no seats on any flight, on any route, to any nearby airport on your primary airline or any partner airline — it's time to speak to a supervisor. Why? The key reminder here is that loyalty programs are worthless if they don't reward you for your loyalty! In almost all cases, supervisors have the discretionary power to override computer blocks and release mileage seats.

What about that powerful Capital One card (and other similar credit cards) that offers no blackout periods for your miles? The answer is that these card/mileage programs are not affiliated with any airlines and are structured differently. The miles/points you earn relate to a dollar amount (roughly 20,000 miles equals about $190 in your account), and what that means is that the program actually goes out and uses the money in your account to buy you a full, purchased ticket.

But think about this math: If you get about 1 mile per $1 spent in the airline programs, and the lowest level for eligibility is 25,000 miles, and 57 percent of all miles earned are earned through nonflight activities such as credit card purchases, that means, at the very least, you've spent  $14,000 for that "free coach ticket." And that doesn't include the money you spent for airfare to accrue the other 43 percent of your miles. That's one expensive "free" ticket. And when the airline then doubles the miles you need for that ticket, it could easily represent a $28,000 ticket! On the Capital One card, you've spent even more money for that ticket: If a round-trip ticket between New York and Los Angeles, for example, now sells for about $360, you've spent about $40,000 in purchases to get that ticket. We're definitely in the wrong business!

If you're accumulating miles and having a hard time using them, you can donate your miles. Check www.miledonor.com, www.heromiles.org, www.redcross.org/donate/donatemiles.html, www.aa.com/milesforkids, www.aa.com/makeawish, and www.dreamfoundation.com.

You can transfer miles from one airline to another, but this is one of the trickiest options out there. For one thing, you have to do it through a middleman. For example, if you have miles with Continental, Amtrak Guest Rewards can convert them to United miles. Other middlemen offer more options but are more complex: For example, Diners Club Rewards lets you convert America Airlines AAdvantage miles into Club Rewards points, and then redeem those Club Rewards points for frequent flier miles in 20 participating frequent flier programs (including Delta SkyMiles and Virgin Atlantic's Flying Club). But the catch is that you get only half the worth of your miles — i.e., if you transfer 10,000 miles, you get only  5,000 in the new airline. Other middlemen like Hilton HHonors will cost you a whopping 5-to-1 conversion rate. To figure out how each airline transfers miles and what it will be worth, visit our friends at www.insideflyer.com/tools/mileage3/4converter.

You can transfer miles to a friend or family member's account, but remember that it's going to cost you, thereby depreciating the value of the miles. If you're paying $.0275 per mile, with a minimum of a 1,000-mile transfer, you may as well just buy a whole ticket.

And as a last resort — and I mean a very last resort — consider cashing in your miles for that magazine subscription or toaster. Sure, it's going to be one heck of an expensive kitchen appliance when you calculate the math, but at least you have something to show for all your work. Try visiting www.points.com to redeem your miles for store products. But don't say I didn't warn you that your “Reader's Digest” subscription ordered this way just cost you $14,000!

Excerpted from “The Complete Travel Detective Bible” by Peter Greenberg. Copyright 2007 Peter Greenberg. Reprinted by permission of Rodale Books. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

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