How do frequent flyer miles work????

Question

If you buy them, do you just get a free airline ticket that goes within the amount of miles that you have??????~~!!!!!!!

Answer 1

Here's how they work, in a nutshell-

Every time you fly, a number of miles (equal to the actual distance that you flew) are deposited into your account.  Once you have amassed a certain number of miles, you can redeem a free ticket.  For example, a round-trip ticket from Boston to Paris in L'Espace Affaires (Business Class) costs 90,000 miles.

Answer 2

You earn them - the more you fly, the more you get. The more you have, the more perks you get - free flights, upgrades, club room access, etc.

You have to fly a lot to get any REAL perks, however.

Answer 3

Well, generally speaking, you don't buy miles (although you can in some cases).

Let's say you fly from Philadelphia to Denver.  Your FF account will be credited with 1569 miles (based on average flight route).  These miles are banked.   When you accumulate enough you can trade them in for tickets or upgrades.  It's NOT a one to one deal.  On average, it takes 30,000 miles to purchase 1 round trip ticket within the US, based on availability.

Also, if you earn over a certain amount of miles each year by flying, you get upgraded in status.  Upgraded status can result in earlier boarding, bonus miles, and sometimes even free upgrades.

Answer 4

You really need a slide-rule, an abacus, and a sextant to work out these "customer loyalty" programs.

Generally speaking, you earn "so many" points for every dollar spent/miles travelled.  There isn't a hard and fast rule unfortunately, and different airlines/banks/credit card providers have different ways of calculating your points.

My friend and I recently spent a week away.

I paid just under $200 for my return airfare.

She used her "points" for a free, return ticket.  However, when she worked out how much she had spent/flown to get her "free" ticket, it worked out to $30,000.  Most expensive "free" ticket available as far as I'm concerned.

Personally, I think "frequent flyer's" are a useless scheme.

Instead, I belong to "loyalty" programs which give me discounts on fuel or free groceries, etc.  Things that actually make a difference to me.

I'd rather get my airfares when there are "price wars" on and get a really good deal.