May 6, 2004 -- Frequent fliers complain that it's become harder and harder to turn miles into tickets, and they're right. Major airlines are cracking down on frequent-flier tickets, making it a real trial to get your complimentary flight. That's why we looked at this year's Freddie Awards (www.freddieawards.com) with special interest. Handed out each year by the mile hounds at InsideFlyer Magazine, the Freddies celebrate the best in frequent-flier and frequent-stay programs. Coincidentally, we stumbled upon two interesting frequent-flier promotions this week -- one from America West, and one from United.
If you want to use miles for tickets, Freddie says fly Southwest (www.southwest.com) or Frontier (www.frontierairlines.com). Southwest lets you use reward tickets in almost any seat, on almost any flight -- a big difference from other airlines' stinginess. Frontier, meanwhile, gives you a domestic ticket for a mere 15,000 miles, the fewest of any reward program.
Alaska Airlines (www.airalaska.com), meanwhile, won the prestigious Program of the Year award. Alaska offers plenty of redemption possibilities, treats elite flyers well, and has a top-notch Web site, making it this year's number-one program all around.
The Freddies also rate hotel frequent-stay programs, where Starwood (www.starwood.com) swept several awards. The frequent-stay program for Sheraton, Westin and W hotels offers great customer service, easy award redemption, and a terrific Web site, the Freddie award commitee says.
Buy Vegas, Get Mexico Free
America West won one Freddie, for "best elite level," an award that probably won't affect most of our readers. But even if you only fly twice a year, their current "One For the Border" promotion is downright excellent. Sign up at www.americawest.com/flightfund/promotions/form.asp?promocode=1MEX and fly to Las Vegas on America West between now and May 31, and you'll get a certificate good for a companion ticket to Mexico between August 15 and September 30.
Obviously, this only makes sense if you think you might want to go to Mexico this September. If you do, though, it's a great deal -- half-off, basically, for two people. America West generally has very competitive fares both to Las Vegas and to Mexico, so you're not being ripped off at any stage of this game.
For your flight to Las Vegas, you can buy any published fare. In other words, anything but Priceline, Hotwire and consolidator fares goes here. (You're safe if you buy your ticket through Orbitz or America West's own website.)
Playing Musical Miles With Sony and United
United didn't win any Freddies this year, but they still have a deal that may be music to your ears. Partnering with Sony's new Connect online music store (www.sonyconnect.com), United lets you trade blocks of 10,000 miles for either 100 songs or 10 albums. That's a $99 value in terms of songs, and potentially more for albums.
This is a groovin' promotion, especially given the growing uselessness of United miles. Like all the other big airlines, United has really been cracking down on award tickets recently. United says they'll give you a domestic ticket for 25,000 miles, but good luck finding an empty seat. If you're trying to travel to a popular location or on a holiday, it'll probably take you 40,000 miles to get off the ground.
If you have fewer than 10,000 miles, consider turning them into magazine subscriptions. With 10,000-20,000 miles, you might want to buy some music. Remember you can convert Amtrak, Starwood or Marriott points to United miles, too.
Sony's Connect store, which just debuted this week, sells music in Sony's oddball ATRAC format. An ATRAC file is like an MP3 that only plays on Windows PCs and Sony portable devices. So if you have a Network Walkman, a Sony portable CD player or a Minidisc, you're set.
On PCs, only Sony's free SonicStage and Real's RealOne music players can play ATRAC songs, so stuff you buy from Sony Connect doesn't automatically integrate into your iTunes or Microsoft Windows Media Player library.
Fortunately, you can also burn your music to a standard CD (up to five times) and re-copy it into your favorite music program. That's a slightly awkward way to get a song onto your iPod, but fortunately you only have to go through the process once per song. (If you're doing this, use a rewritable CD; there's no reason to create a bunch of coasters just to change music formats.)
To trade miles for music, go to www.mileageplusmusic.com.