The Extra Mile

To Earn More Miles, Just Do It Online

Q&A: Which Program for College-bound Daughter?

July 28, 2002 - If the airlines had their way, every customer transaction would take place online. Why? Because it's cheaper. And post-9/11, lowering costs looks to be the airline industry's only sure road to profitability.

All major airlines allow customers to book tickets on the carriers' own websites, and most now offer online award-booking capability as well. Online check-in, e-mail flight notification, and online mileage statements are increasingly commonplace. And the latest entry in the frequent flyer program arena, TrueBlue from JetBlue, is a wholly "digital program" -- with no paper brochures, printed statements or plastic cards, the program exists entirely in Cyberspace, on the carrier's website and via e-mail.

The good news for the traveling public is that airlines are offering members of their frequent flyer programs extra miles for adopting the new technology.

Beginning with the two largest programs, members of American AAdvantage and United Mileage Plus will be rewarded with a one-time 2,000 mile bonus when making their first roundtrip ticket purchase on AA.com and united.com, respectively, through September 30. For subsequent online bookings, there's a 1,000-mile bonus.

America West's offer is even more generous: 3,000 bonus miles for each roundtrip ticket booked at americawest.com and flown by December 31.

Northwest, in addition to a 2,000-mile bonus for first-time online purchases, is offering 1,000 bonus miles the first time e-ticket holders check-in online at nwa.com. And WorldPerks members who redeem their miles online will save 3,000 miles when booking award trips to Europe and Asia, and 1,500 miles for award travel elsewhere.

US Airways is offering 3,000 bonus miles for the first online booking made by September 30, and 1,000 bonus miles for each subsequent ticket purchased at usairways.com and flown by December 31.

(The above is a representative sampling, not a comprehensive list. If your preferred program is not mentioned, check their website. Chances are good that they have comparable promotions in place.)

Readers: Miles on their Minds

Question from Lucy

My daughter is going to college in Utah and she flies back and forth three or four times a year. Is there any way she can earn miles???? I just bought her next two tickets. Can we add them to a new program that I might become a part of? She flies Delta from Sacramento, CA, to Salt Lake City, UT, and back. I'm fairly sure that Delta is the only airline that flies straight through in both directions.

Answer

First, yes, only Delta flies non-stop between Sacramento and Salt Lake City. In fact, Salt Lake City is a hub airport for Delta. So you're right to think that Delta will be your daughter's logical choice of airline (at least for her trips to and from college). And because she'll be flying Delta, it may well make sense for her to join Delta's program, SkyMiles, to earn miles for her flights.

Before committing to SkyMiles, however, there is another mileage option to consider. In addition to operating its own program, Delta is a partner in the United Airlines Mileage Plus program. Which means she could earn Mileage Plus miles for her Delta flights. Both are good programs, so choose one or the other (based on likely travel activity aside from her college commute) and concentrate her mileage-earning in that program.

You and your daughter may both join SkyMiles, but the program (and this is true of all major U.S. programs) does not allow family accounts or mileage pooling. Miles are credited to the account of the person whose name appears on the ticket, the traveler. So even though you pay for your daughter's tickets, the miles will be earned in her account, and they cannot be combined with miles in your account.