Welcome to Your Only Stop for Best Airline Ticket Information
Cheap Airline Ticket To Doha Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
You may also listen to this article by using the following controls.
How to Maximize Frequent Flyer Points
from:Rick Abbott
Today, even infrequent flyers are enrolled in one or more airline frequent flyer programs. With the volume of air travel reaching and surpassing pre-9/11 levels, more and more people are hitting the skies. This article provides some tips and tricks to maximize those frequent flyer miles given out by most airlines as a reward or incentive for flying their airline or within a given airline group.
First a brief history of the airline frequent flyer program. Two events were key to the creation of the frequent flyer program, deregulation in 1978 which created a marketing environment and computerization which created the necessary infrastructure to support these programs. Without these two events frequent flyer
programs would be either unnecessary or impossible to implement. In May 1981, American Airlines introduced AAdvantage, the first frequent flyer program. The goal was to retain their best customers by rewarding them for their loyalty. The program tracked member's miles flown, and provided incentives in the form of free flights and upgraded amenities. Today, there are more than 70 frequent flyer programs, with over 100 million members. Members receive over 10 million awards per year.
The keys to maximizing your frequent flyer awards are as follows:
#1. Join the program - you can't accumulate miles if you're not a member, and there is generally no cost to join.
#2. Consolidate - focus your travel on as few airlines as possible, so that your miles accrue in one account, and you attain elite levels faster. Also, be aware of any alliances that airlines have, which allows you to fly on one airline but credit the points to another airline.
#3. Keep track of expiration dates - most frequent flyer programs expire miles after a period of time, usually 2-3 years after being granted.
#4. Credit card promotions - airline credit cards are a popular way to put an extra 5-10,000 miles in your account when you sign-up, which on some airlines is 50% of a round trip ticket. As long as the credit card doesn't have an annual fee, this is a great way to close the gap on a free ticket. Plus some airline credit cards provide bonus miles for each flight.
#5. Hotel and rental car accelerators - check hotel and rental car agreements, you can pick up extra frequent flyer miles based on where you stay on the car you rent.
#6. Elite levels - Try to achieve and maintain elite levels with the programs. Besides other amenities such as upgrades and preferential boarding, elite levels frequently get bonus miles. If you're elite in one airlines program, one trick is to send a letter to another airline requesting a bump into their elite program. Most airlines will do this to get you hooked on their programs.
#7. Leverage merchant partnerships - airlines have signed agreements with various merchants (e.g., FTD) to provide frequent flyer miles for purchasing partner products. Find out which merchants your airline has partnered with and adjust your spending.
In summary, the quickest way to a free flight isn't necessarily through the air. Make sure you focus your travel, if possible, with one or two airlines. And make sure you understand all of the partnerships that airline has entered into, so that your non-flight dollars can be channeled into that free ticket to the Bahamas.
About the author:
Rick Abbott is an experienced business traveler, part time author, and consultant in the IT field. For more road warrior articles and tips, go to www.roadwarriorarticles.com.
Cheap Airline Ticket To Doha Specific links
Cheap Airline Ticket To Doha News
Sindbad announces a Swiss holiday raffle - AME Info
 AME Info | Sindbad announces a Swiss holiday raffle AME Info The airline currently operates direct international flights from Muscat to Gulf destinations, such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Kuwait, as well as Cairo, Beirut and Amman within the wider Middle East region. |
Title up in the air as golf begins - Gulf Times
 Gulf Times | Title up in the air as golf begins Gulf Times It's that time of the year again when all roads lead to the Doha Golf Club. Some of the world's best players are in town for the $2.5mn Commercialbank Qatar Masters beginning today, and there's enough excitement in the air – literally. |
Qatar Airways to carry out Tbilisi- Doha-Tbilisi flights - Trend.az
 Trend.az | Qatar Airways to carry out Tbilisi- Doha-Tbilisi flights Trend.az The five-star airline Qatar Airways will start regular daily Tbilisi- Doha-Tbilisi flights from Feb. 1. As the company's Georgian Office told Trend, flights will be carried out on Airbus 320 aircraft. A ticket costs 300 euros, while the flight duration ... |
Qatar Airways starts flights to Tbilisi - Georgia Today (subscription)
Qatar Airways starts flights to Tbilisi Georgia Today (subscription) Beginning February 1, Qatar Airways, headquartered in Doha, launched new flights to Georgia and Azerbaijan. Akbar al-Baker, Chief executive officer at Qatar Airways and other high-ranking officials arrived in Tbilisi on the first flight from Doha. |
Spanish air carrier collapses, grounding 29 aircraft and stranding 20000 ... - Avionics Intelligence
 Avionics Intelligence | Spanish air carrier collapses, grounding 29 aircraft and stranding 20000 ... Avionics Intelligence Spanair stopped its flights after Qatar Airways in Qatar Airways in Doha, Qatar, stopped talks to take over the ailing Spanair, which in 2010 reported an operating loss of nearly $152 million. The airline was seen as a flagship of the regional ... |
QA boycott call has no impact on ticket sales - Peninsula On-line
QA boycott call has no impact on ticket sales Peninsula On-line By MOHAMMAD SHOEB DOHA: The boycott campaign launched recently on local social networking sites by a group of people against Qatar Airways does not have any adverse impact on the airline's sales locally, enquiries with a number of travel agencies ... |
Air fares set to rise by up to 5% due to ETS - Air and Business Travel News
 Travel Daily UK | Air fares set to rise by up to 5% due to ETS Air and Business Travel News Air fares from the UK could rise by 3% per passenger on average and by as much as 5% for some long-haul routes because of the new EU emissions trading scheme. The prediction has been made by aviation data provider OAG in a report looking at the likely ... Airfares to rise 3% due to ETS – report |
United Continental Holdings, Inc. Announces Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter 2011 ... - MarketWatch (press release)
United Continental Holdings, Inc. Announces Full-Year and Fourth-Quarter 2011 ... MarketWatch (press release) The consolidated network operated more than two million flights and had 142 million passengers in 2011, carrying the most traffic of any airline in the world. "We made significant progress in 2011 building the world's leading airline, while running a ... |
Travel agency worker gets 52-year sentence - Visayan Daily Star
Travel agency worker gets 52-year sentence Visayan Daily Star Geates Hay Picken also paid P51,712.50 for his Qatar Airways ticket for a round trip flight from Cebu to Doha, to Manchester, to Doha and to Cebu. The third client, Tony Casling, paid P23,850.00 for his Cathay Pacific Airways ticket for a one-way ... |
CAA calls Emirates promo misleading; justifies move - Peninsula On-line
CAA calls Emirates promo misleading; justifies move Peninsula On-line DOHA: The Civil Aviation Authority justified its decision to stop a promotion launched by the Emirates Airlines recently offering 25 percent discount on its fares to various destinations saying that the offer was illegal and also not genuine. |