As you’ve figured by now, frequent-flyer programs are a big part of the domestic airline scene. According to some accounting, big airlines earn more profit from selling miles to banks than they make hauling you around in their planes. As a consumer, even if you don’t qualify as “frequent,” you need to keep up with what’s going on. I can note interesting new developments plus some ongoing history.
Fare search. A new fare search “extension,” Points Path (pointspath.com/), adds the ability to include point costs onto a Google Flights ( google.com/travel/flights/) fare search. It’s an extension to your browser, not to Google Flights, so it currently works for only Chrome and Edge browsers. Two other big limitations: It works on only desktop and laptop computers, not on phone-based systems, and so far it covers only the big three legacy lines American, Delta, and United. On the plus side, at least for now, it’s free and easy to install in just minutes.
And within its limitations it does what it’s supposed to do. When you search a trip, it posts not only the dollar cost but also the mileage cost if a mileage seat is available. It covers both domestic and international trips on the big three. When I tested it, it worked as advertised.
The mileage availability and cost postings reflect current availability for the lowest-mileage seats available at the time for ordinary non-elite travelers. That’s not adequate if you’re a top-tier flyer with access to awards limited to elites, but if you’re an ordinary flyer looking to use some miles, it’s quite useful.
Presumably, the designers are working to expand the mileage search to other airlines—Alaska, JetBlue, and Hawaiian, at a minimum—and big foreign lines would be a big plus. So the current verdict is that Points Path is a great idea for non-elite frequent flyers, it’s useful now for the three biggest U.S. lines, and it has much potential.
Class-action lawsuit. A few disgruntled travelers are putting together a possible class-action lawsuit challenging American Airlines’ right to cancel their accrued mileage balances. American says they accumulated miles to which they weren’t entitled through fraud, but the travelers say they complied with all the airline fine print.
Details aren’t clear yet, but the idea of a suit is intriguing. Basically, the core problem is that as of now the airlines actually and legally own your miles. Even though you “earn” them, airlines sell them to you, and even talk about “your miles,” you never legally own them. Instead, you agree that the airline owns the miles when you sign up for its program. Thus, the airlines say that “your miles” are actually “our miles,” so they can do anything they want with them without violating any ownership rights you think you have. Presumably, any successful lawsuit would have to challenge the legality of this basic ownership question.
Over the years, the Department of Transportation (DoT) and other regulatory agencies have taken a hands-off attitude toward frequent-flyer issues. Basically they say “frequent-flyer programs are marketing gimmicks” and we don’t do marketing gimmicks.
But recent indications are that DoT may decide to take another look to see if the airlines have been guilty of fraud or unfair practices in their administration of programs. My personal take is that the airlines’ treatment of mileage ownership is, in fact, an unfair practice, but it will take more than my opinion for DoT to do anything.
Devaluations. Long term, airlines keep devaluing miles, mainly by increasing the mileage required for a seat and limiting the number of low-mileage seats they offer. Among other tactics, more and more are basing earnings on what you spend rather than how many miles you log, and many are abandoning fixed mileage tables in favor of dynamic pricing. As my late wife often noted, “neither frequent flyers nor their miles improve with age.” Your best strategy remains “if you have ‘em, use ’em—sooner rather than later.”
