Frequent flyer programs are often daunting, and bring you to think they’re not useful to you. That is not correct though. You don’t need to fly all that often to get some advantages, you just need to play smartly. This is something I’ve experimented in my own trips over the past few years.
So what should you do to get some perks in the shortest time possible? That’s exactly what we’ll be talking about in this article today.
1.Stick to an airline
First of all it you should try to stick to an airline for your trips. Most of my trips are to South Korea so I chose Korean Air. But if you don’t fly to the same destination regularly it could be your national carrier or an airline that you find comfortable to fly with. Also take a look at what kind of perks are offered and how many miles you need to accrue.
Once you have chosen, sign up to the airline’s frequent flyer program. Also if you are married or have family with whom you travel often, some programs allow points family sharing. This will speed you up on the road to getting rewards.
2.Loyalty comes at a cost
Staying loyal to the airline can mean spending a bit more on tickets but there is a strategy behind it. For instance my wife and I share our miles and we get about 20.000 miles every return flight. Which is already enough to get a free flight each from Incheon to Gimhae. Which if I were to pay for it would cost about 100 euro each.
Crunching some numbers: the average price per person for a return flight from Rome to Seoul is 760 euro. Make that 1500 more or less for 2. Which means that another airline’s price should be at least significantly below that average 760 euro mark to make sense for me. It needs to be so low that it would cover the cost of me buying the ticket to Gimhae myself and the value of the lost points.
This is why in many occasions it’s more worthwhile spending more for a ticket to South Korea. This obviously doesn’t apply only on this route or airline but on any route or airline of your choice.
3.Other perks
Upon reaching a points threshold, you’ll get additional perks. Some of the advantages you can get your hands on might include access to the lounges. It might be limited in the number of times but yet it’s a pretty good deal. Another one is that you might reach a high enough mileage to get free flights, like I do, or for an upgrade. And you don’t need to fly every week to get them.
4.One last thing
If the airline you sign up with is part of an alliance (One World or SkyTeam) you might be able to accrue points also flying on other airlines. They might not be
all qualifying miles but you’ll get something out of those flights too.
So to sum it up it might be worth it for you to take a look at a frequent flyer program.
Other Articles
- How To Get Cheap Flights
- How to Get From Incheon International Airport to Gimpo Airport?
- Korean Air Launches a New Safety Video
