It's a whole new world in travel today. Periodically, it's important to get a broad view of how to get the most for your travel dollar.
The key phrase these days is "leverage." Most of us have precious little leverage when it comes to the big, bad airlines. Never mind the TSA. But there are ways that you can bring some more power to bear on your behalf.
Let's start with your frequent flyer account. Most Alaskans have an Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account. And a large number also carry a credit card from Bank of America to earn miles. That way, you put miles into your account every time you make a purchase.
Additionally, many Alaskans shop at Carrs. Right now, you earn just half a mile for every dollar you spend. So if you use your Alaska Airlines/Bank of America charge card for groceries, you get one and a half miles for every dollar you spend on groceries.
One of the big advantages of the B of A credit card is the companion pass that comes with it each year. It's unfortunate that Alaska Airlines chose to double the cost, to $99. Still, when you're spending between $700 and $1,100 for a roundtrip ticket, $99 plus tax makes it a sweet deal. Keep in mind, the card itself costs $75 each year. So the effective cost for the companion pass is $174, plus tax. It's not a good idea to use this up on a cheap flight to Seattle (if you can find one). But here in the McMurren household, we have a couple of cards. And I just bought four tickets to Atlanta on Alaska Airlines. The cost for two first two tickets was $835 apiece. But using the companion passes on the remaining two tickets eased the pain a little bit.
Remember, these companion tickets also earn full mileage credit.
If you do not yet have an Alaska Airlines/Bank of America credit card, you can get a 25,000 mile bonus once you charge at least $750 on the card. That's enough for a free ticket. That's leverage.
Other airlines, including Continental and USAir, also offer incentives to get their credit cards. But Continental only has two flights each day to Seattle. And USAir only has one flight each day to Phoenix. But both carriers are members of the Star Alliance, which offer jillions of flights everywhere. Just make sure you can use the miles that you earn on them. Note: Continental used to be partners with Alaska Airlines -- but that ended in October.
Delta Air Lines works with American Express for their mileage program. If you're a big shopper at Costco, you may elect to earn extra miles that way. You also can use your Delta miles to redeem for tickets on Alaska Airlines.
If you are a frequent flyer, it makes sense to pay attention to your account balance and become an "MVP" or "MVP Gold" on Alaska Airlines. The same is true if you're a frequent flyer on Delta, Continental or USAir. But, honestly, those carriers do not matter much in Anchorage.
When you fly 20,000 miles in the course of a year, every mile you fly counts as 1.5 miles. When you fly 40,000 miles to reach MVP Gold, every mile counts as two miles. Plus, Alaska goes out of its way to please the MVP Gold flyers with these additional perks:
D. Priority boarding on the plane.
Because the average stage length of Alaska Airlines flights is so long, it's not that hard to achieve elite status. This is especially true if you fly internationally. Earlier this year, Alaska Airlines had a "double qualifying miles" sale. I flew from Anchorage to Chicago to Seattle and back to Anchorage. Although it was 6,000 miles, I earned 12,000 qualifying miles for my MVP Gold status.
For most of us, obtaining the elite status is one of the best ways to get some leverage in the airline game. More and more resources are devoted to winning and retaining the frequent flyer. The casual, infrequent travelers are left with the bad seats at the back of the plane and long hold times for phone reservations.
There is an art to hacking the mileage game--and many frequent flyers devote thousands of hours to mileage runs, promotions, tier-matches and other techniques. Some work better than others.
Here are some resources:
Flyertalk. I love this online forum. Founded by my guru, Randy Petersen, it's full of tips and tricks for the frequent flyer. www.flyertalk.com
Twitter. Follow Alaska Airlines on Twitter. They monitor the chatter constantly--and you can get good information and timely feedback from real people who monitor the feed: www.twitter.com/alaskaair
Johnny Jet. Johnny is another one of my gurus--he's really on top of the travel game. Explore his website for tips, tricks and trends. www.johnnyjet.com
Scott McMurren is an Anchorage-based travel marketing consultant who has lived in Alaska for three decades, spending much of that time traveling the far-flung corners of the state. Visit his website at www.alaskatravelgram.com.