LOOK, LISTEN AND BURN

In the new world of “use it or lose it” expiry policies, some road warriors, marketing experts and others share their strategies and experiences for earning and burning travel points.

1. Burn baby, burn: Use your points, but do it wisely. One frequent flyer says that he tries to “unload the points as soon as (he) can,” with a major trip to the South Pacific for himself and with his wife every couple of years, picking a time frame but remaining open in terms of where he travels.

2. Look, listen and learn: Visit online forums like Flyertalk (www.flyertalk.com) and Rewards Canada (www.rewardscanada.ca) and read travel blogs to learn about how to use points (and earn more) in the most advantageous ways.

3. Be flexible: If your timing, routing and even destination are elastic, you’ll find more options, says Matthew Klint, whose award consulting business helps people book reward travel with an 80 per cent success

rate. The remaining 20 per cent are usually unwilling to stopover or vary their plans, he says. 4. Be patient, but prepare to move

fast: Sit tight if you’re not seeing the award travel you want. “New things open up. Other things close. There’s no rhyme or reason to it,” Klint says. If you see space that’s reasonable, jump. Some programs like the one at United Airlines let you hold award tickets for 72 hours by phone. Aeroplan locks you in but charges $90 to cancel within 21 days of travel, while others charge $150 to cancel.

5. Think big: The best value is on first- and executive-class travel. For example, you can fly to Europe business class for an extra 20,000 Aeroplan Miles, while a similar “revenue” ticket would cost four to ten times the typical economy fare. Premium seats are also more likely to be available last-minute, with airlines holding onto and releasing them just before the travel date.