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Use 'Em or Lose 'Em
Cheap Charlie · December 9, 2002

Use your miles now. Change your credit cards to strong carriers. Get ready for big changes.

Unless your head's in the sand, it should be obvious that the airline world is changing. This is not a slow evolution or an orderly change in business plans. You are witnessing the equivalent of corporate panic.

The "majors" in the airline industry are faced with changing the way they view the transportation world. They are being forced, over the soon-to-be-dead bodies of major airlines, to rethink their way of doing business.

So far, much of this rethinking has been focused on trying to make passengers pay more the airline service. New fees and rigorous enforcement of obscure rules have been the order of the day. These airline ambush tactics to squeeze a few more dollars from passengers have not created a great sense of appreciation from long-time passengers.

The next shoe to fall will be frequent flier programs. Most journalist writing articles to placate nervous travelers about the impending bankruptcy filings of United Airlines and the ongoing bankruptcy of U.S. Airways suggest that no one will monkey around with these programs -- so far so good.

But be careful. I think they are wrong.

Frequent flier mileage liabilities are one of the only portions of the corporate balance sheet that the airlines can control with the stroke of a pen. Believe me, when push comes to shove, loyalty programs will be curtailed in order to contain potential costs and future liabilities.

At the moment, my suggestion is to get your miles out of United Airlines Mileage Plus program and out of the US Airways Dividend Miles program. In most cases, that means use the miles.

I have already used most of my Dividend Miles and have sent my brother on a trip with his family to Amsterdam to start him on his way to using up hundreds of thousands of miles.

If you can, book your flights on partner airlines. Once you have a ticket in your hands, the partner airlines are unlikely to cancel the ticket, if United or US Airways goes all the way under.

Change your patterns of travel. Stop earning United and US Airway miles. Shift your loyalties now.

If you have a frequent flier Visa or MasterCard from either United or US Airways, cancel it. Shift your mile-making cards to Southwest, American Airlines, Continental, Delta or Northwest. They have the best chance to survive.

Look into an American Express Card or Diners Club Card -- both offer mileage programs that are not linked to a single airline. Diners Club has the best program, but American Express is accepted more widely here in the U.S.A.

Don't think about it. Call your United or US Airways credit card issuer as quickly as possible and cancel your card.

Now, you can relax and get ready for the impending changes. I promise travelers that they will not like the way airlines will shuffle frequent flier rules.

The first limitations will probably be a limit on the length of time miles can be conserved in a mileage bank, in effect limiting the time they can be accrued. The airlines will want to make sure "frequent fliers" actually fly frequently.

Business Class and First Class service will be sharply reduced. Upgrades available with mileage will be as hard to find as a frequent flier seat to Hawaii.

The amount of miles required for "free" tickets will surely increase. This is a simple way for the airlines to slice their liability.

"Use your miles or lose them." This is the new defensive travel reality for Mileage Plus or Dividend Mile program members. Anyone still hoarding thousands of United or US Airway miles is simply unaware, foolish or out of touch with reality.

Charlie Leocha is the Boston-based author of Getting to Know You. Cheap Charlie appears every Monday on this site. E-mail him at leocha@aol.com or access his Web site.