Make the most from your airline and hotel points programs: Keep track of them and spend them wisely.

Making Sure Your Points Get Posted

Many times mileage points don't get posted to your account. Because of this, you should obtain and keep paper records of all flights, rental cars, hotels, and other mileage-related transactions until they post to your account.

Also, take advantage of Web access to your mileage accounts. In many cases, these sites reflect more up-to-date information than do paper statements.

Cashing Out Points

Before you cash out your valuable mileage points, check the going price for a product (e.g., airfare or hotel), because you may want to pay cash instead of using your points. For example, if an airfare or hotel rate is very low, you may want to save your points for a more expensive trip later. If you don't plan to travel or prefer to purchase products with you hard earned points, you may be able to use your frequent flyer miles to shop for other merchandise.

Consolidating Accounts

Web sites that offer to consolidate your airline and hotel accounts could be helpful to you, but pay attention to the kind of information you're asked to provide. Travelhammer has noticed some of these sites are requesting sensitive information that you should think twice about before giving out.

Some of these sites request information such as:

    * Your name and address
    * Your mileage/points account numbers (and passwords!!!)
    * Your credit card number

Don't ever give this type of information out to any Web site unless you've determined the site is 100% secure and trustworthy.

Selling Your Airline or Hotel Points

After looking at classified ads and Web sites that offer to pay you money for points, you might think this is a good deal, but all the airlines Travelhammer has talked to take a dim view of this sort of activity. In fact, they promise to reward this type of behavior with the immediate cancellation of your mileage account. So ignore those Web sites and classified ads and play it safe. There is usually no problem gifting points as free flight certificates to family, friends, or even a charity.

Buying Airline or Hotel Points from Other People

This activity is strongly disapproved of by the airlines and hotels. If you are caught with an airline ticket purchased in this manner, you could end up stranded when the airline cancels your booking and gives your seat away. You would have to shell out big bucks for a last minute ticket after the airline pulls the reservation rug out from underneath you. You are much better off shopping for promotional-priced tickets or trying Hotwire.com if you have plenty of time but not much money.

Earning Extra Airline Miles With Credit Cards

Building free airline miles by using credit cards: Is it right for you? Read our article on Airline Credit Cards and Travel Rewards.