Airlines' frequent-flier programs improve in response to complaints

For example, I've received numerous anecdotal accounts from members of US Airways' Dividend Miles program, who are frustrated at being unable to reserve free seats to a particular destination anywhere around their desired dates of travel. Several vowed to close their Dividend Mileage memberships and cut up their affiliated credit card.

The good news is US Airways has implemented programs to provide Dividend Miles members with online updates of selected destinations and times when award seat requests are more likely to be accommodated. Monthly "Award Travel Suggestions" are now posted on a section of USAirways.com accessible by members, who also receive e-mail advisements. The September menu of choices should be available by the time you read this column.

The monthly slate of suggestions is organized by final destination and divided into sections for Canada, Mexico and Caribbean, trans-Atlantic and domestic. Days of the week when flights are "best bets" are designated by a check mark. Users are then directed to the regular Dividend Mile pages to find whether there's a free seat available on a particular flight and, if so, what level of mileage credits it requires.

This list certainly provides welcome guidance and raises one's hopes. After all, fishing trips tend to be more satisfying when you have some idea where they'll be biting.

Also positive are the organizational changes that now provide users with a six-week range of options around their designated dates of travel, as well as a choice of award levels, mileage saver or mileage saver premium.

The first option entails spending 12,500 miles for a free coach seat on a point-to-point domestic flight, but available seats on any flight are limited to a small inventory that is capacity-controlled.

The second option doubles the necessary mileage but lets members book any available seat on the flight menu, with the exception of some blackout dates. When first-class seats are offered on a given flight, similar Mileage Saver (50,000 miles) and Premium (100,000) options are available.

Mixing and matching your choice in either direction is possible, so a free coach seat round trip between Pittsburgh and, say, San Francisco, could cost 25,000 miles, 37,500 miles or 50,000 miles, depending on what's available when the reservation is made. In addition, passengers also must pay a selection of taxes ($3.40 per flight segment) and security fees ($2.50 per flight segment), as well as a charge (from $3 to $13) for each airport you visit en route.

Investigating further for my idealized itinerary, I found a seat available on a westbound, nonstop flight for 12,500 miles. The most desirable nonstop return flight is listed for 25,000 miles; connecting options can be had for half as much but take several hours longer. I pick the nonstop option, so my trip totals 37,500 miles, and for some reason, taxes and fees for my selected round trip add up to just $5. All that's left is to choose my seats and complete the transaction.

Checking out options for a free trip to London was equally easy, finding a range of flights that cost between 50,000 and 75,000 miles. Unfortunately, all those routings obviously required making at least one connection en route, and the scheduled flight durations ran from 12 to 15 hours each way, a far cry from the six-hour, nonstop trans-Atlantic journeys we once enjoyed.

Still, claiming Dividend Mile rewards for both trips proved to be quick and easy, something like shooting fish in a barrel. Free seats seem to be readily available on US Airways, especially if you're willing to pony up twice as many miles for premium positioning.

Other carriers seem to be making similar improvements to their frequent-flier programs.

American Airlines has introduced its "AAdvantage HotSpots," flight options grouped by destination theme, such as beach, island, golf and spa. Furthermore, American's calendar provides up to three months of opportunities at a time.

Delta also offers a "SkySaver" Awards Calendar, with two options -- SkySaver and the higher-mileage SkyChoice, which lets passengers reserve any available seat on a given flight.

Of course, none of these options match the simplicity of programs offered by so-called alternative carriers such as Southwest and JetBlue.

Southwest's Rapid Rewards automatically provide a coupon for a free ticket after a member has taken eight round-trip flights within a 24-month period. That coupon can be exchanged for any available seat on any Southwest flight, except for selected blackout dates around Thanksgiving and Christmas. While Southwest award coupons are transferable and can be used by anyone, the flight credits expire if not used for a coupon within two years of the original trip.

The TrueBlue program from JetBlue requires accumulating 100 points for a free flight. Points are allocated based on the duration of the flight, with two, four or six points per leg. Point totals are doubled for trips booked on JetBlue's Web site and are good until used.

These efforts are certainly positive steps by the airlines to address the millions of unredeemed frequent-flier credits travelers have amassed over the years. If carriers are going to aggressively market their brand-identity programs to the public, they must certainly find ways to fulfill the travel dreams they're peddling.

Now, if they could only figure out how to fly their planes on time.