OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- It's becoming increasingly difficult to cash in frequent flier miles. Travelers have learned the key is booking early.
But that can cause big travel delays, given a new trend in the airline industry.
If you've traveled lately, you've probably had your airline departure or arrival time change. Usually it's not a big deal, unless you're traveling thousands of miles from home.
Gery Illgner and his family cashed in frequent flier miles for a trip to visit friends in South America. They've only seen Peru through pictures.
The cheapest route was to fly United Airlines out of Kansas City to Canada, and then take Air Canada to Peru. It's a bit out of the way, but it would be the most economical way to travel.
Illgner knows the secret to booking frequent flier mile trips is to book early.
There are only so many seats the airline offers for fliers redeeming miles.
A few months after booking the trip, Air Canada changed its schedule on both legs of the trip. United reacted and put them on a different return flight, but Gery says United wouldn't change their departure. That meant a layover of several hours.
"I kept pointing out, 'It's your partner who made the change. I didn't do anything'," Illgner said. "They don't care we'll be sitting for over five hours in the airport. All we need to do is fly a couple hours later out of Kansas City."
To do that, Illgner says United wanted to charge more than $400.
In an e-mail to Gery, a United Airlines Customer Relations team member wrote, "Your departure flights are still valid connections, so any changes would be considered voluntary and service charges would apply if there is any carrier or routing changes...If more schedule changes occur that would cause a misconnection to Toronto for your departure, reaccomodating would be made without cost."
After we got involved, Illgner says United granted his family a later flight for free.
Whenever you book using frequent flier miles, ask about any charges if your flight is changed by the airline. Flight changes are common as airlines struggle to survive.
