Your assignment: Fly free with frequent-flier miles

THIS year marks the 25th birthday of frequent-flier award programs and the 10th anniversary of the online travel business. You’d think that would have been plenty of time to make it easy for travelers to book their frequent-flier travel online.

The ability to book frequent-flier awards online has evolved substantially in the last year. These days, it is at least possible to book award travel at the major U.S. airlines’ websites. But increased demand for a decreased supply of seats can make finding a ticket a frustrating exercise.

“I did interviews with the managers of the three top programs -- American, United and Delta,” said Tim Winship, a frequent-flier expert and publisher of FrequentFlier.com. “They were totally in denial about the degree to which consumers are dissatisfied with the whole award availability issue.”

I examined the online functionality at the six largest airlines with “traditional” frequent-flier programs.

I began with a simple premise: Most travelers have learned to be flexible when booking award travel. Thus, it behooves the airlines to provide them with flexible functionality to ease the process.

Here, then, is my ideal frequent-flier online functionality.

* It is easy to find the site to book award travel.

* If there are no flights for the dates I choose at the 25,000-mile award level, the website will tell me when there is availability. The more options, the better.

Airline sites just make me madder than a wet hen when they tell me, “Oh, well, we have no 25,000-mile awards available, but for 50,000 miles, no sweat.” The promise is a free ticket at 25,000 miles. Help me find it.

So, here’s a report card on the six largest U.S. airlines with this type of frequent-flier program.

American Airlines Aadvantage

Grade: A-

www.aa.com

The flight: LAX to New York. The dates I selected didn’t have saver award availability. My search results showed the first dates for which saver awards were available after my date, plus return flights with the same number of days between them. Very neat stuff.

The good: Presents some smart options if saver awards aren’t available.

The bad: Could provide more options.

Continental OnePass

Grade: A

www.continental.com

The flight: LAX to Newark, N.J., a Continental hub. The carrier moves to the head of the class with its OnePass online booking engine. Its “reward availability calendar” provides a comprehensive look at award travel availability for the current and following month. Although there was no availability for the date I wanted at 25,000 miles, the color-coded calendar gave me 22 dates in May and June when the award was available.

The good: Loads of options in an easy-to-understand format. Top of the class.

The bad: Miles required for a flight are listed one way, which I found confusing. And there would be less clutter if Continental eliminated the high-end award availability that, at least for coach, is easily obtainable.

Delta SkyMiles

Grade: D

www.delta.com

The flight: LAX to Delta’s hub in Atlanta with a week’s notice. All but one outbound flight were at the 50,000-mile level. I selected the one 25,000-mile flight, but on the return, flights were available only at the 50,000-mile level. Despite the lower level outbound reward availability, the round trip came to 50,000. There were no options for searching for different dates at the 25,000-mile award level other than manually.

The good: Easy access from the home page. Graphics are attractive and easy to read.

The bad: No optional dates for flights at 25,000 miles.

Northwest WorldPerks

Grade: C

www.nwa.com

The flight: LAX to Minneapolis/St. Paul, Northwest’s main hub. There were no 25,000-mile awards on the outbound, but there were on the inbound. Unlike at other airlines, Northwest allowed me to book a round trip for 37,500 rather than bumping my entire journey into the 50,000-mile award category.

The good: Consumer-friendly policy for splitting the difference in award cost.

The bad: No optional dates for flights at 25,000 miles.

United Airline MileagePlus

Grade: B-

www.united.com

The flight: LAX to New York JFK, both United hubs. United gets an A for effort but comes up short in execution. It searches for the 25,000-mile saver awards with a five-day window -- the date requested and two days in front and behind. The problem is, if there is nothing in that window, no other options are presented. You just have to guess when there might be availability and make a stab at it.

The good: Allows you to search for saver awards. Gives some flexibility on date.

The bad: Just tell me when I can fly, not when I can’t.

US Airways Dividend Miles

Grade: B

www.usairways.com

The flight: LAX to Charlotte, N.C. It started out promising but then sputtered a bit. You don’t enter an exact date of travel, only the month. But then it provides you with a calendar from which to choose your actual dates. Like United, it searches for the five days around your date. If nothing is available at the 25,000-mile level, it returns red Xs on those dates. What makes it easier than United’s is that you can then click on other dates for a quick search.

The good: Easy to keep track of searches using the calendar.

The bad: Why not simply tell what dates are available?

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Contact James Gilden at james.gilden@latimes.com.