Those Points You Earned? Zoom In on the Fine Print

Travelers, have you been getting the sensation lately that the carpet is being pulled from beneath your feet?

I know the feeling. One day in late March I returned from a trip and sat down to catch up on mail. By the time I was done, I was poorer in at least three ways.

* One letter was an update from AT&T; True Rewards program, which rewards long-distance callers with credits that can be used with various travel-selling “partners.” For more than two years, my wife and I have been accumulating points on this program, figuring that we’d eventually use them on Delta. Now came this small-print message: The Delta Frequent Flyer program “is no longer available.” However, with my 3,000-plus points, I could order a polo shirt, sweatshirt and hat from Planet Hollywood; or $75 worth of gift certificates at Land’s End or Pier 1 Imports or the Gap; or $60 in Marriott Gift Cheques, with a little change left over; and so on. But it seemed that the program had lost its only airline partner--and much of its appeal.

(In fact, I discovered later that members had until April 15 to transfer their points to Delta for frequent-flier miles. And True Rewards members can still send their points to United and US Airways. AT&T; apparently just forgot to include them on the list of partners it sent to me and thousands of others.)

* My second letter was a quarterly statement from the American Express Membership Rewards program, which offers points to encourage American Express card spending. As of October 1997, my statement notes, 1,000 Membership Rewards points will no longer buy 1,500 Westin Premier Points from the Westin hotel chain. Instead, it will buy 1,000 Westin Premier Points, a 33% devaluation. However, with my roughly 20,000 points, I can still get such benefits as a free week from Budget or National rental cars (subject to restrictions) or $400 in Saks Fifth Avenue gift certificates.

* Next, and most bothersome, came an update from the Red Carpet Club, operator of those lounges that United Airlines maintains for dues-paying club members. My membership would expire April 30, United told me, and basic membership re-enrollment fees had been doubled from $200 to $400 per year, “so we can continue providing and enhancing your clubroom amenities.”

What are the enhancements? United plans to upgrade many airport club rooms and add four new ones in the U.S. and three abroad. Also, since January, all clubs worldwide have been offering free nonalcoholic drinks. (Until then, many didn’t.) But the bottom line may be that United has sold too many Red Carpet memberships (there are about 250,000 of us) and now, with business booming, has decided that it can afford to solve its crowding problem by simply boosting prices to reduce membership.

These developments don’t mean that every company’s travelers’ benefits are going down the drain. Even as these cutbacks turn up, hotel chains in particular have been promoting their frequent-guest programs. And new collaborations and incentives arise daily. InsideFlyer magazine--which now fills 48 pages each month with updates on changes in frequent-travel programs--estimates that there are more than 14,000 ways to earn miles without leaving the ground. InsideFlyer publisher Randy Petersen notes rivalry is particularly strong right now among hotel frequent-guest programs, and that Hyatt, Hilton and America West Airlines have program anniversaries in coming weeks, which probably means that special promotions are in the offing.

But it is a good time to pay close attention. With the economy strong and many quarters of the travel industry making money at a furious rate, the same companies that courted us with discounts and giveaways in the early 1990s are now more interested in boosting prices, shifting alliances, and sometimes paring back perks. As a traveler, if you’re not carefully reading your benefit updates, you’re probably missing important changes in the rules of the game.

“Whenever revenues are good, frequent-flier programs become [unexciting] like milquetoast,” Petersen says. Beyond that, he says, “It seems that the airlines are really getting out of the mileage game, other than the miles you earn by flying.”

In other words, if you haven’t already, it may be time to start thinking of these spending- and travel-related program benefits not as miles that might also yield retail discounts, but as retail points that might also yield discounted travel.

Reynolds travels anonymously at the newspaper’s expense, accepting no special discounts or subsidized trips. He welcomes comments and suggestions, but cannot respond individually to letters and calls. Write Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles 90053 or e-mail chris.reynolds@latimes.com.