Playing the Awards Game for Rewarding R&R;

Those countless hours you’ve spent crunched up in coach are finally going to pay off. After more time in the air than you care to tally, you have accumulated enough frequent-flier miles for a free ticket. But before you can enjoy that R&R;, you first must face a different kind of R&R;: the rules and restrictions that come with claiming your travel reward.

With a few simple guidelines and some tips, planning a trip using frequent-flier awards need not be the painful, frustrating exercise you’ve heard about. The starting point for nearly any attempt at cashing in is to remember that the major airlines’ programs are similar, which means the number of seats they offer is limited. (Southwest Airlines is an exception. Southwest allows you to use awards on any of its flights on which there is an open seat.)

Here are some insights that may make redeeming your miles easier:

* Plan as far ahead as possible. That gives you better odds of getting the destination and flights you want. Seems simple enough, but people forget that they are competing for a commodity with limited availability. Recently, I tried to arrange a trip to Honolulu or Maui. I tried planning two weeks out, then two months, then six months. Nothing. Finally, with eight months’ advance notice, I was able to book a round-trip coach flight for the dates of my choice. An airline agent told me that for popular destinations such as Hawaii, Orlando, Fla., and Las Vegas, you should plan at least nine months in advance.

If you can’t get the coach seat you want, consider a business-or first-class travel award, even though it comes at a cost of at least 15,000 more miles. I found a first-class ticket to Honolulu but not Maui with two weeks’ notice. Further, some airlines don’t have blackout dates for these types of awards. If you are planning a trip around the holidays and must travel the weekend before or after, this higher-grade award might be your only option.

* Be flexible with dates. Many leisure travelers prefer to travel Saturday to Sunday, so those dates are often the first to go. Consider traveling Friday or Monday, or even midweek if possible. Some airlines even black out Saturday departures and Sunday returns for certain flights. On United, you cannot use awards to fly between Mexico and Chicago departing on Saturdays and returning on Sundays because these are such popular days for this destination that the airline can sell almost every seat, leaving nothing for award travel. If you are planning to travel at Thanksgiving or Christmas, don’t expect to do so the weekends before or after the big day. Peak holiday travel dates are blacked out on all major airlines.

* Be flexible in your destination. Major cities and business destinations have the greatest number of flights and thus are easiest to book. If you have your heart set on a trip to Hawaii, you’ll need to plan well in advance. But I was able to book an award flight to New York with only four days’ notice.

* Use the Web. Of the 10 major airlines, Delta (https://www.delta.com), United (https://www.united.com) and Northwest (https://www.nwa.com) allow you to book domestic award travel via their Web sites, and American (https://www.aa.com) plans to implement online booking soon, though no date has been set, a spokesman said. The sites vary in their degree of user-friendliness and comprehensiveness.

You also can use the Web to find award promotions and opportunities to earn bonus miles. Delta has a useful Web page called Award Travel Tips, for instance, that has special deals to select destinations by a certain date for as little as 15,000 miles. A chart on Continental’s Web site, https://www.continental.com, lists the destinations with the most available award seats two months out.

* Consider using upgrades instead of going for a full-fledged ticket. If you are planning a special trip, think about buying a ticket and using your miles to upgrade, especially on a long international flight. When I traveled to India, I bought the lowest upgradeable coach fare and upgraded to business class. It was 80,000 miles well spent. Twenty-four hours on an airplane and in airports is grueling, especially in coach. The extra comfort and service in business class made a significant contribution to my overall enjoyment of the trip, and the difference between what I would have paid for a business-class ticket and what I did pay for an upgradeable coach ticket (about $5,000 at the time) made this expenditure of mileage points worth it.

* Don’t rule out connecting flights. You might not be able to fly nonstop if the airline of your choice has few flights to your destination. Again, flexibility is key. You’ll find the greatest number of choices in departures and destinations from an airline’s hub city. If you are flying to Miami on American and there are no free tickets for a direct flight, consider a connection through American’s hub in Dallas/Fort Worth.

My flight to India, for example, was supposed to travel from Los Angeles to Hong Kong to New Delhi. When I booked the flight, however, I could not get an upgrade using miles on the outbound segment. The airline service rep, sensing my frustration, suggested that for the same fare, I could fly L.A. to San Francisco and then on to Hong Kong and New Delhi and upgrade without any problem. It wasn’t the perfect situation, but it was still better than sitting in coach for the 15 hours to Hong Kong.

* Choose another airline or maybe a different kind of flier program. If your grandkids pack up and move to Atlanta, consider that Delta’s hub is in Atlanta and that you will have much more flexibility by belonging to Delta’s frequent-flier program. Or if you earn the bulk of your miles via charge cards, you may want to consider an American Express or other card that allows you to choose the airline program in which you redeem miles (though not all airlines participate).

If you are interested in international travel, strictly domestic Southwest probably isn’t going to be the airline for you. You might want to consider an airline such as American, which is a member of the Oneworld, a network of eight airline partners, or United, a member of the Star Alliance (14 partners). These networks provide members of any partner’s frequent-flier program with access to travel awards on member airlines around the world.

* Last but not least, be nice to the agent on the other end of the phone. You should try to make him or her your best friend while you’re transacting business. Agents are human and just as susceptible to flattery and kindness as the rest of us; they also are not immune to rudeness and misdirected anger. While they didn’t make the rules, they certainly know them. If you are decent and patient, they can sometimes offer solutions that you may never have considered.

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Christopher Reynolds is on assignment. James Gilden is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer; he can be reached at jamesgilden@aol.com. Send comments to Travel Insider, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, e-mail travel@latimes.com.