Many people ask me a variety of the question: should I focus my earning on one airline program, or should I try to earn miles in all programs?

Let's divide mileage accrual into two categories:

Miles earned from flying on paid tickets. (Butt-in-seat miles)
Miles earned from other sources.

Note: This post may have a shorter shelf life due to the impending US Airways merger.

Our Award Booking Service receives numerous requests from clients trying to maximize the value of their miles. These savvy travelers want to fly in the best premium cabins and take advantage of any and all liberal routing rules available.

Luckily, many of our clients have large Dividend Miles balances.

Note: This post may have a shorter shelf life due to the impending US Airways merger.

Our Award Booking Service receives numerous requests from clients trying to maximize the value of their miles. These savvy travelers want to fly in the best premium cabins and take advantage of any and all liberal routing rules available.

Luckily, many of our clients have large Dividend Miles balances.

Some credit card offers in this post have expired, but they might come back. If they do they will appear --> Click here for the top current credit card sign up bonuses.

You can increase the value of all your miles by using them for their highest-value uses. You can get more out of this hobby by collecting the right miles for your goal trip.

The first truism is why I started the MileValue Award Booking Service. The second is why I offer Free Credit Card Consultations.

Here's a common problem with an easy solution: two or more people want to take a trip together, but the miles that will be used to book the awards are spread across two or more accounts.

How do you get the companions on the same flights and preferably seated next to each other?

The first--and perhaps most important step--should take place well before you're ready to book the awards.

1. Make sure you are earning compatible miles.

Compatible miles could mean a lot of things.

United.com has one glaring flaw in the way that it was programmed that you can correct to become a better award searcher than united.com.

This is the ultimate trick when united.com tells you there is no Saver Award Availability on the route you want on the date you want.

How can you be better at award searching than united.com?

United.com's award searching program is just that, a computer program.

United.com has one glaring flaw in the way that it was programmed that you can correct to become a better award searcher than united.com.

This is the ultimate trick when united.com tells you there is no Saver Award Availability on the route you want on the date you want.

How can you be better at award searching than united.com?

United.com's award searching program is just that, a computer program.

When you get to the payment page of booking an award with British Airways Avios, you're offered a rare proposition in the world of frequent flyer miles:

pay the stated amount of Avios + taxes and fuel surcharges
pay 50-90% of the stated amount of Avios + taxes, fuel surcharges, and an extra cash co-pay.

This extra-cash-plus-Avios option is one to consider in advance, so I'll do the work, so you can do the travel.

What's your best play?

I tried to price out the 12 oneworld partners in different cabins on domestic and international routes.

For some routes, no

In case you missed any of the 100+ posts put up in the last three months, I've got a rundown of the best and most popular posts of the second quarter of 2013.

I've also linked to the trip reports published in the last three months, and the most popular posts.

By the way, if you're one of the thousands of people who receive one daily email from MileValue with that days' posts, please forward today's email to friends who you want to get involved with miles and points.

Pages

My Award Booking Service page had more hits than any

In case you missed any of the 100+ posts put up in the last three months, I've got a rundown of the best and most popular posts of the second quarter of 2013.

I've also linked to the trip reports published in the last three months, and the most popular posts.

By the way, if you're one of the thousands of people who receive one daily email from MileValue with that days' posts, please forward today's email to friends who you want to get involved with miles and points.

Pages

My Award Booking Service page had more hits than any