Frequent Fliers Facing Frustrations Airlines curb travel bonuses: Fewer seats, no holiday flights NASSAU AND SUFFOLK Edition

• Published in: Newsday
• Main Author: By David Kalish. David Kalish is a free-lance writer
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Long Island, N.Y Newsday LLC 27.04.1989
• Edition: Combined editions

To be fair, some revised mileage levels potentially make it easier to win free trips. For example, Pan Am lowered from 30,000 to 20,000 the number of miles necessary to earn one free domestic round-trip coach ticket. And both American and United lowered the frequent-flier threshold for two domestic round-trip tickets from 50,000 to 40,000. If shorter flights are on your business agenda, it pays to shop around. USAir, while raising the threshold for two free round-trip domestic tickets by 10,000 miles to 50,000 miles, at the same time bolstered by one-third to 750 miles the minimum mileage awarded for each trip. The most attractive carriers for short-trip travelers are Delta and Eastern, which award at least 1,000 miles for each frequent-flier journey. Travelers who don't want to leave their scheduling of free flights up in the air can circumvent the more restrictive seating - for a price. Both United and American, the two largest carriers, offer less restrictive round-trip domestic frequent-flier flights (coach) for 80,000 miles. Continental and Eastern, both owned by Texas Air Corp., do the same for 50,000 miles. But Pan Am this year eliminated unlimited travel in the continental United States, an award available in 1988 to frequent fliers who attained 90,000 accumulated miles.