Airlines pitch frequent-flier mile deals to travelers wary of Covid

Besides wearing a mask on an airplane, there's one other thing you should definitely do if you are traveling this fall or over the holidays: Use your miles. A survey of pandemic award prices finds airlines are making award seats available at very cheap prices in miles or points. First-class seats, which give you a bit more social distance on board, are a particularly good value. In its 10 busiest markets, United's award seats for various travel dates in November averaged only 12,833 miles round trip, about half the cost of what traditionally has been a standard domestic coach ticket of 25,000 miles. JetBlue averaged only 15,167 points round trip. For first class, American was only 42,500 miles round-trip, Delta only 49,100 miles. "The answer is a resounding yes -- it is a good time to use miles, especially for premium cabins," says Jay Sorensen, president of consulting firm IdeaWorks, which priced available award tickets at US airlines on Oct. 3 for November travel, including Thanksgiving. With travel depressed, airlines have drastically reduced flights. While there are some eye-popping cash deals for flights, and tickets are usually cheap these days, the bargains offered in miles can be even better. United says MileagePlus awards this November are almost 30% cheaper in miles compared with last November. The percentage of passengers traveling on awards is up, says Michael Covey, managing director of the MileagePlus program. "As demand has come down on some of these routes, we've been able to offer MileagePlus award tickets at lower prices across our system," Covey says. More airlines adjust award prices with the ups and downs of cash prices. But offering bargains with miles has taken on greater significance in the pandemic as frequent-flier programs have lost so much appeal.<br/>