5 tips for getting the most out of your airline miles

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Earning airline miles is relatively easy these days, thanks to credit cards, car rentals and even just shopping online. But once you earn your miles, it's important to make sure you're redeeming them in the best way possible.

With over 15 years of earning and redeeming travel rewards under our collective belts, we've put together 5 basic tips to ensure you can make the most of your hard-earned miles.

It's standard practice for travelers to look at flights and costs for their entire roundtrip. But did you know that most points and miles experts search one way at a time?

The reason is twofold. First, airline computer systems aren't always great at piecing together the best options for an award ticket. And second, if you have miles in multiple airline loyalty programs or in transferable bank programs, you can often redeem fewer miles by booking with two separate airline programs.

For example, this past summer my family and I embarked on an amazing vacation to Croatia. For our outbound flight, KLM was offering an incredibly low price of 20,000 miles per person in economy. But the return flight was significantly higher at over 50,000 miles each.

So instead of booking the complete roundtrip with KLM, I booked our flight to Croatia with KLM, and then booked the return on British Airways, which cost only 36,750 points per person.

Just keep in mind that for international flights, the taxes and fees can vary significantly by program, so you'll want to take the differences into account. And there are also some instances where the taxes and fees on two one-way trips can be more than a roundtrip itinerary, so make sure to experiment.

One of the best ways to use airline miles is redeeming them for partner flights. For example, if you have miles with Alaska Airlines, you can often redeem them for flights on American Airlines because they're partners — and sometimes at a significantly lower cost.

For example, this one-way flight on American from New York to London costs 47,000 American miles in premium economy...

...but the exact same seat on the same American flight is available for just 30,000 Alaska miles.

Even if you were flying in economy instead of premium economy, you'd only have to spend 22,500 Alaska miles instead of 27,000 American miles for the same flight.

When searching for travel, you might find that your ideal flight is significantly more expensive than another flight on the exact same day. Maybe you prefer a later flight, or a non-stop versus one with a connection. But people often decide that the savings are worth the inconvenience and book the cheapest option.

However, airlines sometimes re-adjust their flight schedules after you've booked. When that happens, you're typically allowed to switch to another flight — at no additional cost.

And there's often a lot of flexibility with these changes. For instance, when there's a flight schedule change on JetBlue or American, they allow you to select a flight up to one day before or after your originally scheduled flight. Even better, Southwest lets you change your flight by as much as 14 days in either direction.

Many airlines offer opportunities to save when it comes to using your miles, but a lot of folks don't always know about them.

One of my favorites is the Southwest Companion Pass. When you earn a Companion Pass, you can use it to bring a friend or family member along on any Southwest flight with you for free. And you can do it even when you book the flight with Southwest points instead of cash, making both tickets essentially free except for some minor taxes and fees.

Another favorite is for international flights on Air France or KLM using those airlines' Flying Blue miles. When booking a child under 12 years old, you can get a 25% discount on their award ticket. I've personally used this deal on multiple occasions, saving my family lots of miles throughout the years.

And of course, if you're looking for a tool to help you find the best flights, Points Path is a great companion. Remember how we talked earlier about using Alaska miles to book American flights? Points Path is a great way to find those sorts of deals.

Check out this sample flight between Los Angeles and Dallas. Points Path shows the American flight is available for 12,000 American miles — but also for just 7,500 Alaska miles.

When it comes to searching for one-way flights or using partner programs, Points Path will pretty much do the work for you. So get searching and start getting the most for your miles! ✈️