I am about to change jobs and the new one will involve large amounts of flying – will be going to Finland twice most months and also further afield probably Uruguay 5 or 6 times this year, China in March, South Africa in April – I am sure that it wont be as glamorous as it sounds!

Question – how do I make the most of frequent flyer miles and the like. All the flights will be booked centrally for me, with a range of different airlines.

Is it best just to get frequent flyer membership for all the main airlines and make sure i get the miles credited to my account, or are their more cunning possibilities?

Some of them are grouped ie Star Alliance, Air France/KLM so check that out. If you fly business class you’ll rack up mega miles but economy wont be so much (although still a fair bit to china). Some of the cheapest economy deals are only paying 50% deals. My company has recently decided to give us the cheapest deal available the skinflint bastards.
Redemption of miles for flights can be a rip off, because they’ll usually charge you tax etc on top and it could end up being the same price as you would pay to fly anyway with a decent internet deal. I would save them up and use them for upgrades when you have enough.

Thanks KT – hopefully the out of Europe trips will be business class – just need to speak nicely to our travel people to quote my card number when they book the flights. THe frequent flyer membership also seems really good for access to lounges etc.

Booking flights on points/miles is usually limited availability too, so unless you book your holidays months in advance you probably won’t get good options on dates. I agree with KT, use them for upgrades instead.