You've Earned The Miles. Here's How To Use Them
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Figuring out which are truly the smart ways to earn frequent-flier miles is only half the battle. You've also got to decide where to spend them.
The goal: Use reward tickets to replace your most expensive trips. In other words, don't spend 25,000 miles to get from Boston to Florida when a round-trip ticket on that route can cost less than $200. Use it instead to fly from Boston to Seattle or San Francisco or Albuquerque. In the same vein, if you're planning more than one trip to Europe, don't use your miles to fly to London. Spend them on a $600 trip to Rome or an $800 ticket to Istanbul or a $1,000 jaunt to Moscow.