Smoke Em if You Got Em

Flew up to JFK last night for some personal business meetings in NYC this weekend. I actually used frequent flyer points on JetBlue for this trip.

I'm starting to use up ALL my FF points right now. I think you should too...

Yesterday CO announced 3,000 folks laid off. The press release - like so much air news these days -mentioned "crisis" more than a few times. Sure, they're probably fishing for a bailout. But there's real trouble here too.

As fuel prices explode and air fares follow, those 25,000 points that were worth a $200 flight are suddenly worth $300 or $400. So using them up now has become a great deal.

But with all the trouble in the industry, you've got to think this party is not going to last. You've got to think frequent flyer programs are the next thing that are going to be cut.

I'm looking at various redemptions now (Delta, CO, USAir) and the summer's almost impossible, but right after Labor Day there are plenty of openings.

If you've got a stockpile of points you've been hoarding, now might be the time to use them for some autumn travel.