Business travelers missing frequent flier benefits

A recent study by the American Small Business Travelers Alliance (ASBTA) has revealed that many small business frequent travelers who take two or more pleasure trips per year have never used frequent flier programs to obtain cheap airfares.

According to the ASBTA study, 31 per cent of small business travelers take two or more pleasure trips every year, while a further 21 percent take more than four.

It turned out that 47 per cent of these people said they never redeemed travel points, such as frequent flier miles, for free or cheaper airline tickets.

Chuck Sharp, ASBTA president, believes that many passengers are missing out on significant discounts on their airfares.

Mr Sharp said: "In many cases these individuals are taking ten or more business trips each year, all of which have the potential to earn thousands of frequent flier miles and affinity points that can be applied towards vacations that are either free or heavily discounted."

Frequent traveler programs offered by airlines are usually free or cheap to join, and can help small business travelers earn miles and points simply by flying. These points can later be used to obtain cheap plane tickets.

For example, Business ExtrAA, the frequent flier program of American Airlines, allows travelers to obtain discount points for flights as short as 500 miles towards a future discount airfare for a vacation in over 100 locations.

The ASBTA is a national, non-profit alliance providing services focusing on the travel interests, particularly cheap flights, for small business owners and workers.

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