The Wall Street Journal had a good article today (here's the free article via the Arizona Republic) showing what it takes to fly free these days. Frequent flyer miles don't go as far as they used to.

Specifically, Delta and US Airways are more likely to stick it to you and make you pay more, while American and United were more likely to actually have seats available at their lowest award levels. Out of author Scott McCartney's 24 itineraries that he used to compare, he could not find one Delta flight to actually use his miles at the 25,000-mile level, which is supposedly the minimum to get a ticket. US Airways only had a ticket on one of the itineraries. And these weren't flights to Scotland or anything, it's regular domestic flights.

McCartney acknowledges it's not exactly a scientific survey, but of course none of us are doing scientific surveys when we try to use our miles. We just want the seat, and when we're continually shut out even when we try to book months in advance, it doesn't take a genius to see that our unlimited, no blackout miles aren't exactly as advertised. Sure, everyone's got miles these days, but are they all using them for every single flight you might want?

To be fair, I would concur on McCartney's findings with United. I have generally been able to get my free trips from them without much hassle at the lowest point level, and I remember one trip in particular where a phone agent really bent over backwards to try to make my trip happen, giving me multiple options on how to make it work by using both United and their partner airlines.

What's your experience been trying to use your miles?