If you don’t have enough miles in your account right now, but you’d like to use miles rather than cash, you may still have some options.

Your options depend on how close you are to the necessary mileage balance, as well as on the speed with which you need the miles.

If you need the miles to be in your account in the next day or two, you can pretty much forget it. It’s nearly impossible to get mileage balances to increase that quickly. If that’s the situation, then you’re going to be paying cash.

So let’s assume you have a little time — a few weeks, perhaps.

You could:

• open a mileage-earning credit card that offers a bonus with your first purchase

  Beware, though, that the card you apply must direct its miles to your airline frequent flyer account, and not a separate points account redeemable on any airline. Some US-based airline credit cards have been offering as many as 30,000 miles as a sign-up bonus. Offers vary widely, so do your research.

• make sure you’re earning miles on existing activities, such as restaurants, car rentals, etc. Check your airline’s program site to see their list of partners.
• transfer the miles from a spouse or friend, though this will cost you money
  

  The cost is usually around 1 cent per mile, plus a ~$25 fee per transaction. If it’s enough to get you over the top for those first-class tickets to Singapore, it may be worth it. For a short-haul domestic flight, probably not. Search the airline’s website for rules.

• transfer miles from a different airline
  

  There are a few ways to do this (see here for a longer explanation), but the most popular service is Points.com. They’ll charge a fee, but if you simply must move points from one account to another, you very often can. Transfers can take a couple weeks, so plan ahead.
  

• buy the miles directly from the airline
  

  NOTE: The cost is usually greater than 2 cents per mile. Check with the airline.

Going forward, we’ll assume that you will have sufficient miles in your account to cover the award ticket.

CLICK HERE to continue.

(image: Adge on flickr)