Dear Randy,

I am trying to plan my honeymoon and together, my fiance and I have 385,326 miles. One of us has: 44,657 American Airlines miles, 41,552 Continental miles, 32,327 Northwest miles, 71,425 United miles and 110,151 US Airways miles. The other has: 6,389 American miles, 16,852 Continental miles, 19,066 United miles and 300 US Airways miles. Is there any way to combine and mix and match miles in order to go somewhere unusual? We're open to exotic destinations, as long as they're warm in October, and we just want to get the most out of our miles!

- Alison

Randy replies:

Alison, many thanks for the question and here's a congrats in advance for the big wedding day and honeymoon. The facts are that like many, you are miles rich, but awards poor. While there is every opportunity for the two of you to combine various accounts, doing so would entail paying a fee for the privilege, and I'm pretty sure the best advice for any newlyweds is to not go into debt right away, so we'll put off the thought of moving the 16,852 Continental miles and the 19,066 United miles.

With that in mind, let's concentrate on what you do have. Since one of you does not have enough miles for an award, we're going to concentrate on the largest balances.

Most people would just look to the largest account and assume dividing that in half would equal how many miles you can go somewhere on an award. But I like to first consider the alliances and partnerships before doing that.

I like American because they have a lot of award seats to the Caribbean and that might be nice for a honeymoon. But you don't have any miles with a partner of American, and even if we were able to combine the two accounts for American miles, you'd still only have enough miles for the two of you to go Disney World (warm in October, yes, but might not fit your "exotic" aspirations).

The next program to consider might be Continental. Again, you might be able to combine the two accounts but the net of roughly 58,000 miles won't get the two of you far, so we'll pass with that as well.

Now, since you want to travel before the end of October, you could consider the partnerships of Continental and Northwest, which means that you could get as far as a 30,000-mile award. You have just over that with Northwest, so you could redeem those miles for an award on Northwest and then redeem the Continental miles for a similar award ... on Northwest.

Or we could reverse that and redeem Northwest miles for an award on Continental and of course the Continental miles for a Continental award. But again, the most we can get out of that is a destination not exceeding 30,000 miles and I'm afraid that it's Key West or stay home.

Actually, it might be fun to do Florida, rent a convertible and do a small road trip between Miami and Key West, stopping along the way for a pub crawl and really enjoying the sights and the key lime pie. My record is eight different slices along that drive and six of them were all-time winners.

Key West is funky and walkable and still warm, though the beaches aren't the white crystal sand you might be searching for, so let's move on.

This brings us back to the programs where you and your fiance have the most miles at hand. United ... and US Airways.

As partners, you can redeem these airlines' miles back and forth for awards, which means we'd be looking for a 70,000-mile award on United, then using the US Airways miles to match that same award on United, or vice-versa.

So, all of a sudden, the world has opened up for your honeymoon. We now have the ability to get you to Hawaii, the Caribbean and even Europe or Asia if you so desire. I think Europe might be nice---the weather won't be nearly as warm, but the sights would be fabulous--and, just think, because of the time that you'll be traveling---no tourists! I recommend the Amalfi Coast of Italy, although Tuscany after the grape harvest is still quite scenic.

As for Asia, as with Europe, you'd spend part of your honeymoon recovering from jet lag and your honeymoon would be cut short by travel time; unless of course, you really can take two weeks or more off from work or other obligations back home.

Hawaii, of course, is doable and is often considered one of the more exotic locales in the United States. You could easily get there with miles to spare in coach or if you don't mind a few extra fees, you could combine the United accounts, and that would give you enough miles for a business class ticket to Hawaii on United. And you do have enough US Airways miles to also redeem for a business class ticket to Hawaii. Surely, it's your choice.

But don't forget the Caribbean. Jamaica could be calling, as could St. Lucia or the Turks and Caicos Islands. I'm not really a travel agent or specialist in honeymoon destinations, so I better leave off more advice along those lines for now and concentrate on just trying to figure out the miles for you.

And as I noted, you've got Florida which still is not such a bad idea--and you could consider Upper Captiva Island. It's all your choice and all your idea of what constitutes "exotic." But following the guidelines I set forth above on how to use your miles--at least now you know what is possible.

Once again, congratulations on your upcoming nuptials!

Dear Randy,

Are airlines more likely to release award travel seats as the departure date gets closer or will they become more scarce?

- Heather

Randy replies:

This question has three possible answers: Yes, No and Maybe. Not much help is it? Well, let's look at what causes all three answers to be possible.

Yes -- Because just like the airlines deal with pricing, if something is not selling, they mark it down. And if it appears that the flight will not achieve a load factor of 80 percent or higher, then the airline has an algorithm that adds additional seats to the "sale" category and the award category.

This is more prevalent for business and first class awards because airlines know that these types of seats often sell at the last minute so they hold them longer. But if it appears near flight time that the plane will fly out empty, then an automated system will make seats available for awards or for upgrades.

Yes -- Because available inventory for awards is often predicated on what other members are doing.

For instance, a flight may have 15 award seats in coach and they are all claimed by members for award redemption. Approximately 21 percent of all awards get changed after they are booked. This means that a member may be moving to another flight, or may be canceling the award all together. When this happens, that award seat is often added back into the inventory list and is now available for another member to claim.

When this happens closer to the departure date, this can effect award availability and make it appear that the airline is releasing more seats.

No -- With capacity cuts as they are these days, flights over the past few years have been fuller on average than normal, which means that there are fewer opportunities for airlines to release more seats for awards closer to the departure date. While some of the current travel booking trends have effected how full flights are, this remains a fact for us to be aware of.

Maybe -- It varies by destination and time of the year. Salt Lake City may not be a hot destination in the summer (except for possibly Park City), but come winter, the flights are full of skiers, which means that seasonal and other types of factors do effect when and how seats are released. The seats that may be automatically released in July are likely to be different than those released, and why they are released, in February.

There are three nice little tools that I can suggest you look at in trying to determine if an airline is likely to release additional seats for awards near your departure date:
- MileageManager.com:

This account manager Web site is adding a popular tool called AwardPlanner that allows you to search for an award and be put on a daily waitlist to see if more awards become available. Very clever.
- Yapta.com:

This tool also does something similar in that it searches for awards that may become available and alerts you when it happens.
- FareCast.com:

While a booking engine for regular airfares, it has a price predictor which has a 75 percent success rate for predicting price changes. The key? If it predicts that a price will drop on a flight you are considering for award redemption, then you might hold out because when airlines drop prices, they typically add award seats as well.

As complicated as this seems, I hope my advice helps and I am sorry I didn't have a more simple answer for you.