Mix Money and Frequent Flyer Miles for Cheaper Airline Tickets

Mixing cash with frequent flyer miles can help you pay for your next purchase of airline tickets. It can be tough to save enough frequent flyer points to get a completely free airline ticket. But two major airlines offer you the chance to spend some of your miles and some of your money to book a flight.

United's "Miles & Money Awards" help you buy economy-class tickets, both round-trip and one-way. The cost varies depending on where you're traveling, but may be as low as 10,000 miles and $100 (plus taxes and fees).

To see what United Miles & Money tickets are available for your next trip, go to www.mileageplus.com and look for the "Redeem miles" trip-planning area. Enter your trip information, and the search results will show you what it would cost to pay for your trip entirely with miles, or what combination of miles and cash will get you to your destination. Only a limited number of Miles & Money seats are available on an eligible flight, so you may not see this option in the search results for every trip.

Delta Airlines also offers a similar way to buy airline tickets by combining frequent flyer points and money. Delta's "Pay With Miles" offers discounts based on the number of miles redeemed and total flight cost. Redeeming 10,000 miles saves you $100; using additional miles in increments of 5,000 or 10,000 shaves more dollars from your airfare. You must have an American Express SkyMiles credit card to use Delta's program.

Delta does not limit the number of "Pay With Miles" seats available on flights eligible for the program. The program is available for one-way and round-trip airline tickets.

To see your Pay With Miles options on Delta flights, visit www.delta.com and log into your SkyMiles account; then, click the Pay with Miles link. Enter the details of your trip and start the search feature to see available flights. After you select your outbound and return flights from the list of options, a new page will display the total fare and a dropdown box that allows you to see a new price, depending on the number of miles you wish to spend. You'll also be able to see your current balance of frequent flyer miles on this page.

Visit the airlines' Web sites for complete details. Be sure to read the fine print about what happens if you need to change or cancel a ticket.

Sources: Delta and United Airlines Web sites