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Getting mileage out of your air miles
 Many argue that there are too many air miles chasing too few seats. QUICKVOTEYOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- When civil engineer David Phillips stocked up on more than 12,000 chocolate desserts at his local supermarket he earned himself the nickname "pudding guy." The Californian also earned himself 1.2 million frequent flyer points as part of a promotion being run by Healthy Choice, the company who made the desserts. The points were enough to fly him on 30 round-trip trips to Europe -- enough to pay for travel for the rest of his life. That was seven years ago, and these days many travelers argue that there are too many air miles chasing too few seats, and that the popular destinations are snapped up too easily. The airlines make no apology for the fact that sometimes it can be tricky to get the seat you want. American Airlines, the airline that created the first air miles program, says the criticism about availability is unfair. Dan Garton, executive vice president of marketing for the airline, says much of the criticism is "overblown" and that seven percent of the airline's seats are occupied by people flying on free seats. "Certainly the anecdotes are going to be unfortunately negative about availability," he told CNN. "But when we do surveys and when third parties do surveys our availability is essentially the best in the industry. "I don't want to downplay it and we are very focused on it because keeping the program relevant to customers is very important to us but I think some of those comments are overblown." Rick Seaney knows all about frequent flyers' frustrations when it comes to redeeming their rewards. He decided to start the Web site Farecompare The site processes raw data from airlines to help travelers stay ahead of the game, taking the guesswork out of earning and using miles to their advantage. "We see ourselves as kind of the first step you take in the travel planning system," Seaney told CNN. "With the right amount of data and the right amount of knowledge, you'd like to know maybe what happens if you left the week before or a week later." Once you have found a deal, work out that mileage rate is right. Using online frequent flyer mileage calculator program Flying Fish A good deal will cost you up to three cents for every mile and it is worth remembering that the points are a currency in their own right. It is also becoming more common for frequent flyer points to be split in divorce settlements and, depending on each airline's policy, you can even leave them in your will. Seaney said the key to making the most of air miles came down to a lot of factors that the traveler was not able to control. "The airlines themselves, they try to maximize the profit of each seat -- that's their entire goal. And the more seats that they sell at a cheap price, the higher they have to sell the other seats at another price to make a particular flight profitable," he said. "So it's sort of a catch 22. You have to be in a perfect storm to catch those sometimes." 
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