Official Frequent Flyer Guide

This is a good, well- organized guide to frequent flyer and other incentive plans. It's a reference guide, for the most part, full of tables for making comparisons between the different airlines. There are a few sections at the beginning for general reading, but the bulk of the book is meant for reference. I really like the tables in this book, because it's very handy to have a way to make comparisons between the different frequent flyer plans. For example, if you have your heart set on getting a free trip to Europe from the United States, you can flip to the table and look at the mileage requirements for each airline and quickly determine which plan offers a free ticket for the least effort and money. There is one bad thing about a book like this. It becomes outdated very quickly. That's probably why the author, Randy Petersen, has now published so many different editions of this book. The one that I own is the fifth edition, printed in 1997, but I have looked through the others and they are basically the same (similar format and structure) only with different numbers to reflect the changes in the individual programs. You need to purchase a new copy of this book every 2 years or so, to stay on top of all the changes to these plans. If you fly much more than the average, then an annual purchase of this guide might be a good idea. In spite of the fact that this book has more than 500 pages, it manages to be compact in size, measuring about 7 inches in length, about 4 inches in width, and just over one inch in thickness. The narrow width makes it easy to fit into a small, compact space. I pull mine out every now and then when I need a quick answer to a question about the different frequent flyer programs of different airline companies. But I am always wary that things could have changed since the latest publication so I don't take what I read to be 100 percent accurate in every instance. One other benefit of reading what would normally seem like a very mundane book is the unknown discoveries about specific frequent flyer plans. I had never given much thought, for instance, to the frequent flyer plans offered by airlines like Midwest Express or AeroMexico. I was weaned on the giants of aviation travel, like American Airlines, Delta, United, etc., and I never really bothered to check out the plans of the lesser- known airlines. After reading this guide, I discovered that some of these smaller airlines have plans that are much better than those offered by the well- known airlines. They are often worth a look, even if they are smaller and offer service to fewer cities. Overall, this is a very good guide for the frequent traveler to own. Remember, however, that it does become outdated rather quickly. Even if you purchase the newest edition, you still need to check the web site or call, to make sure that the plans have not changed significantly. Randy Petersen's Frequent Flyer Guidebook is a great asset to the frequent flyer and traveler. His