Here's the short answer. Sign up for the airline's frequent flyer programme (it's free), then add your membership number every time you book flights. That includes bookings made through a travel site, not just the airline's own app. Keep your boarding pass and e-ticket until the miles show up in your account. That's honestly about 80% of it. The rest is about earning a bit faster and not wasting what you've collected when it's time to redeem.

Most people don't miss out on air miles because they fly too little. They miss out because they forgot to enter their number, booked under a slightly different name, or let their points quietly expire. I've done all three. So let's walk through how this works in practice, minus the jargon.

How airline loyalty programmes actually work

Every airline's programme has its own rules, but the basic idea is similar everywhere. You earn airline loyalty points on flights you take. Some programmes calculate this from distance flown, and many now calculate it from how much you spent on the ticket. Your fare class matters a lot. That's the little booking code tied to your ticket. A fully flexible economy fare might earn several times more than a rock-bottom sale fare on the exact same flight.

Most programmes also track two different things, and people often mix them up. There are redeemable points, which you spend on flights, upgrades, and other rewards. Then there are tier or status credits, which decide whether you reach silver, gold, or whatever the airline calls its levels. Status gets you things like priority check-in, extra baggage, and lounge access. Points get you free stuff. You can have plenty of one and very little of the other.

Alliances are worth understanding too. Air India, for example, is part of Star Alliance. That means you can often earn on partner airlines and credit those flights to a single programme. Pick one programme as your "home" and send as much as you can there. Ten thousand points in one account is useful. Two thousand points spread across five accounts is basically nothing.

Yes, you can earn points when booking through a travel site

This is the question I get most. In most cases, a ticket booked through a travel platform earns the same miles as one booked directly. That's because it's still a regular airline ticket in a fare class the airline recognises. The catch is that you have to actually attach your frequent flyer number to the booking.

Here's what works for me:

  • Enter your membership number in the passenger details at the time of booking, if there's a field for it.
  • Make sure the name on the ticket matches your loyalty account exactly. Middle names and spelling differences can cause the credit to fail.
  • If you forgot, add the number during web check-in or at the airport counter. It's usually still possible at that point.
  • If the flight's already done, most airlines let you file a retroactive claim with your ticket number and boarding pass. The window varies by airline, so don't sit on it for months.

A few honest caveats. Some fares earn reduced points or none at all. This often applies to deep promo fares, group bookings, and certain bundled fares. If you're booking one of our holiday packages, check whether the flight portion is a regular ticket that earns miles before you count on it. And if your miles don't show up after a few weeks, chase it. The airline's loyalty desk handles missing credits, but if you need your ticket details or booking reference, our support team can help you dig them up.

Earning more without flying more

If you fly a few times a year, flights alone won't build a big balance. Look, that's just the maths. The people with huge stashes of flight rewards usually earn most of them on the ground.

The biggest lever is a co-branded or travel rewards credit card. Many Indian banks offer cards that earn airline points directly, or reward points you can transfer to airline programmes. If you're already putting groceries, fuel, and bills on a card, routing that spending through one that earns miles adds up surprisingly fast. One warning, though. This only makes sense if you pay the full balance every month. Interest charges will wipe out the value of any points instantly.

Partner earning is the other route. Many airline programmes partner with hotel chains, car rental companies, and shopping portals. When you're looking at hotels for a trip, check whether the property or chain lets you credit your stay to an airline instead of its own hotel programme. Sometimes it's a small bonus. Sometimes there's a promotion that makes it genuinely worthwhile.

And watch for promotions. Airlines regularly run double-points offers on certain routes, bonus points for new members, or extra credit for booking during a specific window. They're easy to miss if you never open the airline's emails. I'd suggest at least skimming them.

Redeeming miles without wasting them

Earning is the fun part. Redeeming is where people get frustrated, and honestly, some of that frustration is justified.

Award seats are limited. The airline decides how many seats on each flight can be booked with points, and on popular routes during holidays, those vanish fast. If you want to use points for a Diwali trip home or a December getaway, start looking months ahead. Last-minute award bookings on busy dates are mostly a fantasy.

Also, "free" flights usually aren't completely free. You'll typically still pay taxes and fees, and on some international routes there are carrier surcharges too. Before redeeming, I do a quick check. I look up the cash price of the same flight on our flight search, subtract what I'd still pay on the award ticket, and divide by the points required. That gives me a rough value per point. If the number is low, I pay cash and save the points for something better.

Where do points usually give the best value? In my experience, it's these:

  • Upgrades, especially on longer flights where business class costs far more than economy.
  • International award tickets, which often stretch your points further than short domestic hops.
  • Expensive peak-date flights, if you manage to grab award availability early.

Where's the worst value? Merchandise, gift vouchers, and "shop with points" catalogues. They're almost always a poor deal. Use those only if your points are about to expire and you've got no flights planned.

One more thing. Award tickets often come with different change and cancellation rules than paid tickets, and sometimes rebooking costs a fee plus a points penalty. If your plans aren't fully locked in, think about adding travel insurance. It won't refund points in every case, but it can cover the cash parts of the trip that go sideways.

Mistakes I see all the time (and my honest take)

The most common mistake is letting points expire. Many programmes cancel miles after a period of inactivity, or after a fixed number of years. Check your programme's policy. Even a small earning activity, like a credit card transaction or a partner purchase, can keep the account alive in many cases.

Second is chasing status when it doesn't make sense. Unless you fly very regularly, going out of your way to book an expensive fare or a longer route just to hit the next tier rarely pays off. Elite perks are lovely. They're not worth spending thousands extra to get.

Third, and