round-trip ticket that cost under $300," Hobica says. "You have to try to get as much dollar value per mile as possible." A good rule of thumb: Never redeem your miles when you'd get less than a penny a mile, Brancatelli advises. "The average customer should aim for two cents a mile," he says. "Getting three or four cents per mile is tough, but if you can get it then you're really getting a lot for your miles." If you don't have enough miles to make a purchase, you can buy more miles from the airline. Doing this can be expensive, but the airlines frequently have bonus offers. US Airways, for example, often will give you 100 percent bonus when you buy miles, so if you buy 50,000 miles, they'll give you another 50,000 miles for free. But snagging the seat you want might be difficult because now there's more competition than ever. "You're not only competing with frequent flyers, you're also competing with frequent credit card users who are getting their miles that way," says Brancatelli. To help you better navigate the large number of frequent flyer programs out there, U.S. News asked Hobica for recommendations on his favorite frequent flyer programs:  "I like the membership rewards program from American Express because you can assign your points to many different airlines. It's not really a specific airline program."  "Another favorite is the British Airways Avios program because up to 4 'household' members can pool their points into