A different way to cash in flier miles

NEW YORK — For those who have racked up enough miles to remain in a constant state of flight from now until Christmas, Continental Airlines Inc. has come up with a novel way to spend miles closer to home.

The airline has put promotional items from sponsorships, such as tickets to games and theater productions, up for auction on its Internet site, with all bids posted in miles.

Since the auctions began in last year, 27,308 customers have bid on 573 items, spending 35.5 million frequent flier miles.

An evening in a Yankees luxury suite, tickets to the Grammys, a walk-on role in a Chicago play — they’re all perks that Continental got by sponsoring various events and organizations.

Like other airlines, Continental used to send those tickets to big-spending customers, who couldn’t always use them.

The program is among a growing number of options for using frequent fliers.

Mileage programs have been losing their luster as major airlines cut back on flights, making redeeming miles for seats more difficult, while financial difficulties at the airlines make it attractive for them to sell miles to partners such as credit card companies.

"It’s a festering problem," said Tim Winship, publisher of FrequentFlier.com.

With the capacity reductions, airlines are trying to come up with mile redemption options that don’t cost them much but are as pleasing to customers as free flights.

Jim Mulholland, vice president of sales for CertifiedMail.com, uses the auction site to buy items for his four children. Tickets to a Yankees baseball game mean family time for a man who is away from home so often that he collects hundreds of thousands of Continental miles each year.

"The kids click on it, we’ll agree how many miles we’ll go up to. It’s like being in Las Vegas with them," he said. "The sports clinics they do are the real plum. My kids don’t realize it’s treasured ground to get to walk on the outfield at Yankee stadium."

Winship predicts alternative redemption programs will proliferate until airlines recover financially.

AMR Corp.’s American Airlines allows customers to transfer miles to an Ebay.com account, and spend miles online.

American also allows customers to convert miles into college savings plans. Parents get $50 for 10,000 miles converted to college savings, plus $25 for every 5,000 additional miles.