Optimizing Frequent Flier Miles?

[Left Bank]

I have accumulated a decent amount of FFMs and would like to ask the community here if you have any guidelines or guidance for the best use of miles.  Are there any internet "tricks" to get the best ROI?
Thanks!

[seattlecyclone]

A lot of airlines have a few different tiers of prices in miles that a flight will cost. I try not to settle for anything but the cheapest tier. If you have a future flight in mind and check once every day or two to see if a cheap ticket has been added to the inventory, you'll often be successful. I managed to score two round trip Delta tickets to Peru for 40k miles apiece by being patient. If I had bought the tickets the first day I searched, they would have been 75k miles apiece.

[Exflyboy]

Agreed.. My Wife scored a trip to India and flew round the world.. wait for it.. Business class for 120,000 miles!

Frank

[the fixer]

If you can be flexible about dates and scheduling, the best thing I've noticed is to not book flights months in advance. Be spur-of-the-moment and fly when it's good. For instance, I could book flights to Europe through American Airlines leaving in a couple weeks for 10000 miles each way.

[Left Bank]

Thanks for the replies, all.  So what I am reading is that I need to be patient, check frequently and go with little advance time. 
Is that all there really is to it? 
Anyone else?   Anyone just sell their points?

[nybeccaboo]

I agree with being patient. If you aren't too particular about where/when you're going, you can book pretty close to the date. For example, I was able to score roundtrip tickets from NYC to Lima for 35k miles on American and I booked about a month in advance.
 
However, if you're looking to go to a very popular place during peak season (i.e. U.S to Australia during Christmas), your best bet is to book almost a year in advance or as soon as the airline opens up the space.  It really all depends on where you want to go and when.

Whatever you do, though, don't be tempted by offers to 'sell' your miles.  In most cases, airlines don't allow it and you can actually have your account shut down and lose all the miles you accumulated if you get caught.