DALLAS » Airline customers are cashing in more frequent-flier awards this year, looking to avoid higher fares and believing that miles just aren't worth the same anymore.

With so many new ways to earn miles - on everything from car rentals to groceries - savvy travelers fear it'll soon become harder to go where they want, when they want for free.

“;The glamour of the frequent-flier award has faded,”; says Jay Sorensen, who ran the loyalty program at Midwest Airlines and is now an airline consultant. “;People are realizing that using miles to go to Hawaii is a difficult objective.”;

The economy and high fares also may be pushing people to spend their miles.

Randy Petersen, who tracks frequent-flier programs as publisher of InsideFlyer magazine, says recent fare hikes are leading many passengers to burn up miles on humdrum trips instead of vacations to Hawaii or Europe.

“;They're going to Boise, Decatur and Bakersfield,”; Petersen said. “;They're spending miles on family emergencies or visiting grandma.”;

Airlines have been raising mileage requirements and imposing fees to use them, but plenty of people are still cashing them in.

Continental Airlines reports that through July, customers had cashed in 1.34 million awards this year, up 21 percent from the same period last year. The only major U.S. airline to disclose monthly redemption figures, Continental officials credit changes in their Web site that let customers see available seats on partner airlines, which they can book with miles from Continental's OnePass loyalty program.

American Airlines has the oldest and largest loyalty program in the industry, AAdvantage, with 60 million members who racked up 200 billion miles last year.

Use of awards on American was flat from 2006 to 2007 but is up 10 to 15 percent this year through August, said Rob Friedman, American's president of marketing for AAdvantage.

Like Continental, American credited Web site advances that let customers see at a glance when they can travel a certain route and how many miles it will cost.

“;They can look at the calendar and make trade-offs,”; Friedman said. “;They can be flexible and shop around for flights (that require fewer miles), or they may need to redeem more miles for travel on a specific date.”;

For example, last week American's Web site showed available seats from Dallas to Honolulu on most days around Thanksgiving for 35,000 miles. But if you wanted to travel on a Saturday, it would require 90,000 miles.

That indicates American is more confident of selling out those Saturday flights. Airlines want to fill their planes with paying customers, but they must balance that against the clamoring of frequent fliers who want to redeem their miles for free trips.

About 6 to 8 percent of all passengers fly on award tickets, according to airline documents.

Most U.S. carriers have raised mileage standards and shortened expiration periods in their loyalty programs.

Delta Air Lines now offers members a guaranteed ability to redeem miles for a free trip but at the cost of many more miles. This month, American began charging $50 - plus 15,000 miles - to upgrade from economy coach on a flight within the United States.

Those fees and tighter expiration rules might themselves be driving the increase in redemptions.