Miles to Go When an airline goes bust, do your points take flight?

If your favorite airline is flying under bankruptcy protection,you're probably worried about what might happen to your milesif the carrier goes under. Relax. Your points are probablysafe.

Both United Airlines and US Airways, which have filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection, have assured travelers theirmiles are fine. As if to underscore the point, US Airways brieflyoffered triple miles for passengers on its shuttle flights, andUnited gave certain frequent fliers double miles on any route.

Even if one of the airlines goes belly-up, your miles will mostlikely be transferred to another airline's frequent-flieraccount. When TWA stopped flying, its frequent-flier membershipswere transferred to American Airlines. But when Ansett Australialiquidated last year, its customers were out of luck. How do yousafeguard your points?

• Insure them. AwardGuard(www.awardguard.com)protects any unused miles in your account and will return you toyour point of origin if a mileage program collapses whileyou're on the road and no other program will honor your ticket.A one-year policy costs $119.

• Move them. Transfer yourmiles or elite status to a program with an airline that's onmore solid financial footing. That's exactly what United and USAirways are trying to avoid with their generous mileage offers, butit will put an end to your concerns. Check outFrequentFlier.com (www.frequentflier.com) for information.

• Use them. Burn miles whileyou can. Carriers are cutting back on awards. Delta, for instance,has announced that on discounted coach tickets, passengers wouldonly earn half the miles they used to that can be counted towardelite status.

Christopher Elliott is a writer and commentator and theeditor of www.elliott.org.