A spur-of-the-moment vacation might be your only opportunity to use up a stash of US Airways' Dividend Miles. The ailing carrier has only enough cash on hand to operate through January, unless its labor unions agree to more pay cuts.

Can't squeeze in a quickie trip or find a destination that suits you? Buy some insurance by purchasing a ticket nine to 11 months out on a US Airways partner carrier in the Star Alliance -- which includes Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian SAS Airlines and United -- or on other partner carriers, such as Qantas. If US Airways dies, you'll have a trip to take. If it survives, you can chuck the ticket, if you wish, and transfer your points back into your US Airways account. Ask for a paper ticket, which will be honored on other airlines. An e-ticket may be worthless to you if US Airways shuts down its electronic systems.

It used to be that when a major airline went out of business, another carrier would pick up its frequent-flier program and members' mileage would remain intact. But this time around it's more likely that your hard-earned miles will cease to exist. Other big airlines have money woes of their own. United is mired in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, and Delta, which is closing its Dallas-Fort Worth hub, is on the brink. In fact, George Novak of the Aviation Institute at George Washington University predicts that two or three of the old-line carriers will go out of business within the next five years.

"For frequent-flier-program members there is no chance of compensation for lost miles through the bankruptcy-court proceedings," says Tim Winship of FrequentFlier.com. Points.com lets you transfer US Airways points into other programs, but your mileage is drastically reduced.

If you're a Dividend Miles member, your best bet is to redeem your points as soon as you can. As a customer service, US Airways' Web site lists destinations for which frequent-flier seats are available, and the airline is even offering a 20% discount on the miles you need to qualify for certain awards. For instance, with 40,000 miles you can get an economy-class ticket to Europe that normally requires 50,000 miles. If you're just a few thousand miles short of an award, consider buying the balance for 3 cents per mile, plus a $25 fee.

Elite-level program members, who fly 50,000 miles or more in a year, are traditionally an airline's most valuable customers. They could be invited by other airlines to transfer their miles into those carriers' award programs. Such cherry-picking is little publicized but is fairly common in certain markets, says Matthew Bennett of Firstclassflyer.com. If you qualify, it wouldn't hurt to contact another airline to see if you could broker a deal.

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