Seeking to fill a void of protecting miles for members of frequent flyer programs left open when AwardGuard (the popular program introduced in 1991) was no longer able to secure insurance coverage after the events of 9/11, American Express has introduced a program called Air Miles Protection exclusively for American Express cardholders. While offering to protect miles in most major programs in the U.S., the program limits mileage protection to 60,000 miles per program and doesn’t seem to cover upgrade awards. Mileage programs protected include: American Airlines, America West Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Air Lines and US Airways. Cost of this benefit is $5.40 per month while protection is in place. The program covers miles, not actual awards and comes into play should any covered program end their program and no other airline accepts the miles. To use the protection, members simply purchase an airline ticket on any scheduled airline with an American Express card, contact American Express and they will credit your account $50 for every 3,500 Miles you choose to redeem, up to the number of miles you have available. This would be a maximum of $857 per total account. If redeeming a typical 25,000-mile award, the coverage would be for $357.14 maximum. Interested? (800) 228-6855.