# Your Secrets To Accumulating Frequent Flyer Miles?



## AbelowDS (Mar 31, 2013)

Now that I have 4 weeks that I use/exchange (and I'm looking for a 5th), getting there (wherever "there" is) is seriously depleting my FF accounts.  I earned all those miles while traveling on business for years.  Now I'm self-employed and have no business travel.

What are the best ways you earn frequent flyer points WHEN NOT FLYING?

Thanks


----------



## dougp26364 (Mar 31, 2013)

Right now we use credit cards associated with FF programs. I usually pick one airline and use that card even though I have a couple. I prefer the cards which give double miles for "everyday purchases" and I'll charge everything I can to that card, including regularly occuring payments such as cable TV and cell phones. With the double miles on purchases like grocery stores, gasoline and restaurants I can accumulate between 2,000 and 3,000 miles/month with regular purchases. Months where we have periodic payments such as insurance, timeshare MF's, taxes et.....we'll accumulate more. 

It's not an outstanding amount of miles per year and certainly not what I was earning the one year I flew weekly but, it adds up.

There are cards such as Diners Club, Chase Freedom or Capital One that will allow you to choose the program you want your rewards points to go towards. I always add up the value of their points when translated to another programs miles/points. Sometimes they don't add up as well as if I were using a card that was tied directly to a FF or hotel rewards program. Diners Club was 1 point for 1 FF mile when transfering to Delta's FF program.


----------



## Dori (Mar 31, 2013)

If you are shopping for a credit card to accumulate points or miles, watch for some of the lucrative sign-up bonuses. Flyertalk is a great resource to ferret out the best incentives.

Dori


----------



## BevL (Mar 31, 2013)

We religiously use our Alaska cards for everything.  I recently got a 25K bonus for getting another card.  We have a total of four between us and always seem to use the four companion certificates we get each year.  Plus we will use our miles for longer trips, and usually pay for one direction first class using our companion certificate and use miles for the return trip.

We don't have as many options for mileage plan type cards up here in Canada.


----------



## jeepie (Mar 31, 2013)

You might also want to check out The Points Guy's daily newsletter on the topic:

http://thepointsguy.com/subscribe/


----------



## Rent_Share (Mar 31, 2013)

I use e-rewards.com to keep my remaining balance from expiring

Not enough to go anywhere, but an award activity that keeps pushing the expiration date out.


----------



## dougp26364 (Mar 31, 2013)

Another thought if you shop online is that most FF programs have a shopping program. If you shop online using a link from the airlines website you can accumulate miles for purchases, sometimes upwards of 8 miles for every dollar spent. I'll typically purchase enough product to get free shipping when buying pet supplies or household items that we use such as candles/air freshener's et...

Rental cars are another way to accumulate miles if you link your FF # to the rental. Most of the time there's a small charge for the miles given by the rental car company. You'll have to do the math to calculate if it's a good enough deal for you.

There's also a Idine program where you can earn miles by dining at listed restaurants in the program. All you have to do is sign up.


----------



## SMHarman (Mar 31, 2013)

Where are you and where do you want to go?
Some programs like Avios are distance based, so a flight to the Caribbean from NY is less miles than a flight to LAX even though the shorter flight is generally the more expensive one. 
Also consider when you should buy tickets not use miles. Eg my NY SFO later this year will be bought as the $300 a seat earns a good amount of miles and is cheap and the spend would be many miles for that seat.


----------



## DeniseM (Mar 31, 2013)

We use 2 credit cards for every cent we spend, and then pay them off each month.

Starwood American Express - 1 point = 1.25 miles when transferred to most airlines.  Bonus points at Starwood properties and when paying Starwood MF's.

Hawaiian Airline Visa - used for purchases where AMEX is not accepted


----------



## AbelowDS (Mar 31, 2013)

SMHarman said:


> Where are you and where do you want to go?
> Some programs like Avios are distance based



Never heard of Avios. Will need to check it out.

We fly out of Boston.  Our trips are all over the place, but mostly Hawaii, Europe and the Caribbean.


----------



## glypnirsgirl (Mar 31, 2013)

*Use your business expenses*

I subscribe to thepointsguy - for a beginner, start with his beginner tab and then go to the best deals tab. Over on flyertalk, there are credit card threads for each major airline miles program. They usually have the best links for maximum bonus offers.

I have become maniacal about this since getting my first Citi AA card - I have earned more than 700,000 miles and my husband has used our personal cards to earn another 300,000 or more.

I have 4 Citi accounts for business = AmEx, Visa, MasterCard and Business Visa. I am in the process of cancelling these cards so that I will be eligible for new signing bonuses in a year. 

In the past year, I have branched out, earning more bonus points/miles along the way. 

I have a Chase Ink Bold - I use this for office supplies, internet and phone services (after meeting the minimum spend to qualify for the bonuses) - and I use the AA marketplace portal to place my orders at Staples so I get additional miles there. 

I have a Barclays Card which is supposed to be good for 2X points. 

And my two favorites: Amex Ultimate Rewards and SPG Amex.

I have gone overboard. All of the above I use for business. I keep a spreadsheet to keep up with minimum spend requirements and deadlines for meeting them to qualify for bonuses.

I got these cards over a period of 4 years. And I manage the accounts rigorously to keep my credit score in good standing.

Then, at home we also use the Citi AA cards with my husband as primary. We pay our phone, gas, water, electric using auto pay to the credit card accounts. We pay our medical bills, etc. 

The only things that I pay directly are our mortgage and the guy that mows our lawn. At home, it has made things easier, not harder, because now I am just paying one bill instead of many.

Good luck!
elaine


----------



## Ken555 (Mar 31, 2013)

AbelowDS said:


> Never heard of Avios. Will need to check it out.
> 
> We fly out of Boston.  Our trips are all over the place, but mostly Hawaii, Europe and the Caribbean.



Avios is the BA mileage program. It has been great so far for me in obtaining tickets to Hawaii on AA for just 25,000 Avios rt. The Chase card offers 50k (sometimes up to 100k) bonus when first signing up, and then 1.25 points on every $. However, it's not great when using on BA flights due to the very high surcharges for fuel and flying via LHR. It may be worth getting for your Caribbean flights and plan on simply using AA. One of the things I like best about it is that partner flights may be reserved online - no need to call (huge time savings) so you can check availability on partner flights anytime and as often as you want.

If you don't spend a lot on credit cards annually, then the best (and it's no secret) way to obtain miles is via credit card churn. It takes excellent credit (with all the ramifications of having multiple checks on your credit report each year) and good record keeping, but you could likely do quite well each year by simply signing up for multiple cards, later in the year canceling them, and then repeat with the same or other cards the next year (note that each has different policies on how frequently you are entitled to the new card bonuses). 

I find the Starwood AMEX to be the best for me, but that's because I stay in their hotels when not in timeshares. It doesn't sound like that would be an advantage to you. The AMEX also provides easy transfer at favorable rates to a variety of other programs (as Denise wrote, it offers 25,000 miles for every 20,000 points on most programs, such as AA - tho some have unfavorable trasnfer ratios...just review the chart at SPG.com). 

Be careful about all the programs offering "double miles" since everything is relative. If its double, then verify that the actual cost of obtaining a flight isn't also twice that of other airlines. Remember, each program dilutes and values their own points differently, though there are some that are very similar - for instance, the standard has been domestic flights for 25,000 miles, but that's no longer true in all cases since those seats are sometimes very hard to find. Similarly, flights to Europe can be different based on season - and for business seats, they vary greatly. 

I find points to be a nice benefit, and one which I really enjoy since it saves me money. However, there have been occasions when I spend so much time simply making the reservation that it's not worthwhile by the time it's all done - for instance, I used to transfer points from SPG to US Air and then use those miles on United to Hawaii (as US Air is a partner of United). US Air occasionally offered 50% bonus miles when transferring from a hotel points account, so I would deposit 60,000 SPG points and get 112,500 US miles. I would then use 35,000 (now 40,000) per ticket for seats on United to Hawaii. But in order to make the United reservation I had to call, and US Air's reservation dept is inept and often took multiple calls and long wait times. It was a great deal, but I'm much happier making the reservation online with BA on AA now for about the same amount of credit card spend - and it's more consistent (I don't need to wait for the US Air bonus to transfer the points in order to maximize the value).

I didn't mean to make this such a long post, but my overall point is that it all depends on what you value. If its hotel stays (since that's often much more expensive than a flight) then get a hotel credit card, and the SPG AMEX offers both hotel and very good rates at transferring to airline miles. If its just flights, then find exactly the airlines you want to travel on and discover how best to get miles on their flights - and it may not be by using the airline program itself, as per my example above re US Air and United (of course, this particular ability will go away once AA and US Air finalize their merger).


----------



## JudyS (Mar 31, 2013)

If you are seriously into Frequent Flyer miles, you'll want to join www.flyertalk.com  The folks there are hardcore frequent flyers! If you don't fly, the biggest way to earn frequent flyer miles is via "credit card churn." You open a credit card that gives large numbers of miles as a reward, then close it a while later and open a different card that gives large numbers of miles as a reward. Flyer Talk has advice on which credit cards offer the best deals, how many times you can get a bonus from a particular bank, etc. 

Plus, many FF programs gives miles for shopping if you sign into your FF account and shop online via their shopping portal. 

Some people on Flyer Talk also do "mileage runs" (flying just to get the miles -- generally only worth doing if you are going for elite status or if there is some sort of very low fare available, perhaps as the result of an airline's error.) An additional approach (for dedicated miles addicts only) is to do things like buy gift cards and the re-sell them, just to get miles.


----------



## SMHarman (Mar 31, 2013)

AbelowDS said:


> Never heard of Avios. Will need to check it out.
> 
> We fly out of Boston.  Our trips are all over the place, but mostly Hawaii, Europe and the Caribbean.



Avios is the BA program. Not much good TATL but great for the Caribbean routes on AA. 
Chase runs the credit card program sometimes they have 50k s sign on bonus. 

Points guy and others have great lessons in using alliance points for better redemption. 
Eg transfer from ax or starwood to lan to buy a united for less.


----------



## x3 skier (Mar 31, 2013)

Another vote for www.thepointsguy.com. More info there than I can use. 

He also highlights good deals on airfare like a recent RT to South America on AA in business class for ~$1000.  

BTW, with the continuous devaluing of FF programs on all airlines, don't feel bad about depleting your account. Better use them sooner than later. Most recent devaluation is Delta confiscating your account on your death rather than allowing your heirs to inherit and use your miles. 

Cheers


----------



## T_R_Oglodyte (Mar 31, 2013)

AbelowDS said:


> Now that I have 4 weeks that I use/exchange (and I'm looking for a 5th), getting there (wherever "there" is) is seriously depleting my FF accounts.  I earned all those miles while traveling on business for years.  Now I'm self-employed and have no business travel.
> 
> What are the best ways you earn frequent flyer points WHEN NOT FLYING?
> 
> Thanks



Since you are on the East Coast this will probably be of less value to you since Alaska Airlines probably isn't significant.  People who are in a situation to use Alaska regularly might find this helpful

If you operate a business entity, set up an Alasak Airlines EasyBiz account, then book as much of your travel as you can through that account.  If you have friends and family, enroll them as users on the account, and get them bto book through the account whenever they fly Alaska Airlines or a partner in lieu of booking the same flights directly through another source (assuming there is no difference in fare).  

They will get all of the frequent flyer miles and perks they would get otherwise.  But your EasyBiz account will generate 1 mile for each dollar spent through the account.  Those are totally free miles. It doesn't cost you anything to set up or maintain an EasyBiz account. Simply by rounting bookings your would otherwise be making anyway through the EasyBiz account, you can generate miles.


----------



## x3 skier (Mar 31, 2013)

Most airlines have accounts similar to the Alaska EasyBiz. Delta has Sky Bonus and American also has one. I have used both and redeemed for First Class tickets to Europe and South America. They do expire, usually around 3 years after they are earned, so you have to pay attention. 

Cheers


----------



## Jimster (Apr 1, 2013)

*Secrets*

To be quite honest, your title kinda rubs me the wrong way ie 
"your secrets to earning ff miles"   My initial thought was if I had secrets and I told you on here, then they wouldnt be secrets for long.  The truth is you need to invest some time in learning how to acquire miles.  It is not like you take a shot of penicillin and you are cured.  I could write a book on all the various ways to get miles but by the time it was printed it would be grossly out of date.  The methods change from day to day.  The best piece of advice you have received so far is to read this bbs and fliyertalk.com.  There are lots of bloggers out there who will help you out too.  The points guy is one of them although he is not one of my favorites nor is he the most knowledgeable.

The fact that you did not know what Avios points were is a tiip off you havent really invested the time you need to be serious about improving your ff balances.       I encourage you to continue to learn more about getting miles but realize it will take diligence and hard work if you are going to be successful.  There is no quick fix.  Remember even after you acquire a million points, you still need to know what to do to take advantage of them.  Another book could be written to explain this.


----------



## akp (Apr 1, 2013)

As pointed out, there are tons of frequent flyer blogs available, but many focus as much on hotels as airlines and also focus a lot on elite status and premium redemptions internationally.  

I have a blog designed to help the timeshare traveler fly free at a specific time to a specific destination, which is a different beast altogether than "I have 100,000 miles; what is the highest value use of them?"

However, if you're willing to put in the time, the very BEST method of figuring it all out yourself is to immerse yourself in FlyerTalk.  

A few things off the top of my head:

1) Pay your maintenance fees with the Chase Sapphire Preferred as they give 2x Ultimate Rewards points on all travel, including timeshare maintenance fees.

2) Try to never use a airline credit card that pays 1 mile / point per dollar.  You'd be far better off using a 2% cash back card.  

See Make the most of your credit card spend.  Instead, adopt a strategy of applying for a few credit cards for the bonus each year or up to every 93 days.

3) Spend some time learning what airline(s) will work best to get you to the destinations of your timeshare weeks, then study their award charts.  Also learn who their partners are.  

4) Learn about Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest flexible points programs. 

5) Start reading blogs and FlyerTalk.

Good luck!


----------



## AbelowDS (Apr 1, 2013)

Jimster said:


> To be quite honest, your title kinda rubs me the wrong way ie
> "your secrets to earning ff miles" My initial thought was if I had secrets and I told you on here, then they wouldnt be secrets for long. The truth is you need to invest some time in learning how to acquire miles. It is not like you take a shot of penicillin and you are cured. I could write a book on all the various ways to get miles but by the time it was printed it would be grossly out of date. The methods change from day to day. The best piece of advice you have received so far is to read this bbs and fliyertalk.com. There are lots of bloggers out there who will help you out too. The points guy is one of them although he is not one of my favorites nor is he the most knowledgeable.
> 
> The fact that you did not know what Avios points were is a tiip off you havent really invested the time you need to be serious about improving your ff balances. I encourage you to continue to learn more about getting miles but realize it will take diligence and hard work if you are going to be successful. There is no quick fix. Remember even after you acquire a million points, you still need to know what to do to take advantage of them. Another book could be written to explain this.


 
Thanks, this was truly a helpful response.


----------



## Carolinian (Apr 1, 2013)

Another good site is www.freefrequentflyermiles.com


----------



## MichaelColey (Apr 1, 2013)

AbelowDS said:


> I earned all those miles while traveling on business for years.  *Now I'm self-employed* and have no business travel.
> 
> What are the best ways you earn frequent flyer points WHEN NOT FLYING?


How about running business (and personal) expenses through a reward credit card?  I highly recommend the Starwood AmEx.  It's been my "go to" card for about 15 years now.


----------



## pacodemountainside (Apr 1, 2013)

One thing you do not want to put on credit  card  is taxes or  anything that has a 2-3%  service fee. While n/c for Wyndham  HOAs typically charge  a fee

Take 3% of $10K and you have  paid  $300 for maybe 1/3 of a  ticket. Most   domestic places I go to from   Denver I can get  a whole ticket for around $300.

The last car I bought  the salesman agreed  I could put $25K on card although the Controller  was not very happy!

I also do the cancel   the  card when  renewal fee  is billed and get another 30-40K bonus mile card!


----------



## akp (Apr 1, 2013)

The fee to put federal taxes on a visa credit card is now 1.89%, though I agree that it is generally not a good idea.

However, the fee for debit cards is flat fee of around $3.00.  If the OP is self employed and pays taxes via estimated quarterly payments, he could get quite a good benefit from using a miles earning debit card to pay taxes.

To my knowledge, the last miles earning debit card that will give miles for tax payments is the Suntrust Delta card.  It does have a $75 annual fee, but for th volume I am running through it annually, it is more than worth the annual fee and the service fees.

Anita


----------



## cerralee (Apr 2, 2013)

*Memories*

Does anyone remember the credit card loophole back in the late 90's where you could do a transfer of up to 10,000 into your bank account get 10,000 mileage points which was enough for a ticket then pay your credit card back from your bank account three days later?

I accumulated 15 or sixteen tickets during the time the loophole was open along with several other tuggers.  Then the cc card company closed the loophole.  If I remember correctly there was a small service fee which ended up being about $50 by the end of all the transfers, a small price for a lot of tickets.  I traveled for two or three years with my family on those tickets.  Also ended up with several bumps along the way to extend the madness.


----------



## x3 skier (Apr 2, 2013)

cerralee said:


> Does anyone remember the credit card loophole back in the late 90's where you could do a transfer of up to 10,000 into your bank account get 10,000 mileage points which was enough for a ticket then pay your credit card back from your bank account three days later?
> .



There was another great one where you could buy thousands of Dollar coins from the Mint with a credit card, deposit them at your bank and then pay off the credit card. 

The idea was the Mint wanted to get the coins in circulation but I think it ended when they noted all that was happening was the coins wound up right back at the Mint from the bank after the bank sent them to the treasury. 

Cheers


----------



## Jimster (Apr 2, 2013)

*Mint*

The mint deal has been dead for over a year


----------



## SMHarman (Apr 2, 2013)

cerralee said:


> Does anyone remember the credit card loophole back in the late 90's where you could do a transfer of up to 10,000 into your bank account get 10,000 mileage points which was enough for a ticket then pay your credit card back from your bank account three days later?
> 
> I accumulated 15 or sixteen tickets during the time the loophole was open along with several other tuggers.  Then the cc card company closed the loophole.  If I remember correctly there was a small service fee which ended up being about $50 by the end of all the transfers, a small price for a lot of tickets.  I traveled for two or three years with my family on those tickets.  Also ended up with several bumps along the way to extend the madness.


Oh yes, there was a while with Beneficial Bank when they did not differentiate between spending and balance transfers and balance transfers did not have a fee.  Transfer balance from card A>B, transfer balance from card B>A (add in credit limit from card B) and repeat...  There was an interest charge but when earning 25,000 miles a month it was a great scheme.  I think I even had card C in the loop for a while.  Could get two cycles done each month.


----------



## Rent_Share (Apr 2, 2013)

From the archives of Flyer Talk, the ultimate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Phillips_(entrepreneur)



> Phillips, who teaches at the University of California, Davis, calculated while grocery shopping that the value of a mail-in promotion for frequent flyer points exceeded the cost of the entre on which it is offered. In May 1999, Phillips received 1,253,000 frequent flyer miles.
> 
> 
> Phillips calculated that the return on a mail-in food promotion outweighed the price of the Healthy Choice frozen entrees. He later discovered the same promotion also included individual pudding packages at 25 cents apiece. He subsequently visited ten grocery stores in the Sacramento area, buying every case of pudding available, totaling 12,150 individual servings of pudding,[2] for $3,140.[3] In order to divert attention, he claimed he was stocking up for Y2K.


 
http://vintage.johnnyjet.com/folder/reporters/puddingguyqa.html


----------



## x3 skier (Apr 2, 2013)

Rent_Share said:


> From the archives of Flyer Talk, the ultimate:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Phillips_(entrepreneur)
> 
> ...



And he could probably even use them back then. :hysterical:

Cheers


----------

