How to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles

Today, every purchase you make can get you frequent flyer (or flier) miles. We're going to run through the best ways to amass these coveted perks, while warning you about the drawbacks of becoming so eager to earn miles that you forget what a mile is actually worth. If you know more about How to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles, though, you could be circumnavigating the globe in style in no time.

Introduction
- When frequent flyer programs first appeared in the early 1980s, there was one way you could earn miles. Go ahead, guess. That's right, by flying! But over the last quarter century, countless—some would say infinite—ways to earn frequent flyer miles have emerged. Nearly every purchase you make has the potential to be a mileage-earning opportunity. You can earn miles by paying for products with an affiliated credit card. You can be paid in miles for taking surveys. You can even earn miles by buying gallons of pudding. Here's a basic breakdown of what you can do to earn the miles for that free flight to Vladivostok you've been longing for.
Step 1: Fly
- Yes, flying still earns you frequent flyer miles. One need only be a member of a particular airline's frequent flyer program, and provide that frequent flyer number when ordering or booking a ticket.
Maximizing Mileage Earnings
- Typically, you will receive frequent flyer miles corresponding to the number of miles flown. For example, a 2,611 mile flight in coach from Los Angeles (LAX) to Boston's Logan Airport will net you 2,611 miles at the regular rate. If you want to know how many miles you will earn on a particular flight, visit MileCalc.com or WebFlyer's Mileage Converter and type in the airport codes for every airport your flight will travel through.
- While this is the simplest equation to earn miles, you can often earn more miles for a particular leg than the miles you actually fly. For example:
1. Flying first class or business class will often get you additional miles. If you fly first or business class, you may receive more miles, depending on the program. Delta, for instance, will provide business class travelers with 150% of the actual miles, or in the case of a flight from Los Angeles to Boston, a little over 3900 miles.
2. Fly promotional routes for additional miles. Special promotions can sometimes provide travelers with a miles windfall—sometimes of 10,000 miles or more—for flying new or lightly traveled routes.
  - You can keep track of these promotions through your program's newsletter, but sites like Milemaven.com will tell you the best promotions currently available on the routes you are thinking of traveling. You should also visit Webflyer.com, or Flyertalk.com, to find out the latest buzz on hot promotions.
Step 2: Apply for a credit card issued by your frequent flyer program
- Perhaps the most common way for consumers to rack up miles is not to fly, but to buy. Nearly every frequent flyer program has an affiliated credit card that allows you to earn miles just for making purchases with the card.
1. Some cards offer double or triple miles. The most basic of these cards will get you one mile for every dollar spent on the card. But the higher your credit limit or the more you pay in yearly membership dues, the more likely you can net a credit card that gets you two, or even three miles for every dollar spent.
2. Many cards offer a lucrative signing bonus. Just for signing up for the card, you can often receive thousands of miles immediately, as well as the promise of tens of thousands more if you spend a certain amount in a particular year.
3. Choose your card wisely by comparing their terms and benefits. FrequentFlier.com has an excellent analysis of the different types of cards one can apply for. If you want some advice about choosing credit cards in general, check out our informative How to Choose a Credit Card
4. Pay bills, earn miles. In some cases, you can even connect your debit or bank card, to a mileage program.
Some dos and don'ts about frequent flyer credit cards:
1. DO pay attention to frequent flyer card interest rates and annual fees.
  - While these cards are competitive with other credit cards, they typically charge a slightly higher interest rate, and often charge a hefty yearly fee. You will often have to pay for the privilege of having one of these cards.
2. DO keep in mind what a mile is actually worth. The value of a mile depends on how you use it.
  - Most industry professionals believe that a frequent flyer mile is valued between 1.5 and 2 cents. But in some cases, a mile can be worth as much as six cents. In other cases, a mile can be worth as little as 0.7 cents.
  - If you let your miles expire, you can go do the math yourself to figure out how much they'll be worth.
3. DON'T make big ticket purchases on a credit card if you can't pay off that debt quickly. A mileage program can, literally, send you into bankruptcy.
  - If you decide to use your 24.99% interest frequent flyer mile credit card to charge that new car, and you don't pay off the bill right away, you might get a free ticket to Miami, but you will end up with a hefty premium in interest the longer you let that charge remain. It would have been cheaper just to buy the ticket to Miami upfront.
4. DON'T think a frequent flyer credit card is the best credit card to get.
  - The Today Show's Peter Greenberg recommends that if you're thinking about getting a return on your investment, it's more worthwhile to get a credit card with a rebate or cashback feature.
5. DO understand the sometimes twisted psychology behind why these cards are so popular.
  - A fascinating experiment with ice cream conducted at the University of Chicago sheds some light on why we will sometimes spend more on a frequent flyer credit card, even though the payoff may be tiny.
Step 3: Apply for a charge card with a membership rewards program
- Both the American Express Membership Rewards Program and Diners Club's Club Rewards Program give you points for each dollar spent that you can then convert into mileage.
1. However, with charge cards, unlike credit cards, you must pay off the balance each month. If you don't, your card may be shut down.
2. Since you pay off the balance each month, these cards do not have a set annual percentage rate. As long as you pay on time, the points you earn are truly a perk.
3. These programs often give you more flexibility in how you may use your miles. For example, you can deposit your membership rewards points from American Express into the programs of a host of different airlines. The flexibility of the rewards offered by these cards make them very popular.
Step 4: Enroll in a rewards network
- Even if you don't have a frequent flyer-affiliated credit card, or a charge card with a rewards option, you can still earn miles on those credit or debit cards you have.
  - Certain programs allow you to earn miles for eating at a network of participating restaurants, staying at a particular hotel chain, or by making scores of other purchases at everything from florists to bookstores. All you have to do is use the credit card you associated with the program for that particular meal, bed, or bouquet.
  1. Rewards Network: Allows you to enroll your existing credit card (for free) with a broad and varied network of restaurants, bars, and clubs, and associate it with any of ten major airlines. Every time you use that credit card to pay for a meal, you automatically receive miles.
  2. Trip Rewards: Gives you miles for participating hotel stays and other travel options, and deposits the miles into your Delta, Continental, or Air Canada frequent flyer account.
  3. Priority Club Rewards: Gives you miles for a host of purchasing and travel options, and deposits the miles, if you wish, into any of dozens of airline frequent flier accounts.
  4. Aeroplan: A comprehensive program offered by Air Canada that allows you to earn miles in the network and deposit them in any one of 25 major airlines. Many of the retailers are Canadian, but not all.
Step 5: Keep an eye out for special product promotions
- From pudding to paradise. Every day, random ways to earn frequent flier miles become possible.
  - In 2000, David Phillips, an engineer at UC Davis, exploited a glitch in a Healthy Choice food promotion. By purchasing $3,150 worth of Healthy Choice pudding, removing the UPC symbols, and sending them in before the promotion expired, he received over 1.2 million frequent flier miles.
- - His exploits were later dramatized in the Adam Sandler film Punch Drunk Love, but Phillips is a real person, and still owns many of those miles to this day, spread across three major airlines.
- Find your own paradise pudding payday. If you're looking for the latest deals, glitches, promotions, and ideas, you should visit Webflyer.com, where frequent flyer mile fans flock to talk shop. Companies goof on promotions all the time. Take advantage.
Step 6: Tell marketers more about yourself
- Because companies are eager to know as much as they can about your spending habits, many will pay you, in miles, for you to answer questions about your stereo system or your hygiene product preference.
  1. The potential to earn miles through programs such as the e-Miles program is large, as long as you are not uptight about your privacy, and as long as you have lots of free time. Most surveys are anonymous and you can deposit the miles into your Continental, Delta, Northwest, or US Airways account.
  2. Miles can only be deposited in 500 mile increments, and the ratio of e-Miles to actual miles may not be one-to-one, depending on the recipient program.
Step 7: Get a frequent flyer sugar daddy or mommy
- Another way to get miles, without purchasing a single item or flight, is to receive them from a friend or loved one.
  - For a variable fee, frequent flyer programs, such as Delta's will allow the transfer of miles from one account to another.
Step 8: Buy the miles you should be earning
- You can also, if you have no friends, loved ones, credit cards, or reward club memberships, just buy the miles outright.
  - Remember: Most airlines allow you to do this, but it is rarely worth it to buy the miles unless you are attempting to bump yourself up to a free ticket.
  - Example: For instance, buying 25,000 miles in Delta's program at 2.75 cents a mile will cost you $687.50 plus a 7.5% federal excise tax. However, if you have 24,500 miles, and need 25,000, buying the extra 500 miles may not be such a bad idea.
Maximize Your Earning Potential
- You will probably never have much of a problem earning miles if you travel often and hold an affiliated credit card. If you use the above tips, you can add many weapons to your frequent flyer earning arsenal. But remember: if you get to the point where you are amassing miles for that rainy day, keep in mind that this rainy day might never come. As programs scale back on the opportunities to redeem miles (even as they expand the opportunities to earn them,) frequent flyer accounts are swelling like never before. Your frequent flyer miles are a form of currency—this is true—but they are a tightly controlled currency. Don't start hoarding them like a miser. Earn them, but then also reward yourself by burning them.
Resources for How to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles
North American Carriers
Frequent Flyer Program Alliances
Rewards Networks and Programs
Asia-Pacific Carriers
European Carriers
African and Middle Eastern Carriers
Latin American Carriers
Caribbean Carriers

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How to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles

Introduction

Step 1: Fly

Maximizing Mileage Earnings

Step 2: Apply for a credit card issued by your frequent flyer program

Some dos and don'ts about frequent flyer credit cards:

Step 3: Apply for a charge card with a membership rewards program

Step 4: Enroll in a rewards network

Step 5: Keep an eye out for special product promotions

Step 6: Tell marketers more about yourself

Step 7: Get a frequent flyer sugar daddy or mommy

Step 8: Buy the miles you should be earning

Maximize Your Earning Potential

Resources for How to Earn Frequent Flyer Miles

North American Carriers

Frequent Flyer Program Alliances

Rewards Networks and Programs

Asia-Pacific Carriers

European Carriers

African and Middle Eastern Carriers

Latin American Carriers

Caribbean Carriers

References

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About this page

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