Many people use a credit card that gives miles for every dollar spent. They usually have a sign-on bonus. These are significant. Recently, Citibank was giving 100,000 miles, United had 50,000, and currently Delta also offers 40,000. These offers change frequently. One view is that getting many cards like this lowers your credit score, but many people get any and all such cards they can, thus accumulating many miles. There are airline specific cards as well as bank cards, like Chase Sapphire which allows the transfer of points to any airline account. Often, the first year fee is waived. Among the most popular are Ink Plus Business Card, Chase Sapphire Preferred, Hilton HHonorsTM, Reserve Card Gold, Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM and World Elite MasterCard. This week, Chase Ink Plus offers a 70K Bonus Refer a Friend Offer. For those not getting targeted offers, we will look at some strategies in a future column.
Once having the card, the key is to maximize how many miles you get per dollar spent. Each program has various categories that offer more than one for one. Another approach is to purchase a gift card to the store you want to use. You get miles for that gift card purchase and then, additionally, for the purchase of the item. This requires that you use shopping portals for online purchases; also using prepaid cards and checking/debit alternatives.
A good web site to compare for the best portal and maximizing points is www.thepointsguy.com.
There are ways to double, triple, quadruple, and even quintuple “dip” if you are already shopping at the pharmacy, department store, renting a car, or spending money on anything. By not taking advantage of gift card and point program bonuses, you are leaving miles on the table. While not as dramatic as getting 100,000 miles, they do add up nicely.
Another program that I like, which costs you nothing, is www.mypoints.com. This program pays you points for just reading an email advertisement from them. You can also gain points from doing surveys, referring people to the program, or buying something via their site at places like Wal-mart and other well-known retailers. In addition to gift cards and other rewards, they offer miles on United-Continental, currently up to 6000.
I am sure there are other such programs and would love to hear any recommendations.
By Phil Kestenbaum
