When you fly you earn airline miles. They used to be based on the distance of your flight. Now the big three airlines in the U.S. — American, Delta, and United — all switched to giving you miles based on your ticket price.
The miles you receive are not free. They are included in the ticket price you pay. You pay a little more than you otherwise would today for a possibility to get free travel in the future.
Among the three airlines, Delta does not expire the miles you receive. American and United would wipe you miles clean if you don’t generate some activity in 18 months. Southwest expire their points after 24 months of not earning any points. If you are not careful, you can accumulate many miles/points and then see them forfeited. Some airlines can restore the miles but you will first have to pay a hefty fee.
An easy way to keep your miles active is through the airline’s online shopping portal. Almost every airline has it. Most of them are all run by the same company behind the scenes (Cartera Commerce, now part of Ebates). You first log in to the online shopping portal. Then you pick a listed online retailer. You order from the retailer as usual. After your order completes, the airline receives a cut from the retailer for sending you there. It uses part of the cut to give you some miles.
The everyday type of retailers are covered by the airline shopping portals. Walmart, Target, and Home Depot all offer in-store pickup with no minimum order size. To me the purpose of using an airline shopping portal isn’t to earn some extra miles. It’s more helpful to prevent your existing miles from being forfeited. The 10 miles added to the account extends the expiration date by another 18 or 24 months.
The miles earned from the shopping portals post relatively quickly, which can be as soon as in a few days. If you see your miles are about to expire, put in an order through the airline’s online shopping portal. In case you forget, maybe set a recurring calendar reminder to do it once a year.
Airline miles accounts are in individual names. If you are married and both of you have miles, remember to use the shopping portals with separate accounts to keep both accounts active.
Links to a few portals:
- American Airlines: AAdvantage eShoppingSM mall
- Southwest Airlines: Rapid Rewards Shopping®
- United Airlines: MileagePlus Shopping
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msf says
There are also various survey sites (e.g. e-miles, e-rewards) that will let you accumulate points that you can redeem for miles.
If you don’t want to participate in a lot of surveys until you build up enough points for a chunk of miles, United has its own polling site. There, each poll you complete (successfully) will immediately earn you a few miles – enough to keep your account active for another 18 months.
https://www.opinionmilesclub.com/
(AA used to have a similar option, but they shut that down quite awhile ago.)
Unlike shopping portals, airline tickets, etc., these points are “free” (they cost you time and info, not cash).
Harry Sit says
That’s why I mentioned in-store pickup at Walmart, Target, and Home Depot with no minimum order size. When you just buy something you need anyway it doesn’t cost you any more cash.
msf says
Airline shopping portals do cost cash because you’re giving up the cash that you’d have gotten through a credit card shopping portal, or a cash rewards portal like ebates.
Often you’re not even getting a good deal for that lost cash. For example, DiscoverCard will give you 5% back on Walmart, while ebates currently has a 10% (double reward) Walmart promotion going on. Frequent flyer miles are not worth anywhere near 5c (they’re closer to 2c these days).
This is not to say that the extra few pennies it costs you to get a few miles (and thus extend existing miles) aren’t worth it, just that they are not free. The bottom line is still TANSTAAFL.
Kevin says
Thanks for this! I’ve been placing orders for magazines that I don’t need to extend my mileage expiration. This is way better.
Joy D. says
You raised a good point about having items shipped to the store for your pickup, Harry Sit. I didn’t think I could use that option and still earn points, but it sure does. I just finished checking and I’m glad you brought it up.
I understand the point about ebates too. For me, both have their place. Sometimes points are more important like when I’m close too getting a freebie or desirable discount. But there are also times when getting cash back is more lucrative and appealing.
lynnenyc says
And it’s good to be reminded about not letting miles expire.
I had about 180,000 miles on Continental when they merged with United, whose frequent flyer program I didn’t use. I was focusing more on keeping/boosting my status on American in order to get better seats/upgrades, and didn’t notice the emails sent by United about miles expiring soon to an email address I rarely used any more. By the time I realized my former Continental miles were expiring because I hadn’t used the new United/former Continental program, they were gone.
Bruce Berris says
Also look at the dining rewards. All the airlines have them. It takes 2 months for miles to post so you have to eat out well before expiration. The best way though (for united and southwest) is chase sapphire rewards (90 $ annual fee). Miles transfer instantly and you only need to transfer 1,000 miles to keep from expiring loss.