Category Archives: Miles

Citi AAdvantage- 10% Awards Booking Rebate Posts Immediately

January 11, 2013AA, AAdvantage, American Airlines, Citi, Credit Cards, Miles, RebateMichael W

Last year Citi and American Airlines added some interesting perks for credit card holders.

There was one thing that really stood out: Earn Miles for Using Miles:
Earn 10% of your redeemed AAdvantage miles back- up to 10,000 AAdvantage miles each calendar year.

This sounded like an amazing offer. How could you go wrong with getting back miles for using them! The only negative to the offer was that the mileage rebate was capped. To make this a true 10% back offer, I’d like to try to not redeem more than 100,000 AAdvantage miles in any given year. By doing so I could earn the full rebate.

I was looking to set up my travel plans for most of 2013 early this year so I had an idea. If I could get an AA award booking done before 2012 was over, maybe I could earn the 10% rebate for 2012 and 2013 (if I decided to book another flight with AAdvantage miles).

Prior to booking an awards flight on AA, I called up the AAdvantage Gold phone line. I asked for information about how the credit card mileage rebate worked. The customer service rep wasn’t so sure about this offer. However, he did guess that I would be credited back my 10% after I took the actual flight, not at the time of booking the flight.

The rep’s answer made sense. What a bummer! I was hoping that I could book a flight, earn my miles refund immediately and still qualify for this same offer in 2013.

Sorry for the blurry image

Fast forward to a couple of days ago. I was checking my AAdvantage account balance online. While checking recent activity I noticed a couple of thing:

Mileage for the AA flight that I booked for the end of June had been deducted from my account on 12/20/12. The miles were deducted in two 50,000 mile increments.
I earned 10,000 miles for the Citi 10% Awards Bonus, also credited on 12/20/12.

This was amazing news! Now if I decide to book another AA award flight in 2013 I will still be eligible for the 10% mileage refund (up to 10,000 miles in a calendar year).

Credit Card Miles & Points Earned in 2012

January 7, 2013Miles2012, Credit Cards, PointsMichael W

(Image found in google search)

2012 was another great year for earning miles and points from credit card sign up bonuses.
As good as it was, I knew it was unlikely that I’d do better than in 2011.

The big offers seen over the last few years never seemed to come and I had to settle for offers that were in the 50,000 mile/ point range. Still nothing to complain about!

In 2011 I earned 775,000 miles & points. I wrote a recap about which cards I signed up for which you can check out here.

It’s time for my recap of Miles & Points earned in 2012 from credit card sign up bonus offers.

For this recap I am counting bonuses for all cards that I applied for in 2012.
Continue reading Credit Card Miles & Points Earned in 2012 →

United Airlines 10 Million Charity Miles Giveaway

December 7, 2012Miles, Travel NewsCharity, United Airlines, Wounded Warrior ProjectMichael W

United Airlines is donating 10 million miles to charity this holiday season.

How can we help? Every day you can vote for your favorite charity. The more votes your charity gets, the more miles they will receive during this giveaway. (All participating charities will receive at least 25,000 miles.)

I voted to support the Wounded Warrior Project. On some of the 5Ks I have ran, WWP was the charity that benefited from the funds raised. They had a table set up at the O’Hare Runway Run. I got to chat with some of the volunteers and learned a bit more about their cause.

According to the 10 Million Miles site:

Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) honors and empowers military personnel who incurred service-connected wounds, injuries, or illnesses on or after September 11, 2001. Today, through mind, body, educational, and economical empowerment programs, WWP assists wounded service members and their families as they transition to a successful, well-adjusted life.

Charity Miles will help Wounded Warrior Project by providing travel for wounded military personnel, families, and staff for program events and support services.

More about the Giveaway:

There is a list of 38 charities to choose from for your vote choice
Membership in United MileagePlus is not required to vote
The 10 Million Charity Miles program started on 12/6 and ends at 11:59pm on 12/25

Make sure to vote every day for whichever charity you choose to support. Every vote that you make will help increase the percentage of Charity Miles they receive!

Vote in the 10 Million Charity Miles Giveaway HERE

Exchange Gift Cards for United Miles + 40% Bonus

November 21, 2012Exchange, Gift Cards, MileagePlus, Miles, United AirlinesMichael W

I am guessing that we’ve all received gift cards for stores that we do not shop at and would love a way to get rid of them.

There are sites that you can sell the gift cards to (ex.Plastic Jungle) that pay you a percentage of their value. From what I could tell, Plastic Jungle pays back 75% + of face value on your gift cards.

Another option is to exchange your unused gift cards for airline miles.

By using the United MileagePlus Gift Card Exchange you can turn your gift cards into miles.
I received an e-mail last night from United about a bonus offer for the GC exchange.
For a limited time you can earn 40% more award miles when you exchange your gift cards.

Some of the Rules:

Must be a US resident to participate
Your MileagePlus account has to open for at least 30 days and have a positive account balance
Gift cards must have at least $25 balance to do the exchange
You’ll see the number of miles you will receive for your gift cards before deciding to exchange them.
You don’t need to mail in your gift cards. The exchange will be done electronically.
All gift card exchanges are final

How to exchange the gift cards:

Log in with your United account info
Select the merchant for the gift card you are looking to sell (over 100 to choose from)
Enter your gift card info and they will convert the value into award miles
Receive your miles within 5 business days

Examples of minimum award miles you could earn:

$25 gift card= 940 miles
$50 gift card= 1,870 miles
$100 gift card= 3,730 miles

*The estimated miles earned include the limited time bonus.

In my opinion, exchanging your gift cards for miles is more or less another way of buying miles.
I’m not really interested in buying miles and never have done so. However, if you have gift cards collecting dust this might not be a bad way to get a decent return for them.

To exchange your unwanted gift cards for United miles Click HERE

Mile Up: Earn More Bonus Award Miles from United

October 30, 2012Bonus, Cash Back, Mile Up, Miles, UnitedMichael W

A couple of days back I received an e-mail from United Airlines about a new bonus awards offer called Mile Up.

With the promotion you can earn 25% more bonus awards miles through December 31.
Bonus awards can be earned with United Airline’s shopping, dining, car rentals, hotel partners & more.

According to the e-mail, this offer is only valid for original recipients of the offer residing in the 50 United States. I’d suggest keeping an eye out in your e-mail (and spam folder) for the offer if you are interested in participating.

Registering for this Offer:

Register through the link in your e-mail
You must register before earning bonus miles (no retroactive bonuses will be awarded)
Registration ends November 15, 2012

You can earn up to 25,000 bonus award miles from the Mile Up promotion

I registered for the Mile Up promotion but doubt that I’ll take part in it. I usually shop through cash back sites for online purchases.

Some cash back sites with good offers are:

Also, I use EV Reward to decide on which site has the best bonus offers. They show offers for cash back, hotel points and airline miles programs. (Note: Fat Wallet does not come up on EV.)

***If you decide to join one of the cash back sites above with my links, I will receive a small referral bonus

Win A Ticket to Hawaii from Moon Travel Guides

October 28, 2012Giveaway, Hawaiian Airlines, Miles, Moon Travel Guides, Sweepstakes, WinMichael W

a blue and white banner with a plane flying over a body of water

Moon Travel Guides and Hawaiian Airlines are partnering to give one winner 60,000 HawaiianMiles which is good for a round trip flight from one of Hawaiian Airline’s North American hubs to Hawaii.

This giveaway is being offered to celebrate the release of two new Moon Hawaii guidebooks.

I just found out about this giveaway and it is ending tomorrow so enter right away!
(Sweepstakes ends 12:01am CST on October 29)

a black background with white text and blue circles

One entry per person is allowed
Open to residents of the U.S.
Must be over the age of 18 at time of entry

Enter for a chance to win a ticket to Hawaii HERE

Earn Up to 4,000 United Miles with NetFlix

September 30, 2012Bonus, Buy, Miles, Netflix, United Airlines, United Mileage PlusMichael W

Over the years Kim and I have each signed up for Netflix just to earn the airline miles signup bonus. In fact, the last time I signed up I didn’t even watch one movie and was totally fine with that. The bonus is usually 2,500- 3,000 miles which is a pretty good deal for $7.99 (the lowest priced Netflix subscription).

Here is a very nice deal that I received an e-mailed about a couple of weeks back. I meant to write about it but it slipped my mind….

Sign up for Netflix and earn up to 4,000 bonus miles:

Earn 2,000 miles when you become a paying member of Netflix
Earn another 2,000 miles when paying with your MileagePlus credit card

If you wanted to buy 2,000 miles from United it would cost $75.25. So for $7.99 you can get up to 4,000 miles plus watch all of the movies you like with Netflix for one month.

Open to new Netflix members only (I’ve heard of people getting multiple bonuses)
Allow 8-10 weeks for mileage bonus to post
Membership is month to month and can be cancelled at any time

US Airways: Fall For Miles Sweepstakes

September 15, 2012Dividend Miles, Miles, Sweepstakes, US Airways, WinMichael W

Cartera Commerce is sponsoring a sweepstakes with US Airways and giving away lots of Dividend Miles.

The Prizes:

One Grand Prize: 100,000 Dividend Miles
One First Prize: 50,000 Dividend Miles
Four Second Prizes: 25,000 Dividend Miles

Earn one entry for registering for the sweepstakes. You can earn additional entries every day.
Earn additional entries by:

Shopping online through the Dividend Miles Storefront Assistant and earn 5 entries per transaction. (max 5 entries/day)
Sign up for the newsletter and earn a one time entry
Log-in to view the sweepstakes special offers on the Storefront page and earn one additional entry per day.

Some Rules:
Open to legal residents of the 50 United States & DC
Must be 18 years of age or older
Must be a member of Dividend Miles & Dividend Miles Storefront
(If you are not a member of DM, sign up HERE)

Sweepstakes ends on 9/30/12

Enter for a chance to win some Dividend Miles HERE

Reminder to Register Your Cards For Dining & Shopping Portals

August 20, 2012Airlines, Credit Cards, Dining, Hotels, Miles, Points, ShoppingMichael W

I’ve been meaning to write a post regarding earning extra miles and points for doing things that we do on a regular basis- Shopping & Dining.

I went online to update my AAdvantage Dining Program account. When I logged in, I saw the image above. This got me thinking- It’s time to write that post!

We are now well into 2012 and I’m sure that many of us have received lots of great, new credit cards. The main chunk of miles and points come from signup bonuses but let’s remember that every mile counts! Take a few minutes to go through you wallet and double check that all of your new cards are registered in airline, hotel and credit card Shopping & Dining portals. Just about everybody has one.

Also- if you have any airline and hotel accounts with expiring miles, an easy way to extend the date is by earning miles by shopping and dining.

Earn 25,000 AAdvantage Miles With DIRECTV

August 13, 2012AAdvantage, American Airlines, DIRECTV, MilesMichael W

How would you like to earn 25,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles for watching TV?

New DIRECTV customers can earn 25,000 AAdvantage miles when signing up for a 24 month agreement. (current DIRECTV members or those that have been within the last 24 months are not eligible)

Your account must remain current and in good standing for a minimum of 60 days before the AAdvantage points will be awarded.

Miles post 6-8 weeks after the 60 day period.

Offer ends 8/29/12

Find about more about this offer and sign up for DIRECTV HERE

Michael W Travels…

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