We are hitting the peak of the holiday season as Christmas approaches and if you are not done Shopping yet, there are lots of lucrative shopping deals still available for you enabling you to not only shop but also rack up Airline Miles in the process. Many airlines have shopping portals with an excellent selection of gift items, the kind that you typically buy over Christmas and other major holidays.
When you shop on these airline retail websites, there are lots of opportunities available for you to collect lots of miles. Apart from the airline retail portals, a lot of airlines have also partnered with various other online retail outlets and you will earn miles while buying everyday items from them. Here are 10 ways in which you can extra miles while shopping online:-
#1 Shop in airline retail portals and earn points
Airlines have jumped into the retail bandwagon and at least every major airline now has a shopping portal where its sells an assortment of luxury items and airline souvenirs. These are typically mailed to the buyer or delivered on board. While some of these portals might have airline-branded merchandise, some also contain links to partner retail sites. When you buy via these sites, you earn lots of lucrative rewards. Check to see if the airline is running a promo so you can maximize on your rewards. Here is the look at some of the airline shopping portals where you can earn airline miles when you purchase anything:-
AAdvantage eShopping Mall: At the AAdvantage eShopping Mall, you can purchase everything from electronics to gifts and supplies from AA partner stores such as Brookstone, Etsy, Bergdorf Goodman, Lancome, Walmart, Macy’s, Target, JC Penney, Overstock, Bed Bath & Beyond and many others and you will earn miles for every dollar spent. The amount of miles earned varies depending on the retailer. With some retailers such as Mixbook, you earn as much as 11 miles for every dollar spent. With the AAdvantage eShopping Mall, you can shop at over 850 online retail websites. That means you can purchase almost anything and still earn AAdvantage miles.
After logging into the AAdvantage eShopping mall, simply click on the banner of any of the retailers on the website you want to shop in. The names, logos of the shops as well as the amount of miles that you will earn per dollar spent are indicated. You will be redirected to the retailer’s website where you can buy what you want. The bonus miles will be credited to your AAdvantage account within about four weeks after you have made your purchase. In some cases, it might take up to 8 weeks for the bonus miles to reflect on your AAdvantage account.
The site also lists various coupons and discounts that you can take advantage of to get good deals on your items while still earning your miles. Some of the applicable offers on the mall will require that you manually enter the coupon on checkout while for some purchases, the coupon is automatically applied.
During the holiday seasons, there are plenty of promos, coupons and bonuses that you will earn when you shop on the AAdvantage eShopping Mall. These bonuses include the following:-
- Earn up to 500 AAdvantage bonus miles when you spend $100 on online shopping on qualifying purchases.
- Earn 1500 AAdvantage bonus miles when you spend $200 shopping online in qualifying purchases.
- Many of these offers are valid through 31st December 2016 but keep on checking the AAdvantage eShopping portal at www.aadvantageeshopping.com for the latest offers and deals and stretch your dollars far while earning lots of bonus AA miles.
Shopping Online at MileagePlus Shopping: With the United Airlines MileagePlus Shopping portal, you also earn airline miles every time you shop for an item on the portal. As a member, you will easily stack up on your miles if you buy online using your MileagePlus credit card. There are even shopping events where you can earn bonus award miles so you need to keep your eyes open for some of the coolest deals.
Like the AAdvantage program, the MileagePlus program is also linked to a host of retailers that you can buy your items from including Finish Line, Etsy.com, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sam’s Club, Dyson, Hollister Co, Shoebuy.com, and Under Armour among many others. There are over 850 online stores where you can shop with your and earn MileagePlus miles. Some of the products that you can buy on these shopping portals include apparels, accessories, home and garden items, computers and electronics etc.
After you make a qualifying purchase at any of the retailers listed on the website, the MileagePlus rewards will be credited to your account. Within five business days after you have made a qualifying purchase at a retailer website, you will receive an email notifying you of your award miles. During this holiday season, you can up to 1500 bonus miles on your online purchase.
To sign up for the MileagePlus Shopping portal, visit https://shopping.mileageplus.com/.
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Online Shopping:
Just like with the other airline rewards shopping portals, you can easily stack up on your Rapid Rewards when you shop on Southwest’s online shopping store. You will earn even more points if you use the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Premier credit card.
There are numerous offers, deals, coupon codes as well as seasonal sales accessible via the portal allowing you to make significant savings on your purchases while still earning lots of miles and bonuses. With the Rapid Rewards shopping portal, you stand a chance to earn up to 40,000 in bonus miles!
The platform links to several hundred stores where you can shop and earn miles in the process. You will be able to earn up to 5 points for every dollar spent on some stores.
Mileage Plan Shopping by Alaska Airlines:- Shop on Mileage Plan and earn miles for every dollar that you spend on your purchases. The platform connects you to over 800 retailers where you can shop and earn miles. Earn bonus miles by shopping with your Alaska Airlines credit card.
There are additional perks that you get when shopping on the platform. These include the chance to earn up to 1000 Alaska Airlines miles whenever you make a minimum of $100 in purchases. These special offers are time-limited so make sure you check the Alaska Airlines online shopping website at https://www.alaskaair.com/MileagePlanShopping/SignIn to determine the validity of special offers, deals and coupons.
AirMilesShops.ca: With the AirMilesShops.ca, you earn additional Air Miles and bonuses whenever you shop at the over 200 partner online stores listed on the website. You can buy a lot of everyday items from these stores ranging from fashion and apparel to home and outdoors products, health products, gifts, books, music and videos among others. The affiliated stores include Sears, Indigo, Amazon.ca, eBay, Sephora, Macy’s, Banana Republic, Bose, Old Navy Nike, The Shopping Channel, Lowe’s and many others.
Tips when shopping on the AirMilesShops.ca: Before you click on the links to the stores, make sure you check out the great deals on the websites. You can save up to 15% with many of the deals and offers while others offer free shipping and free trials over a limited period of time for subscription products.
If you want to collect a lot Air Miles when shopping online, make sure you check out the bonus reward miles offers. These special offers allow you to earn up to five times the miles for every dollar spent shopping on particular stores. These allow you to rack up your miles pretty fast.
SkyMiles Shopping:- SkyMiles Shopping works very simply. Start by searching for the products you are planning to purchase as well as any other special offers being offered via the SkyMiles platform. There are hundreds of stores on that you can buy from such as Macys, Samsung, Neiman Marcus, Lancome, Sephora and Backcountry among others. Earn the miles directly into your SkyMiles account with every purchase. Retailers offer varied amounts of miles per dollar spent ranging from 1 mile to 4 miles per dollar. If you shop with your SkyMiles credit card, you earn additional miles.
BA eStore: With the BA eStore or Gate 365, you will earn 30 Avios for every £1 spent. There are over 375 online stores on the platform including TopShop UK, River Island, Made.com, Hobbs, Marks & Spencer, Harrods and House of Fraser among others. You can take advantage of the vouchers and the bonus offers on the platform with some select retailers such as Debenhams, House of Fraser, Ted Baker and Moss Bros. Browse the website https://www.shopping.ba.com to check out some of the exclusive deals available with the BA eStore.
Which Airline Reward Online Shopping Portal Should You Use?
Choosing the best store to use for accruing your miles when shopping will depend on your travel goals and the airline miles you are trying accrue. If you are trying to rack up on your Rapid Rewards, then the best store for you would be the Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards online shopping portal.
#2 Earn More Miles With Travel Credit Cards
Don’t just shop online. You can layer your airline mile acquisition strategy by also adding selected travel credits when shopping online. If you use an airline’s branded or co-branded credit card on qualifying purchases, you will earn very generous miles from the airline. Some of the travel credit cards that you can use to earn extra miles include the following:-
- The Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Starwood Preferred Guest
- British Airways Visa Signature Card
#3 Buy Gift Cards With Your Mile Earning Credit Card
To rack up even more miles, you can use the credit card strategy where you buy gift cards through the airline’s online shopping portal. These gift cards can subsequently be used for future everyday shopping. With some of these mileage credit cards, you will earn as much as 5X the miles when you make qualifying purchases via the portal. Because many of the airline shopping portals are linked to leading retailers such as Amazon and Overstock, you can find your preferred gift cards and earn plenty of miles when shopping for everyday items.
#4 Use Rewards Comparison Sites to Maximize on Rewards
Want to check out the most lucrative miles rewards that are offered by a particular shopping portal? If you are planning to make an online purchase and also earn the most airline rewards, make a point of comparing the potential rewards you can earn at the various partner online websites using tools such as Evreward.com. This website will compare the earning rates or miles per dollar spent earned on the listed online shopping portals. Simply search for your preferred retailer and you will see a list of the amount of miles you can earn per dollar for the various airline reward programs. Other websites where you can compare airline reward earning rates include Ultimate Rewards and Ebates.
#5 Shop at the Chase Ultimate Rewards Mall
The Chase Ultimate Rewards is generally the best value portal for shopping online and accruing airline miles. You can easily access the portal as long as you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred credit card. You will also earn some of the most generous airline rewards and bonuses. You can use the Chase Ultimate Rewards to book vacation packages, flights, hotels, car rentals and to buy gift cards.
#6 Earn Airlines With an Uber Ride
If you are using Uber for your daily commute, you now have an excellent opportunity to earn airline miles every time you take Uber. Considering that many of us now use it almost on daily basis, this is as a great and effortless way to rack up on miles and bonuses. With the Thanks Again service, you will earn 25 points every time you take an Uber ride while still enjoying great discounts on your rides. The points are transferable to up to 7 airlines that are part of the program. The best thing with the Thanks Again program is that you can triple dip, earning Thanks Again points, airline miles as well as the card company’s existing rewards and bonuses for purchases.
How to do it:-
- Sign up for a Thanks Again account here http://thanksagain.com/
- Link your credit cards to Thanks Again
- You will begin earning the Thanks Again points when you make qualifying purchases at all the eligible Thanks Again merchants. Uber is one of them.
- Earn 25 points for any Uber ride purchase made with a Thanks Again linked credit card.
- Transfer your Thanks Again points to the following eligible airlines:- Southwest, Aeromexico, Frontier Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines.
- As a bonus, by transferring your Thanks Again points to your airline miles, you will keep your miles from expiring.
#7 Earn Airline Miles on Car Rentals
Most airlines have car rental partners and you can extra miles when you book for your car rentals via the airline’s website or by using a co-branded credit card. You will earn airline miles if you book for your rentals with any of the leading car rental companies such as Budget, Avis, Sixt, Alamo, PayLess, EuropCar, Carmel, Thrifty, Dollar, National, Hertz and Super Shuttle among others.
The table below shows the airline miles you will earn for qualifying car rentals with the various car rental companies using a host of travel credit cards:-
| Car Rental Company | Airline Partner | Frequent Flyer Program | Rewards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alamo | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 Miles per Day/150 Miles Through December 31, 2017 |
| Avis | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 Miles per Day/500 Bonus Miles for Rentals Lasting 3 Days through May 31, 2017 |
| Budget | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 Miles per Day on Qualifying rentals |
| Dollar | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 miles per day/150 miles for rentals lasting 3 or more days |
| Hertz | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 miles per day or 500 miles on bookings lasting 5 days or more |
| National | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 miles per day on qualifying rentals |
| Thrifty | Alaska Air | Mileage Plan | 50 miles per day on car rentals or 250 bonus miles for 3 qualifying parking stays. |
#8 Earn Miles on Hotel Bookings
Every airline frequent flyer program always has hotel partners allowing you to earn generous miles on your hotel stays. Just make sure you book your hotel stays through the partner booking services and then indicate your frequent flyer program as your earning preferences. This will allow you to earn lots of miles on your hotel stays.
Some of the hotel loyalty programs through which you can airline miles include Marriott Rewards, Hilton HHonors, Starwood Preferred Guest, IHG Rewards Club, Hyatt Gold Passport and Club Carlson and Choice Privileges Rewards.
Earning via Hotel Booking services: While you can earn airline miles by booking via the partner hotels, you can also earn lots of miles using a variety of hotel booking services:-
Rocketmiles: Earn anywhere from 1000 to 10,000 miles whenever you book your hotel stays via the Rocketmiles platform at https://www.rocketmiles.com/.
PointsHound: With the PointsHound portal, you have access to more than 150,000 hotels from across the world that you can book from while collecting frequent flyer miles for your preferred miles program. The PointsHound program gives you the opportunity to earn miles for some of the participating programs on the platform such as Finnair Plus, jetBlue True Blue, Asia Miles, Virgin Atlantic FlyingClub, American Airlines AAdvantage, Hawaiian Airlines, Jet privilege, Flying Blue and many others. The program works very simply:-
- Pick your frequent flyer programs from the options available. The portal contains almost all the airline frequent flyer programs in the world.
- Pick your hotel
- Make a book and earning miles. You can as many 6000 miles per night.
- The miles will be deposited to your frequent flyer program after check out.
Kaligo: The platform claims to include up to 465, 000 hotels on its portal. You will get the best rates for your hotel bookings which are 100% cancelable. Book and collect your airline miles or points as soon as you check out. Check out the website at https://www.kaligo.com/.
#9 Buy Cruises and Holiday Packages
Many airlines have partnered with cruise companies and resorts and allow you to earn plenty of miles when you book any of these with the airline’s co-branded credit cards. The best way to maximize on your miles or points when you book cruises is by booking via the airline and cruise partner portal. With these, you can earn up to 20% bonus miles with some airlines.
#10 Maximize on Credit Card Sign Up Bonuses
It is hard to imagine a credit card rewards strategy without factoring in the sign up bonuses. Because sign up bonuses are huge, they will give you a massive boost and enable you to rack up miles fairly quickly. Some of the best credit cards for sign up bonuses include the following:-
- Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard
- Chase Sapphire Preferred Card
- Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card
- Hilton HHonors Card
- Chase Freedom Unlimited
- Blue Cash Preferred Card by AA
- Citi Double Cash Card
The post 10 Ways to Earn Airline Rewards Through Online Shopping appeared first on Credit Card Hacks.
