More on Miles

Whoa! Lots of interest from my last post. Rather than keep everyone waiting until we book our India trip, I will share some basic information on collecting and using miles for free {very inexpensive} travel. Then, when I book India I will give all the details for that particular booking.

It is important to note that every mileage reward program is different and every credit card company is different. Also, I am in no way a pro at this, but there are limitless resources online that can be extremely helpful.

Here is my process, that has worked well for us:

1.) I created a spreadsheet to track the credit cards and reward information. On this sheet, I write down the name of the card, the minimum spending requirement, the mileage reward, the annual fee, the date we were issued the card, and the date I need to cancel the card. Then I make a calendar reminder on the day I want to cancel.

a.) I always cancel a card after I have had it for 11 months. This is a long enough period of time that I do not get red-flagged for churning by the credit card company, but short enough to avoid an annual fee.

b.) This spreadsheet is also a resource to track cards we have used in the past and how long it has been since we were given a reward. Many companies restrict how frequent you can obtain rewards, so the spreadsheet is my way to seeing what options we have.

2.) I created frequent flyer accounts for many popular airlines and hotels. I track these numbers on the above mentioned spreadsheet as well.

a.) My initial enrollment included: American Airlines (we use them the most because they have so many options out of Tucson), United Airlines, British Airways, Southwest Airlines, Hilton, and SPG.

3.) Now I have all my ducks in a row to start actually collecting miles. Before I apply for any credit card I visit some of the mileage websites that list off the best deals. For example:

- Million Mile Secrets: Hot Deals!

- The Points Guy - Top 10

I also go to cardmatchcom. This is a free site where you can put in your personal information and it will tell you any credit card offers that are targeted to you. It gives you this list without a credit search so it helps relieve having your credit score affected by too many searches. Usually, I will first look at the Hot Deals online and then search carchmatch to see if anything matches up. If they do, that is most likely the card I will apply for.

4.) I typically only apply for card with a low or zero first year annual fee. And usually will not apply for a card that offers less than 50,000 reward miles. There are exceptions to this, but that is my general rule of thumb.

5.) When I find the card that meets all our needs I apply for it.

Something important to note is that you can transfer many miles from one program to another. For instance if I want to earn more American miles, but I am not eligible for any AA cards I could apply for a Starwood card. Starwood points transfer 1:1 to American, plus an additional 5,000 for every 20,000 you transfer. So if I got the current Starwood offer of 25,000 miles, and transferred them to American. I would end up with 30,000 AA points.

6.) So I have my card, now how do I meet the minimum spending? Mike and I no longer use a debit card for anything. We pay for everything on a credit card and then pay the credit card off each month. This does require more discipline, but if you are able to do it it makes spending minimums fairly easy to obtain. There are ways to pay for things such as your mortgage, taxes, or car loan with a credit card, but they usually require an additional fee and I would not recommend going down that path unless you are in unique circumstances.

So we are never overwhelmed with meeting spending limits, we never have more than one card that we are trying to meet spending requirements on active at a time. Note: on my handy spreadsheet I keep a list of the bills that are set to recurring payment, so that when we switch cards I have a list of all the bills that need to be switched too.

A fun way to meet spending requirements and earn extra miles is to use the shopping portals that are available through most airlines. If I buy a new pair of Under Armor workout pants via the AA shopping portal I get 4 miles for every dollar spent. If I use my AA card that already gives me 2 points per dollar to purchase these same pants I am getting 6 miles for every dollar. So if my UA pants are $40, I can earn 240 points! If you watch the shopping portals closely they usually have holiday deals as well. One year I got 10 miles per dollar on a Mother's Day flower delivery. United also has an awesome shopping portal and extremely user friendly app.

My final easy spending minimum tip is to register your card for American and United dining programs. It is free to sign up and you automatically get extra points when you dine with their partner restaurants and use your registered card.

Some of the partners near us include El Charro, Monsoon's, Magpie's, Thunder Canyon Brewery, and Sir Vezas. At El Charro you earn 3 miles per dollar spent. I think that's a good enough reason for another margarita!

7.) After you meet your minimum spending on a card put it aside (don't cancel it yet - see note #1 about waiting 11 months), and repeat the process with another card.

8.) Do not forget to cancel your card after 11 months. Many cards have hefty annual fees, if you get stuck paying an annual fee on a card you do not use, it is really crummy and a complete waste of money.

So that's how you accumulate miles in a nutshell. Now it's time to use those miles!

Usually, our process is something like this: Mike and I will think of a trip we want to do. Then google something like "India flights using miles" and read through the blogs that will tell me the best way to get flights to India using miles. Often they will take you step by step through the process. Many international flights will require that you search for each leg of the trip, then call the airline to book it - you have to outsmart the computer algorithm. Needless to say it can often be quite an ordeal to find the flights that suit your schedule and also meet your mileage requirements, but it is achievable!! This is what I used to teach me how to book our flights to Bali: Finding Flights Like A Pro.

In total, our flight to Bali cost us 237,000 miles, and about $270.00 in fuel surcharges. We flew from Tucson to San Francisco to Hong Kong to Bali and back all in business class seating. When I looked up the costs of our tickets if we would have booked the exact itinerary straight through a ticket site they would have been $17,000 each!!!

Often we have left over straggler miles after we book a flight. We usually use these for things like rental cars or hotel stays (both of which can be booked directly through most airlines). When we moved into our new house, we had miles that were about to expire so we used them on Amazon and bought a new tv (not the best use of miles, but it made us happy). You can even use some miles on Airbnb or for a cruise.

Our Airbnb rental we got using Membership Reward Points:

The bottom line: collecting miles is easy. Being diligent about management of your cards can be a drag. Sometimes booking international travel is like playing Where's Waldo with multiple airline partners. But to me, it's fun. I love the challenge of navigating through the red tape, and the reward at the end is 100% worth it. Please do not hesitate to ask me any questions if you have any. Having traveling!

P.S. If you think you have benefited from some of the information I have been sharing please considering donating to our charity for the April 2017 Rickshaw Run ~ Many Thanks!