majik

Because of my job, I make 3 or 4 flights annually for work, and another 2 or 3 for pleasure. I stay an average of 20 nights/yr in hotels, not a lot but it adds up.

Before I spent time explaining the benefits or programs and little ways to earn extra miles, is anybody interested?

I'm a member of American Airlines' AAdvantage program and Southwest's Rapid Rewards as well as Hilton Honors and Marriott Rewards.

There are several ways to earn miles and points with these different programs. Credit Cards can yield high rewards, taking online surveys and signing up for free dining programs can also be beneficial.

For my honeymoon, I spent $100 total on two roundtrip tickets to the Caribbean, usual fare is $1,800 for both.

If there is any interest, I'm more than willing to post more detailed information.

Ericy321

Interested. I am looking to get rid of my credit card and get one with some type of rewards. And free dining, that sounds good. Id love to know ways to get more out of that kind of stuff.

majik

I just spent 20 minutes non-stop typing replying with information. I hit the wrong key and the web page changed and I lost it ALL!!

argh... i'm so pissed.

i'll reply later.

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I'm posting this just so I don't lose it -- I'll keep updating it.
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American Airlines:

I use American Airlines because they go everywhere I frequently travel (Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago, Caribbean, International). I choose to earn miles ONLY on American Airlines rather than splitting up among multiple airlines. That way I can redeem them faster and get benefits (upgrades, elite status, etc.).

For dining, I signed up to http://aa.rewardsnetwork.com and I earn 10 miles for every $1 spent at qualifying restaurants. (sometimes they have bonuses and I can earn up to 20 miles per $1 spent). Nashville has about 45 or so restaurants participating... Chicago has well over 100. Think about it, spent $50 for dinner, get 500-1,000 miles. All you have to do is eat, no fees or anything.

For credit cards, I have a Citibank credit card that earns me 1 mile for every $1 spent. I used to use my debit card for EVERYTHING, but then realized I wasn't getting any benefit from it and it wasn't even showing up on my credit report. Now I put EVERYTHING on the credit card, and pay it off at the end of the month. I don't pay any interest, and I earn miles and it benefits my credit rating at the same time.

This is the card I have: https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/cardDeta...do?screenID=918

I earn 1 mile for every $1 spent.
After $750 spent, I get a bonus of 20,000 miles.
After I spend $10,000 in the first year, I get a bonus of 10,000 more miles.
The second year, if I spend $10,000 again, I get another bonus of 10,000 miles.

So spending $20,750 in 2 years, I earn 40,000 in bonus miles and 20,750 in money spent (more if I spend more money). That's over 60,000 miles I've earned JUST from using the card. It takes 25,000 miles to redeem one roundtrip ticket.

Surveys:
I also take surveys on OpinionPlace.com. I earn miles based on the length of the surveys. 25 minute surveys yield about 125 miles. You can take one every two weeks, so in a month I might have 250 miles or so. Not a lot, but over time it adds up.

E-Rewards.com also has surveys. They vary, and sometimes give free stuff. I took a survey for Sports Illustrated, and got a free sweatshirt and free magazines. I've also got free shaving lotion to try and take surveys on. You earn "dollars" for surveys; some are $2, some (like SI) was $20 per survey. I've seen $60 surveys. The "dollars" can be redeemed for miles ($100 for 2,000 American Airlines miles) or $50 can be exchanged for $50 towards Zales.com.

Another thing... I earn miles from shopping. I can earn 2 miles for every $1 I spend at CircuitCity.com (but right now they're offering double miles, so I earn 4 for every $1). If I buy on CircuitCity.com, I can pick it up at their store. If I purchase a $1,400 flat panel, I earn 5,600 miles and I go pick it up at a local store. (https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/). I also like to send my wife flowers every month for our anniversary, as well as on her birthday and other special events. I earn 20 miles for every dollar spent at FTD.com or 1-800-flowers.com (search online and you can find it, or look here for recent offers - http://www.aadvantagepromotionspassport.co...php?catId=10 06).

There are similar programs available for United, US Air, Continental, and other airlines.

If airlines aren't your thing, there are Cash Back rewards at most of the same sites. RewardsNetwork.com I think gives 5% cash back on eligible restaurants. Citicards also has a cash back credit card, but I don't focus on those programs so I don't know a lot of detail on them. I think they're 3%. I've heard that Discover is among the best for Cash Back rebates.

So, here is a break down of how I earn miles:

http://www.OpinionPlace.com
http://www.E-Rewards.com
http://aa.RewardsNetwork.com
http://www.citicards.com
http://www.AAdvantageEshopping.com
http://www.aadvantagepromotionspassport.com/

You can sign up for American Airlines AAdvantage program at www.AA.com

If you're interested in another Frequent Flyer program, I might not have a lot of information on those, but I do know where you can find the info. There is an UNBELIEVABLE amount of information at http://www.FlyerTalk.com (forums). HOURS and HOURS of reading on ANY frequent flyer program.


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Now, if hotels are more your thing, then that's another book. Here we go...

I enjoy Marriott hotels. I usually get to book my own hotel when I go out of town, so I try to stay at Marriott affiliated hotels. I get reimbursed for my stay, so I have another credit card (Marriott Visa Signature) that earns me POINTS. I get 1 point for every $1 I spend, and 15 points for every $1 I spend at Marriott hotels. I can use those points for hotels (150,000 for 7 nights in a Category 7 hotel AND roundtrip airfare). Category 6 and 7 are the nicest they offer, VERY nice.

Since I already stated that using one reward program is the most beneficial, because it gets you closer to Elite status faster, I use my American Airlines credit card for everything. The only time I use my Marriott card is when I travel, because I get much higher rewards for using a Marriott card at a Marriott hotel than using an airline card at a Marriott hotel.

My mother-in-law's company provides classes, conferences, and conventions for it's members, and she is in charge of setting them up. She holds most of them at Marriott's because of their good service and locations. She had over 400,000 points earned from just this year, and used those to buy Christmas presents. She used 180,000 points to buy me a NICE $700 digital camera. If it were me, I would have used those points for a nice week in Aruba, but the points aren't transferrable.

This is the Marriott credit card I have. With this credit card, I get 20,000 bonus points for signing up, plus they give me complimentary "Silver Status" (which is usually only given to people who stay 15 nights per year). This status gave me a free upgrade to the "Executive Suite" when I stayed at the Renaissance in St. Louis for our Honeymoon. It also gave me a free night of parking ($15).


If you'd prefer, Starwood are the most popular for earning points and getting rewards. Those include Sheraton, W Hotels, Westin, St. Regis, Four Points, etc. Again, there are hours worth of reading for each hotel program on http://www.FlyerTalk.com

I currently have over 95,000 American Airline miles, and 75,000 Marriott Rewards points.

I had to go to training in Chicago this year. Because of the locatoin, I had to stay in a Hilton. So, I signed up for Hilton Honors before staying at the hotel, and as I was checking in they gave me a few coupons for bottled water. Not huge, but I got free water just for spending 2 minutes signing up for their rewards program.

This is the Marriott credit card I have. It's through CHASE.
http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/web...t&mkid=617N

Just for having the card, I get:
One free night stay every year.
20,000 bonus points
15 nights credit towards elite status, which automatically gives me Silver Elite status

Ericy321

This will be replacing my current card I am using. I am going to pay the one I use now off immediately and start using the new one. Thanks for the info. The only thing I wasnt expecting was the annual fee.

majik

the annual fee is waived for the first year. You can cancel it after 11 months and open up another, get the bonus miles, and get the fee waived again for the first year of the new card. It's almost impossible to get the fee waived for the 2nd year.

I got a card for my wife just for the bonus miles, then when the 1yr anniversary rolled around, I got the annual fee - I called and requested the fee be waived again and they said no (I haven't heard any success stories getting it waived). I told them that I wanted to cancel at that time and they did so, and at that point took the fee off and I never paid it.

The fee is worth the miles you get, but you can "churn" the cards (get one, cancel after several months, then get another one). Citi bank doesn't mind issuing cards. There are ways around the fees, but I want to keep at least 1 card for a long time, so I'll keep paying the fee on one of the cards.

I already had a Citibank AAdvantage Platinum MasterCard, then they ran this 40,000 mile bonus (biggest i've ever seen) so I applied for their American Express card. I'll cancel the Amex as soon as I get my 40,000 miles. I already got 20,000... in a couple months when I hit the $10,000 mark I'll get an additional 10,000 bonus miles.

If you'd rather rack up Marriott or Starwood points, I can do a little research for you on credit cards. Some people really prefer the Starwood card. I think the Marriott fee is only $65/yr.

I don't know much about Starwood, but I believe when you rack up points you can convert them to AAdvantage miles at 10,000 point incriments, and when you do, I think there's a bonus transfer... it's something like earning 20,000 points will transfer into 25,000 AAdvantage miles. I don't know the specifics, but I do know that a lot of people prefer Starwood. I just want you to be aware of your options. Oh, and churning credit cards while you have GOOD/EXCELLENT credit really doesn't affect it much.

I would also think twice about closing your current credit card. If you've had it for a few years, it might be good to keep it open just to show that you have an account open for 3+ years. Closing it wouldn't really benefit you at all, just keep it inactive. Jon GTR might be able to provide more insight into that.

ALSO -- KEEP IN MIND -- these cards usually have a higher interest rate, so if you plan on carrying a balance, it might not be the best for you.

Ericy321

Those last points are great. I forgot that I should leave it open. The lady at the bank always told me thats good to have open accounts even if they are inactive. And I would not be carrying a balance on it. I also wont be able to hit $10,000 most likely. But I think it would be nice to work towards something when Im spending.

majik

I'm not entirely sure... but I've heard having a lot of store cards (GAP, old navy, etc.) does hurt you. I think Jon or someone else may have mentioned it.

Have you checked your credit score yet?

$10,000 / year is hard to do... that's $833/month. The hardest part is getting the limit. I put my car insurance on my credit card ($165/mo.)... only have less than $700/mo. left to hit that goal. Gas? $80/week makes me a couple hundred closer.

It's definitely do-able... but you'll have to put almost all of your spending on the card. Not a good idea unless you have a high limit.

Ericy321

I did get a pretty high limit and my credit score has been good. Ive had a credit card since i turned 18 (the same one, almost 3 years ago) and a couple loans that have been taken and made payments on without a problem. Never had a late payment or missed. Only store card I have is Kohls and that gets paid off every month IF it has a balance at all. Im sure going to try to get some points and see how it goes.

majik

on one of my reports (I think it was Experian, quite possibly not though) it showed the percentage used of available credit.

One possibility is they look at all open credit cards and their limits

i.e.,
CC#1 - Limit of $5,000 - open but not used.
CC#2 - Limit of $15,000 - open and $3,000 balance.

What their reports have shown me is that I have used 15% of the credit available to me [$3k / ($5k + 15k)]. Thus, leaving credit cards open that you've had for a long time will show that you're using less of your available credit. Make sense? I'm also fairly certain they keep track of individual cards, making sure you haven't maxed out any of them (or getting close). If you've had a CC for more than 3 years, keep it open - it's beneficial to have accounts open for long periods of time.

Ericy321

I have a ton of available credit and not a lot being used. Most of it is student loans right now which add up to about 10k in total. I should have those paid off by the end of the year. (I am still in school but this year I havent opened loans for it) Cant wait till taxes come back beacuase Ill get a lot back to pay that stuff off.