How To Earn Frequent Flyer Miles Without Getting More Credit Cards
Although opening up various credit cards tied to airline miles deals are great ways to rack up points quickly, they tend to be limited to residents of the US. Regardless, credit cards aren’t the only way to earn a chunk of frequent flyer miles at once. Multiple debt accounts can also have drawbacks like potentially damaging your credit, annal fees that can be difficult to keep track of, and high interest rates.
So rather than getting more plastic, let’s use what’s already in your wallet to rack up points for a free flight or two even if you don’t fly all that often.
First Get Yourself Organized
One reasons the airlines are comfortable with mileage programs is they know most people don’t keep well enough track of them to redeem rewards before they expire. Luckily for us there’s free Awardwallet to keep track of all your accounts in one place and online.
- Awardwallet recently introduced the OneCard; a physical card (that looks like a credit card) that keeps all of your mileage accounts in one place. Show it at the airport, hotels, etc. and with one swipe you won’t miss out on miles due to a jet-lagged memory. OneCard starts at a recommended donation of $10 but I’ve got free upgrade codes – the first 5 people can use free-amqrmr for a Pro account.
Remember the best strategy for earning useable miles is to stick to the most versatile airline in each of the major alliances. A United Mileage Plus account is ideal on Star Alliance since their miles work for almost all of their other airline partners. For the Oneworld alliance go with American Airlines (AA). Now, that doesn’t mean you have to always fly United or AA; just use your mileage account numbers with them for all of their partners.
- Reclaim Recent Flights – Most airlines left you claim miles 12-24 months after you’ve flown so you might have two years of miles waiting for your account.
An exception is when you’re constantly flying the same airline (say for routine business trips); in those cases it might be advisable to break with the convention above to earn a few more perks with the given airline.
Shake What Your Bank Gave You
Chances are you already have a credit or bank card that you can put to use to earn miles. Almost all airlines and partner programs have online stores connected with large retailers like Apple, Starbucks, and Sony and more. Typically you can earn an extra mile or three for every dollar spent on things you would buy anyway. WebFlyer also has an updated list of any special online store deals that might currently be going on.
- Travel Related Things Can Earn You Miles – Car rentals, hotel stays, train rides…pretty much anything that you typically associate with traveling can earn you frequent flyer miles. Aforementioned WebFlyer talk has an updated list of all the current promotions. Don’t forget to ask for point credit and have your mileage account number handy.
- Subscriptions Can Be The Path To Mileage Bonuses – Many things that require monthly or annual fees like Internet at your house, mobile phone contracts, and cable television often has mileage bonuses associated with them. You’ll need to check with your primary alliance airline store (e.g. United Mileage Plus) but keep miles in mind for anything that has a recurring payment.
- Large Purchases And Loans – It’s surprising how many banks and airlines offer huge point bonuses on top of car loans and approved mortgages. Again, it comes down to checking and the best place to start is online with the airline.
- Graduate College – Yes, you can earn miles along with your college degree. [EDITED: this deal is currently expired.]
- [EDITED] Use Smart Apps – Although it’s only available in the US for now, reader Vinny points out the free reward earning app, Checkpoints which lets you earn miles and reward points by visiting stores and making purchases. Think foursquare with benefits. (Thanks for the tip!)
You can further take advantage of your existing credit cards by scouting for balance transfers at 0% interest. Many reward and point cards still offer mileage bonuses (albeit reduced by around 35-50%) for balance transfers.
Get Hacking
There are a number of forums online specifically designed for “travel hackers” looking for the best frequent flyer deals.
- FlyerTalk is arguably the most established of these forums but new MilePoint has a much slicker and social interface.
- MileMaven is a strong bonus calculator especially useful for hacking specific routes.
- Frequent Flyer Master – This ebook is a bit dated now and relies quite a bit on credit card offers but has some included bonuses the serious travel hacker will find valuable.
- 7 Ways To Bump Your Frequent Flyer Earning Up A Notch – Pets, points, and more.
If the term “hacking” makes you uneasy, there’s a more straightforward way to accumulate miles that might otherwise go to waste.
Ask Your Family And Friends For Leftover Miles
There are probably people in your life who’ve flown in the last year or two and couldn’t care less about their accumulated frequent flyer miles. You can save those miles from falling into Vulcan’s black hole by asking them for a transfer to your account. That costs around $25-100 depending on the airline and miles but can be a great gift travelers can ask for on birthdays or around the local holiday season.
[messy desk photo by: andhij]
Discovering The Art And Heart Of Porto: The Best City To Visit In 2011
Back in March, through 4 weeks of voting, you picked Porto, Portugal as the best city to visit in 2011. Last month I made good on a promise to explore the city before the end of the year. What I found as a guest of Visit Portugal was a city that captivated me with its artistic nature. From the gigantic battle of design and ego that was waged over Porto’s two most famous bridges to Harry Potter’s birthplace, what’s uniform in Porto is an attention to unique.
The best way to show you Porto is to look at what the city has inspired, slowly working your way back to Portugal’s second largest city.
A Tale Of Two Cities
Somewhere around 300 BC, the Romans conquered the settlement of Cale – named after Greek for “beautiful” or Latin for “warm”; either way renaming it Portus Cale. Say that 5 times fast and you can see how the name Portugal likely came about. Porto is now known as a city of bridges, one of two in Europe to have 6; all of which cross the Douro River. The other city in Europe with 6 bridges is Vila Nova de Gaia (Gaia for short) – and it happens to sit across the Douro. Yes, Porto is right next to Gaia, taking up the limelight and making up two of the 12 cities in the Porto Metropolitan Area.
For travelers, the differences aren’t obvious and if you didn’t know better, would be convinced you haven’t left town, even after walking across Luis I Bridge.
Sound And Sight In A Little Big Fight
One of the most obvious displays of deliberate creativity in Porto is the Casa da Musica (House Of Music). The Casa da Musica is at its core a music hall; but it’s surrounded by individual rooms focused on different aspects of sound, art exhibitions, band practices, reading rooms, and things that vaguely have something to do with the giant concert hall in its core.
The Casa da Musica is free to enter, deliberately to signify that money isn’t a part of the creative process. (Although it helps to have wealthy investors.) The building itself was designed by the Dutchman Rem Koolhaas who wanted it to look like meteor crashing into the pavement. Cost and physics prevented him from making the exterior more elaborate and he almost had a fit when told his bar overlooking the concert hall required support beams. That, and the fact that the porous floor needed to be covered by glass because women in heels found it nearly impossible to walk across – and men below were enjoying more than a view of the concert hall.
Smaller battles were waged however in the VIP room, which is decorated with thousands of hand painted tiles, representing scenes from other museums across Portugal. Not one to be told what to do, the artist slipped in his signature hidden in grass, quickly noticed by museum’s staff. It would take another 7 years and an 8-year old to find the other mark of the artist – a tile that’s 90 degrees in the wrong direction in surprisingly plain sight.
- I picked up these and many other stories on a tour of the building. 3 Euro and interesting enough that I didn’t notice it was an hour long; I would highly recommend it.
You’ll get a preview of those tiles, known as “azulejo” and all over the city or if you arrive by train to the Sao Bento station. There are over 20,000 hand painted tiles throughout the station painted by Jorge Colaco in the early 1900s.
Where Harry Potter Was Born
The Livraria Lello is over a hundred years old and consistently voted as one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores. What makes it enchanting these days for thousands of tourists is it might be where Harry Potter was conceived. Not literally (you’ll have to ask his parents for that information) but it’s widely rumored to be where J.K. Rowling first came up with the series’s overall concept.
Rowling has never actually discussed details about her inspiration but was teaching English in Porto when her marriage to a Portuguese man failed in 1993. Prior, in 1990 the idea of a boy attending wizard-school came to her and the depression that followed her divorce fueled many of the darker tones of the Potter series (including the dementors). Rowling completed the first Harry Potter manuscript in 1995; spending two years of her free time in Livraria Lello.
Controversial – especially for Potter fanatics who know about Edinburgh’s The Elephant House – so you let your imagination decide (*cough* Hogwarts).
- By the way, the Livraria Lello is still a private shop and photos (you can see mine here) haven’t been allowed for the past 6 months since the owner found it difficult to maintain business with the influx of curious tourists. I was given special access thanks to ATTTurismo so don’t think I broke any rules. This time.
The Blood Of The Heart Is Made Of Port Wine
Although I’m very familiar with wine in a bottle (and glass), it was kind of Porto Calem to teach me where their ideas for every blend come from and the work that goes into turning grapes into goodness. A 20 minute tour of their cellars ends with tastes of their selections. 4 or 5 glasses and I’m out the door, my thirst quenched; followed by a francesinha to kill any lingering hunger.
Though despite this taste, there’s more much more of Porto to be found. Some of it you can see, others you taste, but I think the reason so many of you voted it the best city to visit is for everything that’s much less tangible.
Enter To Win A Nook Tablet With Every $10 Donation To Passports With A Purpose
For the past 2 years I’ve participated in the Passports With A Purpose (PwP) program; an annual travel blogger coordinated fundraiser whose objective is to raise $80,000 this year to build two libraries in Zambia. The PwP raises money $10 at a time – for each $10 donation you make, you can enter yourself for one of these wonderfully donated prizes.
Working With Room To Read
This year PwP is working with Room To Read, an organization that has built over 12,500 libraries and worked with over 6 million children since its founding in 1998. Neuroscientists regularly refer to reading as the most complex task our brains ever learn, getting parts of the brain to work in ways no other method can. [*] Putting more libraries where they’re needed and providing access to them unlocks the potential of the universe’s most powerful computer.
Every $10 donation is US-tax deductible and if you enter before December 16th, you can pick the prize of your choosing. You can donate here.
This year I’m offering up a Nook Tablet, one of my favorite new gadgets on the market. And yes, they don’t ship outside of the US so I’ll mail you one wherever you are in the world.
Why The Nook Tablet?
Aside from the ironic fact that it’s an eReader, it’s also the most versatile 7-inch tablet designed for ebooks. The Nook Tablet is a personal favorite of mine; and an eReader can lighten your backpack by letting you carry around a 400 gram library on your shoulder. Plus it’s wife-capable, letting you browse the Internet, and plays games as well. (Angry Birds on a long layover anyone?)
Details, Deadlines, And Donate!
Remember, for every $10 donation you get one chance to win any of these prizes of your choosing. They include 9-day tours to Costa Rica, a 1-year Boingo Global Account, and even a Kindle Fire if that’s more your fancy.
- Donations can be made anytime but if you to enter for a prize your deadline is December 16, 2011.
- Prize winners will be notified on Friday, December 23rd and prize delivered within 7 business days if you’re in the US. Those of you in other countries will receive your prize within 17 business days (the added time since I’ll need someone to forward it to your address).
- Prize is void if we don’t communicate by January 31, 2012.
In 2009 PwP raised $30,000 to build a school in Cambodia and last year $64,000 to help build a village in India. To be a part of this year’s effort and enter to win a Nook Tablet, or one of the other prizes, donate here.
The Best Comments Of November 2011 And LIVE CHAT! Speaking Spain Plus Social Media With Arantxa Ros And Daniel Galan
Hello and welcome to the first of December and my second live chat. Today I’m excited to introduce you to Daniel Galan and Arantxa Ros; both Spain and social media professionals.
Click here to jump right into the chat happening for the next 3 hours!
The chat is only open from 10am-1pm US EST (3pm-6pm GMT; 4pm-7pm Madrid; 10pm-1am Bangkok)
That’s where you’ll also find the best comments from November and talk Spain with my two guests both of whom I met on separate occasions in Granada and Valencia.
Arantxa is the engine behind several of Spain’s recent blog and press trips; one of which brought me to Valencia back in June. She’s on the forefront of Spain’s efforts in this area which is changing how countries look at social media and currently working in collaboration with Girona’s Tourist Board. Daniel works at Turismo Ciudad de Granada and knows this southern Spanish city and Andalusia very well. He’s helped travelers of all types and budgets have wonderful visits to Spain that are often powered by endless tapas. I met Daniel back in March at a conference in Bulgaria of all places and caught up with him again in Granada last month.
Want to talk social media, Spain, or simply talk travel? Now’s your chance, I’ve got drink in hand and two great guests for our conversation. Click here to jump into the comments and chat below!
