If you are wanting to earn free air travel then a frequent flyer points scheme is the way to go. However, don't get stuck thinking that flying is the only way to earn the points. It's easier than ever to earn frequent flyer points as airlines have teamed up with hundreds of partners such as banks, credit cards, theme parks, phone companies, hotels and much more. Once you know how to make the most of the scheme you can start earning free flights faster than you might think.
Below are a number of ideas to earn frequent flyer points without paying for a flight:
Credit cards: Apply for a co-branded airline credit card / affinity card and use it as your main card to pay for everything. This is the easiest and probably the fastest way to earn frequent flyer points and miles while staying on the ground. All airlines with frequent travel schemes have linked up with a bank to set up co-branded frequent flyer credit cards or have partnered with American Express Membership Rewards or Diners Club Rewards. Your points earning power and the perks you are entitled to vary depending on the type of card you hold (e.g. Standard, Gold, Platinum), your frequent flyer program and your current status.
Financial services: Investing — not spending anything — is a really productive way to grow your miles. Check your frequent flyer credit card rewards program for participating mutual funds, stocks and investments that offer mileage points. For example, American Express Membership Rewards program offers bonus frequent flyer points from Fidelity. Ameritrade gives 25,000 bonus miles (if your frequent travel program is a partner) when you set up a trading account.
Real estate: Your house or any other property you own can be a rich source of frequent flyer points. Take a look at your frequent flyer or membership rewards program for participating real estate firms that offer bonus points. Real estate transaction amounts are big, which means a lot of frequent flyer points. These points can come from various types of transactions: when you take out a new mortgage, refinance your house, or list it for sale. You could even earn points from the moving company when you move to your new home.
Dining: There are a number of frequent flyer schemes offering points on restaurant dining. You can sign up for free with Rewards Network, which coordinates all of these programs. The amount of points you earn will depend on your membership level in Rewards Network: elite members get 5 miles on every dollar; engaged members get 3 miles; active members get 1 mile; and all levels receive periodic bonuses. The membership level is determined by how many times you dine out at restaurants in the scheme each year; the higher the level, the more restaurant choices.
Shopping: Virtually all airline programs have online shopping malls with mileage earning offers. Next to flying, this is increasingly becoming the fastest way to earn frequent flyer points. These online malls feature dozens of online merchants offering anywhere from 1 to 10 miles per dollar of spending charged to your frequent flyer credit card. Your not paying extra in order to earn the miles so the value of the flyer points really is a bonus. One caveat: ensure you shop around for the best deal rather than spending much more for the sake of an extra hundred points.
There are more ways coming out every day to earn frequent flyer points. Just responding to a survey online can earn points. Keep an eye out for these types of opportunities.
The solution is to look for the credit cards that pay you back, either in cash back, or in credit toward useful merchandise that you want. For example, Citibank has an offer for 15,000 advantage bonus miles and 12-months of intro no-interest payments. And what are the terms and conditions? They are earned on American airlines, using new customer's Citibank Platinum and appear on your (presuming that you have one) American Advantage Program account. The points will appear on your account a couple of months after your first purchase. Of course ?advantage miles? are not the same thing as real miles, so how much you save by getting this deal is hard to say.
Another favorite are gas cards. The Hess gas card from chase gives you 1-percent back on gas purchases, but 5-percent back on other purchases, so, coffee and donuts anyone? One of the favorite cards of those living the ?life in the fast lane? is the American Express Blue Card, with 1.5-percent cash back uncapped, that means like forever, even after you (wish you did) win the lottery. Then once you spend $6500, you get 5-percent back on purchases at gasoline stations, grocery stores, and drug stores. (I think I'm about to go into a 1960's style substance flash-back!) So it just proves that it pays to be rich. Of course there is enough fine print here to choke a horse, and I would hate to find out in the end that the interest rate is over 18-percent, but if you pay off your balance, then I guess you don't have to really care. It actually depends on your credit rating; the interest rate can be anything fro 13.24-percent to 18.24-percent.
Hopefully, this article has made you more interested in the possibility of saving money by using credit cards. This is with the additional proviso, that if you have a tendency to run into the OTB parlor, or the local race track, these offers are probably not for you at all. These cheap and cash-back offers can be viewed as themselves a form of gambling by the banks on whether, once they have you using credit cards regularly, you will not have enough self control to stop using them till you've built up a sizeable debt.
Both Rich Greenwood & Adam J. Heist are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Rich Greenwood has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure, Fitness and Travel and Leisure. Article by Richard Greenwood from finance comparison website click4credit.com.au which compares from leadi. Rich Greenwood's top article generates over 135000 views. to your Favourites.
Adam J. Heist has sinced written about articles on various topics from Finances, Credit Cards and Finances. Adam Heist is an expert in the field of Loans and runs a highly popular and comprehensive loan line web site. For more articles and resources on Loans related topics and much more visit his site today.. Adam J. Heist's top article generates over 1830000 views. to your Favourites.