5 Ways to Rack up Frequent Flyer Miles — Without Buying a Ticket

March 11, 2011

5 Ways to Rack up Frequent Flyer Miles — Without Buying a Ticket

Updated June 26, 2015

Frequent-flyer programs are one of the best travel perks to come on the market in the past 30 years. I mean, who doesn’t love a free ticket? Even though nothing will rack up points as fast as a round-trip to Milan, there are plenty of wallet-friendly ways to pile up miles.

Here are my favorite tricks:

1. Will fly for food

Check to see if your grocery store has a rewards program and bank points just for buying stuff you would anyway.

Safeway and United Airline’s Grocery Miles program ended last year, but Continental and ShopRite have a partnership; you can earn 1 mile for every 2 dollars you spend.

2. Know your numbers

Every time you rent a car or stay in a hotel, check to see if you can earn miles with an airline.

Keep a list of all of your frequent flyer numbers so you can register right away. It’s much harder trying to collect miles after you’ve completed your trip.

3. Check in frequently

Check your main frequent flyer account’s website for partnership programs. Stop in on a regular basis because programs change and there are lots of limited-time offers.

For example, at the moment you can earn up to 2,200 miles on airlines like Delta when you see a Broadway show, or 1,000 miles on American every time you order through Teleflora.

4. Give yourself some credit

Use a miles-earning credit card, all the time. However, be careful of cards that charge annual fees or high interest rates.

By most estimates, one mile equals about one cent, so some cards may not be worth it. Check out nerdwallet.com for ratings and comparisons on a bunch of airline mile cards.

5. Go the extra mile

Don’t chuck your airline’s miles program newsletter. You can often find easy opportunities to earn miles, such 500 miles for signing up for e-mail alerts or for joining a hotel rewards program. For news about miles-earning opportunities on all the airlines, sign up for the FrequentFlier.com newsletter.

Yes, flying is expensive. But if you’ve got to do it, you might as well chip away at earning that free ticket — just by living your life.