Earn American Airlines Miles Completing Online Surveys

Opinion Place is an online site where you can share your opinions on a variety of products or services while earning bonus frequent flyer miles (or other rewards). I've used the site for many years, with no problems. Usually 75-150 AAdvantage miles are offered per survey, with an average time commitment of 10-15 minutes on each. Miles are usually credited within a week. This Click here to sign up.

Should I Purchase an Air Ticket or Use Frequent Flyer Miles?

By Mike Grasso

"Should I purchase an airline ticket or redeem frequent flyer miles?" How many times I hear this question asked. Unfortunately, there is no single right answer. But let me offer some thoughts:

-If you are booking the trip "last minute" such as within a few weeks of travel: Some airlines may charge up to $100 for redeeming miles last minute.

-If your travel plans might change: Often you are allowed free date/time changes on award travel tickets (but not city or routing changes). Few purchased tickets allow fee-free changes.

-If you are flying to/from smaller regional airports: These fares often, though not always, cost more than through larger cities with more competition. It might make more sense to redeem miles if there is availability.

-If you want to earn banked and/or elite qualifying miles for your flight: Then you should buy your ticket. Typically you don't earn miles on award travel flights.

Then there is the cost factor. This will vary by person. Some people think 25,000 miles (the amount required for a free roundtrip domestic flight) is worth around $300, and will therefore use miles if the cost of a ticket is ~$300 or more. On the other hand, if the family budget is running a little tight this month, maybe redeeming miles makes good sense, regardless the price of the ticket. Again, this is more an individual/situational decision.

30,000 Feet: Frequent Flyer - Join the Club

Check out this short PBS documentary on -really- frequent flyers who do it for the love of flying, the love of miles, and occasionally the love of the cities they visit - even if for 30-minutes. Filmmaker Gabriel Leigh (Cal-Grad!)does marvelous work here discussing how to maximize earning potential and the resulting payouts, such as first class seating and lounge access.

Meanwhile, Randy Peterson, founder Flyertalk, a popular online community of frequent flyer enthusiasts, describes how people who take the time can learn the tricks to reap the most benefits, often with minimum ongoing financial investment. Sounds like some of the spam messages I get in my inbox everyday! But - Randy is absolutely right! My own experience as a "mileage runner" and member of Flyertalk have taught me the tricks of the trade, how to cash-in on obvious and not so obvious travel opportunities, and how to help others do the same. OK, OK, - I'll save my story for another day. On with the show!

Double Miles With SuperShuttle And Friends Ride For Five

SuperShuttle, the blue van service that takes you to/from the airport is running a couple promotions for the next few weeks. First, earn triple United airline miles (150 total) for each one-way drive through August. Second, bring friends along and they pay just $5 bucks each. That deal runs through September 15, 2009. Click here for more information on both promos.

More posts on SuperShuttle

How to Request Flight Mileage Credit On Old Itineraries

By Mike Grasso

Even the most seasoned travelers forget to include their frequent flyer number to their flight reservation on occasion (or can place blame on the forgetful corporate travel agent). Or perhaps you included your frequent flyer number but the airline failed to credit your hard earn miles. Either way, fear nothing as you can request mileage credit for previously flown flights up to 24 months in the past, as long as you were a member of the respective airlines frequent flyer program at the time of the flight. The best documentation to have on hand would be your boarding pass or other documentation showing the airline's ticket and flight number.

Here are direct links to major U.S carriers, and information on how to submit your mileage credit request:

United (last 12 months of travel)

American (last 12 months)

Delta (last 6 months)

Northwest (last 9 months)

Continental (last 6 months)

Southwest (last 24 months!)

Virgin America (last 12 months)

Earn Bonus Miles With New Netflix Subscription

First time Netflix customers can earn bonus frequent flyer miles when signing up for new service. Netflix offers the convenience of ordering movies online, and having them shipped, usually within 24 hours, directly to your home. Some titles can also be watched online, real-time.
Here are direct links to some of the participating airlines:

American Airlines: 2500 Bonus miles offer
United Airlines: 2000 Bonus miles offer
Delta Airlines: 3000 Bonus miles offer

Tip: Be sure to print out a copy of the offer in the event your miles do not automatically post. This will serve as proof of your registering for the offer.

Earn Frequent Flyer Miles for Using Super Shuttle

I'll warn you in advance...it ain't much! Still, if you use the Super Shuttle "blue van" service to/from the airport, why not earn some bonus miles? So here it is: 50 miles for each one-way trip. Not much more to add; that's it!  In addition to partnerships with U.S. Air, Frontier, Delta and Northwest, you can now earn United Mileage Plus miles for your next ride in the blue van. 

Earn 1,000 Miles For Enrolling in U.S Airways FF Program

For a limited time, earn 1000 bonus miles for enrolling in U.S Airways Dividend Miles program. If you already have a U.S Airways frequent flyer account this does not apply to you. But if you don't, why not enroll? It's free!

Earn 3,000 Priority Club Points With Netflix

If you are considering joining Netflix be sure to sign up with one of the many frequent traveler programs to earn yourself bonus points/miles. The latest offer comes from Priority Pass, offering 3,000 bonus points for signing up when you start a new Netflix account.

Last month we posted partnerships between Netflix and United, American and Delta Airlines, awarding up to 3,000 bonus miles for new Netflix subscriptions.

In general, Netflix bonuses are for first-time customers only. But word on the street is if you open a new account with a different postal and email address, and a different credit card and frequent traveler number, you might just earn those bonus miles.

SuperShuttle and Delta Partner Up, Offer Frequent Flyer Miles

Delta SkyMiles members who book a ride online with SuperShuttle will now earn frequent flier miles. In a press release this week, SuperShuttle announced the new partnership with Delta will reward passengers 50 miles for each one way trip to or from the airport. 

SuperShuttle has similar partnerships with Northwest Airlines, Frontier Airlines and U.S Airways frequent flyer programs.  

Mileage Runs: Who and Why?

By Mike Grasso

Imagine yourself crawling out of bed at five in the morning to catch a 7 AM trans-continental flight, arriving on the East coast with just minutes to spare before you make the trek back home. At its simplest form, this is a mileage run. Although likely fatigued from the all day journey, tomorrow will be better, particularly since you earned a whopping 6000 miles (or more) for your efforts.

The rules are simple: Fly as far away as you can, for the least possible amount of money. It makes no difference whether you embark off to Sarasota, Florida or Hilton Head, North Carolina, because a true mileage run means you will probably never leave the airport of your arrival city. Just enough time to visit the airport facilities and enjoy a fresh cup o' joe, before boarding begins for your return flight home.

A complicated question asked so many times of me: Why? Why do people do this?

Some view it as a necessity. Frequent travelers who find themselves just a few thousand miles short of maintaining their elite status need to find a way to earn some quick elite-qualifying miles before year end. A mileage run is perfect for them. A simple flight from point A to point B and back allows one to fancy their elite status for yet another year. The banking of useable miles, the ones used to redeem for free award travel, may be less of a priority for this type of mileage runner.

Some regard mileage runs as an opportunity to visit cities while creatively building off-the-beat routings, maximizing mileage potential. For example, San Francisco to Washington D.C is available non-stop, earning 4,820 miles round-trip. Instead, consider San Francisco to Seattle, to Washington D.C, earning 5,956 miles round-trip. For the clever and so-inspired, you could add stops in two other cities enrute to D.C, without adding a substantial cost, to accrue even more miles. These types of mileage runners seek to bank as many useable miles in their frequent flier account, enabling them to redeem for more frequent free trips in the future. (It's important to note that since the focus of the trip is to visit the city - meaning a stay of 1 or more nights is involved, some in the industry do not consider this a true mileage run.)

Finally, a smaller group of travelers view mileage runs as a sort of hobby, sometimes spending hours composing an exciting itnerary that includes four stops - in each direction, including visits to small regional airports that most would simply fly over. These extended mileage runs last upwards of 24 hours, and often include a red-eye flight. The exaustive journey yields huge mileage payouts, and provides avid travelers a chance to see parts of the country - at least the airports, they might not otherwise fly to. Some find themselves volunteering-for compensation on oversold segments, esentially paying for the cost of the mileage run.

But let's face it, if you have an aversion to flying, mileage runs are no friend of yours. But, if you find yourself a bit short of a status level (December 31st is the last day to accrue miles for next year's status), or you want to try your own mileage run, I highly recommend visiting the Flyertalk Mileage Run Forum (it's where I started many years ago), where a community of like-minded flyers can offer expert advice and recommendations on putting together a run that works for you.

Earn Bonus Miles At Northwest's Worldperks University

Northwest Airlines continues to offer these very brief lessons on the advantages of Worldperks, Northwest Airlines frequent flier program. If you have not done so already, I highly recommend you take these courses and earn yourself a few hundred bonus miles.

For each course, read a short description of a product or service Northwest offers, answer three (simple) questions and earn 100 Northwest Airlines Worldperks miles. Five courses are currently available. Click here to study and take your quizzes.

Grocery Miles: Earn United Miles Shopping for Groceries

We've mentioned this in the past, but no harm in bringing it back; United Airlines continues to offer bonus Mileage Plus miles for grocery shopping at Safeway, Krogers, Dominick's, Vons, Pavillions and Genuardis stores throughout the United States.

Once you have registered, you earn a 125 miles for every $250 spent. More importantly, for those who fly United infrequently but want to keep their Mileage Plus account active, this is an easy way to do so. Visit United Airlines GroceryMiles page.

Super Shuttle $3 Discount Code

Here's a $3 off coupon code valid for Super Shuttle. The code works at several airports throughout the country, including all the major airports in the Bay Area. Super Shuttle also awards a minimum 50 frequent flyer miles on U.S Airways, Northwest and Frontier Airlines with each reservation.

Visit www.supershuttle.com and enter promo code: UYR59
Other Super Shuttle coupons can also be found in regional Entertainment books.

SuperShuttle and Northwest Partner Up, Offer Frequent Flyer Miles

Northwest Worldperks members who book a ride online with SuperShuttle will now earn frequent flyer miles. In a press release this week, SuperShuttle announced the new partnership with Northwest, which will reward passengers riding SuperShuttle 50 Worldperks miles for each one way trip to or from the airport.

SuperShuttle also has partnerships with Frontier Airlines and U.S Airways frequent flyer programs.

http://www.supershuttle.com/

United Airlines Promo: Double Elite-Status Qualifying Miles

United Airlines just released a promotion offering double elite-qualifying miles for all flights between now and June 15th. This promotion is for those working toward achieving or maintaining elite status with United. These are not miles redeemable for travel.Click here to be directed to the UA promotions website and to register. This promotion matches one American Airlines offered earlier in the month.

American Airlines Promo: Double Elite-Status Qualifying Miles

American Airlines just released a promotion offering double elite-qualifying miles for all flights between now and June 15th. This promotion is for those working toward achieving or maintaining elite status with American. These are not miles redeemable for travel.

Click here to be directed to the AA promotions website and to register.

Purchasing Miles From the Airline - The Pros & Cons

By Mike Grasso

Purchasing airline miles directly from the airline is often a terrible method of accruing miles, both economically and practically. Some exceptions are noted later. First, the airlines usually price these miles at a premium, valued far higher than earning miles by most other means (flying, car rentals, credit cards, etc.)
For example, United Airlines will sell you 10,000 miles for $303 dollars. That $300 bucks could easily fly you to New York City for the weekend, and you'd earn 10,000 miles in the process. Therefore, there is no direct value added when buying miles from the airline.

Second, redeeming miles into a capacity controlled frequent flier program means the airline will limit your redemption opportunities on days, flights or routes it chooses. If it's a popular route, high-season, or holiday, you will have a tough time finding availability. They would rather sell expensive tickets than fill the plane up with people redeeming miles. And guess what? You are not the only person trying to redeem miles on a flight. Many people are competing for what is often limited overall availability. Thus, buying premium-priced miles for use on low-value flights with the added uncertainly seats will even be offered by the airline, isn't very practical.

But, buying airline miles can be situationally helpful. If you are 1000 miles short of 50,000 - enough for a free economy ticket to Europe, you may want to fork up the $50-$60 cost. In this case, call the airline first - check for award redemption availability before buying miles.

Another example is maybe you are 5,000 miles short of 90,000 - enough to fly Business Class on Singapore Airlines to Asia. The true value of that business class ticket is probably $6,000 or more. Paying $150 to cover your miles shortfall does seem tempting. Again, check for availability of award seats.

Lastly, as if they airline doesn't already have a strong-hold on these frequent flier programs already; buying miles is not a real-time exchange. United Airlines says it can take up to 48 hours to post to your account, American Airlines up to 72 hours. So while you are waiting for those purchased miles to post to your account, award availability may vanish from under your eyes. If you are in a situation like this, call the airline first, explain your scenario. They may do a courtesy hold if you provide them with your confirmation number of your miles purchase.

American Airlines MileFinder
This website application lets you select your city to determine mileage earning opportunities within your neighborhood. Could be useful when traveling as well, since it shows you restaurants and other businesses that offer AAdvantage miles for services. No new opportunities here, just a different way of displaying mileage opportunities.
Check out MileFinder

250 American Airlines miles for completing a 3 minute survey about AAvacations
Click here
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the AmericanAirlines VacationsSM Travel Survey. In appreciation of your participation we will credit your AAdvantage® account with 250 bonus miles within the next 8-10 weeks.