Frequent Flyer miles
 

What's the best way to earn/buy/get miles without flying?

Do you have a credit card with the airlines?

Two - one for Delta & one for BA.

Charge everything on the CC's.

Some airlines have Dining deals which if you dine at certain restaurants you get 5-10 miles per $ spent.

Some airlines also have online shopping "mall", eg., AA has AAdvantage Shopping which has hundreds of stores (such as Target, Home Depot, Macy's etc). You just go thru the AA shopping site which then redirect you back to the store's website, but you will earn extra miles per $ spent (# of miles per $ vary from store to store).

. . . then put whatever you can on them. These days, you can pay most utility bills, gasoline, groceries & other everyday expenses on your card. I think you'll find that your miles will add up faster than you'd imagine.

Additionally, most airline FF programs now give miles for purchases made online via their websites. I especially like Circuit City & Best Buy, as I can make my purchase online, arrange to pick up that purchase at my local store (usually w/in 1 hr.), and have FF miles for the purchase to boot. :)

Just be sure to pay these off in full every month. The interest rates on these cards tends to border on usury.

All of the above plus a refi or LoC on your house.

Look here: http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com

Enjoy.

The key to using an airline affinity credit card to rack up miles is to charge everything you can and pay your balance in full each and every month. If you don't pay the full balance interest/finance charges will quickly add up to more than any savings you'd get from obtaining a free award airline ticket.

Also, be sure to register for any double/triple mile promotions on purchases-Delta AX usually has a couple each year, and then save your large purchases for those timeframes if you can. If you can fly one airline and become an elite member, you'll earn more miles for each mile flown too. As a Gold with DL, I'm receiving double miles each time I fly which really adds up.

For Delta:

If you charge a lot, get the Platinum version of the Skymiles Amex if you don't already have this. In addition to the regular spend miles, there are annual threshold bonuses - 10K for spending $25K and another 10K for spending $50K. These bonuses are also Medallion Qualification Miles that count toward elite status. There's an annual fee of $135 but well worth it if you can reach the spend threshold(s). Plus it comes with a domestic L/U/T companion coupon.

There's a current Skymiles partner promo through 5/31. You get 5K miles for every 5 unique partner activities, up to a maximum of 25K. See http://tinyurl.com/2kmcnd in particular post #62 for what counts as an eligible and unique partner activity. I've been able to complete 10 each for me and my spouse for very minimal or no cost or on things we would've purchased anyway.

There's currently a triple mile bonus (up to a maximum of 3K) for Skymiles Dining on Sun-Thu dines through 6/28/07 http://tinyurl.com/2jdezq

In the past, I've earned miles from refinancing and home equity lines. Make sure the interests rates are competitive with non-mileage earning offers. I've been able to get the lender offering miles to match the best offer I received from a non-mileage lender.

These are good suggestions. You should also dip into the discussion forums on flyertalk.com, which are populated by frequent business travellers and miles collectors who know absolutely everything about strategies to accumulate miles.

Yes, definitely check out flyertalk-full of hard-core mileage addicts. It's great!