anon

there has been much debate about which cc gives the best deal in airmiles. Well, in the uk there is a much quicker way. Grocery shopping!I have converted just over a years worth of loyalty vouchers into BA miles( funnily enough the store does not advertise this so much as the Airmiles programme) . Just by shopping there for 13 months I have miles for a return trip to Asia!! <BR>I won't advertise the store as the post would probably get pulled then but look beyond the days out and discount holidays of the scheme for the real bargains. (OK - a hint- as they say "every little helps!")

chris

<BR>FYI....<BR>We have this in Texas, USA as well. The grocery store is partnered with American Airlines.<BR><BR>

anon

Chris<BR>why is it that debate is just about credit cards? Is the BA deal perhaps better than the AA one? We have no family so I am only shopping for 2 and have saved the miles easily. Many of the people I work with shop there as well and only seem to use the vouchers as "money off" their shopping. What a waste!!!( and I am talking about people who like to travel!)

moonbeam

Well, I wish we had it in FL with the money I spend at the grocers! Do we??

Suzanne

Air miles can be accrued through many means (grocery shopping at Vons, Pavilions, Safeway, etc) accrues 125 miles for every $250 spent (United Airlines); as well as registering a credt card to get 10 miles for every $1 spent on dining (includes restaurant or take out). It is interesting to note that the airlines don't consider "non-flight" accrued miles towards one's status (i.e. Premier member, 1K, etc) but rather flown miles only.

Susan

We have Airmiles in Canada as well. We seem to collect a lot of miles - there are only 2 of us, but we will stock up on items we use when they have extra bonus miles. There is also a no-fee Amex card which awards Airmiles. I signed up for it and got a bonus the first time I used it. I've booked a few trips through them, although just Canadian destinations. In July, I tried to book our trip to Mexico for February, but couldn't get anything! I ended up booking with Aeroplan (Air Canada's frequent flyer plan). But that's ok - I can always use those Airmiles on other flights.

lynlor

I have just discovered a wonderful way to get Airline miles. I bought a government EE bond...yield 3.9% ... not a great yield but better than my money market yield. I paid for this with my airline credit card. The bond can be cashed in after 6 months and another bond can be purchased with the credit card for more miles.<BR>lynlor

rhona

Safeways no longer have airmiles- Tescos bought over that option( as anon was hinting). However, it is not airmiles that has the best mileage but BA miles. You go on to the BA website and fill out a form transfering the airmiles to BA miles. Of course it does limit the options but, living in the Uk, its easy to go through BA.

mark

Hi ...<BR><BR>Rhona ... exactly how do you convert air miles to BA miles ... I have a number of airmiles, but really want them as BA miles as I have a lot of BA Miles, but few airmiles !!!<BR><BR>HELP<BR><BR>Mark

Ann

I earned enough miles for the US-Europe trip by eating in restaurants. United (and I sure other airlines have this) use a program called idine, where you earn up to 10 miles per dollar spent at certain restaurants. A few restaurants have restrictions on the days, or offer less miles, but most of the ones I go to are on the list, and I get the full 10 miles on the entire bill, including the tip. My husband uses it a lot for business lunches/dinners, and has used it for a holiday party for his staff (we got 6,000 miles out of that, which I think is the limit for one visit). You have to designate a credit card (you can use several different ones). It's tremendous if you live in or near a big city, but probably won't work too well if you're in a small town.

lynlor

We use our United airlines credit card to get extra miles at the grocery store, but this is a very slow way for us to collect miles.<BR><BR>American airlines has a program for collecting 10 miles for every dollar spent at restaurants. Another poster mentioned this, but we found the list of restaurants was limited and not restaurants that we wanted to go to. Also we don't we out much. We never go to fast food resturants and I have not been to a MacDonalds anywhere since I was a child.<BR>lynlor

rhona

sorry Mark! <BR> I didn't give the correct information. I should have said that you can transfer tescos vouchers to BA miles through the BA site. (not airmiles) I don't know why I made that mistake! I have actually asked BA if I can transfer airmiles to BA miles but the answer is "no".

anon

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chris

<BR>Another way that has been going on for about a year is with certain Kellogg's cereal. You get 100 AA miles for every box you eat. There is a voucher that you must cut off the box. The box is clearly labeled with an American Airlines airplane on the front. The only catch is that you can only turn in 10 at a time. So, eat 10 boxes worth, turn them in & get 1000 miles. Since I like the cereal anyway, this is a no-brainer for me. I bet I (we) have gotten over 8000 miles in the past year (perhaps more).<BR><BR>The grocery store in our area is Tom Thumb, which is part of Safeway. But they still are having the AAdvantage promotion going on right now.<BR><BR>chris

Julie

I put my groceries (and everything else I can) on my Marriott rewards card. Not only will that work towards airline miles, but hotels as well. Also, if I understood them correctly, they will let my husband and me convert our airline miles to Marriott certificates that can be used for airlines

lynlor

I converted my Marriott miles to American Airline miles, but unfortunately it is not one to one, but three hundred points (miles ) from Marriott to receive 100 miles to American. <BR><BR>In California last year we had a Kellogg promotion for American miles. I ate Kellogg cereal. The promotion seems to be over now in California.<BR><BR>This is all quite a game to capture as many miles as you can.<BR>lynlor

CoachBoy

Regarding idine 10 miles per dollar spent, I have the card, and I think its better to get the 20% rebate (cash).<BR><BR>Look at it this way:<BR><BR>Spend $2500 in restaurants, get back $500 CASH - spend it however.<BR><BR>Spend $2500, get 25,000 miles good for one domestic ticket. Rarely are domestic tix more than $500, plus you don't earn miles on FF tix. I guess if you upgrade it might be worth it, but I use miles for free tix, not upgrades.<BR><BR>CoachBoy

lynlor

Coach Boy: <BR>I agree with you completely. It is really only valuable if you ungrade to business from coach going to Europe. <BR><BR>I admire all of you that fly coach to Europe. My husand and I can't do it; husband is very tall and has his knees up by his chin when we fly coach to Europe. I don't have that excuse, but I just can't stand to fly coach. It totally exhausts me. Physically I just can't take it.<BR><BR>So I repeat that I envy those of you that can fly coach. You are brave, healthy, strong etc. etc. and can tolerate the food.<BR>lynlor

anon

any other great tips?

xxx

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