Points and miles are the key to award travel. Earning points and miles unlocks many benefits like business class-flights, class upgrade, lounge access, hotel stays and more, that create a premium travel experience. So how do you earn these points and miles? And how do you accumulate more of them? 

This blog will give you the 10 most common and effective ways to earn points and miles. But before that, if you need an understanding on points and miles, and how they differ, just give this blog a read.

But before that,

What are points and miles?

You know that you need cash to fly or book tickets. Actually, that is not it. There are other currencies you can use to book flights. Now that is called points or miles. These are loyalty currencies earned through credit card spending or flying, which can be redeemed for “Award Travel”. Award travel lets you fly for little to no cash. Sounds cool right? 

Now that we have discovered that travelling with points and miles are possible. Let’s focus on earning them. Here are the simplest and most common 10 ways to earn points for award travel. 

Points and Miles for Purchases

These days you can practically earn points on nearly every purchase unless it is paid in cash. The easiest way to earn points is by using a credit card that gets you points on purchases. So, find a credit card that suits you best and use it for your everyday purchases. With every swipe, you earn points that can be redeemed for award travel flights, hotel stays, and more. 

Choosing the right credit card is vital. Not all credit cards can earn you miles. If you want miles, and not just points, you have to sign up for a credit card that has partnered up with airlines to convert points to miles. Premium cards (converts points to miles), co-branded credit cards (direct airline cards) are the categories that earn miles on swipes. 

Almost all credit cards offer a welcome bonus as high as 100,000-200,000 points within the first few months of signing up (usually 3 months) of spending a certain amount (usually around $3,000-$5,000).

Miles for Flights 

Well, it is obvious that you can earn miles on flights. Earning miles on flights is possible on almost all flights except for some light fares or basic economy. Otherwise, most flights will earn you some miles. 

The amount of miles you earn depends on the distance flown (distance-based) or the ticket fare (revenue-based). This varies across frequent flyer programs. Don’t forget, you need to sign up for a frequent flyer membership to redeem miles. Membership is free! 

Miles for Hotels

Hotel stays can earn miles. You can either book through airline hotel portals or book through hotel loyalty accounts and opt to earn miles. Many major hotel chains have loyalty programs such as Marriott has Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton has Hilton Honors, and Hyatt has World of Hyatt.

Miles for Car Rentals

You can earn miles for renting cars, especially if you book car rentals through airline travel portals. Bookings via United MileagePlus Cars, American AAdvantage cars can earn up to 1,000 miles. 

Other bookings will also earn you a fixed amount of miles. Otherwise,  the number of miles will depend on how much you spend.  

Miles for Dining

Airlines have dining portals through which you can earn bonus miles by dining at their participating restaurants. Add your credit card to the account, pay using the same card, and earn miles. Simple. You can earn up to 3-5 miles per dollar spent. 

Miles for Shopping

Shopping through airline shopping portals earns you bonus miles. Other everyday shopping using your credit card also automatically earns you points.

 Shopping portal examples: United MileagePlus Shopping, American AAdvantage eShopping, Delta SkyMiles Shopping. You can also earn more with promotions, explained below. 

Miles and Points Through Promotions

Airlines often offer many bonuses as a part of promotions. Promotions supercharge your miles through limited time bonuses on shopping portals, point purchases, flight offers, and transfers. For instance, United MileagePlus Shopping offers “spend $200 and earn 500 bonus miles deals”. Airlines also provide credit card rewards. Therefore, it is always recommended to sign up for promotions, it might benefit at some point. 

Miles for Subscriptions

Subscribing to certain magazines, streaming platforms, memberships can also earn you miles. Check up on your frequent flyer program’s partnerships to see which services to sign up for like Disney+, WSJ, The Economist, and miles club options. Spend $30-$200 monthly and earn 3,000-15,000 guaranteed miles. These subscriptions are risk free as you can cancel anytime.  

Miles for Digital Boosters 

Airlines offer miles through low-effort digital activities like online surveys, special offers, and micro-tasks that offer miles for your Saver award top-ups. You can earn up to 300 miles by completing these online surveys. For example, Miles for Opinions offers around 250 American Airlines miles, Opinion Miles Club offers around 300 United miles. Free trials on Spotify and Netflix also earn you up to 1,000-5,000 miles.

Micro-tasks include downloading apps, watching ad videos, or installing browser extensions. 

Find these offers on your airline partner pages and get those miles to fill in gaps for your award travel

Buy or Share

Lastly, remember that you can purchase miles directly or transfer them between members when you run short of miles. However, buying miles is not really cost-effective unless there are promotional offers. Buy miles only if you have a confirmed redemption in mind, because buying them very early might lead to a loss as the value of miles keeps fluctuating. The miles you purchased earlier might be of much lower value later on. So don’t leave them unused for long. 

Conclusion

Maximising miles and points unlocks great deals for your next trip. With enough miles and an award search tool that gives you the best redemption plans, you are just a few steps away from going on your dream vacation. 

Sign Up for FlightPoints to put your miles into action!

FAQs

How long does it take for miles to post to my account after earning?

Flight miles typically post within 7-10 days, hotel stays within 2-4 weeks, credit card rewards within 1-2 billing cycles, and shopping portal miles within 30-90 days. Digital offers and surveys are usually credited fastest (24-72 hours).

How to check for award tickets and availability? 

Award search tools like Flightpoints help you find the best deals for award travel. You can even set alerts for award seat availability. It is the fastest award search tool where you can view 25+ airline programs on a single platform. 

What’s the minimum number of miles needed for a domestic saver award?

Most programs require 5,000-12,500 miles one-way for short domestic flights under 500 miles. Long domestic routes (1,500+ miles) typically need 20,000-30,000 miles round-trip at saver levels. Checkout FlightPoints for award flight tickets.

Can I earn elite status through these earning methods?

Yes, credit card spend, flights, hotels, and car rentals count toward elite qualifying miles. Shopping portals, surveys, and subscriptions usually don’t contribute to status but build redemption balances.

Do miles expire, and how do I prevent expiration?

Most programs expire miles after 18-36 months of account inactivity. Prevent expiration by earning one mile every 12-24 months through any method (portal click, partner stay, digital offer). Some cards waive expiration with membership.