Mileage and Point Reward Status (September 2011)

This is my monthly recap where I look at what reward programs we were able to add miles or points to over the previous period. We are now looking harder and harder at any opportunities to ramp up our Continental/United mileage accounts because we are quickly finding out that trying to use what we have for travel to Hawaii next summer is slim to none, and we might need more miles.

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The following is a brief summary of the things we have done in the past month to build up our accounts.

Delta SkyMiles– Audience Rewards trivia questions in all three of our accounts.

United Mileage Plus- Miles added via a purchase we made for the current United promo where we were granted bonus miles per 2 transaction. I never really took to much advantage of this due to United changing the rules mid-stream. Although I may still take advantage to try and boost our accounts because of the difficulty we are having with booking Hawaii. I think we also finally received our 1,000 mile bonus for email sign-up.

Continental OnePass- No change, although we continue to look for opportunities to stack our accounts prior to the merger. Eventually we may need to pull the plug and sign up for the current pitiful Continental credit card offer.

US Airways Dividend Miles– Toolbar use and Audience Rewards trivia in both of our accounts. I also had a dining purchase that credited US Airways since I was not able to get my card to work to earn United miles. We also had four (4) hits register for the Grand Slam promotion, adding a quick and easy free 3,000 bonus miles.

American Airlines AAdvantage– My wife and two sons each received their 2,500 point bonuses from ordering those Verizon Palm chargers. It was $5 well spent and worth the gamble. My points should be posting any day now, but I have not accounted for them in the September tally.

Hilton HHonors– No change.

Priority Club Rewards- 500 points received from signing up for texts.

Starwood Preferred Guest– We have slowly been building SPG points via the Audience Rewards Broadway show trivia questions posted weekly. I also finally received our 250 points for “Liking” the Aloft Austin, as mentioned by Mommy Points. I had to actually call and provide proof of the offer to SPG, as the points never showed up in our account. Thanks to Million Mile Secrets for saving a screen shot that allowed me to provide proof of the offer.

Note, we also have reward accounts with AirTran, Southwest, Frontier, Choice Hotels, and Wyndham Rewards, but since we do not really use them, there is little advantage in including them in this list. I debated about including Southwest Airlines, since we do have some of the old credits from the previous Rapid Rewards program; however, after looking at what we would need to earn in the new point system to receive an award before they expire (old points still appear to expire), makes it unlikely that we will ever get anything out of the system.

Every little bit of free and cheap miles add up, and it is never to late to sign-up and start collecting for your future travel needs.