This is our monthly recap where we look at what reward programs we were able to add miles or points to over the previous period. Now that we have depleted a good amount of our rewards, I am back to looking to build them back up again. With all the really great credit card rewards being offered for signing up for new cards, the rewards are there for the taking. To read proof how collecting miles/points can work for your family, read our post on how we are going to Hawaii (and Disneyland) for $30 in total cost for the flights. So far, we have received our mainland flights and all of our hotel nights on Oahu for absolutely “free” using miles and points in various programs. I am also currently looking at the value of using airline miles to fund expensive vehicle rentals.
With our last credit card churn back in October, we are gearing up for our first official multi-card churn shortly. Now that we no longer carry Continental accounts, options become available to possibly score United Explorer cards, as well as other options. We will also probably be trying for several other cards too. Stay tuned later this month.
Below is where we stand at month end.
[easychart type=”line” height=”300″ width=”350″ title=”Mile/Point Status (As of 2/29/12)” groupnames=”Delta,United,Continental,USAirways,American,Hilton,Intercontinental,SPG” valuenames=”Jan2011,Feb2011,Mar2011,Apr2011,May2011,June2011,July2011,Aug2011,Sept2011,Oct2011,Nov2011,Dec2011,Jan2012,Feb2012″ group1values=”69447,69447,70447,70947,70947,70947,71007,71097,71197,71287,71377,71465,71555,71615″ group2values=”100043,100043,108043,108059,108059,109059,109059,109059,110115,58569,58569,58570,117079,120577″ group3values=”67333,67333,67333,67333,67333,67433,68433,68433,68433,0,0,45040,8,106″ group4values=”8018,8020,11759,13778,13778,13778,13899,13977,14090,28713,41516,46578,46678,46726″ group5values=”0,300,600,600,600,4600,6500,9500,17000,19500,20000,20500,20500,20500″ group6values=”11679,11679,21979,24479,24479,26297,26297,26297,26297,26547,26547,26547,26547,27547″ group7values=”29271,29271,29271,29271,167571,169571,173571,173571,174071,174071,174071,1071,1071,1071″ group8values=”0,0,0,0,0,0,16,34,294,294,360,360,360,360″]
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- The accounts also will seem skewed in relation to the Continental accounts, because we moved all of the miles over into United. In addition, we had 2,000 miles post going back to the Month of Miles promotion from long ago. I completely forgot all about the promotion once all the terms kept getting revised, so the bonus miles are nice.
Continental OnePass- Again we cleared almost all of our miles out by moving them over into United.
US Airways Dividend Miles– Audience Rewards accounted for most of the miles posting to each of our accounts. I am still tracking down some Grand Slam promotion issues I am having with the magazine subscriptions, and will be reporting shortly on the issue.
American Airlines AAdvantage– No change.
Hilton HHonors– 1,000 miles from the mobile promotion in January.
Priority Club Rewards- No change.
Starwood Preferred Guest– Our account has not been credited with SPG points via Audience Rewards going all the way back to the end of Nov. 2011. I have been working with Audience Rewards, and I may be getting some of the missing miles. I finally figured out what the problem was and started receiving miles from recent questions.
Note, we also have reward accounts with AirTran, Southwest, Frontier, Choice Hotels, Wyndham Rewards, and various other programs, but since we do not really use them, there is little advantage in including them in this list.
The point of showing these reports each month is to show you that every little bit of miles and point collecting can really add up to big rewards. It is never to late to sign-up and start collecting for your future travel needs. Thanks for reading! Save Money, Travel More.
You’ve got me seriously considering some of these points building strategies. I’d love some more free travel:)
Would you please share your research with regards to using points/miles for car rentals? Does US Airways give that option? I haven’t found anything on their website. I am looking to rent a car in July for 6 weeks in the NY/NJ area and am wondering which airline and rental company would give me the best deal. If you could share, I would appreciate it.