Making Travel and Shopping Pay

Pin It Anybody that really knows me knows that I am a miles and points redemption fiend.  Of course, travel and the goods themselves are the obvious benefits from spending money for it, but getting something back in return is sweet consolation. I'm not very athletic, but I've pretty much made a sport out of earning and redeeming points and miles. 

Getting the Mileage Out of Travel

Never, ever get on a plane without signing up for a mileage program.  My program of choice is Asia Miles.  The major appeal of this program is the number of partners they have.  While it is mainly Cathay Pacific's, they have so many partners--like AA, JAL, British Airways, Qantas, etc.--that you have so many options to earn and redeem miles. As long as you quote your Asia Miles membership number when you reserve, you will earn the miles no matter what partner airline you use.  So choosing an airline alliance mileage program such as Asia Miles or oneworld, rather than a single airline's program, does not limit your travel options to that one airline. 

Because I've flown mostly long haul flights (NY to Manila), one round trip flight earns me over 17,000 miles. In the 8 years that I've been a member, I've gotten two round trip tickets within the U.S., five business class upgrades, access to the business lounge (even when I was flying economy), and several gift cards.

Getting a free upgrade.  Business class flights are definitely more than double the price of economy... so let's not begrudge these people when the flight attendants don't let us use the lavatory in their section, they paid for it.  Best chances for getting a free upgrade: sign up for the mileage program! Apart from other conditions that make it more likely that these upgrades are available, being a member of the program puts your name on the list.  So if you're on a full flight and traveling alone, you're already shortlisted as an upgrade candidate.  Majority of the times that I've been upgraded didn't even require me asking for availability.  It's a good thing that I kept my mouth shut the first time it happened because I saw the ground attendant printing a ticket with a different seat number than I had reserved online.  And an additional tip for the ladies, it pays to put a little lip gloss and mascara on if you have a male ground attendant.  This is one situation where it definitely pays to be cute.  Flying for 16 hours makes the extra leg room, food (and alcohol!) on demand and non-drug store brand free toiletries very, very much appreciated. That's service where you're not expected to tip!

Shopping with miles.  While you can shop with miles from the program sites themselves, points.com makes it even easier to manage all your mileage programs. What I really like about this is the fact that I can redeem the miles for gift cards to my favorite stores like Amazon, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Marshall's, instead of actually choosing goods from the program websites.  As newly weds, we had to start our home from scratch.  And a lot of the stuff that we needed for this have been funded by these gift cards. If you don't have enough miles to get a flight, this is a great option to still make your travel pay.

Shopping to Shop More

If you are pretty much disciplined with using credit cards AND pay the full balance of your credit card monthly, there are many ways that you can make shopping pay.  First, choose a rewards credit card with no annual fee.  Paying the full balance on the card means that the interest rate on balances need not be considered in your credit card choice. You do have to spend to earn the points in the card, but this is how I earned that many points.

First, I almost never carry cash or use my debit card (mine also earns points, but only about 20% of the points I earn from the credit card).  Any establishment that allows it, I use my credit card.  When my brother was in NY from Manila, for instance, he was shopping for a computer and electronics.  I saw this as an opportunity to pay with my credit card, while immediately taking his cash and paying the balance on the card.  This is where you need to be very, very disciplined.  If you have issues with not accounting for your swipes, forget about it.

Personally, I love my Chase Freedom card. In the past year alone, I probably redeemed close to $1000 in rewards. Mostly, I redeemed my points for gift cards because they frequently put these up at a discount.  They take 10 or 20% off the points deducted from the redemption.  The advantage of this over a cash reward is that you actually use fewer points for every dollar you redeem.  So if I had redeemed a cash reward, I would use 100 points for each dollar that I get.  But with a discounted gift card, they only deduct 90 or 80 points for every dollar.  And again, I choose gift cards to stores that I frequent.

While there is some effort involved in this venture, I've found the additional benefits are worth it.  Especially since I do have some time to spare! Oh, and I mentioned certain programs here to illustrate how I've taken advantage of their benefits, not to promote any particular program.  God knows, I didn't get paid for it!