Earning Miles For Buying Food Aboard Airplanes

On my recent Air Canada trip, I noticed an offer to earn Areoplan Miles for buying food on board.

The offer good through April 30, 2014 gives your 25 miles for spending between $10 and $19.99 (exclusive of taxes) in one purchase. Spend more than $20 and earn 50 miles. To earn the credit, you must give your Areoplan number to the flight attendant at purchase. That's the major downside of this promotion. Asking to the flight attendant's to enter the number seems cumbersome and must slow down service.

I think this promotion is a smart idea. US-based carriers should consider this type of promotion, as it might increase on-board purchases. For instance, the guy sitting next to me spent $9 on his meal and quipped to the FA that he should have spent a $1 more to get the 25 miles.

Yes, I know if you use the airlines credit card that you are flying, you can earn extra miles. However, why not extra bonus miles for spending XXX dollars. It might justify the parent in economy buying his three kid snacks on the plane. Or give a points addict, like me, a reason to spend more.

Just a though....



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Why I Joined Best Buy's Reward Zone

Yesterday, I signed up for a new loyalty program: Best Buy's Reward Zone.

I have never had a Reward Zone account, weird because I shop at Best Buy often. I think that the reason why I never got an account was that it once had a cost to be part of it. I don't know when they stopped charging for Reward Zone, but ever since the program has had a bad taste.

Something changed yesterday. I don't what, but I now have a loyalty program that I am earning points for.

The main point of the Reward Zone program is to give rewards for loyal customers. For every 250 points, one earns a $5 gift certificate to use at Best Buy. One earns 1 point for $1 spent at Best Buy or BestBuy.com.

To join, go here.

Now one can earn points by completing activities or answering polls on the Reward Zone Facebook page. In addition, one can earn Reward Zone points by answering Audience Reward questions. Weekly, one can earn 12 points by answering 6 questions right (2pts per correct answer).

What really got me to sign-up is their current offer, spent $10 or more in-store or online, earn 500 points: enough for a $10 reward coupon. All one has to do is to complete a purchase over $10 (after discounts), by March 23, in store or online and provide your Reward Zone Number. 500 Reward Zone points will be deposited into your account shortly thereafter. Of course, one should use this promotion online and go through a shopping portal to earn extra points.

Why am I writing about Reward Zone on a travel points blog, first free money is free money and simple free money is a no brainer. Second, Reward Zone points can be transferred into airline points through Points.com.

1,000 Reward Zone Points (as of 3/16/13) can be traded into:

170 Areoplan Miles
131 AAdvantage Miles
255 Asia Miles
139 Frontier Miles
255 Priority Club Points
131 United Mileage Plus Miles
237 US Airway Miles
124 Alaskan Airways Miles
200 Amtrak Miles
107 Virgin Atlantic Miles

While transferring Reward Zone points into miles won't earn you a ton of miles directly. Many times airlines have promotions that give you bonus miles when you complete partner activities ie US Airways GrandSlam RIP, Delta's New Member Bonus, or United's 25% Bonus.

Since Best Buy's Reward Zone is free, it can't hurt to sign up. Worst case, I transfer all the miles to an airline through Points.com.





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