eRewards: The Turtle of Earning Miles/Points

eRewards is a site that pays you for taking surveys in miles/points. This is not an easy way to earn miles/points. It can take months just to earn 2,000 airline miles. Why bother you might ask? In the past, airlines have offered bonuses for transferring miles from partners like eRewards.

The first step is to register with e-Rewards. My recommendation is to search your email for e-Reward offers. Many times airlines and hotels will send emails inviting you to join e-Rewards and included in that email is sign-up bonus offers. A quick search of my email turned up offers from JetBlue, Southewest, and Priority Club in the past 60 days.

Jetblue:

Southwest

 Priority Club:

Also in my email account was an offer from United Airlines offering 250 miles for setting up your profiles and completing a survey in 3 months:

If you can't find an offer in your email box, United has the same offer available here.

After registering for e-Rewards, the next step is to fill out your profile. It is important to be honest in this step as it will determine what surveys are sent to you. If you stretch the truth in your profile, you might start noticing that you don't qualify for any surveys they sent you. There are 9 different sections that you need to fill out to complete your profile:

Here is a sample of the questions you will have to answer:

After filling out your profiles completely, sit back and wait for eRewards to email you invites to surveys. I typically get at least 5 invites a week. Each email looks something similar to this and lets you know the subject of the survey, the time commitment, and payout:

Click on the link within the email and you enter the landing page of the survey. This page will have the same information as the email except it also has the amount you will be paid for testing out of the survey. Being paid for testing out of the survey is one of my favorite parts of eRewards. They give you something for trying. That is why I always attempt to take surveys, nothing to lose.

After completing or testing out of surveys, your account is typically credited immediately; however, some surveys have taken a few days to credit. Once your account has at least $25 in it, you have the option to cash out in exchange for miles. Currently, eRewards allows you to transfer to the following airlines: Air France/KLM, AeroMexico, AirTran, Alaskan, AA, Emirates, Etihad, Fronteir, Hawaiian, Iberia, Jetblue, Southwest, Spirt, US Airways, United, Virgin America and Atlantic. Here is a list of all the partners:

As we have been talking about earning Mileage Plus miles this month, here are the redemption options for United:

After choosing your redemption level, you will be asked to enter your MileagePlus number and eRewards password. Typically, the miles will show up in your MileagePlus account within 3 weeks, but eRewards warns it could take 6-8 weeks. Therefore, this is not a way to transfer miles to your account for an immediate award purchase. Here is some important information about transferring miles to MileagePlus:

Overall, eRewards is a great way to earn a handful of miles. It's time consuming and the payout isn't huge. However, if United has another partner bonus like they did in December, it would be nice to be ready. A little bit of time now can payoff later. 

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Earn Miles by Eating Out

Would you like to earn up to 7 miles per dollar simply eating at your favorite restaurants  Sounds to good to be true, huh? Its not! Dining Rewards is probably the easiest points earning secret out there.

United participates with a program called Dining Rewards.

Here is a step by step guide to earning MileagePlus miles from your favorite restaurants:

1) Register for the program

2) Register all your debit / credit cards - I have kicked myself one, two, three times now for not registering a new credit card and leaving points on the table.

3 Search for restaurants in your area

4) Dine out and use your registered credit or debit card. You will get points based upon the amount charged to your credit card card, including tax and tip

5) A few days after eating out, an email will arrive asking you to take a survey based upon your dining
experience. You must take this survey to get points. The survey is no longer than 10 questions long.

6) Sit back and wait for your points to hit your accounts. Sometimes it has taken 3 weeks for points to hit my account.

Repeat steps 4 - 6 again, and again, and again.

Basic members earn 3 miles per dollar spent including tax and tip.

The beauty of this program is that you are earning points for doing something what you are already doing. Chris and I are big fans of this program and will tailor where we eat to earn points. On a few occasions, the deciding factor between 2 restaurants (one participating in dining rewards and one that does not), the one that does participate wins out.

Earning the big points:

If you eat 12 times at restaurants participating in the program, within a calender year,you earn VIP status. VIP status gives you 2 additional miles per dollar spent. If you hit VIP status, one earns 5 points per dollar. If you have the Chase Sapphire card (which gives you 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants), you earning a whopping 7 points per dollar for eating out.

Currently, United is offering a sign-up bonus for those who register through this site. For those who register through this site, spend $40 in 30 days at participating restaurants, and answer the follow-up surveys.

Many major airlines and hotels offer similar dining rewards:

Alaskan Airlines

American Airlines

Delta Airlines

Hilton

Priority Club

Southwest Airlines

US Airways

Dining Rewards, also has partnerships with these rewards GoodDining, eScrip, Best Buy Reward Zone, Upromise, Fuel Rewards, and American Express IDine.

Helpful Tips:

1. Register all of your debit and credit cards
2. Keep a watch of restaurants in your area that are partnering
3. Check your emails for bonus opportunities, you have to register to participate in the bonuses
4. Complete the surveys
5. Don't abuse the system - I have heard reports of people not getting points for swiping their card multiple times in a day at the same restaurant.

Dining Rewards won't make you point rich, but it will help increase your points balance. 

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Most Recent Credit Card Applications

Important Note: We talk about credit card sign-up bonuses on our blog because they are an important part of the “game.” Any credit card links in this post will be public application links taken from the issuer's direct website. We do not earn income from you applying from the links. Similarly, please take an extra minute or two before applying for credit cards. If you do not pay your credit card balance off every month then you should stay away from this aspect of the game. Credit cards can lead to major long-term problems if not used correctly. I encourage you to read my post on Young People and the Chains of Credit Card Debt for more details.  

This week, I broken one of the golden rules of credit card churning: thou shall only apply for credit cards once every 90 days!

Yes, I applied for credit cards within 90 days of my last churn. Unlike last time, I decided not to churn after midnight. I learned my lesson and my success was the same 2 instant approvals and 1 pending.

The reason why I decided to apply for credit cards prior to my 90 days was simple: need. As I previously mentioned, I am planning on going to Alaska with Cash Back Boy, in July. We still have not booked our tickets and prices have gone up, and up and up. Then I had an idea: the Bank of America Alaska Credit card.

Strangely, the benefit that I want out of this credit card is not the points, but rather the companion ticket. Once approved, the card offers it owner a $99 ($117 with taxes) companion pass. This will reduce the cost of the airline tickets to Alaska dramatically for the two of us. Here is the public link to apply.

Of course, this is the application that I got a Pending Decision. Crossing my fingers as I need this the most.

The second card I applied for is the Chase Priority Club Visa.

I decided to get this because I will be cancelling a few Chase cards in the next month or so. Also, I received an email with an 80,000 offer, which is better the typically 60,000 offer. One can find the normal 60,000 offer here. If you Google, one can find a link to an offer for 80,000 points.

Result: Instant Approval

The final credit card I applied for was the American Express Delta Gold. I decided to do the 45,000 mile offer; instead, of the normal 30,000 mile offer. This will help me clear another section of the my Delta GrandSlam. I have previously written here about American Express Delta Gold section of the GrandSlam and how to get this 45,000 mile offer.

Warning: To get the 45,000 mile offer, one will need to go to a third party site. I had to refresh the
              application page two or three times before the third page appeared.

Result: Instant Approval.

Getting 2 instant approvals out of three is excellent. I just wish one of them was the Alaska Airways card. I am crossing my fingers and toes that I get approval for that card. Otherwise, Cash Back Boy is going to have to apply for his first points card.

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Great Change to e-Miles

Back in January, I wrote about receiving an email from e-Miles indicating positive changes were on its way. I wrote about it here. Overall, the change was that you would soon be allowed to transfer miles to a number of different airlines/programs; regardless, of which one you signed up. Previously, one could only deposit miles into the airline that they sign-up for.

Last night, I was playing around with their site and I noticed that the change is now live!!! I signed up for Delta miles (no longer available), but I now have the ability to deposit miles with the following companies:

United: 1:1

Hilton: 1:2

US Airways: 1:1

AirTran: 500: .5 credit

Priority Club: 500 : 750

Frontier: 1:1

Alaska: 1:1

Southwest: 1:1

Another major change is that I can deposit more than 500 miles at a time. Previously, one could only transfer 500 miles, once a quarter. Now, they have options to transfer 500, 1000, 2000, 3000 at one time.

Last night, I moved 500 miles into my Southwest Rapid Rewards account. Crossing my fingers that they count towards my Companion Pass total….I’ll report back.

e-Miles are now worth a little more to me. It’s very rare that a rewards program makes a change for the positive. Thanks e-Miles for making the program better!!!!

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Points and Life Update

One of the reasons I am writing this blog is to keep a journal of my crazy doings in my late twenties. Here is a little update on what has happened in Q1 and what I have on deck for the rest of the year:

Quarter 1

• I earned 183,000+ points in Q1, on track for 600,000 for the 2013
• Visit a new state on my trip to Portland, Oregon
• Tried Voodoo Doughnuts (more here)
• Finished my $20,000 spend on British Airways Chase

Quarter 2

• Need to finish my Southwest Companion Pass (2,100 points short), read more here
• Need to complete Hyatt 5,000 bonus miles after $3,000 spend, read more here
• Decided what to do with British Airways and United Credit Cards - Bye Bye or Annual Fee Time???
• What credit cards for next application? Alaskan Airlines? Priority Club?
• Do I participate in this in US Airways Promotion? (HT View From The Wing) 

Upcoming Travel 

• 4/26-4/28 - Connecticut - Haven't been home in 10+ months
• 5/4 - Mileage run to SFO
• 5/10-5/12 - Blogging Conference in COS
• Memorial Day Weekend Trip - ???
• June - New Hampshire or Long Island
• July - Alaska
• August - New York City
• September - Taking my mom to South America
• September - Will Travel for College Football: UCONN
• Columbus Day Weekend - Norfolk, VA
• October - Will Travel for College Football: Northwestern???
• November - Will Travel for College Football: Penn State
• November - 10 Year High School Reunion
• December - Will travel for College Football: D3 Championship
• December - End of Year Trip???

Things I am Working On For The Blog

• Expedia Frequent Stayer Program
• Is Alaska the best airline for newbies?
• Anatomy of a Mileage Run
• Some other things....

Oh, and I have to squeeze in work somehow, tiny little detail. If you need help with financing to buy a new home or refinance your mortgage in Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia or Delaware (NMLS #527599), please email me below. I would love to help you out.
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e-Miles

One of the passive ways I earn points is using e-Miles. I use the word "passive," because you won't get point rich with e-Miles. One can only cash out of e-Mles once earning 500 miles and this takes time. Why bother you might ask? Every point counts and sometimes airlines have bonuses for transferring points into your account (ie the now dead US Airways Grandslam, my Delta Grandslam).

I have been a member of US Airways e-Miles for a very long time. It was once of the first point earning strategies that I did. Yesterday, I shut my account down. Why you might ask? To open a Delta e-Miles account and earn my bonus 500 miles by transferring 500 miles into my account, as part of the partner section of the Delta Grandslam.

Under the e-Miles FAQs:

        "What happens if I receive an invitation from another sponsor which I prefer? 

               Member can cancel their e-Miles membership at any time. To re-enroll, you will need to visit e-
               Miles.com and complete the member enrollment process.

               NOTE: Once you cancelled your membership any e-Miles miles earned that have not already been 
               deposited to your preferred frequent flyer or sponsor account will be lost.

This question gives us valuable information. For one, you are not allowed to have more than one active e-mile account, but more importantly two: you may switch between programs freely.


I did just that last night. I shut down my US Airways e-Miles account and applied for a e-Miles account with my Preferred Sponsor as Delta. Check your email accounts for special offers from your frequent flyer programs  Often, they will send offers to join e-Miles with 250 miles automatically deposited into you e-Miles account, meaning you are half way to you first deposit.

e-Miles has partnerships with Delta, US Airways, United, AirTran, Southwest, Hilton Honers, Priority Club, Frontier, Alaskan, Southwest and Amazon. As I previously stated, I am focusing on Delta to trigger the 500 point bonus, but e-Miles is almost the same for each partner.


After signing up for e-Miles, you will be taken to a front page with various offers. Many of the first offers will be asking you to create your profile. While creating your profile, I would recommend choosing the first two columns (High Interest or Somewhat Interest.) By doing this, you will increase the number of offers that you get.

Every few days, you will receive an email saying that you have new opportunities available to you. After receiving this email, click on the link to go to your homepage to see the offers. Each offer normally gives you 5 miles + additional miles for signing up for the offer. The only requirement to get the 5 base miles is to click on the"continue" button and answer a few short questions. Again, always try to pick "high interest" and "somewhat interest". 

The time commitment for e-Miles is a few minutes every couple of days. Nothing major.

Once you earn 500 miles, you are able to deposit into your preferred frequent account (mine is Delta). The deposit normally happens within a week of your request.

Again, e-Miles won't make you points rich. However, combined with partner bonuses, a few minutes every couple of days may result in a good chunk of miles.

I am currently at 115 miles after one day. I will report back to show my progress and how long it takes to earn 500 miles.

I hope you give e-Miles a chance. 

Priority Club Visa Holder? Check Your Snail Mail

Do you have the Priority Club Select Visa? You might want to check your snail mail.

The GF has the card and she got a package in the mail from them with a few promotional items, but one of them includes a specialized link to a 90-second video that you can watch to gain 1,000 Priority Club Points.

It isn't much in the scheme of things, but hey...free points are free points.

Earning Points Doing My Favorite Activity - Eating Out

Would you like to earn up to 7 points per dollar simply eating at your favorite restaurants  Sounds to good to be true, huh? Its not! Dining Rewards is probably the easiest points earning secret out there.

Many major airlines and hotels offer dining rewards:

Alaskan Airlines

American Airlines

Delta Airlines

Hilton

Priority Club

Southwest Airlines

United Airlines

US Airways

Dining Rewards, also has partnerships with these rewards GoodDining, eScrip, Best Buy Reward Zone, Upromise, Fuel Rewards, and American Express IDine.

Each one of the links will take you to a different program. You are able to earn points from one program only.

Here is a step by step guide to earning points from your favorite restaurants:

1) Pick a hotel or airline that you would like to earn miles with

2) Register for the program

3) Register all your debit / credit cards - I have kicked myself one, two, three times now for not registering a new credit card and leaving points on the table.

4) Search for restaurants in your area

5) Dine out and use your registered credit or debit card. You will get points based upon the amount charged to your credit card card, including tax and tip

6) A few days after eating out, an email will arrive asking you to take a survey based upon your dining
experience. You must take this survey to get points. The survey is no longer than 10 questions long.

7) Sit back and wait for your points to hit your accounts. Sometimes it has taken 3 weeks for points to hit my account.

Repeat steps 4 - 7 again, and again, and again.

The beauty of this program is that you are earning points for doing something what you are already doing. Chris and I are big fans of this program and will tailor where we eat to earn points. On a few occasions, the deciding factor between 2 restaurants (one participating in dining rewards and one that does not), the one that does participate wins out.

Earning the big points:

If you eat 12 times at restaurants participating in the program, within a calender year,you earn VIP status. VIP status gives you more points per dollar. For example, Delta Dining Rewards offers 3 points per dollar for basic members. If you hit VIP status, one earns 5 points per dollar. If you have the Chase Sapphire card (which gives you 2 points per dollar spent at restaurants), you earning a whopping 7 points per dollar for eating out.

Helpful Tips:

1. Register all of your debit and credit cards
2. Keep a watch of restaurants in your area that are partnering
3. Check your emails for bonus opportunities, you have to register to participate in the bonuses
4. Complete the surveys
5. Don't abuse the system - I have heard reports of people not getting points for swiping their card multiple times in a day at the same restaurant.

Dining Rewards won't make you point rich, but it will help increase your points balance. 

One More Goal Down

Last week, I hit a big milestone. I received Gold Status at Priority Club. Why is this a big deal? I have never EARNED status at a hotel before. Yes, I have Gold status at Hilton and Platinum at Hyatt, but those were given to me (Gold was earned at Hilton by plugging in credit card numbers and Platinum at Hyatt by their credit card.)

Earning this threshold was not difficult. One can earn Gold status by either earning 20,000 Qualifying Points or 15 Nights. I earned the majority of my points in 1 stay. Yes, 1 stay. 

Here is how I hit 20,000 points:

1) Priority Club Dining Rewards: 635

2) Priority Club Tool Bar Download: 500

3) Enrollment Bonus (Dining, Shopping, Visa Offers): 2000

4) Stay at Holiday Inn Express San Diego: 14,790

            1) 1290 base points for my stay 10pts per $1

            2) 5000 points for registering and using my Visa Card (I totally forgot I did this)

            3) 8500 points for registering codes for my stays

5) E-Rewards Transfer: 2,200

For a total of 20,995.

Was this easy? Somewhat. 

Did it take time? Yes. 

Could you do it? Of  Course.

What does Gold Status at Priority Club get you?

Nothing to great:

• Points never expire 
• 10% Bonus Points Earned on all Base Points
• Extended Check-Out
• Exclusive Toll-Free Service Line
• Priority Check In™
• No Blackout Dates for Reward Nights
• Complimentary Weekday Newspaper

The better status is Platinum.

• Points never expire 
• 50% Bonus Earnings on top of Base Points
• Extended Check-Out
• Exclusive Toll-Free Service Line
• Priority Check In™
• No Blackout Dates for Reward Nights
• Complimentary Weekday Newspaper
• Complimentary Room Upgrades
• Guaranteed Room Availability

To get platinum, you need to earn 60,000 Priority Club points or stay 50 times. I will never hit it on stays, but I may earn 60,000 points if I put an effort. (maybe 2013’s goal?). 

Or if this sounds to difficult, you could always get the Chase Priority Club credit card that offers you 60,000 points after spending $1000 in three months. One gets Platinum status as long as you hold the card and an annual free E-Certificate. The annual fee is $45 and not waived for the first year. 

I am very proud to cross this goal off my list!

Holiday Inn Express - San Diego

After leaving the Four Points, I headed over to the Holiday Inn Express for a one night stay. The Holiday Inn

Express is a seven block walk uphill - it was a true work-out. 

I arrived at the hotel slightly before Noon and was told that my room was not ready. I was asked to come back after 3 pm, but asked if I would like to lock-up my luggage. I kindly accepted.

I left to find brunch and start my food adventure (more about that this weekend).

I arrived back at 5 pm. The front desk attendant was upbeat and warming. I was given a room on the third floor, the top floor. My room was the closest to the elevator which I thought meant noise all night. That was not that case, I did not hear the elevator once.

As I entered the room, I was shocked by the size. It had a king bed on one end of the room:

The other side was a living area with a coach, a desk and dresser with a TV on it:

This is where I found a bottle of water and a bag of cookies:

And a card:

This small step of the card made me feel special and shows a major difference between my stay at Four Points and the Holiday Inn Express. At the time, I did not have status in either Priority Club or Starwood. However, the staff at the Holiday Inn took the time to leave a note. It is the small things that make a hotel experience amazing. 

The bathroom was small, but sufficient for one person. If I was traveling with another person, the two of us could not be in the bathroom at the same time.

The toiletries were nothing to write home about (but I will anyway):

My room had a long balcony

I didn't sit out there, because the view was of other buildings:

The hotel had a small bar area, but I never saw a bartender or anyone hanging around there

Breakfast was included in the price of the room. I had a hard time finding where breakfast was served. After asking, I learned it was downstairs. Wait! This place has a downstairs. In deed it did:

The dining room could hold about 50 to 75 people. The breakfast bar was small and could get crowded:

Here is a sampling of food:

                                      

The food selection gave you a variety of choices. The staff was nice enough to give me a doggy bag for me to take a sandwich for my flight home.

I received another card from the staff in my bill thanking me for my stay.

Would I stay at this hotel? Yes. The property may have worn down, pretty far from downtown, but the staff made me feel like home. There small little efforts made the whole difference.