Getting Real & What's Up For July

Last week, I got a phone call from my Grandfather. The phone call is not out of the ordinary, as we speak once or twice a week anyways. What was out of the ordinary was the conversation. It went something like this:

Grandfather: I was reading your blog the other day.
Me: Wait you read my blog?
Grandfather: Of course, I read your blog. I read it a few times a week.
Me: Interesting.
Grandfather: Well, I like the content, but I have a question, "how do you earn points?"
Me: What?
Grandfather: You talk frequently about using points, but not so often about earning points.

I hate to say it, but the old man is correct.

We have discussed how to plan for your dream trip and spent a great deal of time talking about burning points. But how does one earn these points & miles is a question we have failed to explain. One can't burn miles if one doesn't have them.

This is going to change. July, at Do It For the Points is Earning Month is earning month. Every day in July, we will write about one way to earn United miles. Why United miles? Well, Chris is a big fan of the Star Alliance and I need to build my balance up in my United account. While we will be talking about earning miles on United, many of the ways discussed apply to other airlines and hotels.

What are some of your favorite ways to earn United miles?




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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us? E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com

Earn Points at the Airport

I love earning points, when I have to do little to nothing to get them. Swipe my credit cards (earn points!), dine out at certain restaurants (earn additional points!!), grab a bottle of water, magazine and snack at the airport (earn bonus points!!!).

How many of you know that you can earn points at major airports by registering your card?

Up until last year’s Grandslam, I didn’t.

There is a program called “Thanks Again,” that allows you to earn points by shopping at vendors located in major airports. Thanks You is very similar to Dining Rewards: one has to sign-up (free) with a points earning program and register your credit cards with that program. Unlike, dining rewards, you don’t have to complete surveys about your experience.

 

Thanks You currently has programs with US Airways, United, American Airlines, Delta. Again, you can only earn miles with the program that you are registered with. Most vendors at the airports earn you 1 mile for $1 spent. However, every once and a while a vendor might offer 2 miles per $1 spent.

According to their website, Thanks Again has afflictions with over 150 airports. However, their "affiliation" is sometimes only a car service and/or an entertainment store as in the case of LAX, MCO, SAN. You can use this search engine to see what merchants participate at particular airports:

How can you tell if a merchant is participating? My experience, at Dulles (IAD), was that merchants had signs up indicating they were a member. The type of vendors participating was numerous: from sit-down restaurants to kiosks selling jewelry. According to their website, Dulles has only 3 vendors: CNBC, Brooks Brothers and DC Express. However, my points earning statement says I have earned points (in the past month) from Gordon Biersch and Subway, so the search engaging might not be updated.

In addition to earning points at airports, Thanks Again allows you to earn points at local (non-airport) vendors. Most of the local vendors ares restaurants and require you to buy Restaurant.com gift certificates, earning you 3 points per $1 spent on the certificate. This is not a great rate, as the United Airlines shopping portal earns you 10 miles per $1 spent. Other local merchants include spas, storage units, and golf courses.  As I have previously mentioned, my former dry cleaners was apart of Thanks Again earning me 1 points per $1 spent.

Thanks Again has bonuses based upon the amount of money who spend in 90 consecutive days:

Earn 500 bonus miles/points when you spend $250 or more (2 miles/points per dollar spent)

Earn 1,500 bonus miles/points when you spend $500 or more (3 miles/points per dollar spent)

Earn 4,000 bonus miles/points when you spend $1,000 or more (4 miles/points per dollar spent)

Earn 25,000 bonus miles/points when you spend $5,000 or more (5 miles/points per dollar spent)

All it takes to earn points from Thanks Again is signing up and registering your credit cards.

Will you earn a ton of points by joining "Thanks Again," probably not!

Can you earn points for simplying registering your credit cards and using it at airports? Yes!

Will you? I think it would be unwise not to!!!!



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Follow us on Twitter @doit4thepoints! Have a question for us?

E-mail us at chris@doitforthepoints.com or jd@doitforthepoints.com