Win a Trip for Two to Australia’s Gold Coast!

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1. Use car rentals (which often earn pitifully small miles bonuses) to reset the clock on expiration of miles accounts in which you lack activity. This works not only mile accounts in your name, but for family members too: the rental companies report only the FF account number you give them, and not the renter’s name. I’ve used this many times without a hitch.

2. You can transfer SPG points to over 30 different airlines at a 1 to 1 ratio. Transferring 20,000 SPG points gives you a bonus of 5,000 miles, for a total of 25,000 miles — enough for a domestic award ticket.

3. Churn credit cards and bank sign up bonuses

4. Every mile counts so try to get every mile possible from dining, shopping etc. Use SPG as your primary credit card for easy ability to convert to other programs.

5. Airline miles are usually more valuable than hotel points, in addition to all the perks reserved for elites. So the quickest way is to get an airline-branded credit card and shoot for the bonus miles.

6. Decide on an airline/alliance, get the miles/points credit cards + PLAN AHEAD!!!!!!

7. Concentrate on one of the airline alliances, and funnel all of miles to one frequent flier program within that alliance. This way, you don’t “orphan” miles over several different programs.

8. (1) Never miss an opportunity to earn points, no matter how small; (2) Earn and burn — miles and points are only going to lose value with time.

9. There are so many ways out there to earn miles to get activity credit. Don’t let those hard earned miles expire. Use the shopping malls to earn with minimal purchases. Just remember to use the airline specific links to ensure you get credit for the spend.

10. Read FT and these blogs for good tips, like 10k for car rentals and 20k for free hair appointments. Will definitely keep you updated as to the latest opportunities.

11. Sign up for your points provider’s newsletter- and actually read it! You’ll often be pleasantly surprised by chances for bonus points. Consider buying points in small denominations when they are sold at a discount- I see them often listed at 20-30% off.

    And follow your faves on Twitter, IHG_Deals & Lufthansa_USA (I mention IHG because I scored 50,000 priority club points for tweeting with them!) for example have in the past offered points or flights as promotions- If you have a good experience with a travel provider, talk them up on social media sites since they all like to build their reputations up with positive comments, etc. And it’s a good way to keep up with special offers.

12. Get a Hilton Surpass Amex and use it for everything, so you’ll score 6:1 for groceries and 9:1 for stay at Hilton properties. Then, when you have 225,000 points, redeem them for six free nights at a top of the line hotel in London – where the exchange rate isn’t favorable to U.S. travelers. You’ll wind up scoring a stay worth something like $2800, and it’ll only cost you about $5000 in spend if you stay at Hiltons a lot. Enjoy!

13. Network with frequent fliers.

14. Be sure and make all purchases with a mileage earning credit card and purchase as much as possible through a mileage earning shopping portal also.

15. Burn your miles for a few nice vacations with your better half. This way, you’ll at least find your keys still working when you get back from a MR.

16. Get a mile-earning credit card and use it for everything

17. Make sure your miles aren’t expiring.. redeem for a magazine or use the iDine service

18. First, make sure you are earning miles/points on the major airline serving your home airport. Secondly, do the research on the best credit card for earning miles/points for the way you travel. There are many websites that will help you compare the various credit cards programs..

19. Before signing up for a loyalty program, make sure that the carrier has enough routes to the destinations you hope to use your miles/points to travel. Seasonal or unpopular/limited routes may make it difficult for you to utilize the mile/points you earn or receive during the time you want to travel.

    Also, read the fine print before you sign up for a co-branded credit card – some of the top tier rewards may be out of reach because of your spending or travel habits – avoid paying high annual fees if the program doesn’t fit your travel and spending lifestyle.

20. Keep track of your credit score and if it can stand the small hit, apply over time, for a steady stream of credit cards that give you a sign-up bonus. Those bonuses are the foundation for building miles in many programs. You can easily earn 150,000 miles a year doing this, with no appreciable affect on your credit score. And you can do this for several years before exhausting all of the card possibilities.

21. Save your boarding passes. After your travel is finished, check your frequent flier account for the miles you traveled to show up. Once they do, you can toss the boarding passes. I use my boarding passes as bookmarks since I often travel with one or more new books. See, there’s two tips for the price of one!

22. Points have a cash value. Don’t get so blinded by earning a few more points that you spend way more that you may need to. Sometimes a different brand may be a better value, even after loyalty.

23. My top tip is to try and accumulate miles in Membership Rewards by American Express since it allows you maximum flexibility to redeem the points and you can earn points for purchases, up to 10X points in the membershiprewards.com earn section and earn 3X points when you shop through the Bonus Points Mall® website.

24. My tip is always be aware of partnerships for both earning and burning. I know a number of people who have lost out because they’ve collected in multiple placed when they would have done better by collecting in one location–i.e. collecting on both United and USAir, or not knowing about Alaska’s various partnerships. Status in one progam is better than halfway to status in many programs.

25. Go with friends! It’s amazing how far you can get if you pool group resources — one person’s hotel upgrade with another’s free car rental etc. Works on three levels (1) You can often score a “stay with your friends” freebie (i.e., two of you have access to the first class lounge, the third can usually come along) (2) Friends who don’t have miles are often happy to pay any cash portion of a status change etc. as their contribution (3) Travelling companions!

26. Read read read! Educate yourself! Learn the ins and outs of the mileage and award programs so you can get the best bang for your buck. Only a savvy customer gets the best deal!

27. Come to the Ann Arbor Art Fair DO this July 24 and 25th. You’ll get great tips, including how to book elusive award tickets. Past speakers include Viajero Joven, gleff, Ingy, Lucky9876Coins and wanaflyforless. Details in CommunityBuzz forum on flyertalk.com.

28. Use miles only for upgrades. It’s the biggest bang for the buck. It’s a total waste of miles for hotel nights etc. as well redemption reward tickets.

29. When looking to book, use a dollop of ITA, gobs of patience, plenty of flexibility and a good dose of bull headedness.

30. Don’t overreach. If your travel is moderate, stick with one program and milk it all you can.

31. Try to fly only one airline most of the time. It is more likely that you will earn elite status than choosing the cheapest flights. It does eventually pay for itself.

32. Stay loyal to one airline alliance or hotel brand. That’s the quickest and easiest way to accumulate points/miles and reap the benefits.

33. Do your research to find the alliance that best meets your needs. Also, subscribe to blogs such as this one for tips and advice on maximizing points!

34. Concentrate your loyalty to one hotel or airline program and try to earn the highest status level as possible in that program.

35. Pay all of your bills and for all of your purchases, no matter how small the amount, with a mileage earning credit card.

36. Read, learn and earn.

37. If the flight you want isn’t available, before paying double miles to get what you want, check business and first class, even for short domestic flights. Sometimes there’s unexpected availability for no extra miles.

38. The focus always seems to be on frequent flyer miles. Don’t overlook the hotel loyalty programs. Find out what it takes to earn elite status and get it to maximize the enjoyment (and minimize the cost) of your hotel stays.

39. concentrate your earning on one or two programs, and learn the rules of each, so you can earn the max, keep them active, and redeem for what you want.

40. Collect miles as cheaply as possible in one program and redeem on partner travel.

41. Do a bit of research and decide which alliance network is best for your travel style. Join and work to put all your flights through that alliance. This way all your points are put into one source. Additionally, finding a credit card with the main airline of this alliance increases your base of points and sometimes your status. When you purchase tickets make sure that the tickets count towards your miles.

42. In my experience there are 2 types of travelers who collect and use miles; 1. those that are very occasional travelers and collect for a long time and 2. those who are frequent travelers and collect and use often.

    My advice would be to those who collect for a long time, to either use large chunks of miles to travel in business or first class (choose your airlines carefully as the products vary greatly!) or save up and use 1/2 the miles for an upgrade. For those who travel frequently I would use my miles almost exclusively for upgrades as your value for the money is much greater. It only costs twice the miles to book a reward business over economy but the cost in money is more like 4-6 times more. So for the same miles you can upgrade instead.

    Above all do your research and know that you can get 2 completely different answers on availability from 2 different agents.

    If you combine your loyalty program with a credit card then you will quickly earn enough points to use.

    Lastly, it is always best to collect and use miles with airlines that are part of an alliance. That way you have much more seat availability at your disposal.

43. Stick to one airline and aim for elite status!

44. SPG AMEX

45. Collect miles and points only for airlines and hotels that you really like and that are readily available for use.

46. Elite programs give you more than bonus miles, they also can protect you in the case of irregular operations. It is better to have a high elite status in one airline than to spread your miles across multiple airlines.

47. Focus on one hotel program to concentrate your loyalty point earning. Oftentimes, once you reach top tier status, other hotel loyalty programs will match status with a minimal night/stay requirement. Some hotels say they will only match status once, but in the past few years, status matching has been easier than ever…follow-up and don’t take no for an answer.

48. Look at an airline’s partners when searching for award availability.

49. Check your account regularly to make sure all miles get posted. Keep your boarding passes to retroactively get any miles to post that slip through the cracks.

50. For someone just starting out, figure out which airlines you would be flying most. Then choose one that has the most flights and most partner airlines available for your desired routes. No matter which partner airline you fly, make sure to always credit your miles to the one frequent flyer program that you signed up with. Eventually you will have enough miles for your first award, whatever that may be.

    Don’t let anyone tell you how you should use your miles. In my opinion, your miles are worth whatever they are worth to YOU. Use them to fly coach, to fly premium, for upgrades, for merchandise, or for magazines. Redeem them however you wish, and enjoy your hard-earned work!