Basics of collecting miles
- creditcardadventures
- Jun 16, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 20, 2024
Every time I travel somewhere in the world and friends or acquaintances find out about it, they ask how I can pay for it all and how I can fly Business and First Class as a student. When I tell them that I pay for everything with credit card points and frequent flyer miles, I usually get astonished and questioning looks on their faces. In this article, I would like to go into the basics of earning frequent flyer miles and how to spend them (regardless of the airlines' various frequent flyer programmes, stay tuned for that).
Content:
What are frequent flyer miles?
Frequent flyer miles are a type of loyalty currency awarded by airlines to their customers as part of their frequent flyer programs. These miles accumulate based on the distance flown, ticket class, and sometimes the cost of the ticket (depending on the airline). You can earn miles by flying with the airline or its partner airlines and through various affiliated activities like using co-branded credit cards, staying at partner hotels or renting cars from partner companies. Accumulated miles can be redeemed for a range of rewards, including free or discounted flights, seat upgrades, access to airport lounges and other travel-related perks.
How to join a frequent flyer program:
1. Choose an airline: Select an airline whose frequent flyer program you want to join. The best choice depends on the airline you're flying the most. But it's definitely not necessary to fly a lot to collect enough miles (next paragraph about how to collect miles).
2. Visit the airline's website: Go to the official website of the airline. A few examples:
Lufthansa (Miles&More)
British Airways (Executive Club)
Qatar Airways (Privilege Club)
American Airlines (AA Advantage Club)
Air Canada (Aeroplan)
3. Sign up: Follow the prompts to sign up for the program. Provide personal information such as your name, address, email and sometimes your phone number.
4. Create an account: Create a username and password for your frequent flyer account.
5. Confirm your registration: Confirm your registration through a link sent to your email.
Note: Signing up for a frequent flyer program is always for free, there are no hidden costs.
How to earn frequent flyer miles:
As already mentioned in the introduction, there are multiple ways to collect points and miles depending on the frequent flyer program. But usually there are five main earning sources that are the following:
Flying:
Earning miles through flights with the airline and its partners (e.g. : you can also get Qatar Airways miles when flying with British Airways); it is important to add the frequent flyer number during the booking or while checking in.
Credit Cards:
Some airlines offer co-branded credit cards (e.g. Lufthansa with their MasterCard Miles&More card); with those credit cards you get miles for everyday purchases.
Promotions and Bonuses:
Credit cards often come with bonuses when you apply to that card; these bonuses range from a few hundred points to tens of thousands of points, which can be used to book a flight in Business Class. Sometimes there are even promotions where you get several thousand miles just for signing up for the frequent flyer programs.
Shopping portals:
Another very easy way to earn lots of miles is to buy your needed stuff online. You can often redirected through frequent flyer programs to various online stores where you can shop as you usually do and earn points for your purchases, often with multiple bonuses. The purchase can of course be paid with the credit cards mentioned above, which is why even more miles can be collected here.
Travel Partners:
There are also multiple partnerships between various airlines and e.g. hotels or car rentals. So by booking a room for a few nights you can earn thousands of miles as well (even in addition to hotel points).
Where to redeem points and miles:
Once you have earned enough miles in the five ways mentioned above, you can redeem them in various ways. These options are as follows:
Book a flight with miles:
Probably the most usable way to redeem your miles is to book flights. For this purpose, a flight can be booked via the booking portal of the airlines' frequent flyer programs, whereby the price depends on the travel class, flight length and airline. In addition to the miles, taxes and fees usually have to be paid, which can sometimes amount to several hundred euros. Sometimes mileage prices are dynamic with some airlines, which means that prices can vary heavily depending on the day (e.g. Flying Blue by Air France and KLM). But usually there is an award chart for each frequent flyer programs with fixed prices.
Upgrade a flight with miles:
Another way to redeem your miles is to upgrade existing flights. To do this, a booking must already exist, e.g. in Economy Class, which can then be upgraded to a higher class using miles. This option is available with e.g. Privilege Club (Qatar Airways) or Miles&More (Lufthansa). Whether the upgrade is worth it always depends on the situation: sometimes it is similarly expensive to book the flight directly with miles.
Pay for a flight with miles:
Some airlines also offer the option of paying for flights with miles. This means that a flight is booked with cash, but parts of the prize can be paid with miles. This option is available with British Airways' Executive Club, for example, and can sometimes make sense depending on the price.
Purchase products with miles:
The last and probably worst way to redeem your miles is to buy products from the shop. Many frequent flyer programs, such as Lufthansa's Miles&More, offer this option, whereby a e.g. toaster can quickly cost several tens of thousands of miles. For instance, a one way flight from Europe to East Africa in Business Class costs 35.000 miles.
Advanced tricks:
This article has only touched on the basics of how to earn and redeem miles. Of course, there are many more tricks for earning thousands of miles in a week with low effort. That's what the following articles will be about, so feel free subscribe to my newsletter to stay up to date.
Conclusion:
Since I started actively collecting miles and points four years ago, both the quantity and quality of my trips have changed completely. Anyone can actually start collecting miles and afford one or two flights a year with little effort and their daily spendings.
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