7 Ways to Get Points without Being a Frequent Flyer
You can be getting flight points every time you spend money.
Earning 25,000 points for a free flight seems impossible if you only get points from flying. In fact, flying is probably the worst way to accumulate points. (Oh, I just spent $300+ and now you're only going to give me 625 points for it!?) You would need to fly 40 times to get enough points for one free flight. No thank you. So, after scouring the internet I compiled the top 7 ways to get flight points, and flying is NOT one of them.
7. Dining Programs.
Love to go out to eat? Me too, probably too much. Southwest, American Airlines and Delta will give you points for going out to eat at select restaurants. You just create an account and link your debit or credit card to it and use that card when you go out to eat. You get 1 point per dollar, but check your inbox frequently for promotions that offer more. The only catch is that all of the airlines use the same dining rewards third-party program and you can only connect your card to one program at a time. So pick the airline program you prefer and get your points! (Bonus! They usually have a welcome bonus after a few restaurant visits or extra points for surveying your visit)
6. Online shopping.
Online shopping works the same way as dining, you get one point per dollar on everything bought through the airline's shopping portal. Many different airlines offer this and they often run programs where certain websites offer more points per dollar. At Christmas time, Southwest ran a promo offering 2 points per dollar on purchases at walmart.com. That's pretty clutch for holiday shopping. In fact, there are hundreds of sites on their portal so before you buy anything online, check your favorite airline's shopping portal.
5. Booking your Hotel.
Southwest has a gem of a program going on right now that offers bonus points for booking a hotel stay. They used to use a program called RocketMiles, which offered a few thousand points for each night booked, but the actual hotel prices were considerably higher than any other site so it felt like you were buying your points. Their new program uses Booking.com as its pricing platform so you are getting a good deal on a hotel room AND points... Thousands of points. For a hotel that averages $130/night you can earn 1,000 points per night. Turn that long weekend getaway into a free fare for your next long weekend getaway!
4. Transfer them from Hotel programs.
Many Airlines and Hotels are connected. Southwest and Marriott have a wonderful partnership, but Marriott is connected to many other major airlines through their rewards system too. If you stay at a Marriott hotel you can choose to transfer those points directly to your Southwest Rapid Rewards account (or choose from their list of airline programs) as long as you sign up to be a Marriott Rewards member (its free!). My next test will be to see if you can double-dip and book the hotel through Southwest hotels portal and still get the Marriott points to transfer back to Southwest. More to come on that.
3. Buy Concert Tickets
Select-A-Ticket has partnered with several airlines to offer 2 points per dollar on concert and event tickets. It is accessible through the airline shopping portal. The only catch on this one is that the prices on Select-A-Ticket seem to be about 8-10% higher than other ticket resale sites. This varies by event of course and in some cases a few dollars extra could be worth paying to get more points. Of course, event tickets are always cheapest when bought directly through the venue, but if you need to buy resale tickets, you might as well get points for it.
2. File Your Taxes
Southwest Rapid rewards shopping portal gives you 1000 points for filing your taxes with Turbo Tax through their link. That's pretty darn cool. Next tax season, check it out before filing. Some airlines offer promotions with HR Block as well.
1. Use Credit Cards.
This one is my favorite. It's the easiest! JUST SWIPE YOUR CARD. Each airline has their own credit card where you can get points based on category every time you swipe. The Chase Sapphire Preferred and Reserve give you points per dollar on everything and then you can transfer them to a partner airline. Plus, you get bonuses for signing up, adding authorized users or referring friends. Its so awesome. Seriously, if you aren't getting points every time you spend money then you are missing out.
Why do people pay for flights anyway!?
