MilesBuzz! - Best Method to Accumulate AA & Delta Points

Greetings! I'm brand new to Flyer Talk so please forgive me if I'm posting on the wrong board. Here's my question: My husband and I have FF points with Delta and American. What is the best method to accumulate points in these two programs? Is there a program we need to enter? Any tips?

I'll start off with a few quick things I've done to help accumulate points with both programs.

American Airlines

opinionplace.com - has given me 75-250 miles for doing surveys
erewards.com - collect points and turn them into 2000 AA miles
citi credit cards - 25K miles(give or take) and they seem to allow churning of cards if you want to try it.
SPG points transfer - Transfer 20K starwood points for 25K miles...or after our Capetown stay, we turned in 60K starwood points for free nights plus 50K AA miles.

Delta
Erewards.com - same as above
SPG - same as above
Delta AMEX - Various miles, 25K(give or take) special bonuses
Bonuses..bonuses... Watch Delta for partner bonuses, transfer bonuses, etc. Last December turned in 20K Starwood points and my wife ended up with 62,500 delta miles. Car rental bonuses and promotions. Watch flyertalk for various options.

Hopefully a good start to more ideas...

American Airlines

erewards.com - collect points and turn them into 2000 AA miles
Not any more (since June 2008).

Read this discussion thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m/810347-american-airlines-cancels-participation-e-rewards-program.html


Delta
Erewards.com - same as above

Please be advised: If you enroll e-Rewards via Delta invite (currently I don't think there's any through), the only airline you can redeem is Delta. Read this thread for more details:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m/768276-erewards-delta-only-redemptions-if-you-signed-up-through-them.html

If OP's interested in earning miles through alternative programs/channels, S.P.A.M. Forum (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m-2/) (Sites with Points and Alternative Miles) is where to look up for other opportunities.

If OP wants to earn miles by credit cards, remember to check out Credit Card Programs/Partners Forums (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credit-card-programs-partners-390/).

If there's any huge or good promotions going on, you usually will see them in MilesBuzz! Forum. Having said that, if you are looking for miles earning opportunities for any specific FFPs (in your case, AA and Delta), you should always visit and check out each individual airline forum. Links to AA Forum: here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-aadvantage-445/) & Delta Forum: here (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles-665/)

Welcome to FT!

Wow! Thanks for the info! I'm new and wasn't sure where to post my question. I will look at those other forums. I did not know that SPAM stood for anything other than SPAM email. Forgive me! While I'm posting, the other tip given that is unclear to me is the "SPG". What is "SPG"? Thanks for the help!

One more dumb question...what is "churning" of cards?

What is "SPG"? Thanks for the help!
FTers use code words all the time. You better learn how to decode soon. :D

A good place to start (at the very top of every FT page): Help > Glossary

http://www.flyertalk.com/glossary/

SPG: Starwood Preferred Guest

Also read the sticky threads at the top of every forum. That's the best way for newbies to get started.

One more dumb question...what is "churning" of cards?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other-credit-card-programs/583261-credit-card-churning.html

Welcome to our "FT secret society!"

I see those links now. I will read first and then post. Thanks!
P.S. Secret society? Is there a secret handshake or a secret knock?

museum.....why don't you go thru 10 to 20 pages of the miles buzz, aa, & dl forums....i suspect you will find some helpful info.....also the stickies....

you will probably see some out of date info but may find a jewel or two....good luck...

Thanks to everyone who has posted. I have now spent about 3 hours reading the glossary, milesbuzz, and other forums and I know a lot more now than before. Thanks for helping me get started! I do have one question that was not fully answered in my research and it concerns the concept of "churning" which is new to me. Here's the question: Doesn't churning eventually impact your credit score?

re credit score....there is mixed info posted on ft that i have seen....it is possible that card cancellation can affect it.....one idea is that at renewal, call to cancel and the cc co will waive the fee.for the next year....i have no idea where to find the threads, nor do i understand why reducing one's credit line would lower one's credit rating....good luck...

nor do i understand why reducing one's credit line would lower one's credit rating....good luck...

The people who assign credit ratings are quite arbitrary in some cases. However, their explanation for this is the following - if you cancel a card, then you are reducing your available credit. If you keep outstanding balances the same, you are then using a bigger % of your available credit, and that lowers your credit score, especially if it puts you over 20%..

re credit score....there is mixed info posted on ft that i have seen....it is possible that card cancellation can affect it.....one idea is that at renewal, call to cancel and the cc co will waive the fee.for the next year....i have no idea where to find the threads, nor do i understand why reducing one's credit line would lower one's credit rating....good luck...It's not just that cancelling a card can affect it, but also that taking out a new one (essential to the game, since if you don't do it you don't get a bonus) will affect it. Every inquiry for purposes of extending credit has a small negative effect for a while. If I were about to apply for anything important (home mortgage, some jobs, etc.), and had even the slightest concern about my score, I'd pass on the potential miles.

If I were about to apply for anything important (home mortgage, some jobs, etc.), and had even the slightest concern about my score, I'd pass on the potential miles.

We're looking to buy a house. I hate passing up all of the free points from churning, but this advice is spot on.

Mike

Delta
Erewards.com - same as above
SPG - same as above
Delta AMEX - Various miles, 25K(give or take) special bonuses
Bonuses..bonuses... Watch Delta for partner bonuses, transfer bonuses, etc. Last December turned in 20K Starwood points and my wife ended up with 62,500 delta miles. Car rental bonuses and promotions. Watch flyertalk for various options.

Hopefully a good start to more ideas...

Also regular AMEX Membership Rewards points -- these also frequently have 20-30% transfer bonuses. I find its the best way to top off my DL account because SPG are so much more versatile than that.

The OP doesn't indicate if they are shooting for a threshhold, or diving into the deep end. What their goal is will help with recommendations.

For AA, I'd always suggest credit cards. For DL... just breath. You'll get some RDMs. :)

THANKS for all the help so far. At this point in time I really can't say how "deep" I want to go with earning points. I know I don't want to create a big impact on the credit score because it took a long time to get it in the low 800's and I want to keep it there. I travel about 15,000 miles per year so I'm probably looking to add just enough to give me a basic ticket every 18 months or so.

Churning my cards is IMHO the best way to get AA miles at a crazy rate. You can get 100k+ per quarter if you really max it out. The coins gig seemed better for some folks but I don't have the time to find banks to deposit hundreds of thousands of coins each month

The impact on credit is minimal and frankly at 800+ I think you have nothing to worry about. Fact is 750+ will put you into the top bracket, so getting to 800 just earns bragging rights. You get the best mortgage rate at 750, you don't improve at 800. For someone looking to buy a house who has a score < 800 I would say wait till your moved in, then start burning straight away. For other forms of credit I'd say as long as you start out > 750 your fine.

Opening/closing accounts won't have a huge impact on your score anyway. I can tell you from experience using up your credit lines is far worse. Listen to FrugalTravelGuy when he says don't use more than 50% of your credit lines. In fact don't use more than 35%. That way you keep the hit to a minimum.

Even having said that... if you do go over those suggested limits... if you pay it off then your credit score bounces back immediately. Last year my FICO went down to 650 as I had a 20k balance on a 26k Amex card along with about 10k across 3 maxed out 0% interest cards. I wanted car financing so just paid the whole whack off and within about 5 weeks once everything was updated on credit reports my FICO went up to 740ish. Just opening and closing accounts will not give you that kind of volatility...

Thanks for the info on credit impact via churning. I'm really considering taking the plunge. Wish me good luck. Thanks again!

THANKS for all the help so far. At this point in time I really can't say how "deep" I want to go with earning points. I know I don't want to create a big impact on the credit score because it took a long time to get it in the low 800's and I want to keep it there. I travel about 15,000 miles per year so I'm probably looking to add just enough to give me a basic ticket every 18 months or so.
10k miles every 18 months? There's some here who do that weekly. Get with the program! :D

If it's every 18 months, apply for a Citi AA account. $750 spend for 25k miles. Then tear up the card, and close the account after 6 months.

Yet you can't stop at just one. It's a slippery slope...

One more dumb question...what is "churning" of cards?

Take a look at Frugal Travel Guy's blog http://www.frugaltravelguy.blogspot.com/, particularly "Frugal Guy Ricks Top Seven Travel Deals #1" and you'll get the idea. Good luck!

Churning refers to applying for a card, making the minimum purchase amount required to qualify for a bonus, cancelling the card before any annual fee is due, and re-applying for the same card and repeating the process.

Greetings! I'm brand new to Flyer Talk so please forgive me if I'm posting on the wrong board. Here's my question: My husband and I have FF points with Delta and American. What is the best method to accumulate points in these two programs? Is there a program we need to enter? Any tips?
If you rent cars, then that's a good way to add to Delta. Delta routinely has richer car rental bonuses than AA, so even though I'm primarily with AA, I more often steer car rentals to Delta (and mostly increase my Delta miles only with car rentals lately!).

But you have to know where to look. Avis has a bonus which gives 5000 bonus miles for 4+ day rentals and 2500 bonus miles for 3 day rentals (US+ airport locations, any car class) through the end of 1999, but they've removed the promo page from the Delta website, so you have to go to the Avis forum here on FlyerTalk and find the recent thread about the Delta 5000 mile bonus and on the first page of the thread someone has a saved picture of the original web page showing the coupon codes and the terms. And everyone eho's been using it lately (including me), even after Delta rmoved the page from the web, has still been getting the bonus per the original (through Dec 31 2009, no GPS add-on required) terms using the original coupon codes.

Here's a link to that thread in the Avis forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/1005264-delta-5000-mile-promotion-ended-nope-still-alive.html

(Depending on how your browser feels at the moment, post #4 in that thread may show the picture inside the thread, or you may have to click on the link to see the picture. One way, or another, though, post #4 gives you the picture of the original promo page.)

Most of the airlines and hotels for that matter have shopping portals which give multiple miles or points for each dollar spent thru their portals. Delta has good partners as well such as energy, dry cleaning, wine clubs etc and occasionally has good sign up bonuses for them. The airlines have dining clubs as well such as Delta's Skymiles dining that give extra miles for each dollar spent and they often have bonuses as well.
For newbies there is still Club bing to get the 4,000 or so miles allowed.

For newbies there is still Club bing to get the 4,000 or so miles allowed.

What's your experience with posting time for the Bing miles.?...miles here from Sep 15th haven't posted yet....thanks!

What's your experience with posting time for the Bing miles.?...miles here from Sep 15th haven't posted yet....thanks!Check again Nov 15th.

ima try some of these ouy:)

What about consolidating your travel with one airline?

15K miles/year spread between 2 airlines is pretty inefficient.

Let me share just a short story. Last year at this time I had maybe 19K miles in my AA account, 40K lifetime, 30K in LH and 40K in DL. Never had status on an airline. I thought this year I would fly mayber 35-50K miles, which is more than I have ever flown in 1 year in my life. I commited all of the travel I could to AA and thier partners. Due to a huge uptick in business travel, a couple of family emergencies and my planned travel I wound up flying 115K miles in 2009, if you include last December in the tally I did 143K in the last 11 months. Believe me, around this crowd that is not a large amount of flying!
Thanks to some promotions and a mile run I finished this year with 275K miles in my AA account, 315K lifetime, all but about 10K from flying.

I'm not suggesting that you go hog wild flying around the world, but focusing you efforts on one airline will help you get your to your goals in a couple of different ways ways (and I'm going to speak from an AA perspective)

-the obvious of all flown miles going into one account
-the ability to take advantage of promotions, like double elite qualification miles etc. If you happened to fly you 15K miles during that promotion you would have Gold status which would get you free luggage, 25% mileage bonus on all AA flights and lots of other bennies

Had I not focued I would have missed out on tons of promos and had my miles scattered around 3 or more airlines. Now I am approaching the point where I can take my DW on an around the world trip in Business Class instead of thinking about a free domestic in coach.

By focusing and following some of the advice others give you here you very well may get your every 18 month domestic trip in 1st, instead of coach, and then you will be ruined for life!


THANKS for all the help so far. At this point in time I really can't say how "deep" I want to go with earning points. I know I don't want to create a big impact on the credit score because it took a long time to get it in the low 800's and I want to keep it there. I travel about 15,000 miles per year so I'm probably looking to add just enough to give me a basic ticket every 18 months or so.

THANKS for all the help so far. At this point in time I really can't say how "deep" I want to go with earning points. I know I don't want to create a big impact on the credit score because it took a long time to get it in the low 800's and I want to keep it there. I travel about 15,000 miles per year so I'm probably looking to add just enough to give me a basic ticket every 18 months or so.

If you are "only" looking for a "basic ticket" every 18 months or so, applying for a Citi CC will be an overkill:rolleyes:. You can get about 300K miles per 12 months if you churn hard:D:D:D.

If you are "only" looking for a "basic ticket" every 18 months or so, applying for a Citi CC will be an overkill:rolleyes:. You can get about 300K miles per 12 months if you churn hard:D:D:D.

but beware of churning your way to a bad credit rating

I'm surprised no one has mentioned Rewards Network (formerly known as i-dine). Almost all my travel is on Air Canada, but I've accumulated a surprising number of miles on AA from dining. 64K miles in 2007, 52K miles in 2008. (This pales in comparison to Jailer who seems to earn about 200K miles/yr from eating! :eek:) This year won't be as lucrative due to a lack of bonus opportunities, but I still expect to get around 40K miles.

OP, check these out:

AAdvantage Dining Program (www.aa.rewardsnetwork.com)
Delta Dining Program (http://skymiles.rewardsnetwork.com/)

Make sure you check out the i-dine/Rewards Network forum for sign up bonuses and tips on how to maximize points earned.

Look into e-miles.com, too. You won't rack up tens of thousands of miles, but a couple of thousand easy Delta miles per year is possible, if you aggressively participate.

And I second the recommendation of Rewards Network for dining miles. Sure, it's not as lucrative as in years past, and very much dependent on having access to decent RN-affiliated restaurants. But if you do a bunch of cheap dines early in the year to get yourself up to VIP level (highest earning level=5 miles/$ spent), then take advantage of the various promotions, there's potentially thousands of extra miles that can be earned from that program. You can open an AA dining account as well as a Delta dining account, then focus on earning the bonuses in one or both of the accounts as they are offered.

Check again Nov 15th.

Thanks!

If you rent cars, then that's a good way to add to Delta. Delta routinely has richer car rental bonuses than AA, so even though I'm primarily with AA, I more often steer car rentals to Delta (and mostly increase my Delta miles only with car rentals lately!).

But you have to know where to look. Avis has a bonus which gives 5000 bonus miles for 4+ day rentals and 2500 bonus miles for 3 day rentals (US+ airport locations, any car class) through the end of 1999, but they've removed the promo page from the Delta website, so you have to go to the Avis forum here on FlyerTalk and find the recent thread about the Delta 5000 mile bonus and on the first page of the thread someone has a saved picture of the original web page showing the coupon codes and the terms. And everyone eho's been using it lately (including me), even after Delta rmoved the page from the web, has still been getting the bonus per the original (through Dec 31 2009, no GPS add-on required) terms using the original coupon codes.

Here's a link to that thread in the Avis forum:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/avis/1005264-delta-5000-mile-promotion-ended-nope-still-alive.html

(Depending on how your browser feels at the moment, post #4 in that thread may show the picture inside the thread, or you may have to click on the link to see the picture. One way, or another, though, post #4 gives you the picture of the original promo page.)

Also, Budget currently has a 3,000 SkyMiles bonus for a 1-day rental.

Here: Budget/Delta 3K for 1-day rental until Dec 31, 2009 - MUAZ002 (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/delta-skymiles/991937-budget-delta-3k-1-day-rental-until-dec-31-2009-muaz002.html)

Wow! What great info! I may be a "newbie" but I'm learning because of FlyerTalk. Thanks again!:cool:

For DL... just breath. You'll get some RDMs. :)

...which, are rapidly approaching zero value.

Don't forget Bankdirect.com as well for AA miles, 100 miles for each $1000 in checking each month. No fees and pretty brainless. It is figured on the average daily balance and is based in Dallas, TX in the heart of AA land. You also get an extra 1000 if you are referred and after open get 1000 for each referral you make up to 10. They are also transferable for 2x Hilton points. I still have referrals left available as well as other FT members.

I second on the dining. Check all bonuses on the FT board, there are always ones to sign up for, even just doing a survey for some dines gets you 500 miles. I eat at the same deli 3x a week and get miles on a different program every visit. Also great for those airline promos that need a hit or activity. If a chain restaurant near you is not on the program, but one in your travels is, buy gift cards there and use them at home. I have alot of Perkins GC's all bought in 1 day all over Naples $25 at a time in multiple transactions with 3 different credit cards. That was a great day, and now holiday pies for all!!
JudyJFLA

I second on the dining. Check all bonuses on the FT board, there are always ones to sign up for, even just doing a survey for some dines gets you 500 miles. I eat at the same deli 3x a week and get miles on a different program every visit. Also great for those airline promos that need a hit or activity. If a chain restaurant near you is not on the program, but one in your travels is, buy gift cards there and use them at home. I have alot of Perkins GC's all bought in 1 day all over Naples $25 at a time in multiple transactions with 3 different credit cards. That was a great day, and now holiday pies for all!!
JudyJFLA

+1 +1 +1 ^

When I'm on the road and eating alone I might as well eat at a Rewards Network restaurant. I too buy gift certs at chain restaurants for use at home. Great value! I never worry about program miles expiring because a cheap dine on the registered card restarts the clock. Judy is correct that there are many dining bonuses through RN. I earn at least 1000 miles a month just from dining on biz trips and at home.

Also regular AMEX Membership Rewards points -- these also frequently have 20-30% transfer bonuses. I find its the best way to top off my DL account because SPG are so much more versatile than that.

I have Amex membership rewards - but dont see bonuses anywhere - how often do they come and where should I look for them?

I'll start off with a few quick things I've done to help accumulate points with both programs.

American Airlines

opinionplace.com - has given me 75-250 miles for doing surveys
erewards.com - collect points and turn them into 2000 AA miles
citi credit cards - 25K miles(give or take) and they seem to allow churning of cards if you want to try it.
SPG points transfer - Transfer 20K starwood points for 25K miles...or after our Capetown stay, we turned in 60K starwood points for free nights plus 50K AA miles.

Delta
Erewards.com - same as above
SPG - same as above
Delta AMEX - Various miles, 25K(give or take) special bonuses
Bonuses..bonuses... Watch Delta for partner bonuses, transfer bonuses, etc. Last December turned in 20K Starwood points and my wife ended up with 62,500 delta miles. Car rental bonuses and promotions. Watch flyertalk for various options.

Hopefully a good start to more ideas...

erewards says inivite needed - how do I get an invite from Delta, etc?

I have Amex membership rewards - but dont see bonuses anywhere - how often do they come and where should I look for them?
Amex MR is being discussed in our American Express Membership Rewards Forum (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/american-express-membership-rewards-410/). FT has different individual forum for specific programs (miles/points/travel-related). Find time to get familiar with different forums on FT so you won't miss the action. :)

erewards says inivite needed - how do I get an invite from Delta, etc?
e-Rewards hasn't been giving out open invites for quite a while. They send out target invites from partners/sponsors once in a while for the last 18 months or so. You just have to keep an eye in the correspondences Delta sends you and hope you'll be "selected" one day.

Not sure where you are based but e-Rewards program in the U.S. has more sponsors/partners. Since your sponsor will have an effect on your (future) redemption choices, choose your sponsor wisely when you do get an invite.

Visit our S.P.A.M. Forum (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m-2/), where is the home forum for e-Rewards inquiries on FT, and join the discussion. Two threads for your special attention though:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m/768276-erewards-delta-only-redemptions-if-you-signed-up-through-them.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/s-p-m/935173-e-rewards-master-thread.html

BTW, welcome to FT!

I have Amex membership rewards - but dont see bonuses anywhere - how often do they come and where should I look for them?

I find the best use of MR points is to wait for a big airline promo like US and PC just had (and Delta/NW last season) and then transfer for a hit, that way you usually get 2000 miles for the 1000 points, or more if it was the last hit in the Priority Club promo, as it was 1000 points = 4000 PC Points.

JudyJFLA

Since you are looking at getting miles, it can be assumed you would like to use them.

From all the threads, and my experience with 3 Million miles in both DL and AA you are way better to accumulate AA miles. With DL, especially overseas, you will need to accumulate twice as many miles for awards. Read all the threads on DL about how difficult it it to use their miles. They just don't seem to have standard awards until it is so close to flight that you need to pay fees.

With AA it is WAY easier to use miles for awards.

AAdvantge eShopping has a good double miles promotion for retailers such as Gap and Piperlime if you are interested. After $250 spending on any Mastercard credit or debit card, you will receive a $25 Mastercard gift card too.

This just in....

http://www.ftd.com/insider30/

Since you are looking at getting miles, it can be assumed you would like to use them.

From all the threads, and my experience with 3 Million miles in both DL and AA you are way better to accumulate AA miles. With DL, especially overseas, you will need to accumulate twice as many miles for awards. Read all the threads on DL about how difficult it it to use their miles. They just don't seem to have standard awards until it is so close to flight that you need to pay fees.

With AA it is WAY easier to use miles for awards.

I agree, using DL for booking international awards is quite a challenge. Until about a year ago, you could not even check the availability of international reward flights on-line; the only way of finding that was to call in and hang on the phone (literary for hours) while they were checking individually each system of each partner airline for availability. Most of the time, nothing was available, so the process had to be repeated daily for weeks at a time.

I lucked out last year when DL/NW merger was going on. I was able to transfer my DL miles to NW and book DL international flights through NW portal (the same flights did not show as available on DL website).

I wish I found FT sooner. There is a wealth of information here.

I'm surprised Pgary hasn't chimed in yet, check out his website, he keeps track of a lot of programs and good links.

http://www.freefrequentflyermiles.com/index.htm

I did a bunch of deals this year and ended up with 520KK on AA. Alas, the coin deal is termporily gone for the big purchases and Citicard has added some restrictions, but I made my 1M for Lifetime Gold.

Be careful, miles are addictive.