Hi Everyone,

I'm a newbie to the FT forum. Thanks to all of you for the great posts. I don't travel for work, but I travel for pleasure 3-4 times a year. We've used a Capital One No Hassel Miles card that gives 2% back w/ no annual fee (earn 2 miles per $1 spent. Redeem 100 miles per travel $1). However, now I'm diving into the credit card game of signing up for promo offers for new CCs and I need to turn through the initial spending for the bonuses (Starwood: Spend $1,000 for 30k points, AA: Spend $1,500 for 75K miles).

I'm hoping to have this thread for ways to charge miles that don't really cost you anything. If this thread already exists, please point me in the right direction. Here's what I've found or come up with so far:

1. Buy gift cards. We've bought Costco Gift cards on Costco.com. You can buy a GC with a non AMEX CC and there is no shipping charge. We've done the same for grocery stores.
2. Buy presidential coins: Link to FT thread
3. AMEX gift cards: AMEX seems to always have a promotion code for fee free gift cards (currently, use code: EMDADDEC1). Combine this with the 90 day free trial of thier "Premium Shipping Plan" for fee/shipping free gift cards that can be used anywhere AMEX is accepted.

What are your ways to turn through charges for "free?"

Thanks!
Andy