Thanks for the GREAT post Iwilder,
I think the defined goals part is very good advice, and it should be easy to target and work toward a specific goal with my leisure travel. Less so for my business travel. As a US Govt employee I travel frequently, but my travel arrangements are made for me and I don't get a say in which airline my travel is booked on. One of my goals is to get my older (and wider) behind into upgraded seats for my business travel by using my personal miles/points to upgrade my government purchased tickets. At this point in my learning process it seems to me I will need to be a member of multiple FF programs so that I have some leverage with all the airlines the government might book me on (including Ethiopian Air).

If I am off target, please advise. :)

AwardWallet.com is the best for managing miles, loyalty points, etc. I'd also check out Brian ThePointsGuy blog for bonus mile tips!

Hello Bullajami,

Your post caught my eye. I have a similar Navy Federal Credit Card (NFCU) card (although I’ve never used it which I’ll explain later) and I lived in Va Bch for 7 years courtesy of Uncle Sam and I too occasionally travel on government paid tickets. In a couple of months I might be able to tell you how easy it is to upgrade a government ticket to Bahrain! I’m also a relative newbie here so I cannot offer you extensive experience although I have learned a few things.

Pay attention to these forums, reviewing the MilesBuzz forum is my personal daily minimum. Perfect example, you mentioned “On my recent flight from Rome to Philly I signed up for a USAIRWAYS visa”. I did the same thing a few months ago based on a thread on the MilesBuzz forum and got 35,000 mile first use bonus and annual fee waived for the first year.

I used a NFCU Travel Visa (the predecessor to the Flagship Visa) as my primary credit card for about 10 years until 3 or 4 years ago. I kinda “fell into” a mild form of credit card churning over the years as I would often respond to a snail mailed solicitation for a XXX Airline Visa/MC/AmEx with xx,xxx bonus miles and no annual fee for 1 year. I used these cards once to get the bonus and then cancelled them 6 or 9 months later always using the NFCU card as my main card.

I redeemed NFCU points for domestic coach tickets many times, which was like getting a 2% rebate and being able to accumulate the miles for the flights. However, a few years ago I realized the NFCU card, as with many of the “xxx points gets you a ticket worth xxx dollars cards”, stinks for international business or first class tickets and is of no help with upgrading any purchased ticket. The maximum ticket value for the NFCU card a few years ago was $1200 and that wouldn’t get you an international premium seat. On the other hand, at that time, the 60,000 points/miles (that were needed for a $1200 ticket through the NFCU program) would get you a premium international seat if the miles were redeemed through a frequent flyer program. In other words, I decided that accumulating points in a frequent flyer program (or several of them) was more valuable to me than accumulating points in a “points for a ticket of xxx value” program. I kept the $49 annual fee NFCU account open for a couple of years to burn through all my accumulated points and then switched it to a NFCU no fee Cash Rewards card which I’ve never used and keep open just for an “emergency” and to have an account that’s open for a long time.

Pay attention here and to the blogs as others have suggested and you will quickly learn that you do NOT need to fly much to accumulate lots of points. Credit cards bonuses, back accounts, brokerage promotions, dining, flowers, coins, shopping malls; there’s a way for almost anyone to earn miles for doing all the things they would be doing anyway. What works for one person may not work for another, fortunately there are many possibilities.

I also suggest you review the MilesBuzz forum for the many threads started by folks asking how to get started on becoming a miles junkie. Most of those threads have great suggestions that are applicable to many people, probably even you. Good luck, enjoy!

I would really like to attend Chicago, but I already have the Marine Corps Marathon that weekend. Hopefully they'll have another session soon.

Don't forget the ultimate bonus mile/point resource on the web:
Frequent Flyer Bonuses, one of the only sites to actively track the Ethiopian Sheba Miles program

Good advice, and I do the same. I find it a big timesaver to use Google Reader. I've got the Reader set up to automatically push new posts to me. That allows me to read all my favorite travel-related blogs at once.

Just wanted to pass on my thanks as well. As a newbie, this is a great introductory. I've been lurking for awhile, and am quickly learning a wealth of tips about using FF miles to the maximum benefit.

I'll continue reading to learn more about mileage strategies and perhaps post again when I have a more defined goal, but just wanted to say how appreciative I am to have information like this rather than having everyone assume that Newbies should come in knowing all the information already! Thanks again!

.....

[QUOTE=I found the dining program almost immediately and have earned tens of thousand of miles that way...

Where can I find more info about earning miles with restaurant dining?

Thanks

Wow. AndreaRH, that is an outstanding summary of info. I need to bookmark that for my family and friends, who are always asking me about tutorials on the black art of frugal/free travel. There is so much info, and it's not easy to summarize. Kudos!

Rewards Network Dining
 

[QUOTE=Ftusa;16550747][QUOTE=I found the dining program almost immediately and have earned tens of thousand of miles that way...

Where can I find more info about earning miles with restaurant dining?

Thanks[/QUOTE]

Lots of info can about Rewards Network dining can be found here:
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2011/...hannon_18.html

Outstanding job!!!!! Thank you!!!!


W

Andrea,
Thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experience with us. Although some people like brief, get to the point answers, by far specific details are superior!!! I've been reading this site for a few months and have picked up a few great and easy ideas. For example Bing.Com will let you your earn free AA points. Through different promotions, I've earned ~ 150,000 miles in a 2 month period in my quest for life time gold. Currently I'm @ 406,000. Target date 4 years or less. Post like yours are really helpful!!! Thanks again.
W

Would you mind sharing your spreadsheet that you use to track pending amounts? Also is there any sharing of a spreadsheet that tracks credit card spend and Category purchases. I am trying to make this process of credit cards easier for my wife.

Andrea thank you so much for the excellent summary. Wow that was perfect for me. It really sums up how much I still do not know.

Thank you so much!