Brilliant! This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you! I'm already a Netflix member (don't have cable at home) so that's a no-go. But I'm intrigued by the NYT offer. As for the AT&T offer you mentioned...I'm already on AT&T but my contract is up this summer. Would I be able to get miles for renewing/getting an upgraded phone even though I already have their service?

Unfortunately in the town I go to school in, the only AA dining location is Macaroni Grill. Sure I may go there once but not very often. I try to hit up restaurants in towns I'm traveling to/through but it's not very often I can use the dining. At least for AA, I still have to look up UA and Delta's programs. Speaking of which, does registration with additional dining programs (with the same credit card) negate the registration with previous programs? I suppose they wouldn't allow double dipping if the same restaurant was good for multiple programs...but if they have entirely different restaurants, will they negate each other?

The participating restaurants are pretty much the same (perhaps even exactly the same, though I'm not sure of that). You can't link the same credit card to two or more programs. You can belong to all three programs (I do), but you need a different credit card for each one. I think that the same company administers the program for various airlines.

Even if you dine infrequently in participating restaurants, you would lose nothing by registering your card with AA and perhaps gaining a few 1,000 miles. Once you've registered, the crediting of miles is automatic, though it takes a few days for them to be reported and it's wise to check occasionally to make sure that credit has been recorded.

If you do select AA as your carrier of choice, another way to accrue AA miles is to use BankDirect as your online bank. BankDirect offers a "mileage checking" account which pays 1 AA mile per $10 on deposit per month (up to $200K on deposit). It's not quite as attractive as it used to be because they did institute a $12 per month fee. However, since we are in a very low interest rate environment now, I find that the value of the miles I can earn at BankDirect far exceeds the puny interest that most banks are willing to pay me on a checking account.

You're young, so you may not have a lot of cash to place in checking. But you are in school, so perhaps your checking account does swell at certain times during the year (before you pay your tuition, for example). Parking cash in a BankDirect mileage checking account will earn you miles. And since it earns you miles every month, you won't have to worry that your AA miles will expire.

Here's a link for you. Remember to read all the terms carefully.
http://bankdirect.com/products/checkingmileage.aspx

I believe you earn 1000 AA miles if someone refers you to BankDirect. If you are interested, someone here on FT can refer you. I'd be glad to if you send me a Private Message (click my name on the left side).

Are you sure you'll have time between graduation from med school and starting an internship for a foreign vacation? And does spending money on a big trip then make sense, given that you'll probably have relocation expenses and settling in at the new place to do in addition to youur student loans?

If you have separate email addresses (and who doesn't or can't), the Netflix idea still works for a second account. I have separate accounts with AA and UA and have earned miles from Netflix in both accounts. Yes, I'm making double payments for the same service, but I'll cancel the UA one at the end of the month (I just got it in late April) and keep my AA. You could conceivably even do this with another email address and AA account number (perhaps for your mother) to get another bonus with AA, but I do not know the hassles of combining miles from separate AA accounts so that might not be worth the effort.

Earning for cell phone contracts through most of the shopping malls generally requires new contracts so I'm not entirely sure you can seamlessly move from your current AT&T contract to a new contract so as to earn AA (or UA) miles. You do have to buy a new phone and follow these T&Cs (from the AAdvantage shopping mall):
Don't know what those "other restrictions" are, but you'll want to be clear on those before spending your money. Perhaps you could let your current contract expire for a week and then take a new phone and plan, just to be sure.

As JPG3392 notes, the restaurants in the airline dining programs are almost exactly the same across all programs. If you register a card with a program that was previously in another program, the card is automatically unregistered from the first program--in fact, you'll get two emails, one from the program you registered with confirming the registration and one from the other program confirming the removal of the card. Keep in mind that the programs require that you maintain one credit card registered with the program at all times. There's no limit on registering and unregistering, however.

In addition to all the earlier suggestions, you should also check hotel points programs. Two reasons. First, many hotel programs allow transfer of points earned at the hotels to airline programs although, with one exception, not at a 1:1 ratio. The ratio is generally more like 5:1. The only exception is SPG which generally does 1:1 (although, alas, not with UA where it's 2:1) but will do 1:1.25 if you transfer in blocks of 20K Starpoints. Unfortunately, regular earnings rates with SPG can be a bit low unless you earn status and carry an Amex SPG card. I'm going to assume that you don't do more than 10 nights per year in a hotel--the level at which some programs grant you first-level status and an increase in your points-earning rate. If you're paying for more than 10 hotel nights (or could and be reimbursed), getting status might help boost your earnings rate. For more on status (and the important distinction between "nights" and "stays" for this and other purposes), check the hotel program's website or the specific hotel forum here at FT.

Second, many hotel points programs also partner with airlines to offer miles earning opportunities just for staying at the hotel. Right now, Hilton, which probably implements this feature the best of any program, has a double points/double miles promotion running through the end of June. You have to choose double points or double miles for the duration of the promo, but you can switch the airlines with which you'll earn the points throughout the promo. UA and AA both participate in the HHonors program and each normally earn 500 miles per stay (1000 per stay with the current promo). There's a lot of esoterica with these kinds of promos--registration is generally necessary, points are generally earned per "stay" and not per "night" (which means you may need to learn the value of "hotel hopping" and "mattress runs"), and you'll generally need to book through the hotel chain's website and not a third-party website, such as Expedia or Travelocity--but if you're doing hotel stays anyway, this is an opportunity that you should not miss.

Sorry for the second long message, but I figure this stuff is a whole lot less complex than the medical texts you read!

Good points, but the OP seems a reasonable, responsible sort who has stuck by her original desire to avoid taking out credit cards to get the miles in response to a number of suggestions. I think of this like a high school or college graduation trip--a reward well earned for the hard work required by medical school and a needed break before jumping into the even more intense work required in hospitals. All work and no play. . .

Nevertheless, OP, you should be sure you have all of the likely costs estimated before you go. Airfares, though high, may not equal the amount you'll pay once you're on the ground in Costa Rica for lodging, meals, and transportation. You can't predict everything, but you won't want to do all of this hard work in accumulating miles and points simply to realize that you'll still need to spend another $2000 to make your trip come true.

Fortunately, some of the information may be found by doing Google searches around the web as well as by looking at another forum here on FT dedicated to travel in Central America: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/central-america-479/.

I've wondered how to value that. How did you come up with the $250 figure, as opposed to some other number? I've been trying to weigh myself what the cutoff value is for which it is too low to be worth the pull.

This is unfortunate. I have one credit card that I put all of my expenses on. I'll just keep it registered through AA Dining since that is going to be my primary account. And most of the bonus sign on miles require a $30-$50 meal within 30 days. With Macaroni Grill as my only main option, it's hard to do multiple times. ;)

Good question. Thankfully my school graduates at the end of May and residency begins in July (you know the old adage about not getting sick in July). And we're not going to be taking a super fancy shmancy trip. My mom and I both follow the idea that you can't really explore the country if you're at an all-inclusive type place. We'd like to stay at B&Bs in a few towns and keep our spending to food (we're such foodies!) and adventure (can we say zip-lining in the jungle!?!) Sure it will cost money but with the right planning, I think we can do it on a reasonable budget.

Thank you, kind friend! I'd like to think I have a good head on my shoulders and think things over reasonably. I never did get a graduation trip after HS or undergrad. This may be my last time before the "real world" catches up to me! ;) Thank you for the reminder to plan things out and get a handle on other expenses. I look forward to reading up on the central america forum...perhaps a study break!

Also, thank you so so so much for all of your tips and advice. I'll have to put some thought into a hotel membership. Honestly, my dad has a pretty lucrative Choice hotels account because he books hotels for all of the speakers and exhibitors for multiple business conferences throughout the state. Usually he books my hotels with expiring points. But perhaps there is a conversion from Choice to an airline that we could utilize if he's feeling extra generous. :)

Indeed, to both UA and AA at the 5:1 ratio mentioned earlier: http://www.choicehotels.com/en/choic....HqfL9gK5Tg.23.

Not my favorite way to use points, however, but for one special trip, I don't think there should be a problem. And, keep in mind, Choice has three properties in San Jose, Costa Rica although nothing around the rest of the country as far as I can tell.

Another thing that may nudge you towards your goal: sign up for other hotel or airlines programs that offer signup bonuses. You can then convert them into AA/UA, either directly or via points.com. It may not be much (especially at points.com, their conversion rates are hideous), but it may give you a bit of a boost.

In this vein, even if you don't generally stay at a Radisson or a Country Inn & Suites, it may be worthwhile to join their Club Carlson program. There's a 4500-point bonus for signing up right now, http://thepointsguy.com/2012/05/get-...or-signing-up/.

The bigger news, however, is the possible return of a promotion that could earn you 50,000 Club Carlson points for a one-night stay at a Radisson, http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/club-...-giveaway.html

At this point, this is strictly a rumor; however, CC ran this promo last winter, and it was fairly easy to get the points since only one night's stay was required and there was a relatively generous window to seek out a cheap Radisson stay (I did mine in Crystal City, VA, just outside of Washington, DC, on a planned trip to a football game). Although I've held onto my CC points, 54.5K Club Carlson points become 8500 UA/AA miles. If you have a trip planned anyway and a Radisson is available at a sub-$100 rate, which many are for weekend nights in the suburbs of a number of metropolitan areas, then it could be worth the price since 8000 AA miles cost $220 if you purchase them directly from AA.

And, if Radisson doesn't run the promo or you can't take advantage of it, the 4.5K CC points you earned for signing up can become 500 UA/AA miles. Every little bit helps!

I know you said you are not interested in playing the credit card game now, so sorry in advance for bringing it up again. But I would at least think about the 50,000 Citi AA card, considering AAdvantage is going to be your primary program. The current offer requires $3000 spending in 4 months if you can handle that. Applying for 1 or 2 credit cards will actually help build your credit history if you don't have many cards yet, as long as you don't go crazy and apply for a lot at one time. Other than credit cards, you can earn a few thousand miles here and there but honestly you can spend hours and hours of time doing all the little offers and still not even come close to the miles you'll get from one credit card bonus.

There is also a Chase United offer that gives 55,000 miles after the first purchase. But you need to have a few miles in your United account already to get that offer. Those are the 2 programs I would build around if I were you. I wouldn't bother with British Airways until later on because of their hefty fuel surcharges and avoid Delta like the plague.

Here's all the "little" offers I can think of:

2500 Netflix offer

25,000 DirectTV

1500 Sentry Insurance (available in certain states only)

500 Liberty Mutual Insurance

Up to 5000 for Vinesse Wine Might be worth it to spend the money on this one if you drink a lot of wine.

AAdvantage Shopping Be sure to go through a shopping portal before you buy anything online. Sometimes they offer a bonus for downloading their toolbar but I don't see any offers at this time.

Where does it say "take the Sunday Times at $3.90/week and cancel after 90 days"? A guy named JeffB on another post (http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/...l-hackers.html) "NYT charges 4 weeks at a time, so you can pay less than $16 for the first four weeks, collect your miles, then cancel! "

I like the NY Times. I'm willing to hold onto the subscription at the reduced rate (in fact, I still have it at the increased rate; as I say, I like the NY Times).

Everybody has different ways of accumulating miles. I like to get miles for things that I'd actually want to buy. The Times is one of those things. Purchases I made last summer during the Verizon promotion and earlier this year during the Nordstrom/BA promotion fit within those parameters. I don't need to spend any more money on useless junk to fill up my house. The AA miles are a nice bonus so I make sure before I make any purchase that I check the shopping malls, and I generally don't buy a thing that I don't need or want for the sole purpose of getting miles.

All that said, I see nothing that would prohibit the OP from doing just as JeffB suggests.

Note, however, the 90 days does apply to how long you must wait after canceling your initial subscription before attempting to get the miles again.