Mike Jacoubowsky

There are two types of relevant miles, PQMs and RDMs. PQMs can generally be earned only by flying, what we call BIS or Butt-In-Seat miles. These are earned on a 1 to 1 basis (1 mile for each mile flown) in coach, with 1.5 miles per each mile flown in Business. Using upgrades to go from coach to business doesn't get you the additional miles though.

PQMs cannot be redeemed for anything; they're used to establish your elite level for the next year. I'm not sure if your husband is flying one way each 28 days or a round trip; if one way, and he's based on the west coast, he's getting 8000x12 = 96,000 miles. His target needs to be 100,000 miles to re-qualify as a 1K, the highest "earned" elite level. He also needs to be spending $10,000/year on the base fare (not including taxes & airport fees). If he's flying the cheapest coach fares, that could be an issue.

RDMs are miles that can be redeemed for flights (and other things). For a 1K elite, they accrue at 2 miles per mile flown, so he could, by his flying alone, accumulate just under 200,000 per year. And he accrues these miles personally, regardless of who pays for the tickets.

CC miles... here you have to be careful to absolutely positively not credit miles to any but his mileage plus account. Miles in his account are worth far more than miles in a lower-elite's account, and you cannot easily or cheaply move miles from one account to another. So make sure the credit cards have him as the primary user, and yourself as a secondary person on the account. You can still use the card for anything you wish, and sign for things, but the miles go to his account.

Using your CC to pay for just about anything gets you miles, with the exception of cash advances, writing checks on the card, and transferring balances from one card to another. Basically any normal use of the card will get you miles.

LIH Prem

Good luck and welcome.

If you are planning on buying appliances, you can earn 5x UR points on them, if Lowes or Home Depot has what you want. You get CSP and an Ink Bold charge card. UR transfers 1:1 to UA Mileage Plus, (plus there's additional year end bonus on some of the UR earnings) and you can transfer URs from your Ink Bold account directly to your CSP account.

Then buy Lowes or HD gift cards at Office Max or other office supply store using Ink Bold since Ink Bold earns 5x URs for Office Supply store purchases. Use the gift cards online or in the store to pay for the purchase. You can also buy amazon gift cards using your Ink Bold card at office supply stores. We have an Office Max here, that's the one I use.

There's a bunch of different variations of these cards. Search around, find the ones that suit you with the best sign up bonuses. Both you and your husband can sign up for each of the cards to double the sign-up bonuses.

-David