1000 Bonus Miles For You!

1000 Bonus Miles for You in Your Choice of 14 Airlines!

Rocketmiles, an online hotel booking service, is currently offering a bonus of 1000 miles to be deposited into the airline frequent flyer program of your choice. You can sign up for the bonus at this link:

                                           https://www.rocketmiles.com/refer/timjwilkins


How to receive your 1000 mile bonus:

- Sign up for the bonus using the link above
- Create your online account with Rocketmiles
- Use Rocketmiles to book a hotel/resort stay
- After your completed, paid stay you will receive your 1000 bonus miles in addition to Rocketmiles already large mileage awards.

They are affiliated with 14 different airlines so finding a frequent flyer program you like should not be a problem.

So where will you be traveling soon? Upcoming business trip? Fall vacation? Holiday plans?

Having used Rocketmiles in the past I have found that their selection of different hotels/resorts can be small in numbers when I perform a search but they are usually nice properties and competitive in price. Their website claims they "pay the same rates for the best hotels. Refundable rates available." They also tend to have more properties in cities and resort areas. I have also noticed that sometimes different hotels appear on a particular destination search when I select different airline programs on the search engine.

Rocketmile's normal miles per stay is also very generous. Looking ahead to Labor Day weekend I searched and found a room at Sandestin Beach Resort for 3 nights for $425.08 total plus $54.65 resort fee ( a common surcharge in this area) for $479.73 for the 3 nights. You will earn 3000 points for the stay plus 1000 bonus points for the referal bonus for 4000 total miles from Rocketmiles. AND.....don't forget to pay with your points earning credit card to keep adding on.

A check in the Big Easy for Labor Day weekend shows the Hyatt Regency New Orleans for $450.28. 3000 Rocketmiles earned for the stay plus 1000 bonus miles for signing up with the referral link yields 4000 miles into the airline account of your choice. And, again, use your maximum points earning credit card for the charges. Sometimes you are able to triple dip and earn rewards points from the loyalty program of the hotel chain you are staying at, although it is hit or miss when booking through sites such as Rocketmiles. So, upon check in try giving your Hyatt Gold Passport number!

Even if you don't plan to travel Labor Day weekend, signing up for the bonus and creating an online account with Rocketmiles for when you do need to make plans for travel makes sense for points & miles collectors!

Sign up for your Rocketmiles 1000 Point Bonus at this link:

  https://www.rocketmiles.com/refer/timjwilkins

If and when you read about something on Points2Miles, and a link is provided to sign up or apply, and you decide to go for it we would appreciate you using our link so that we get a small referral point/mile bonus. Feel free to e-mail 4Points2Miles@gmail.com anytime you have questions. This is not a for-profit blog. Just passing along tips to anyone who is interested. Thanks!

There's More Than One Reason to Celebrate Back to School!

There's More Than One Reason to Celebrate Back to School!

It's August and all across the country people are either celebrating (see: parents of young kids trapped at home) or bemoaning (see:teachers as well as students) that time known as Back To School. Now personally I'm ok with it as my two oldest are college age and the two at home are in high school so I have mixed feelings on that topic.

However, aside from that it signals to me that College Football is coming up fast, that the Cardinals will be playing for another October ticket, that on a local level an exciting season of high school volleyball is about to kick off and . . . . .

Bonus Points & Miles will be ripe for the picking on shopping portals!

Retailers will be jausting for your dollar and they will increase their point/miles per $ offers across many channels.

Many retailers will briefly increase their points/miles per $ offers. With a quick check today I see where JCPenny is at 10 pts/$ and Saks Fifth Avenue at 9 pts/$ shopping thru Chase Ultimate Rewards.

US Airways Dividend Miles Storefront has Dell Consumer doubling their offer from 2 to 4 miles/$.

Shop My Way by Mariott portal has nice offers on two websites that offer college textbooks:   Neebo at 7pts/$ and Bookrenter.com at 6 pts/ $.

Some shopping portals offer additional bonuses for your cumulative purchases for a limited time. Southwest's Rapid Rewards offers up to 1000 bonus points for $600+ cumulative spending.

Delta's Skymiles Shopping is also offering 1000 bonus miles for $600+ in cumulative spending.

So if you are wanting to begin actively pursuing points & miles for travel, take this opportunity to assess what foreseeable expenditures you have, formulate a plan to order things you know you will need to purchase and see if you can work a plan to order your items to make a shopping portal bonus work for you.

Last year I went with Skymiles Shopping portal. Their "fine print" was a little different then and there was a greater opportunity to accumulate cumulative bonus miles. Regardless, I formulated my plan and in late fall my Skymiles bonus of 3500 points was deposited.

Another reason to enjoy Back to School and its wasn't even what you were thinking, now was it?

Make YOUR plan:
-You could be earning points/miles with your Credit Card.
-You could be earning points/miles from the retailer of your choice by shopping through the online portal you choose.
-You could be earning points/miles from the shopping portal as a bonus for your cumulative purchases.

All of these points & miles for the same order. And it can all be for items you are going to purchase anyway!

Stop flushing those Points & Miles down the toilet!

Stop flushing YOUR Points & Miles down the toilet!

Each and every day you are consuming products which could earn points and miles for your future trip. Are you maximizing those opportunities? Everyday products such as toilet paper, toothpaste, Pledge cleaner, deodorant, all manner of make up products, trash bags. . . .the list is endless.

Ok, so you say "but I've stopped using that no points/no rewards debit card linked to my checking account that I was so attached to and started using my new credit card which earns a point/mile for all other purchases when I shop for my household products." Well, that's a start, but you can do so much better, really!

It's time for another round of household products purchases here in our home. So, a text has been sent out to all the kids (they're all teenagers=primary means of communication) asking what items they need. They know if they want it to text their list back now. I like to purchase these items online and purchase from several different locations depending upon their current offers and today my source of choice is Drugstore.com.

I like Drugstore.com for a variety of reasons:

- Generally they offer the most points per $ for these items through online shopping portals

- They frequently offer Coupons on the items I'm going to order anyway and all I have to do is click to receive that $1.00 off or that Buy 2 Get 1 Free offer in the item description.

- Here in our little flyover middle America state they don't charge sales tax. I'm not sure if they do in other states. Regardless, thats a savings of 9% plus right there.

- Shipping is FREE for orders over $35. And trust me, meeting that minimum is NEVER an issue around here.

- Each order earns Drugstore.com Dollars. Thats 5% on your order back as a credit for a future order. You can redeem your Drugstore.com Dollars at end of each quarter for a period of 1 month. 

So I have our order list ready. Now I check the various Airline/Hotel/Credit Card shopping portals to see who has the best offer for Drugstore.com. I could use Southwest Rapid Rewards which has a back to school bonus going on now, Delta Skymiles which has BTS bonus too, Mariott Shop My Way Rewards, Chase Ultimate Rewards. . . .  .and so many other options.  I choose to go through my Barclays Rewards Boost portal, made available to me since I have a Barclays Arrival+ World Elite Mastercard, which today offers 4 points/$ today as I want to add to my Barclays Arrival Miles.

I click through the Shop Now button which takes me to Drugstore.com where I log onto my account and select the items we need to order. Once I have my selections completed I scroll down to the bottom of my order where you can find my order total, free shipping, coupons utilized today, and Drugstore.com Dollars earned which are redeemable in October.

Now that it's time to checkout I consider what credit card to use. Just because I'm using the Barclays Rewards Boost shopping portal doesn't mean I have to use any of my Barclays credit cards, because I don't.  You can still use any credit card of choice for your purchase. So, what will be my optimum earning credit card to use here? 

Here is an opportune time to use a credit card that earns 3X points at drugstores like a Citi Hilton HHonors Visa or Hilton HHonors Surpass card from American Express or a credit card with a rotating quarterly bonus which often includes a drugstore category.

So lets look at this now:

Old way to purchase household items is $77 x 1 pt/$ = 77 points 

New Way to purchase household items is

Barclays Arrival Points shopping at Drugstore.com  $77 x 4 pts/$ =  308 pts

Hilton HHonors Points paying at Drugstore.com       $77 x 3 pts/$ =  231 pts

Total Points earned for future travel for your $77 purchase = 539 points! 

All while potentially saving money, saving sales tax, no shipping charge and getting a 5% credit on a future order!

So in a few days on my Barclays Rewards Boost statement I will find 308 points earned in the Points Earned column of my statement. See statement below for how an order I placed a few weeks ago for household items earned 422 Barclays Arrival Miles.

Here's the point. All these extra points can be yours just for changing the way you purchase the items you use every day and are going to buy anyway and be deposited into your Points & Miles accounts.

Stop! Don't flush those extra 462 points down the toilet! They are yours to collect!

If and when you read about something on Points2Miles, and a link is provided to sign up or apply, and you decide to go for it we would appreciate you using our link so that we get a small referral point/mile bonus. Feel free to e-mail 4Points2Miles@gmail.com anytime you have questions. This is not a for-profit blog. Just passing along tips to anyone who is interested. Thanks!

Your Free Fall Trip to NYC!

How to travel to NYC this Fall for Free!

3X Points at restaurants on first Fridays with Chase Sapphire Preferred card. . . .but to what end? Well, if you sign up now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa and receive their 40,000 point bonus AND take out the additional card (at no charge) to receive that 5,000 bonus then your are sitting at 45,000 Ultimate Rewards points. Those points can be used many ways such as being transferred to airline partners programs to be leveraged to maximum value. But if you want to play it safe you can use the Ultimate Rewards travel portal to achieve a value of 1.2 cents per mile. 

So a quick search on the Ultimate Rewards travel portal shows their sign up bonus can pay the travel for the Fall trip to New York City you have been wanting to take with that special someone! Follow the screen shots below: Here is my search for two round trip tickets from Little Rock (LIT) to New York for October 4-8th:

I choose to apply 22,500 points per Air Redemption:

Which leaves me owing $9.90 for a round trip flight from Little Rock (LIT) to NYC (LGA). Ok, so it's not FREE . . . ..but it's pretty close!

If you like this card and wish to apply please send me a message at 4points2miles@gmail.com for a direct link to Chase. We would receive bonus points and appreciate it!!!

3X Points Opportunity!!!

3X Points Opportunity!!!

3X Points Opportunity!!! It's the first Friday of the month so don't forget to use your Chase Sapphire Preferred card anytime today at restaurants to earn 3X the points! Use it multiple times today from drive thru afternoon drinks at Sonic to evening dinner at Ruth's Chris....or any other restaurant!!! If you are looking for opportunities to accumulate points this is a great card to get. Ultimate Rewards points received from the Chase Sapphire Preferred are widely considered as one of the most valuable points/miles currencies and many opportunities exist to rack up points when you have this card! If you don't have one now please email me at 4points2miles@gmail.com for a link to apply and start off with 40,000 points in your account. . . . that's a minimum of $500 in travel currency for free! And then we would get a small point bonus as well, which would be greatly appreciated!