10 Ways to Build & Manage Flight Miles

For many in this world, traveling is seen as too expensive to do on a consistent basis. Available paid time off through your employer can also limit that time you have to go somewhere you’ve always wanted or visit a bucket list location. There’s also those that have families to take care of that can impact how often you travel. Simply put, not everyone is in position to do so frequently and have the mileage necessary to save on travel costs.

For me, I didn’t really travel a lot until I got into the industry I’m in now traveling across the country. But over time, my love for it grew to a point that it’s what I think about constantly. Along the way, by traveling for business and personal reasons, I’ve developed some ways to be able to do so more often. Just to be clear, I don’t make the most money, but I’ve found more ways to do more of what I want. This is especially true with my travel plans.

Here are ten tips to help you build and manage miles. I’ve personally done eight of the ten listed here. They are really in no order, except for the first one obviously:

1. Sign up for every airline mileage program possible. This really should go without saying, but I still know a number of people that don’t take advantage of this. Regardless if you travel for business or just occasionally, this still should be done because there are plenty of ways to build miles to fly more often.
2. Keep your mileage programs active. With programs such as Delta, you don’t have to worry with this. Others such as American Airlines, United, and Southwest have expiration dates for inactivity. And while it is possible to have your miles reinstated if you lose them, it’s not worth the risk, especially if you have a lot of them. There’s plenty of ways to keep them active besides flying, which I’ll cover in the rest of this post.
3. Book flights on partner airlines so you can continue building miles. This is especially true for international flights. In many cases, spend a little more on a flight of a partner airline instead of the low-cost ones so that you can build miles and to keep from losing them on those airline programs that have expiration dates. On both of my trips to Europe, I flew most of the time within the continent and used partner airlines with American Airlines(British Airways), Delta(Alitalia & Air France), and United(TAP Portugal & Aegean) whenever possible. Research the airline for partnerships before you purchase so that you can get mileage on programs you use more frequently.
4. Build airline miles besides flying through various retailers. There are plenty of ways to build mileage up doing this, and it varies depending on each mileage program. For example, Sprint and American Airlines have a contract to where you can get bonus miles every month by simply paying your bill on time. You can get 5,000 miles a year doing that, and that’s one of the ways I build my AA account. This serves two purposes. One, obviously you build up miles. Two, this also keeps your accounts active for those that have expiration dates like AA does for instance. So because I have a Sprint account that gets me over 400 miles a month deposited in my AA account, it keeps it active so that my miles don’t vanish. Do some research and you may be surprised to see what you can do to build up mileage, so you can see what you want more often and/or sooner than you want.
5. Build airline miles through hotel rewards programs. Some hotel chains such as Best Western give you the option of switching to earning miles instead of hotel points. Because flights are typically the biggest traveling expense you’ll have, this is a route worth considering. So if you’re already signed up with any hotel rewards program, check to see if you can earn miles instead of points on them.
6. Buy miles through mileage programs. This is not the most ideal way to me to build them, but I would do this if you’re getting close to your expiration date on accounts that have them if you want to assure you don’t lose them. This is another option to consider to obtain miles.
7. Sign up for airline credit cards with special deals to build miles. Normally, I’m not one that recommends doing this, but sometimes if you want to go bad enough somewhere, this is the best option. Airline miles can be built up by purchasing a flight and/or reaching a certain threshold spent on a particular credit card. I’ve seen some go as high as 70,000 miles after a qualifying purchase. Plus, certain mileage limits can give you airline status that exempts you from having to pay extra for baggage costs and such, too.
8. Purchase mileage boosters on your flights. When you check-in on your flights, you can purchase extra miles with mileage boosters with some airlines. I’ve had options to purchase up to 3,000 on some flights in the $50-60 range. It may not be the ideal way to build them, but for the occasional traveler, this can be one of the most effective ways to do so.
9. Don’t jump on the first deal or special you see. There can always be one better, so check out all available places first. This also applies to airline mileage use so that you don’t burn them all up on one trip. Prices and mileage fluctuate daily, so don’t assume that the first deal you see is the best one. That can work against you, but I can tell you that its helped me just as often. Tip: If you have an American Airlines or United Airlines account with enough money/miles to take that trip you want, then place a hold on a flight. This way, you don’t lose out on the trip as the hold is there to lock the price and mileage rate in place. AA lets you do so for seven days while United allows three days. If you don’t purchase in that time frame, the hold is lifted. I would max out those days as long as you can so that you can see if the price and mileage drops to where you get a better deal. Or if a flight at a better time slot you want more is cheaper. Worst case scenario, you take the price/mileage rate that was held. I personally did this for my trip to Detroit/Windsor during Thanksgiving week last year, and I was able to go round trip there out of Greensboro(GSO) for 16.5k in mileage. Yes, you read that right, which is the cheapest amount of miles I’ve ever used on a round trip flight anywhere. That’s a prime example of what that hold can do for you, so take advantage of that. Don’t burn all your miles up if you can help it.
10. Be flexible and don’t pigeon-hole yourself on flights dates or departure airports. What I mean here is be as flexible as you can because certain days and times of the year are cheaper than others. If you can save more miles by going on a different date or time, then consider doing this, so that you don’t waste more miles than necessary. Also, don’t limit yourself to just the closest airport to you. If you live within a couple of hours or so from another airport with a better mileage rate than the closest one to you, go with that one especially if its a big difference in the two airports. I know some areas don’t have that luxury, but avoid putting yourself in a spot that limits the ways you save/use miles whenever possible.

Mileage programs can allow you to travel and save more. Even if you’re an occasional traveler, there’s other ways to build miles up over time to save you down the road. Just remember to keep your accounts active if they have expiration dates, and be efficient with your use of them so that you can maximize the amount of trips you take.