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List of Partners vendors. Your Money. Personal Finance. Your Practice. Popular Courses. Wealth Wealth Management. Part Of. Cash Back Cards. Table of Contents Expand. Focus on Where You Fly. Consider Airline Partners. Get a Points or Miles Bonus. Choose the Right Credit Card. Dine Out. Use Shopping Portals. The Bottom Line. Key Takeaways Earning frequent flyer miles can land you free flights, upgrades, and other travel perks. The most basic way to earn points is to fly often and with the same carrier.

You can earn points without flying by signing up for a rewards credit card and using it and shopping with program partners. Tip When choosing a rewards card for travel or everyday spending, pay attention to both how you can earn rewards and how you can redeem them. Tip Airline frequent flyer programs can also allow you to buy miles but before you do, calculate what you'll pay to make sure it's worth it. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work.

Here is a list of our partners and here's how we make money. It used to be simple. Almost all U. Revenue-based programs award miles for the amount you pay for a flight rather than the physical distance you fly. Generally, these mileage earnings are based on the price you pay before taxes and fees. A decade ago, revenue-based airline programs were fairly uncommon in the U.

JetBlue was one of the first U. Southwest followed, with a program "enhancement" in Then, the big airlines jumped on the bandwagon. Delta transitioned to a revenue-based system in , and American Airlines and United quickly followed suit.

Now, almost all major U. However, programs differ a bit in how they award miles. We will get into the details below. For better or worse, the three biggest U. General members earn 5 miles per dollar of eligible spending on travel with the airline.

Elite members earn a bonus on this base earning, with all three programs topping out at 11 miles per dollar for top-tier elites. The hardest part of the process can be figuring out the eligible spending amount, which usually includes the base fare and carrier-imposed fees e.

Just log in to your mileage account, then start a flight search. Your potential mileage earnings for the flight will appear during the booking process. General AAdvantage members earn 5 miles per dollar on eligible spending, which comes out to 70 award miles on this flight. If you eat at a lot of restaurants, this helps you get more miles than other cards.

You have to book through the airline itself to get any extra miles or points the card might offer. So, now you have your travel credit card and your frequent flyer accounts all set up. Log in, search for flights, and choose the option that allows you to see fares converted to points or miles instead of dollars.

As with most things involving money, you can dig pretty deep into airlines miles and score all kinds of bonuses. This post originally ran in and was updated on January 5, to include more current information. First off, the term "miles" doesn't equate to the actual number of miles you can fly—it equates to the number of miles you've flown.

I just have to say, this is the first time I've ever seen this explanation of what airline miles, and that alone makes this article very worthwhile to me. That's half the cost of flying American or United. Southwest is also a Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. You can quickly transfer your credit card rewards points to book a Southwest flight, even if the legacy carrier is your primary airline. Another reason to fly Southwest is for their Southwest Companion Pass.

With this perk, your travel companion only flies for the price of fees and taxes when you book your seat with cash or points. Hint: you can earn the pass much quicker with one of Southwest's credit cards. JetBlue is another discount airline with competitive rates across the United States and to the Caribbean. They have floating award flight prices. Their "Blue" fares can be cheaper than the legacy carriers for cross-country flights.

For our litmus test, a one-way flight from Atlanta to L. Where can find bargains is in short-haul flights. Legacy carriers will charge between 5, and 10, miles for the same flight. Prices will vary for international flights.

Some airlines use a distance-based program and others use a zone-based award chart. For economy seats, expect to pay between 15, miles one-way for nearby countries.

You'll likely spend around 30, miles if you fly to Europe or Asia. For first class and business class, 60, to 70, miles is a good rule of thumb for most airlines. Even though you pay more, you might get more value per miles for flying premium cabin.

When you fly overseas, you also need to pay attention to fuel surcharges. If you choose an airline like British Airways or Lufthansa, the fuel surcharge may feel like you aren't getting a free flight.