Dining Rewards... a.k.a. Airmiles for Eating

Most airmiles programs partner with the Rewards Network and allow you to also earn miles when dining at certain restaurants. The Rewards Network is often seamlessly integrated with your airmiles program. There are no extra or hidden costs for you, and it is completely automated once you take a few minutes to set things up. You just need to open an account and register your credit card numbers with the program... up to 5 cards, and, then any time you dine at a participating restaurant with one of these cards, airmiles will magically post directly to your airmiles program account usually within a week. These really are free miles that you are likely missing out on, especially if you eat out with any regularity.

Generally, you will accrue miles at a rate of at least 3 per dollar spent, however, there are often promotions and incentives that can increase that rate. Our favorite is the one that kicks in after a number of dines within a calendar year (usually between 10-15); the rate then jumps to at least 5 miles per dollar spent for all dines for the remainder of the year. When you do this on a credit card that also gives you miles for purchases, these miles are in addition to the miles that you get per dollar spent on the card, so this often means you are getting at least 4 miles per dollar spent. The particular rates, of course, vary depending on the airmiles program.

Although only a small percentage of restaurants in a city will choose to participate, you can often find a few that you like. You can search for participating restaurants here. We have our favorites, but it is a nice surprise when we eat someplace new and discover it has netted us some additional miles. And, every now and then, we browse the list and look for a new place, esp. if we know we are about to spend a lot on a meal.

You can belong to many dining rewards programs, i.e. one for each participating airmiles program, however, a credit card can only be associated with one airmiles program at a time. We recommend choosing the dining rewards for one airmiles program and adding all of your credit cards to it.

For your reference, here are some quicklinks for registering for dining rewards with our favorite airmiles programs. Happy Dining!

• Northwest WorldPerks Dining for Miles
• Delta SkyMiles Dining
• United Mileage Plus Dining
• Unfortunately, Continental OnePass no longer participates in the Rewards Network and has no dining rewards program at the moment.
  

Earn DOUBLE Miles Shopping with Northwest WorldPerks Mall

One of the many ways we accumulate airmiles is by making our usual online purchases through either Continental's ShopOnePass or Northwest's WorldPerks Mall. Both of them offer miles for your purchases at popular sites like the Gap, Target, Macys, Dell, etc. Some partner sites get you as much as 20 miles per dollars spent (e.g. FTD and Teleflora) for purchases you were going to make anyhow. During the Christmas season alone, we easily rack up 10,000 miles or more.

From now until the end of September, Northwest is offering double the miles for almost all purchases. That means you can get 8 miles per dollar spent at Figleaves, 4 miles per dollar spent at Macys, 4 miles per dollar spent at Barnes and Noble, and more. You just have to make sure to access them through Northwest and enter your membership number in order to receive proper credit. As with all special offers, you have to register for it. Click here to register and to see complete details.

Severe Turbulence on a Continental Flight

A Continental Airlines flight on Monday en route from Brazil to Texas hit sudden and severe turbulence over the Atlantic and was forced to make an emergency landing in Miami. Read more about it here and accounts from passengers here. It is an echo of Air France Flight 447 that came down in the Atlantic on May 31st, also originating from Rio de Janeiro.

We have experienced a bit of turbulence ourselves in our travels, but nothing, thankfully, this extreme. However, it is never far from our minds while we fly.

Get a Free Continental Reward Ticket Fast!

Want a free reward ticket right away? Now's your chance. When folks hear that many of our great trips are done with free frequent flyer reward tickets, they often get excited and want to know our "secret" for getting them. However, as soon as we start listing all the many things we do to amass miles, they generally start to zone out. We think an hour of our time per week is a tiny investment for the pay-off, and we actually think it's fun to come up with new and creative ways to earn more miles but we understand that you might need to see (at least) one quick pay-off in order to get excited.

So here it is: a way to earn your first free ticket, with one simple action. Well, maybe 6 actions, but they're all related. For the past 2 years, Continental OnePass has offered between 20,000 and 25,000 miles for opening a Chase checking account. The extraordinary offer is usually valid for a 2 month period but they've re-issued the offer for the 2nd time this year, and this time it's being extended to the end of the year!

All you have to do is open a new Chase checking account, with a new $100 deposit ("new", meaning you can't withdraw the money from an existing Chase account to open the new one). That's the main step; the other 5 requirements are simple: just request the Chase OnePass Preferred Debit card ($40-$60 annual fee) and make 6 purchases with it within 60 days of opening the account. You will receive 10,000 miles for opening the account and 15,000 for making the 6 purchases within 60 days. For those who don't want to pay the annual fee for the preferred debit card you can skip that part and just get 10,000 miles for opening the account only. Personally, we think the fee is worth it because with the Preferred card, you also get 1 mile for every dollar charged to the card. We use it to pay as many bills as we can, and therefore get miles for our utility bills, insurance, groceries, etc.

See our primer on Air Miles to learn more about the different programs but for now, get on down to Chase and start planning your first free trip!

Click here to get the voucher you need to print and bring with you to open the account, and also for full details on the terms of the offer.

Airmiles, Do You Have What It Takes?

Although it is easy to do, collecting airmiles takes some effort. It adds a few extra steps to the travel planning process and those extra steps will require a little bit of your time. A little extra time translates into a lot of inconvenience... if you have not found the right motivation. To this end, picture yourself seeing Paris or London for the first time, walking over a lava field on the Big Island in Hawaii, visiting the Taj Mahal, strolling down the Vegas strip, or wherever it is that you would like to be that seems unattainable at the moment; and keep that vision in mind. This is what it is all about for us as well. We keep our eyes on the prizes. As a result, we have come to view those extra steps as the tools that help us to achieve our travel goals. They are no longer inconveniences, but opportunities that we are excited to discover and use to our advantage whenever possible.

Collecting airmiles also requires a bit of patience. Airmiles are not something you can amass in an instant nor are they a discount program that allows you to save on a trip that you are planning right now. You collect airmiles so that 6 months from now, you can take a trip or several trips and ideally many more!

If you can find your motivation (i.e. picture yourself traveling), roll-up your sleeves and put in a little extra effort, and recognize that it will take a little time, we promise you that you will see great results. We have taken countless trips on airmiles and are eagerly planning where to go next with our stockpiles... and, of course, how to earn more miles!

Photo of the Week: The Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio, Jamaica

The Blue Lagoon in Port Antonio, Jamaica is among the most beautiful natural attractions of the Island. So much so, that it has been used in the filming of several movies; most notably, the Brooke Shields movie "The Blue Lagoon". With its change of colors from azure blue to deep emerald, to sapphire and turquoise, the ‘Blue Hole’, as it is also known locally, is absolutely mesmerizing. It is 200 feet deep and fed by underground fresh water springs as well as connected to the Caribbean Sea, making for a thoroughly refreshing swim. Though its beauty is exotic, it is not remote. Located just seven miles east of Port Antonio, it is convenient and easy to get to by car.