Several online shopping portals are offering bonus miles right now. Start your shopping on their site, click their link to the store you’re going to buy from, and earn miles for the purchase.
It still pays to check to see which store offers the best deal at the merchant you’re using. I frequently start my shopping at EV Reward, searching the store I’m going to use, and comparing how many miles (or percentage cash back) I will get for the purchase going through different shopping sites.
You can go from one bonus to the next here, and registration isn’t required, just make sure to pay attention to the end dates of the promotions, and be aware that shipping and tax usually does not count towards your spending total. Gift cards are also generally excluded.
United MileagePlus Shopping Back to School Bonus for cumulative spend through August 19.
- 500 miles for $150 spend
- 1500 miles for $350 spend
- 3000 miles for $600 spend
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan Back to School Bonus for cumulative spend through August 10.
- 300 miles for $150 spend
- 750 miles for $300 spend
- 1500 miles for $500 spend
Southwest Rapid Rewards Semi-Annual Bonus for cumulative spend through August 19. American AAdvantage Shopping Back to School Bonus for cumulative spending through July 26. Delta SkyMiles Shopping Back to School Bonus for cumulative shopping through July 29. I’d love to “major in miles” but the Delta offer here is especially week (no surprise). I’ve generally listed these in my own personal order of preference. The United offer has a nice potential payoff and a longer earning period than several of the others. The earn period matters of course since you may need to make multiple online shopping purchases to qualify for a promotion. That said, if you’re going to be spending a lot online over the next month you might want to start with short-expiring less lucrative offers and then move on to offers that are better but where you have more time to earn. It also depends on how much you’ll be spending and when. (HT: Doctor of Credit for some of these, I had written about others previously)
