Posted on: Sunday, September 28, 2003
Bagging frequent-flier miles is getting to be sport
By Keith L. Alexander
Washington Post
Jon Esslinger had visions beyond good grades and a diploma when his daughter Becky enrolled at York College last month.
He saw frequent-flier miles.
Not miles collected flying to see Becky on the Pennsylvania campus but miles he gains for nothing other than whipping out his United Airlines Visa card to pay her tuition. For every $1 he pays, he collects a mile on his United frequent-flier account. So far, that has added up to 4,400 miles.
And why stop at tuition? Esslinger and other frequent fliers increasingly arrange their purchases around opportunities to rack up miles. Some business people seek out novel mileage awards to make up for cutbacks on company travel. It's not enough anymore merely to earn miles for long-distance phone calls or for shopping at the neighborhood grocery. Some travelers enjoy the thrill of seeking out and winning miles for purchases as a kind of sport.
"It's about maximizing your miles with every purchase," Esslinger said.
Esslinger, a Reston civil engineer with more than 275,000 miles on United, enjoys using his United Visa card for airfare on other carriers. He recently used it to buy a flight on Delta Air Lines, earning miles on both Delta and United.
Becky and Phil Halterman took advantage of more than low interest rates this past summer when they refinanced their four-bedroom colonial home in Ashburn, Va. Through a Delta program for frequent fliers, the Haltermans were able to earn 1,300 miles for every $10,000 they refinanced. The couple plan to use the 40,000 miles they got for a trip to Florida.
"It was pretty easy," said Becky Halterman. "We were going to refinance anyway, so we figured we might as well get some miles for it."
Travelers won't move their way toward elite frequent-flier status with these kinds of miles. Only miles earned on actual flights go toward lifting the traveler to that level, which offers perks such as free access to airport lounges and early boarding. No one's complaining, however. The buy-your-way-to-miles traveler mostly seeks the awards for future free trips or first-class or business-class upgrades.
Tim Winship, publisher and editor of FrequentFlier.com, said travelers should shop around when making big purchases tied to frequent-flier mileage awards. Companies have to pay the airlines for the miles they offer, so some prices might be inflated to account for those costs.
"If you look around, short of breathing these days, consumers can earn frequent-flier miles for just about anything," Winship said. "All of the big programs now have tie-ups with mortgage lenders and moving services, and they're trying to take advantage of that. But the advice is the same: Be sure not to overpay for the miles when purchasing a service."
Some travelers sweep up thousands of miles with fine-tuned strategies that are too complicated — and labor-intensive — for most airline customers.
Mark Fisher, a software developer in Belmont, Calif., said he uses his Delta-branded American Express card to buy $10,000 in savings bonds. For the purchase, he receives double Delta miles —20,000. Then, capitalizing on the flood of new credit card offers he receives, he transfers the $10,000 balance to another bank card offering him an introductory period with no interest charges for a year. He pays the minimum monthly requirement on the new card and incurs no added cost from interest charges. Then he cashes in the savings bonds after a year and pays off the card. His maneuvers have netted him 20,000 frequent-flier miles and cost him little.
Fisher, who said has accumulated part of his more than 100,000 Delta miles in this way, cautioned that his strategy is only for those who have a real passion for chasing free miles. He added that he often has to work just as hard to get the card companies to credit his miles with the airline.
"You have to have a certain type of personality. If you enjoy playing games and have the appreciation of getting something for nothing," Fisher said. "But you have to be tenacious."
