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So, here’s a really simple way to get up extra miles: when you shop online through the AAdvantage eShopping site, you can get at least one point per dollar spent. For example, in the above screenshot, you can see that I’d get 2 miles for every dollar spent at Banana Republic.

Online Shopping

Now, keep in mind that this is online shopping. But, if you can get shipping cheap enough or are going to buy online anyway, it’s a good way to get extra bonus miles. There’s a ton of merchants in there, and not just crap merchants you’ve never heard of: there’s Apple (1 mile per $1), GAP (2 miles per $1), Office Depot (2 miles $1), Hallmark (10 points per $1), and others (including some “crap merchants you’ve never heard of”). So, for example, when I bought an extra battery for my MacBookPro and a copy of iWork ‘08, I bought it through the AAdvantage eShopping store; even better, when I bought the video camera for my work, I bought it through the eShopping store and picked up quite a few extra miles due to the multiplier.

Strategy

So, the strategy here is when you’re out and about is to think, “could I buy this at the eShopping store instead?” For example, I like the t-shirts and undershirts they have at Banana Republic. I was about to buy some yesterday when I realized that I didn’t really need them right then, so I could wait to order them online. Sure, I’ll have to pay $6 for shipping, but the fun of getting some bonus points will be worth it.

And, of course, if you’re buying with your AAdvantage credit card, you get those miles as well: so, at minumum, you’ll get at least 2 bonus miles per dollar spent.

Of course, when you buy big ticket items, shipping is usually free (as with the video camera), so buying it online is even less of a problem (you just then have the hassle of waiting).

Since there are several office supply stores in there — Office Depot, Office Max, and Staples, at least — you might consider running your office supply purchases through the store as well. And with places like Linens-N-Things you might be able to funnel your wedding gift purchases through the site.

Come Christmas time this year I’m probably going to annoy the shit out of Kim by insisting we buy all sorts of things through the site ;>

In addition to getting miles per $1, there are other deals and additional bonus miles you can get.

It’s worth looking into if you’re going to be shopping online. There’s a ton of merchants in there. So far, I’ve gotten 2,358 not including the recent Apple purchases (which will be around 100 miles). That’s not a huge deal, but it’s sort of miles on the table, so why the hell not?

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Well, here’s another one from the dining rewards program. Between now and the end of the year (12/31/2007), if you click on the “Rate your expierience” link in dining rewards confirmation emails, you’ll get 5 bonus miles per dollar. Here are the details.

I haven’t received an email yet so I haven’t tested this, but this looks like another quick and easy way to get bonus miles.

I can see why they’d want to do this as there’s not that many reviews for restaurants. I’m always surprised that there are any reviews, but even more would be good. Of course, combining and/or partnering with Yelp.com would be an even better feature.

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Check out this offer to get 5 bonus miles in the AAdvantage dining program.

For each dining dollar you spend between 8/12/2007 and Halloween (10/31/2007), you’ll get 5 bonus miles, up to 2,500 miles. So, if you’re an “elite diner” like me, this means you’ll be getting 15 points per dollar spend. Yow!

What is this dining program? Well, I’ll get into it in more detail in a later post, but in summary: you get bonus points when you use your credit card at selected restaurants. Also, if you book hotels through the site, you can get many, many bonus miles. For example, for the last hotel I stayed at I just got 1,195 bonus points.

The kicker with this program is that once you achieve “elite dining status” (I know, it’s totally corny, but suck it up and enjoy the points ;>) you get 10 points per a dollar spent. So, for example, I took some folks out the a nice lunch the other day; the total was $63; so I got I 630 points. Yuh!

To sign up for the program, goto http://aa.rewardsnetwork.com and enroll. In addition to associating your AAdvantage number to the account, the most important thing is to register each of your credit cards with it. The system works through your credit cards: each dollar you spend at the qualifying restaurant gets you points. The “qualifying restaurants” aren’t too plentiful, esp. in places like Austin (but, Austin Java Company is in there, so coffee and cookies are covered), but what the hell? Bonus points!

Like I said, more on aa.rewardsnetwork.com later.

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