7 Ways To Earn More Miles In 2024 (2024)

The easiest way to earn more miles this year is to apply for a new travel rewards credit card. You’ll give your rewards account a boost and earn rewards on everyday spending.

With so many credit cards offering bonuses over 50,000 points, you’re probably wondering which card you should apply for. That depends on your spending habits, travel goals and the airlines servicing your area.

Ideally, you should have at least one credit card in your wallet that offers transferable points—Amex Membership Rewards®, Citi ThankYou® Points, Chase Ultimate Rewards®or Capital One Rewards, to name a few. This way, you’re not tied down to one program and have more flexibility when it comes to redeeming points.

If you’re looking for a new credit card with a solid bonus, the Citi Premier® Card is an appealing option. The card currently offers 60,000 points after spending $4,000 in purchases within the first 3 months of account opening. With over a dozen travel transfer partners, you’ll have many options when redeeming points for your dream vacation.

For example, a flight to Hawaii will cost you just 15,000 miles round-trip when you transfer points to Turkish Miles&Smiles. If you want to spend the summer in Europe, you can get there for just 60,000 miles round-trip by transferring your ThankYou points to Avianca Lifemiles. The possibilities aren’t quite endless, but there are many ways to put this bonus to good use.

You should also take spending requirements into consideration. Some of the biggest credit card bonuses require over $3,000 in spending in as little as three months. You’ll want to make sure you’re able to get it done without overextending yourself. The last thing you want to do is get into debt to earn miles.

Credit card category bonuses are a great way to earn miles beyond the initial welcome bonus. Whether it’s groceries, dining or gas, the right credit card line-up will exponentially reward your largest purchases. Consider even putting a sticker on your card to remind yourself what purchases each card should be used for.

For example, the American Express® Gold Card earns 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at restaurants (on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar beginning on 1/1/2025), 4 Membership Rewards® points per dollar at US supermarkets (on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1 point per dollar), 3 Membership Rewards® points per dollar on flights booked directly with airlines or on American Express Travel, 2 Membership Rewards® points per dollar on prepaid hotels and other eligible purchases booked on American Express Travel and 1 point per dollar on all other eligible purchases (terms apply, see rates & fees).

Familiarize yourself with these cards beforehand so you’ll make better choices when it’s time to apply for and use a card for daily spending.

Annual credit card spending bonuses can help you get more rewards from your daily spending. That’s especially rewarding if your card earns just 1 mile per dollar spent on most purchases because you’ll still get rewarded in the long run.

For example, those who hold the Alaska Airlines Visa Signature® credit card can earn Alaska’s Famous Companion Fare™ . You can earn this annual companion fare starting at $122 ($99 fare plus taxes and fees from $23) after you spend $6,000 or more on purchases within the prior anniversary year. Depending on the flight, this benefit alone could save you hundreds of dollars.

On the hotel card front, the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express* offers a free reward night when you spend $30,000 in a calendar year and a second when you spend $60,000.

If you want to earn more points this year, keep track of these annual bonuses and make an effort to complete the spending requirements. You’ll earn more points, free nights and get to travel more just for shifting your spending.

All information about Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express has been collected independently by Forbes Advisor

Adding an authorized user (AU), is a great way to earn more miles beyond your personal spending. You’ll want to add an authorized user you can trust, since you’ll be on the hook for any charges they make. That’s why household members are ideal for this purpose.

If you have a business credit card, adding employees as authorized users can also help you supercharge your earnings.

Some credit cards even offer bonus points for adding authorized users. For example, Citi occasionally sends out flyers in the mail offering 2,500 ThankYou points for adding an authorized user.

These bonuses are a nice incentive, but the continued earnings from authorized user spending can stack up even more. So go ahead and add a trusted family member to your card. You’ll increase your earning capabilities, often without an additional card fee and potentially even give your AU’s credit a boost.

Nearly every airline and hotel rewards program has an online shopping portal where members can earn rewards at popular merchants like Macy’s, Gap, Bed Bath & Beyond, Apple and more.

All you have to do is head to your credit card’s shopping portal, login and click through to a merchant’s website. You can earn up to 20 miles or more per dollar spent depending on the portal and merchant.

A great way to find out which shopping portal is paying out the highest rates is to use an aggregator like Cashback Monitor or CashbackHolic. Search for the merchant you want to shop with and you’ll get a list of portals offering the highest point and cash back bonuses.

Many shopping portals offer bonus points for meeting certain spending thresholds around the holidays. By signing up for email notifications, you’ll know when deals like this are going on.

Oftentimes credit card companies incentivize their cardholders with targeted spending bonuses. The best example of this is Amex Offers.

Eligible American Express cardholders can log in to their accounts and navigate to the Amex Offers and Benefits section to find discounts and spending bonuses for popular merchants. Spending offers are updated frequently and you can even sign up to receive notifications.

It’s fairly common to see discounts of up to 15% on wireless phone charges or car insurance premiums. The travel offers aren’t shabby either, with statement credits from brands like Marriott and Hilton amounting to 20% or more.

Sometimes there are bonus-point offers at gas stations, grocery stores and popular retailers. It’s absolutely worth checking Amex Offers for bonus-point offers if you want to earn more miles on your American Express credit card.

On a similar note, Citi sends out targeted offers for popular spending categories. Recently, Citi Premier card holders reported offers of 5 bonus points per dollar spent on the first $500 spent on groceries, gas stations, drugstores and mass transit.

Be on the lookout for these deals and combine them with shopping portal rewards when possible. You’ll see your reward balance increase even more rapidly this year.

Signing up for a dining rewards program is a great way to earn more miles this year without much thought or effort. All the frequent flyer programs and a few hotel chains have dining rewards programs offering bonus points at participating restaurants.

All you have to do is sign up and register a credit card (preferably one that earns bonus points on dining). You’ll automatically earn points for dining at participating restaurants. These points are in addition to the rewards you earn from your credit card.

It’s important to note that most hotel and airline programs are part of the same dining rewards network, so you can’t register the same credit card with more than one program at a time. If you only have one rewards card, you can always sign up with a dining rewards program, take advantage of the first-dine bonus and then register the card with a different program to keep earning those first-dine bonuses.

Here is a list of dining rewards programs affiliated with airlines and hotel rewards programs:

• AAdvantage Dining
• Alaska Mileage Plan Dining
• Delta SkyMiles Dining
• Eat Around Town by Marriott Bonvoy
• Hilton Honors Dining
• IHG Rewards Dining
• JetBlue TrueBlue Dining
• Southwest Dining Rewards
• Spirit Airlines Free Spirit Dining
• United MileagePlus Dining

Earning more miles and points is all about diversifying your earning strategy. By maximizing your most common spending categories via credit card category bonuses, online shopping portals and dining rewards programs, you can substantially increase your earnings. Whatever your travel goals, you can get there much faster by incorporating these simple steps into your travel hacking strategy.

To view rates and fees for the American Express® Gold Card please visit this page.