| Mother's Day offers opportunities to get airline miles Mother's Day, on May 13, is one of those gift-giving occasions where people can end up spending more than they may like on things they rarely buy, such as delivered flowers, mail-order fruit or fancy soap. Those sorts of purchases are sometimes tied to frequent flier promotions, which you can find on airlines' websites. Postal Service. Postage is expensive, however, you can save a few dollars by sending a book at the Media Mail rate through the U. If you're ordering flowers, you might save a little money or get more quality assurance by tracking down a local florist in the town where Mom lives. The thing that can make Mother's Day tricky, and also Father's Day on June 17, is that mothers and fathers are less likely these days to live down the street or across town, and more likely to live out of state. Many airlines also have shopping hubs in the frequent flier section of their websites that allow you to get frequent flier miles at many retailers. For example, if you wanted to buy a Nook e-reader from Barnes ine, are bursting with Mother's Day offers for things such as mail-order chocolate-dipped strawberries, flowers from nationwide merchants, spa gift certificates and so on. With airlines that allow frequent flier miles to expire after certain periods of time without account activity, such as US Airways and Southwest, a small purchase from one of their partners will reset the expiration date on your account and add more miles. These programs, which don't cost anything to join, typically link your frequent flier number to a credit card or debit card, and when you use that card to buy a meal at a restaurant in that program, you get frequent flier miles. Looking ahead, Father's Day is just over a month away. The miles are awarded automatically, with no coupons or certificates needed. But this column is about saving money, and there are always a few tricks that will be able to help you get the most from your money. For example, United Airlines will give you 30 award miles for every dollar spent on flowers from FTD, so if you spend $40 on flowers, you get 1,200 miles. Likewise, if you're taking Mom out to dinner, there's a chance the restaurant participates in your favorite airline's frequent flier dining program. So, someone who signs up for Skymiles Dining as a whole new member, then spends $100 at a participating restaurant, would add 1,500 miles to their account. |
Monday, 7 May 2012
Mother's Day offers opportunities to get airline miles
