Jaunted

Frequent Flyer Miles / Airline Loyalty Progams / Delta / United / → All Tags

Use Leftover Frequent-Flyer Miles To Give Gift Cards

Remember going to visit your Aunt Tillie in Des Moines, or when you had to take that business trip to meet with a new paper company in Scranton? Well if you don’t recall those travel experiences, it’s pretty likely that your frequent flyer account does. If you’re like most, you probably have a few extra miles left over that you might not use or that might expire. If that’s the case you can always use them for a little last minute holiday shopping. Just cash in your old miles for gift cards to your favorite stores and restaurants.

Last week, Delta had a little sale going on through their SkyMiles Marketplace. Gift cards valued at $50 could be had for just 5,000 Skymiles. It’s hard for us to get rid of extra miles when we know they could take us somewhere warm for winter, but 50 bucks is 50 bucks. However, as the program increased in popularity, Delta upped the cost for redemption up to 8,000 miles. Still, 8,000 miles that you forgot about is a decent deal to get a $50 gift card to Old Navy, Olive Garden, Macy’s, or another suburban shopping paradise.

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Frequent Flyer Miles / Airline Loyalty Progams / Delta / American Airlines / United / Southwest Airlines / Continental / → All Tags

What Kind Of Crazy Loot Can You Score With Your Frequent-Flyer Miles?

Earlier this year we were attempting to cash in some miles from Midwest Airlines accumulated over a lifetime of visiting Mom and Dad, when we noticed something weird: Along with gift certificates and logowear, we were presented with the option of using our surplus miles to buy Amtrak tickets. Well, that's weird: Why would an airline that still handles a generous amount of short-hop regional flights want to remind us that for short distances we could get a guaranteed outlet and more legroom?

Common wisdom holds that frequent-flyer miles just aren't what they used to be, thanks to high occupancies and rampant blackout dates. Not to mention, if you have trouble committing to one airline you probably have a few thousand miles sitting unused with a variety of different companies, with whom you will never fly enough to get the elusive free ticket. So why not cash them in for something wacky instead? With our guide, you'll never forget that trip to Acapulco so long as you have the electric doggy-door opener you bought with its mileage.

After the jump, we break it down by airline

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