Evening News

15

Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is happening now! Follow us as Greg, Nick, and Stephen compete to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines before November 23rd. Who will complete the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?

Follow along here!

  • My double dip experiment with the Aadvantage eShopping mall worked!  I received 10 points per dollar for making a Sears.com purchase using gift cards.  I had bought those gift cards for 10 points per dollar through the Ultimate Rewards Mall on December 9th, so I earned a combined 20 points per dollar.  Even with the UR Mall at only 4 or 5 points, I think this is the best current Sears double-dip option (e.g. buy gift cards through the UR Mall, use gift cards through the Aadvantage mall).
  • The Magazines.com double dip through the UR mall seems to be a bust.  Whereas I reported earlier receiving half credit for purchases of 2 year magazine subscriptions, I haven’t received any credit (yet) for a few purchases of 1 year subscriptions.  I’m beginning to think that someone at magazines.com spotted the error and closed the loophole.  Next experiment: buy gift cards through the Ultimate Rewards Mall, but redeem them through a different portal.
  • This is just a reminder that MileagePlus shopping is running a promotion until the end of the month where you can get 500 bonus miles for a purchase of $75 or more.  If you make one purchase of about $100, this is like an extra 5 miles per dollar on top of the bonus points you would get anyway through this shopping portal.
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Anita

I’ve now tried a second experiment with Magazines.com. This time I purchased a gift card with my husband’s account. Then I purchased the Food Network magazine (an auto renew choice) with my account.

Will keep you posted.

Anita

FrequentMiler

Anita: Thanks for keeping the Magazines.com double dip dream alive! Have you seen your points post yet for your previous purchase of the a gift card for your husband?

Anita

We bought 6 months of American Girl / Discovery Girl bundle for $45.95. This is NOT automatically renewed.

The total charge was $45.95, and the eligible transaction amount was $45.95. He received 1838 UR points.

I posted on a different one of your threads that UR responded to my question about what the exclusion on “auto renew” magazines really means. They said that you’ll earn the current bonus (now 40x) on the INITIAL purchase but won’t earn the current multiplier when the subscription renews. So my next try will be a magazine that is listed as auto renew.

Anita

FrequentMiler

Anita: Great info! My guess as to why you were successful is that a different person bought the gift card than the person who used the gift card. I’ll have to try this!

Anita

On 1/14 I purchased a gift certificate from Magazines.com through the UR Mall logged into my own Chase UR account. No credit yet received for this purchase.

On 1/15 my husband logged into his Chase UR account and spent that gift certificate. He received 40x points today.

Anita

FrequentMiler

Anita: Great contribution! I haven’t tried double dipping by using two different accounts! For your purchase of a gift certificate, it’s too early to assume that you won’t get points. Sometimes they don’t show up for as much as a couple of weeks. If you really don’t get points automatically, you should absolutely contact Chase. Magazines.com shows up under the heading “gift cards” in the UR mall so you are 100% entitled to those points! For your husband’s purchase, could you share some details? What magazine(s) did he buy? How long of a subscription (e.g. 1 year, 2 years)? How much was the magazines.com total charge? How much was the total transaction amount shown in the UR Mall?

Kroozer

I also purchased $500 Sears GC from AA eshopping mall on 12/10/2011 in my spouse’s account and now see that 5000 miles have posted on 1/10/2012.

This is reverse of expectation, ie. Miles posted for gift cards purchase and missing for gift cards use.

FrequentMiler

Kroozer: That is very strange! You had exactly the opposite experience that I’ve had. I didn’t have to do anything to get the AA miles for my Sears purchase. In your case, to try to get miles, go to the “contact” link (https://www.aadvantageeshopping.com/contact-us.aspx) and fill out the form. You will eventually get an email from them. At that point, if they ask, you can email them copies of your receipts.

Kroozer

Did you have get the AA miles for Sears.com purchase using Sears GC automatically or by emailing, calling, complaining, etc.?

I purchased Sears GC via Chase UR mall on Dec 9th 2011 and then purchased goods using those GC via AA eShopping Mall on Dec 10th. The UR points posted in 3 days, while no transaction or points yet from AA mall. Transaction amount was $2500.

What is the way to chase after these AA miles from AA eShopping Mall? Thanks.

Andy

I’ve had gift card purchase points clawed back by Cartera. I’d say 75% of the time they have done so. Best of luck.

FrequentMiler

Andy: Uh oh, that doesn’t sound good! Are you talking about points from buying gift cards or from using gift cards? What reason did they give? There are no T&C against gift cards that I know of.

Peter

AA eShopping is awarding Sears.com purchase now? Surprising?

Are you talking to AA eShopping for the Sept. 2011 Sears gift card spending?

FrequentMiler

Peter: The problem most people had with AA before was with buying gift cards. Using gift cards hasn’t been a problem (to my knowledge). I haven’t received any miles for Sept purchases. I wasn’t in for much so I’ve let it go.

Phil

how long did your sears miles take to post?

FrequentMiler

Phil: it took 10 days to show up as a transaction. It will take longer for me to actually get the miles in my account