A Million Miles in 90 Minutes... Without Stepping on a Plane

An uber savvy TPG reader just sent me his latest accomplishment: 1,005,000 miles in 90 minutes.

His haul includes 405,000 Delta Skymiles and 600,000 American miles- all for opening no-fee credit cards that I posted about (Delta and American). While the Delta deal expired 12/31/10, the American 100,000 and 75,000 deals are still live.

How was this done? Well he signed up for a boatload of cards for himself and his small business as well as five of his family members whose frequent flyer accounts he manages. In total he got approved for 16 credit cards, all with no annual fees for the first year.

While this sounds amazing, mind you he has a LOT of spending to do on a bunch of different cards in order to fully achieve the million mile pay day. Per the spreadsheet he sent me, it looks like he needs to spend about $49,000 in the next 3-4 months on 16 different cards.

Sounds like a hassle, but he has a plan. As a small business owner, he puts all of his business spend on his points earning cards (smart) and his family members are adults, so its really not hard to rack up monthly spend when you put all of your personal expenses on your card.

When all is said and done, he will have enough miles for 11 round-trip business class tickets to Europe. Or, if he wants to stretch his miles, he could take advantage of American's off-peak 40,000 mile Europe/South America coach rewards and take 15 of his closest friends and family on vacation using his 600,000 miles. Not too bad!

Have your own points story to share? Feel free to email me or comment below.
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