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Back-To-School Promo: Earn up to 8,500 Bonus Miles Through Airline Shopping Portals

Emily McNutt
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Emily McNutt is The Points Guy's Global News Editor and is based in London.
July 23, 2018
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5 min read
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Five major US airlines are offering bonus miles if you spend certain amounts through their shopping portals. While many of the promos are labeled as back-to-school specific, they're the perfect time to earn redeemable miles — regardless of if you're making back-to-school purchases.

With all five promotions — Alaska, American, Delta, Southwest and United — you can earn up to 8,500 bonus miles for making qualifying purchases. Check each of the promotions below to find out the bonus earning possibilities:

Alaska Mileage Plan Shopping

Alaska's offering up to 1,500 bonus miles when you spend with its shopping portal. For its back-to-school shopping portal promotion, you can earn bonus miles in the following tiers, based on how much you spend:

  • If you spend $150 or more, you'll earn 300 bonus Mileage Plan miles
  • If you spend $300 or more, you'll earn 750 bonus Mileage Plan miles
  • If you spend $500 or more, you'll earn 1,500 bonus Mileage Plan miles

The bonus tiers are in addition to the miles you'll earn per dollar spent. This specific promotion is awarded based on cumulative purchases made via the Mileage Plan shopping portal by August 10, 2018, at 11:59pm ET. Based on TPG's most recent valuations, the maximum 1,500 bonus Alaska miles you can earn as part of this promotion are worth $27.

American Airlines AAdvantage Shopping

American's back-to-school shopping promotion went live last week, but it's still available. With its tiered earning, you can earn more miles with the more you spend:

  • If you spend $150 or more, you’ll earn 500 bonus AAdvantage miles
  • If you spend $350 or more, you’ll earn 1,500 bonus AAdvantage miles

You'll earn bonus miles based on cumulative purchases made by August 19, 2018, at 11:59pm ET. These bonuses are in addition to the miles you’ll earn per dollar spent through the shopping portal. Based on TPG’s most recent valuations, the maximum 1,500-mile bonus is worth $21.

Delta SkyMiles Shopping

Unlike the other back-to-school promos, Delta's isn't tiered. Instead, there's one level of bonus mileage earning. You'll earn 500 bonus SkyMiles after spending $150 with the SkyMiles shopping portal by August 12, 2018, at 11:59pm ET. Like the other promos, the maximum 500 bonus miles are in addition to what you'll earn per dollar spent, and the bonus miles are awarded based on cumulative spend during the promotional period. Based on TPG's most recent valuations, the 500 bonus miles are worth $6.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Shopping

While Southwest is branding this as a semi-annual bonus, it comes along at the same time as other back-to-school promotions. With this Rapids Rewards promo, you can earn a maximum of 2,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points when you spend $550 by August 19, 2018, at 11:59pm ET. The earning tiers break down as follows:

  • If you spend $125 or more, you'll earn 250 bonus Rapid Rewards points
  • If you spend $300 or more, you'll earn 900 bonus Rapid Rewards points
  • If you spend $550 or more, you'll earn 2,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points

The bonus points as part of this promotion are in addition to the points you'll earn per dollar spent. In addition, bonus miles are based on cumulative totals of purchases. Based on TPG's most recent valuations, the maximum 2,000 bonus Rapid Rewards points are worth $30.

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United MileagePlus Shopping

Finally, United is offering up to 3,000 bonus MileagePlus miles when using its MileagePlus shopping portal. Here's how the tiers break down, based on how much you spend:

  • If you spend $150 or more, you'll earn 500 bonus MileagePlus miles
  • If you spend $350 or more, you'll earn 1,500 bonus MileagePlus miles
  • If you spend $600 or more, you'll earn 3,000 bonus MileagePlus miles

The United promotion is good for purchases made by August 19, 2018, at 11:59pm ET. The bonus miles earned as part of this promotion are in addition to the miles you'll earn per dollar spent through the shopping portal. The tier you qualify for depends on the cumulative total of purchases you make during the promotional period. Based on TPG's most recent valuations, the maximum 3,000-mile bonus is worth $42.

Shopping portals are one of the best ways to earn bonus airline miles without actually having to fly. If you know you’ll be making an online purchase, be sure to make it directly through a shopping portal in order to earn the bonus miles.

This story has been update to reflect the extension of some offers.

Featured image by Photo by Tyler Franta via Unsplash.