How I Earned My Miles

Travel for me began as a kid heading back and forth to Daytona Beach with my family on Spring Break vacations.  More non-traditional travel was accomplished rolling around the country in my parent’s full-size van tent camping across the United States.  The Summer I was 8/9 (my birthday is in July) we traveled through nearly every state west of the Mississippi River on a tent-camping trip.  It was a five week vacation and we only spent a handful of nights in a building either at a relative’s home in San Diego or at a conference hotel in Salt Lake City.  Two years later we also tent-camped for three weeks up and down the remaining states my sister and I had not visited east of the Mississippi River, again only staying in a hotel a few nights for a conference.  I open with those facts as a quick disclaimer for why I have earned so few miles, which might seem strange given my next statement: I have earned five long-haul free flights from my frequent flyer miles.

Now, a long-haul is not earning 25,000 miles over time and hopping on a plane in Indianapolis and heading up to New York City for a weekend.  No, no.  I have earned three free flights round trip into Europe from the Midwest and two to Hawaii.  I did all this while only having about 50,000 miles in my lifetime mileage account with Delta (and then Northwest).  A typical coach-class round trip flight to Europe on Delta will cost you 90,000 miles.  So how was I able to earn five free long hauls on less than 50,000 miles?

That’s what this series will cover.  How I Earned My Miles will detail the difference between Elite Qualifying Miles and just good ol’ regular miles you see on television commercials and E-mail marketing pieces.  More importantly, I hope to show you avenues to earn miles that you may have not considered before.   Topics covered and inroads to earn miles will include flying (it’s more complicated than you’d think), credit cards, consumer habits, promotions and more.  I’ll open the series with a warning about collecting miles, a discussion of value of your earned miles and a plea for you to create a long haul goal for your miles earned.  I hope you enjoy the series and get to learn a thing or two that put you one step closer to that dream trip to China, Paris, Maui or wherever your little traveling heart desires.