This is not a travel post, but of all the different tools that I use to accumulate points, this is one of the most effective – it allows you to triple dip on everyday purchases.

I recently bought some stuff off Old Navy, when the American Airlines Shopping Portal had a 8x purchase, so I’ll show you how the triple dip works on a $50 purchase:

$50 Old Navy Purchase:

AAdvantage: 50 x 8 = 400 AAvantage Miles

MileagePlus: 50 x 5 (+25% bonus if you have the Chase Explorer Card) = 312 United Miles (Purchase a gift card from the Mileage Plus X app)

Southwest Credit Card: 50 Southwest Points (card used to make this purchase)

From what I read in the forums, MPX purchases actually code as an airline purchase on AMEX cards, so if you have an AMEX Premier Rewards Gold card, you can pay with this card, and potentially get 150 Membership Rewards.

Total points from $50 Old Navy purchase:

400 AAdvantage Miles + 250 United Miles + 50 Southwest Points = 700 points (14x per dollar spent)

or

400 AAdvantage Miles + 312 United Miles + 150 Membership Rewards = 862 points (~17x per dollar spent)

MileagePlus X has quite a range of gift cards, mostly chain restaurants and chain stores, so it should come in handy. Be sure to check your MileagePlus X before making your purchases! Gift cards show up instantaneously – I have ever bought a Buffalo Wild Wings gift card after I was given my bill at the end of my meal, just to pay for the meal with a gift card.

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