Holiday Shopping Mileage Deals Start And Always Make Sure You Compare Online Shopping Malls

American Airlines’ AAdvantage program shopping mall has some early double mile deals if you’re early bird shopping for the holidays.

Right now, you can earn double the normal amount of miles at such merchants as:

Macy’s (4 miles/dollar)

Nordstrom (4 miles/dollar)

Under Armour (6 miles/dollar)

North Face (8 miles/dollar)

Sears (not double, but 4 miles/dollar instead of 3)

The shopping portals usually run specials as we get closer to holiday season.  In the past, they’ve included double mile specials as well as larger bonuses for hitting spending thresholds.  Those should be coming out the next few weeks.

It’s also worth noting that even when a shopping portal has a “sale” (offering bonus miles) it still behooves you to shop around.  Using the above examples, you can get 8 miles per dollar on Under Armour purchases through the United MileagePlus shopping portal.

Were you to venture over to the Dividend Miles shopping portal, you could earn 6 miles per dollar on all your Snapfish purchases.  But, why settle for 6 when United is offering 8 miles per dollar for Snapfish?  For that matter, why not use the AAdvantage shopping portal and earn 9 miles per dollar you spend at Snapfish?

This is a great time to think about miles as a currency.  While your primary airline loyalty may play a role in your decision-making, remember that miles have a long shelf-life.  Delta doesn’t expire miles, and United, AA and USAirways all have generous expiration policies as long as you have some activity with them on a periodic basis.  So, it generally makes more sense to book these purchases through the portal that will make you the most miles and save up enough points in that program for an award even if it takes a little while.

If you don’t do a ton of spending online you probably want to pick a primary shopping mall and one backup to make sure you’re earning enough to actually redeem for an award.

Airline shopping portals are just one of the many powerful tools to increase your mileage earning exponentially.