What are Airmiles and How to Earn/Redeem the Airmiles?

When it comes to getting an Airmiles credit card and redeeming Airmiles or frequent flyer points a lot of travelers have different confusions. In order to break down all those confusions and ensure that you make the best use of these frequent flyer points, we will decode air miles credit cards. Moreover, we will shed light on various tips and tricks to maximize your savings using these Airmiles credit cards in the UAE.

Before we dive deep into the nuances of tips and tricks of airmile credit cards let us take a quick look at what are Airmiles credit cards and how do they work?

What are Airmiles?

Most credit card providers come up with rewards and loyalty programs for their customers. Airmiles or frequent flyer programs are one of such programs that allow travelers to use these points to save on their travel expenditure. Airmiles are accumulated when one spends a specific amount using their credit cards. The number of Airmiles that you gather is dependent on the retail partner. An important point to be kept into consideration while understanding Airmiles is that one cannot equate Airmiles with the number of miles flown with an airline. Airmiles are very similar to other reward programs where one accumulates points against purchases with the credit card which can be later used to get something for free.

How do you earn Airmiles?

Airmiles are usually earned when a cardholder signs up for a loyalty program with a particular airline partnered with their credit card provider. With most loyalty programs cardholders usually earn one mile for a threshold expenditure using your credit card. Various loyalty programs allow cardholders to earn miles by spending at restaurants chains and hotel chains.

If you are signed up with an Airmiles program you can accumulate frequent flyer points/ by spending at different places using your credit card. These places include several online platforms, hotel chains, movie theatres, and supermarkets.

Picking Up the Right Airmiles Credit Card

The best way to extract the maximum benefit out of an Airmiles credit card in the UAE is to signup with the airline that you fly with mostly. Furthermore, it is always worth getting an Airmiles credit card that rewards flyers with bonus Airmiles since it allows them to save a lot on their total traveling expense. When it comes to choosing the right Airmiles credit card, people tend to get confused mainly due to a plethora of available choices.

Typically the best approach to choose the right Airmiles credit card is to choose the card that is partnered with the airline that has a hub in your local airport from where you board the majority of the flights.

However, if you don’t have a specific airline or destination you can always choose Airmiles credit cards that offer lucrative signup bonuses in the form of frequent flyer points aka Airmiles. Cardholders should be very cautious while spending using their Airmiles credit card as spending irresponsibly with these cards might lead to the accumulation of debt. Contrary to the first situation if you have several different cards you should prefer using the ones that provide the maximum points against expenditure.

Redeeming Airmiles

After you’ve finally chosen the right Airmiles credit card and signed up for the suitable loyalty program, it’s the time to redeem your accumulated Airmiles or frequent flyer points. Once you’ve gathered Airmiles higher than the minimum threshold you can use them to buy yourself a free ticket.

You can simply do that by logging into the website of the airline that you’ve signed up with for the loyalty program. Once you’ve logged into the website you can search for the desired flight followed by choosing the payment option. In the payment option, one needs to select the option of using Airmiles or frequent flyer points which allows them to obtain discounts equivalent to their Airmiles.

If your credit card allows you to redeem points with different airlines, all you need to do is to transfer your points to a particular airline or you can book the desired flight using the redemption portal of the credit card that has all the required options listed.

In a Nutshell

Using Airmiles to travel for free or saving money is like an art and it takes time for one to improve and master it. Once you start using Airmiles credit card you can ensure that the points you are using you card in the most efficient manner.