How to Make the Most of Your Airline Miles

It used to be that the only real incentive based customer appreciation programs were hosted by a select few corporate restaurants such as TGI Fridays or similar chain establishments. These rewards programs were also often seen at our local grocery stores or drug stores, all of these arriving in the form of some type of trendy looking membership card that you present to your server or cashier upon paying your bill. The deal is that each purchase you make qualifies you for a certain amount of points. The points, if you are lucky enough, add up over time and once you've accumulated what unfortunately often has to be a quite high amount of them, you can then redeem them for merchandise, free meals, and for the really loyal customers, exotic cruise vacations or free hotel stays. Airline companies have similar rewards programs that most are familiar with, where you can accumulate "miles" that eventually can be traded in for free trips.

And that is complicated enough. I mean, what does one do when they really need to purchase some household necessities like laundry detergent or the latest version of Maybelline's extra thick mascara and the dilemma arises of where to go shopping? There you have CVS drugstore that actually gives you cash back on your purchases over time, but the store is far from your house and then there is Walgreens who is overpriced and gives nothing back with a convenient location across the street. It can be quite a difficult choice, considering one's priorities and budget.

I won't even get into the depth of the credit card company promotional incentives. As a way to convince you to apply for many of the major financial lenders, more often than not the credit cards in question will come along with some kind of extra incentive such as Discover Card's cash back program, or a Visa card that accrues points toward Ebay Anything purchases. There are plenty others with gas credits and, of course, airline miles.