My wife and I have been able to travel extensively in the past few years because of points and miles. Since we started dating ~3.5 years ago, we have traveled to 7 countries and made numerous trips within the US. In talking with our friends and family members about our travels, we have found ourselves helping them travel for less. If you’re interested in learning these same secrets, then take a second and sign-up for the Million Mile Secrets email newsletter and we’ll send you travel tricks and deals every day.
I woke up one morning, and told my wife we should start a travel consultancy. It made sense because we were already doing it anyway – so we did. And in the process we have earned 100,000+ AMEX Membership Rewards points and counting, just from a little side hustle! Here are all the ways to earn AMEX Membership Rewards points.
There isn’t a limit to the number of miles & points you can earn if you’re willing to be creative. Hopefully this inspires you to step out and give your idea a shot!
How We Help Others Travel
We all have those friends or family that pay a ridiculous amount of money for an economy flight and pay with a debit card. It makes you die a little on the inside, right?
We started Life Is Short Travel with the idea to promote wanderlust, curiosity, and adventure for all travelers. In an age where our time is our most precious asset, many people don’t want to take the time to search for and book the best deal. And that is where we come in to assist!
We find cheap flights, our clients send us cash via Venmo, we book it. Simple as that!
While we have contemplated many different pricing models, we came up with the simplest one. FREE! We want travel to be as accessible as possible to everyone.
We do not charge for our time, however we do accept tips.
How We Earn the AMEX Membership Rewards Points
Read all the ways to earn AMEX Membership Rewards points in 2019
After a ton of analysis, we decided the The Platinum Card® from American Express would be the best for booking flights & maximizing our time.
For example, let’s say we book $1,000 in flights. If we book direct with the airline, we earn 5,000 American Express Membership Rewards points. At an average value of 2 cents per point, that is $100 in value! So the hourly “rate” on this flight is pretty solid! Yes, we aren’t putting actual dollars in our pocket, but it is saving us money in the long run.
Along with loads of points for booking with the American Express Platinum Card, my wife and I are able to access lounges all over the world throughout our travels. So it’s probably a card that we’d have applied for even without our side hustle.
In addition to the AMEX Platinum card, there are plenty of other cards that earn AMEX Membership Rewards points:
| Personal Cards | Business Cards |
|---|---|
| American Express® Gold Card | The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express |
| The Platinum Card® from American Express | American Express® Business Gold Card |
| Amex EveryDay® Preferred Credit Card from American Express | The Business Platinum® Card from American Express |
| Business Green Rewards Card from American Express |
Bottom Line
We are living through the gig economy right now. There are SO many different things you can do to earn cash and points through day-to-day spending! My wife and I are also experimenting with a online reselling business to earn extra money and miles & points too!
We want to keep our wanderlust alive by any means necessary, and earning more AMEX points will help continue that. And helping other people travel is a true joy of ours.
Do you have a side hustle you use to generate extra income or credit card rewards? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
If you’re interested in learning how to make the most of your miles & points, then subscribe to our email newsletter.
Well from your article it appears you are acting as an unlicensed/unregistered/non-acredited travel agent.
And by booking the tickets with your Amex Platinum(?)card for your clients/friends, one would question which, if any, of the benefits associated with the card pass to your clients/friends specifically things the travel insurance or medical assist protections, rental car coverage, and certainly not the miles/bonus miles for booking through Amex Travel which you appear to be keeping for yourself.
You may be getting the miles but your clients/friends are certainly not getting the least expensive flight options and they are missing out on the exact benefit of the bonus miles that you are specifically depriving them of by using your own credit card.
This may be a great side gig for you but appears to be somewhat disengenuous to your clients/friends.
When they are not charging for their time and doing it free of cost, what’s wrong with them keeping the miles that they get by using their Amex card. Do you expect them to do free service and also pass on the miles Benifits to their clients :)..whether they need to be licensed etc is a different topic but otherwise I would do the same thing if I am in their place when I am not chaneging for my time as sometimes it’s takes considerable time searching for better deals..this is obviously not for travel or internet savvy people who can do it themselves..this is for those who doesn’t have time to search themselves or who is not sure how to find good deals..
Have you run into any issue when a customer changes or misses a flight and the airline credits your account and charges them again or the client needs the original card for verification etc?
Thank you For sharing your wisdom
I think this makes total sense. As someone else mentioned, if someone isn’t particularly internet savvy or perhaps does not use credit cards you can purchase their tickets. I have booked plenty of tickets for family members who were traveling to visit me (on my dime) and they have never had to show the credit card that was used to book the flight.
I hope you have business insurance in case there is an issue.
I make my points via eBay very systematically. I buy high-end electronics then resell them. These electronics cost .5k-2k per unit, so its easy to hit minimum spend. It is also more risky. I set alerts on my phone, so I get notified if something I want comes for sale below a certain price. I then target my purchases and sales only when eBay is offering extra eBay Bucks, thereby double dipping. Racked up tons of miles at a small profit.
But does AMEX not approve of MSR if used on say restaurant gift cards?