Online shopping portals can be a great way to pick up additional miles and points for purchases you’d make anyway. Just for following a specific link, you can earn bonus points in addition to the ones you’d earn for credit card spending. Whenever I make an online purchase, I always check to see which shopping portal has the best bonus.
There’s one promotion on online purchases right now that I think is worth being aware of.
In this post:
Earn bonus airline miles on iPhone purchases
Apple is a retailer that generally doesn’t discount much, though at the moment there are some opportunities to earn bonus miles for these purchases. This promotion is available for a limited time, so you’ll want to act fast.
Today (Monday, July 22, 2024), you can earn bonus miles for Apple purchases. While these offers sometimes provide bonus points on most Apple purchases, in this case it’s limited to iPhones (all other eligible Apple purchases earn 1x miles with each of these programs). Specifically:
- Earn up to 5x bonus miles with Alaska Mileage Plan Shopping
- Earn up to 4x bonus miles with American AAdvantage eShopping
- Earn up to 5x bonus miles with Delta SkyMiles Shopping
- Earn up to 5x bonus miles with United MileagePlus Shopping
Of these bonus options, I think the best value is with American AAdvantage and Alaska Mileage Plan, given the value of these mileage currencies (even though AAdvantage offers fewer miles than the other programs).
What Apple purchases qualify for miles?
If you do take advantage of the opportunity to earn miles on Apple purchases, note the following terms about excluded products, how many products you can purchase, etc.:
Rewards not eligible on: Apple Vision Pro, all Apple Vision Pro Accessories, Apple Pro Display XDR, gift wrap, Apple Developer Programs, AppleCare+ monthly subscription, Orders purchased on the Government or Veterans and Military Stores, Shipping, handling and taxes, Purchases made for resale and bulk orders, Gift cards, Gift certificates, Cash equivalents and Purchases made with coupon or discount codes not found on this site. Limits: Eligible only to a customer for up to five (5) units per eligible product, except iPhone, in which case only two (2) units within a thirty-day (30-day) period are eligible.
Let me again emphasize that only iPhone purchases earn 4-5x miles, while the other eligible purchases earn 1x miles.
Bottom line
At the moment it’s possible to earn up to 5x airline miles on iPhone purchases with Apple. We see an elevated bonus through shopping portals for Apple purchases an average of once per month. This is a worthwhile opportunity if you have any eligible purchases to make.
Anyone plan to take advantage of this Apple shopping portal bonus?
Of course I need to purchase a macbook this week and they're not included. Pain.
The new iPhone always comes out in the fall (usually September). I am holding out for two months until the new phone comes out, and then getting the first portal bonus in which the new phone is eligible.