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Note: Some of the offers mentioned below may have changed or are no longer be available. You can view current offers here.


United, American, and Southwest are all offering bonuses for shopping through their portals. The bonuses are in addition to what you’d already be earning by shopping through the portal. Shopping portals allow you to earn miles by making your normal online purchases through your favorite online stores. Just by starting at the loyalty program’s portal and using its link to your favorite online retailer, you can get extra miles for your purchases.

With each holiday shopping promotion, the more you spend, the higher your return is. If you have any online shopping to do whatsoever, check to see if your desired retailer is categorized as a holiday shopping retailer as a multitude of brands are.

United

Tiers

  • Spend $150, earn 500 miles
  • Spend $750, earn 2,500 miles
  • Spend $1,500, earn 5,000 miles

The bonus offer expires November 19 at 11:59 pm ET.

Southwest

Tiers

  • Spend $150, earn 500 miles
  • Spend $500, earn 1,000 miles
  • Spend $1,000, earn 3,000 miles

The bonus offer expires November 20 at 11:59 pm ET.

American Airlines

Tiers

  • Spend $150, earn 500 miles
  • Spend $600, earn 2,000 miles
  • Spend $1,200 earn 4,000 miles

The bonus offer expires November 19 at 11:59 pm ET.

Condition for All Offers

  • You must spend money online at the designated “holiday” retailers. Common retailers include Apple, Under Armour, Macy’s, Kohl’s, and Bose.

  • You do not have to meet the spending threshold for the bonus with one purchase. As long as you spend the required amount before the offer expiration date, it can be with as many separate purchases necessary.

Choosing a Portal to Shop Through

Which portal to choose depends on how much you plan on spending, with what retailers, and how much you value each mile. For reference, this is how we value each of the above miles:

  • United = 1.6 cents each
  • Southwest Rapid Rewards = 1.4 cents each
  • American Airlines = 1.5 cents each

Specific retailers through specific portals also offer further details and promo gifts, so consider those factors as well when running numbers.

Of course, none of those numbers may matter if you have an upcoming redemption that requires just a top off of miles. In that case, 1,000 more of any mile could be a lot more valuable than 3,000 miles you have no plans for.

Bottom Line

If there are purchases you were already planning on making online, making them through shopping portals is a super easy way to rake in extra miles for almost no effort. Retailers offer varied bonuses per dollar spent all year long, not just for the holidays. Back-to-school shopping (late summer/early fall) is another time to look out for lucrative portal bonuses. If you ever have a large online purchase planned, always check a site like evreward.com to compare options and see which portal you should use.

At the moment, you can earn 2x to 3.3x miles (on top of the standard per dollar spent bonuses) by doing “holiday” shopping through United, Southwest, and American’s shopping portals. I’m sure we’ll see Delta’s holiday shopping portal bonus announced soon, and possibly one from Alaska as well.

Have miles on the verge of expiration? Shopping portals are also a way to stir up a little activity in your account, re-setting your miles’ lifespan.