Airline Shopping Malls Are Great to Keep Your Account Active, but Don't Use Target.com!

I have tons of airline miles, with United, British Airways, Delta, American, etc from flying with them for years as a traveling underwater photographer, and from accumulating miles by using airline-affiliated credit cards.  Those airline miles are valuable!

I've been able to fly first class on Emirates for "free" by using miles, to Dubai and then South Africa, which was really a great experience.  I was able to get business-class tickets for my wife and her sister to travel to London and Paris a couple of years ago.  I recently visited my friend Beez in State College, PA, by using United miles, and was able to fly from Monterey to State College with a couple of stops in between.  This was a great deal since taking that route normally would cost quite a bit of money due to the low-volume ending airports.  By using miles and "Saver Awards" on United, I only had to use 25,000 miles round trip.  Too bad that United has pretty much stopped issuing award tickets.

Delta and United's miles no longer expire, but they may close your account if there's no activity in two years or certain periods.  I don't quite trust them.  British Airways, Alaska, and American miles all expire in 18 months to three years, depending on the airline.

I have miles in all the above airlines and try to show some activity every two years, regardless of the airline's policy.  It's not difficult to earn miles and there are plenty of websites that discuss how to keep your airline frequent flyer accounts active, and your miles from expiring.

I often try to remember to shop through an airline's shopping mall portal, which you can find from Google.  It's easy -- just go to the airline's shopping portal, enter your frequent flyer account number and password, and then choose a retailer that you would normally order something from.  Unfortunately, the online retailers that my wife and I use a lot -- Amazon, Ebay, Easy -- are no longer on these shopping portals.  But Target, Home Depot, and tons of other retailers are on the shopping portals.

However, BEWARE.  You might as well not shop at Target through an airline's shopping mall and expect to get points.  I made the mistake recently.  The airline shopping mall did track my visit and showed that I had visited Target.  However, it never credited my account with any miles for my Target purchase!  I wrote them to claim the missing miles, and here's the reply:

Kelly Yeung (British Airways Avios eStore)

Mar 26, 05:57 GMT

Dear Mr/Ms Wu,

Thank you for your email.

We’re unable to credit your account as your purchase is not eligible for Avios. The Special Terms of Target say:

Target does not offer a reward on: grocery, household commodities and essentials, home appliances, health, beauty, personal care, baby care items (diapers, wipes, food, and toiletries), pet care and supplies, electronics (including TV, portable, computer software and hardware and services), toys, sporting goods, movies, digital entertainment, video games and consoles, contract mobile phones, prepaid cards, gift cards, music, books and magazines, Target Pharmacy and OTC, automotive accessories, Target Photo, photo lab, Target Optical, Target Café, starbucks, pizza hut express, SweetJOJO, and orders deemed by Target to be for resale.

We’re sorry for any disappointment this causes.

You can view the Special Terms of all our retailers by visiting British Airways Avios eStore online at http://www.shopping.ba.com/, where we have an extensive help section, answering the most frequently asked questions.

Thanks again for contacting us.

Kind regards,

Kelly Yeung
British Airways Avios eStore

*****

So, given all the stuff that is not eligible, what exactly can you buy through Target.com and get miles for?  Everything is excluded, so why is Target even in the airline shopping malls?  I can't think of anything that I'd buy at Target that would be eligible!  

Ridiculous!  And bad on you, Target!  Bad Target!

Home Depot is awesome as is the airline shopping portal, and HD honors the points.  Unlike Target.