The Free Miles and Points series continues! So far we’ve covered MyPoints and e-Rewards. Now we’re moving on to e-Miles, a program that has some in common with the other two, but is a far simpler way to earn miles. Their catch phrase “It’s Free, It’s Easy, It’s e-Miles” sums it up well.
How it Works- e-Miles rewards you (typically 5 miles) for clicking through links and sometimes watching short videos. After that, a sponsor’s webpage is opened in a separate window, while you are redirected to a very short survey, typically just 3 questions. Click-thrus and surveys…sound familiar? Earn additional miles for buying or signing up for stuff (optional).
e-Miles Rules
The Currency and Rewards- Miles are miles and most transfer at a 1:1 ratio in 500 miles increments. With the Hilton HHonors program however, 500 miles = 650 points, which makes sense, considering HHonors points, arguably, aren’t as valuable as airline miles.
e-Miles Sponsors
Free Miles- e-Miles is free to join and there are a fair amount of free earning opportunities each month. I typically get about 3 per week. No one should have a problem easily acquiring 500 miles or more per year without additional spend.
Taking it to the Next Level- So obviously you earn more miles by participating in sponsor activities/buying stuff, however did you know that you can sign up for e-Rewards through e-Miles? After you’ve been a member for a little while, you can expect an e-Rewards sign-up opportunity to appear. This is a great way to get yourself more e-Rewards accounts once you’ve maxed out sign-ups over there and is a great work around for their whole “invitation-only” thing. There are currently 10 sponsors on e-Miles, so that is potentially how many extra e-Rewards accounts you could go sign up for. Once you earn enough e-Rewards currency, transfer it to e-Miles, then transfer to whatever program your account is linked to. Multiple e-mail addresses and good organization skills are key. Start with an email address, sign up for e-Miles, use the same address to sign up for e-Rewards, and be sure to write it all down if you decide to open multiple accounts. As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, I find it helpful to include the sponsor name in the email address, for example- yourname_airlineprogramname@hotmail.com.
Overall Analysis and Other Stuff You Should Know- So I don’t earn very many miles doing E-miles, but I don’t really spend a lot of time doing it either. I maybe check my accounts once every 2 weeks and it only takes a few minutes a month to take care of business. My take on the program is that it’s a very simple, low-maintenance, hassle-free way to steadily feed to your account balances. It’s a great program for people who don’t want to waste a lot of time, but who are maybe looking for a free way to keep miles in lesser-used mileage accounts from expiring.
I don’t spend a lot of money through e-Miles, which is perhaps one reason why it hasn’t paid off big time for me yet, but one thing I do admire about the program that sets it apart from the others, is its partnerships with charities. The rewards aren’t great, typically just a few hundred miles, but in the end you’re still earning while doing something nice for someone else, which is always worth thinking about, especially during this time of year.
The real value in e-Miles, in my opinion, it in it’s relationship with e-Rewards. If you combine the two, and get multiple accounts, you can just about double what you could be doing with e-Rewards alone.
In addition to sponsor offers, e-Miles has an e-market shopping portal, however the partner are limited and the rate is just 1 mile/$ which is usually lower than other sites. I would only advocate using their portal if you need to top off an account in order to transfer miles out of the program. Otherwise check out a site like evreward.com to find the best portal-shopping deals.
e-Miles somewhat recently introduced a mobile app, which is a great way to earn on-the-go, so be sure to check that out as well.
How to Sign Up- emiles.com
Update: As of 12/30/12 Delta will no longer be an e-miles partner