If you haven’t yet bought mom a gift for Mother’s Day, you can earn bonus points and miles on flowers, jewelry, some other special gift or even taking her out to brunch or dinner.
All you have to do is use an airline shopping portal or dining program.
According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey, 86 percent of Americans will celebrate Mother’s Day this year and spend an average of $180 per person.
Here are some of the points-and-miles deals on popular Mother’s Day gifts on airline shopping portals and with airline dining programs.
Flowers
If you’ll be sending flowers to the moms in your life, check the various airline shopping portals to see how many bonus points you can earn for that bouquet of mums or chocolates.
For example, Southwest fans like my family can earn 30 points per dollar at 1800Flowers.com when you use reward code SW61 and enter your Rapid Rewards number.
Just be aware that there is a $14.99 delivery fee per order, and these points do not qualify for the 110,000 points you need to earn the Southwest Companion Pass, which lets one person fly nearly free with you for up to two years.
Other airlines have similar deals, and some of the top offers I found included:
30 Delta or United miles per dollar with FTD.
25 or 20 United miles per dollar at 1800Flowers.com. and ProFlowers.com.
20 American AAdvantage miles per dollar with SendFlowers.com and ProFlowers.com.
15 Alaska miles per dollar with Florists.com and SendFlowers.com.
For even more miles, through May 16, you can earn an additional 400 American AAdvantage miles or 500 Alaska miles when you spend $200 in each portal.
Dining
Most of the major U.S. airlines offer a dining program that allows you to earn miles or points when you eat at participating, usually local, restaurants and use a card to pay for your meal that is registered with the program.
It doesn’t cost any extra and can net you some free miles if you pick a participating restaurant for Mother’s Day brunch or dinner.
Check out United’s MileagePlus Dining, Delta’s SkyMiles Dining, Alaska’s Mileage Plan Dining, Southwest’s Rapid Rewards Dining and American’s AAdvantage Dining.
Often, you get 1,000 or more miles if you’re new to the program and then eat at several participating restaurants within a specific period of time.
In-store shopping, movies & more
According to data from Cardlytics, a company that analyzes purchase data, consumers spend more than three times the amount on experiences for mom, such as a meal out or a movie or spa day, than they do on physical goods.
Might as well turn those purchases of experiences into free travel, right?
United’s MileagePlus X app is unique in that it lets you earn rewards on your in-store shopping. Ahead of Mother’s Day, the app is offering 10 miles per dollar at select merchants, and you can get 500 miles for making your first purchase using the app.
There are a few online deals on the app, as well, including Amazon, which grants you a half point per dollar spent. Amazon is not on any of the airline shopping portals, so this is a rare chance to earn airline miles on Amazon spending.
Mom’s gift on your rewards card earns points, too
If you use a miles- or points-earning credit card to pay for your purchases, you’ll at least double your points and miles.
Your best bet for dining will be a card such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Chase Sapphire Preferred, which earn triple (Reserve) or double (Preferred) Ultimate Rewards points. Other best credit cards for restaurants include Barclay’s Uber Visa, Capital One Savor and AARP card by Chase.
For shopping, you can choose your favorite airline card or any other card on which you’d like to earn more points.
Now, what to do with all those miles and points you earned? Sure, you could use them for free travel for yourself, or you might even want to save them for next Mother’s Day and turn them into a special trip for Mom.
See related: Airline shopping buttons make it easy to earn miles, points, 5 ways to earn airline miles – without an airline card, MileagePlus X: A unique, mobile way to earn miles on United
