To fly to Orlando, you will need to following miles:

• American: 25,000 miles
• United: 25,000 miles
• Delta: Up to 25,000 miles but possibly less
• Southwest: Varies but estimating 12,000 miles

Here are several plans for each:

American AAdvantage Plan (25,000 miles)

Orlando is not typically in American’s Reduced Mileage cities, so you will likely have to pay the 25,000 per person roundtrip price unless you live within 500 miles of Orlando.

• OPTION 1: Sign up for the Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® World Elite™ Mastercard® (annual fee waived first year) when it has a 60,000-point bonus after meeting the minimum spend in the first three months. That gets you 2 round-trip tickets to Orlando!
• OPTION 2: Sign up for a new phone line with Sprint and earn 25,000 miles!
• OPTION 3: Mix & match from various methods to earn miles from the How to Earn American Miles Lesson in Module 2. This could include:
  • Book a hotel room through American and earn up to 10,000 miles per night = 10,000 miles
  • Shop through American’s eShopping mall and earn 1,000 miles = 1,000 miles
  • Order flowers from 1800Flowers.com and earn 15 miles per $1. Spend $100 to earn 1,500 miles = 1,500 miles
  • Sign up for AAdvantage Dining and earn their 3,000-mile bonus = 3,000 miles
  • Spend on your AAdvantage credit card on everyday expenses, paying them off every few days until you reach 5,000 miles = 5,000 miles
  • Open a Mileage Checking account with Bank Direct and earn 4,500 more miles = 4,500 miles
  • TOTAL = 25,000 miles

United MileagePlus Plan (25,000 miles)

• OPTION 1: Sign up for the United MileagePlus Explorer card when the bonus is 50,000 miles after meeting the minimum spend. That gets you 2 round-trip tickets to Orlando!
• OPTION 2: Follow United Sample Plan B in United Module 5.
• OPTION 3: Use some combination of applying for a United or Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card along with spending on your United or Chase Ultimate Rewards credit card (you earn more points per dollar on many categories with Chase Ultimate Rewards cards) + the methods to earn miles in United Module 5 to reach 25,000 miles.

Delta SkyMiles Plan (25,000 miles)

• OPTION 1: Sign up for the Gold Delta SkyMiles credit card when the sign-on bonus is at least 30,000-50,000 miles. That grants you at least one, maybe two, round-trips to Orlando. Sign up for a business credit card, as well, to bring more people along!
• OPTION 2: Follow Delta Sample Plan B from the Delta Module 3.
• OPTION 3: Use some combination of applying for a Delta credit card along with spending on your Delta credit card + the methods to earn miles in Delta Module 3 to reach 25,000 miles or less depending on the current Delta sale price.

Southwest Rapid Rewards Plan (12,000 points)

Remember: If you have the Southwest Companion Pass, one person can fly with you for no additional points. So 12,000 points is effectively 24,000 points!

• OPTION 1: Sign up for the Chase Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus or Premier Visa when the sign-on bonus is at least 30,000 points or the Chase Sapphire Preferred or Reserve when the bonus is at least 50,000 points. That will grant you 2-3 round-trip tickets to Orlando + your Companion!
• OPTION 2:
  • Spend on your Southwest, Chase Sapphire or Chase Freedom cards (Chase cards are more effective as you can earn 2-5 points per $1 spent on many categories) on everyday items that you pay off every few days until you reach 3,000 points = 3,000 points
  • Use the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal to take advantage of subscription offers for cheap (Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Texture, etc.) to earn at least 3,000 points = 3,000 points
  • Continue everyday spending starting at the Rapid Rewards Shopping Portal to earn another 1,000 points = 1,000 points
  • Sign up for Rapid Rewards Dining and earn the first-time bonus of 1,000 points = 1,000 points
  • Refer a friend (spouse is easy!) to sign up for your Chase Sapphire or Southwest credit cards and earn 10,000 points = 10,000 points
  • Total = 18,000 points
• OPTION 3: Use any combination of the methods in Module 2 on How to Earn Southwest Points + spending on your credit cards to reach 12,000 points.

Have fun in Orlando!