Sign up for a new credit card. Credit card companies are vying for consumers and some offer very good deals on signing. Be aware of annual fees, however. Cards that offer free miles for your everyday purchases often have yearly membership fees; sometimes, these fees are waived the first year but will be charged in subsequent years. Also be aware that you may need to spend a certain amount of money during a short period of time to qualify for the free miles. Read the credit agreement carefully to know exactly what you need to do to get the free miles.
Rent a car from a national car rental company that will add miles to your account. For example, Hertz lets you collect points every time you rent a car, and you can redeem them for airline miles with one of their airline partners. You need to enroll in their #1 Club program to start collecting points.
Book a hotel stay in a hotel that partners with your frequent flyer mile airline. For example, Marriott offers customers two miles per dollar spent at their hotels and partner properties.
Shop at your favorite stores through an airline's website to collect miles for each purchase. Some of the deals give you five, 10, or more miles per dollar you spend.
Sign up for e-Miles, e-Rewards or a similar service that offers free miles in exchange for viewing advertisements or completing surveys. You accumulate miles for every offer you view and once your accumulation reaches a certain threshold those miles will be deposited into your frequent flyer account. Although you accumulate only a few miles at a time, the time investment -- a few minutes a day -- is also small.
Sign up for MyPoints. MyPoints is similar to e-Miles and e-Rewards but instead of directly collecting airline miles for viewing offers, you collect points for shopping, surfing the Web, playing games, or taking surveys. You can then redeem the points for airline miles on United Airlines.
