Earn miles from shopping portals + stack with a deal = basically free money
Deal Overview
Deal 1: Right now, a 2-month subscription to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) costs only $1. If you start from a cashback site or airline shopping portal, you can earn 800–1300 miles. That means roughly 1200 miles + a free magazine for $1.
- American Airlines: 1,200 miles
- Alaska Airlines: 900 miles
- Southwest: 900 miles
- United Airlines: 950 miles （only 650 if you do not have a UA co-branded credit card）
Deal 2: Right now, an 8-week subscription to Barron's costs only $1. If you start from an airline shopping portal, you can earn 800–1200 miles. That means roughly 1200 miles + a free magazine for $1.
- American Airlines: 1,200 miles
- Alaska Airlines: 900 miles
- Southwest: 900 miles
- United Airlines: 950 miles（only 650 if you do not have a UA co-branded card）
Step-by-Step
The process below is just an example. The exact numbers depend on the current deal.
- Go to the AA shopping portal. You will need to log in with your AA account, then search for Wall Street Journal.
- Click Shop Now to enter WSJ. If you have an AMEX card, I recommend using AMEX Checkout directly so you do not have to enter your personal information again. If you want to pay with another card, then register a new account.
- Then just fill in your address and payment information step by step.
- After the subscription goes through, within 3–5 business days, the miles should show up as pending in your AA account. (The screenshot below shows the miles I received from last year’s subscription.)
- Before the 2 months are up, call customer service to cancel the subscription (it can only be canceled by phone).
Things to Keep in Mind
- Both WSJ and Barron's require that only users who have not subscribed within the past 180 days are eligible for the $1 three-month offer.
- Each airline account can receive the mileage reward for this subscription only once.
- You can only cancel by phone, and the representative will likely try all kinds of ways to persuade you to keep the subscription. Be firm and say you do not want it and want to cancel. Only once you confirm in your account that auto-renewal is off is the process truly finished.
- If you are worried you might forget to cancel, you can use a Citi credit card to generate a virtual account number for the subscription, or use a Visa gift card with only a small balance on it.
- If you still do not see the airline miles after 20 days, you can email customer service and include your order number.