UFB Direct Airline Rewards Checking accounts (amazingly) still available
/I get it. You didn't read this blog back when the Bank of America Alaska Airlines debit card was still available, so you missed out on hundreds of thousands of free or cheap airline miles. Then you ignored me when I told you the Suntrust Delta SkyMiles World Check Card was being retired, so you're not earning 1 SkyMile per dollar spent on PIN transactions today.
No hard feelings. Live and learn.
But I want to point out that a third account that earns miles on PIN transactions is still publicly available: the UFB Direct Airline Rewards Checking account. The name is slightly aspirational, since for as long as I've been around the only airline you can choose to earn miles with has been American Airlines. You'll earn 1 AAdvantage mile for every $2 spent with your debit card (confusingly called "Point of Sale (POS) debit transactions," presumably in contrast with ATM withdrawals).
There's no monthly fee or fee to open an account.
The card isn't, strictly speaking, as valuable as the Alaska Airlines debit card was (because those miles can be redeemed on both American and Delta flights), or the Delta debit card still is (since it earns miles twice as quickly), but AAdvantage miles are among the most valuable traditional airline rewards currencies, and you can redeem them for AAnytime awards on American Airlines-operated flights.
AAnytime awards aren't usually a great deal, but that's because you usually aren't earning AAdvantage miles hand-over-fist like you can with this debit card; cheap, plentiful miles make award redemptions even better, compared to spending cash.
Did you find this post helpful? Consider signing up for a weekly or monthly PayPal subscription and help this blog survive!