I Earned Over 2500 Miles on a Flexible Spending Account purchase

A few months ago, I was in serious need of new prescription sunglasses.  We have a Flexible Spending Account and prescription sunglasses happen to be an expense that is reimbursable through the FSA.

Use shopping portals to earn extra points on Flexible Spending Account purchases

Since I was about to drop a few hundred dollars on these sunglasses, I figured I should at least try to get points and/or miles out of it.  Enter shopping portals.

• First I tried the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal because you know I love transferable points.  I could not find any glasses stores at the time.
• Then I tried Southwest.  There were several contacts and glasses retailers. Glasses.com is one of them and you can earn 5 bonus points per dollar. Not bad.
• I also decided to check American Airlines since we would be needing the miles for an upcoming trip anyway.  They also had several options, but Glasses.com was 7 points per dollar and currently it is still 7 points per dollar.

Glasses.com had a nice selection and I was able to find exactly what I wanted. They have many brands such as Ray Ban, Tory Burch, and Burberry.  I googled the exact style of glasses I was purchasing to make sure this retailer did not overprice them.  They were the same price at other retailers, so I bought them from Glasses.com using the AA shopping portal. Since you are not required to use airline co-branded cards on their shopping portals*, I was able to pay with my American Express SPG card.

*Although you do not have to have the airline credit card to use a shopping portal, you must have an account with the airline’s loyalty program.  If you do not already have one, you can sign up for one and it’s free.

I earned over 2500 points by using a shopping portal on this FSA purchase

My glasses cost about $330 (I know, it’s ridiculous but remember they’re prescription lenses)

• 330 x 7= 2,310
• You also get 330 points on the credit card you use to make the purchase.  Most likely 1 point per dollar since I do not know of any cards where this would be a bonus category
• Total: 2,310 + 330=2,640

You could use your FSA debit card if you have one and still get the 7 points per dollar, but why not get another few hundred points out of your credit card?  Most FSAs make it very easy to submit claims (usually just a receipt- all I had to send is a screenshot of the confirmation from Glasses.com and then I received the money directly to my bank account a few days later).

I never pass up an opportunity to earn extra miles, and you shouldn’t either!