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I love reading the Economist and generally read it from cover to cover every week. I suspect that there is a high level of overlap between frequent flyers and readers of the Economist. But for many years I was completely unaware of opportunities to earn miles with my Economist subscription, or even pay for that subscription with airline miles.

The Economist’s tie-up with Iberia Plus tends to get the most attention, particularly when the offer of triple Avios is available. But what about other airlines? Here’s a summary of what I’ve found and current promotions.

 

EARNING MILES

Iberia Plus

At the moment, Iberia Plus is running a double Avios promotion. You can find details of this promotion at this website. Until 31 December, 2016, you can earn 8,800 Avios for a one-year Print + Digital subscription, or 6,800 Avios for a one-year Print-only or Digital-only subscription.

 

Lufthansa Miles & More

Miles & More is currently offering a triple miles promotion. You can find details of this promotion at this website. Until 31 January, 2017, you can earn 11,400 miles for a one-year Print + Digital subscription, or 8,700 miles for a one-year Print-only or Digital-only subscription.

I find this promotion especially interesting because you cannot normally buy miles from Miles & More, so offers such like these are often the easiest way to accumulate a bunch of miles quickly.

 

Singapore Airlines Krisflyer

Krisflyer is currently offering residents of Singapore 6,500 miles for a one-year subscription and 11,000 miles for a three-year subscription. Details here. HT to FlyStayTravel

 

American Airlines AAdvantage

You don’t earn miles directly from AAdvantage for a subscription to the Economist. However, you can earn 25 miles per U.S. dollar by ordering a subscription via AA’s online shopping portal, which you can access by clicking here. AA’s shopping portal also regularly offers bonus miles for spending a set amount during a specific period – at the moment you can earn 1,500 bonus miles for spending $200 before 20 December, 2016 – so a one-year subscription would also add to your spending totals for earning those bonus miles.

I don’t believe you can double-dip the shopping portal with one of the other options, but it might be worth a try…

 

Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan

Similar to AAdvantage, you earn miles via the shopping portal, which you can access here. Alaska offers 20 miles per U.S. dollar.

For both Alaska and AA, you probably need to subscribe using a U.S. address, but any hotel, hospital, school, etc. would do just fine.

 

Asia Miles

I’m not aware of any current promotions, but you can read about earning Asia Miles for an Economist subscription at this website.

 

Etihad Guest

I’m not aware of any current promotions, but you can click on this link to read about earning miles from Etihad Guest for an Economist subscription.

 

JetAirways JetPrivilege

You can click here to read about earning miles (and a modest promotion) for an Economist subscription in a handful of Asian countries

 

SPENDING MILES

For many years, it used to be possible to spend as little as 1,700-2,000 miles for a one-year subscription to the Economist. I also spent the equivalent of 2,000 miles from E-Rewards on a one-year digital subscription. Unfortunately these offers are no longer available, but if they should ever return, it will be via Miles for Mags, a U.S. website where you can buy magazine subscriptions using just a handful of miles from a U.S. frequent flyer programme. The intention is surely to incentivise frequent flyers into trying a magazine that they might subsequently pay to renew.

If you are interested in the Economist, it might be worthwhile to check this website – Mags for Miles – every once in awhile to see whether the Economist has returned.

 

If you enjoy reading the Economist and plan to subscribe, make sure to earn some miles while you’re doing it…