How to stack points and miles with gas stations

As travel hackers, we’re always looking for the best ways to earn the maximum amount of points and miles. We try to do that by combining a variety of credit cards, portals, and other ways to spend less money / earn more points and miles (aka stacking).

Last year, when we were just starting our blog, we wrote a post on stacking your gas station purchases that you can read here. That information still stands – with some updates that you’ll find here. Whether you drive daily or only every once in a while, this post will teach you how to earn more points and miles at gas stations.

Credit Cards

For Q3 2024, gas stations are one of the original Freedom and Freedom Flex 5x quarterly categories. If you have at least one of these cards (you’re allowed to hold both), you can transfer your 5x gas station purchases to your Chase Sapphire Preferred to be redeemed for travel. So through September 30th, this is the card we’ll use. If you fill up on gas really frequently or spend a lot on the other Q3 categories (movie theaters and select live entertainment), keep in mind that the 5x earning is capped at $1,500 of spend on the quarterly categories.

When gas is not a quarterly category or if you don’t have a Freedom or Freedom Flex, here are some card options:

• The Citi Premier Card offers 3x on gas stations
• The United Gateway Card earns 2x miles per dollar
• The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless earns 3 points for every $1 on the first $6,000 spent in combined purchases each year on gas stations, grocery stores, and dining

Loyalty Programs

Make a loyalty program account with any and all gas stations you might visit.

• BPMe – get five cents off per gallon on every fuel purchase at bp and Amoco stations
• ExxonMobil – save at least three cents per gallon and two cents per dollar spent in-store
• Shell Fuel Rewards – joining the program saves you five cents per gallon with additional savings if you meet spend thresholds
• Circle K – save 25 cents per gallon on your first five fill ups after enrolling. Save three cents per gallon every time and potentially more if you spend $500 at Circle K

Linking Programs

Shell has a partnership with American Airlines where you can earn 250 AAdvantage Miles when you join their fuel rewards program and 3 AAdvantage miles for every gallon of gas you purchase at Shell. You can link your accounts here.

Mariano’s rewards members can earn 10 cents off per gallon at bp for every $100 spent at Mariano’s. Even if you haven’t spent $100 at Mariano’s, you can earn three cents off per gallon by entering the phone number associated with your Mariano’s account.

Upside

Upside is an app that gives you cash back for buying gas at participating gas stations. Once you create an account, add any credit card you use for gas to your profile. Then, go to a participating gas station, “Claim” the cash back, make sure you linked the card you used, and wait for your cash back to post within a few days. We’ve seen places from 1 cents / gallon or up to 25 cents / gallon back. Upside has partnerships with BP, Shell, Mobil, Speedway and more. In addition to purchasing gas, Upside also has partnerships with restaurants and some groceries for maximum cash back.

Receipt Apps

Not technically points and miles, but we submit our receipts (from anything) to two different apps. When we accrue a certain amount of points, we can redeem those points for gift cards to places like Amazon or Starbucks.

Fetch awards 25 points per receipt, with certain receipts earning more points based on purchasing promoted items. Points can then be redeemed for gift cards starting at 5,000 points. The other app we use for submitting receipts is ReceiptPal. Submitting a receipt is worth 25 points, and awards start at 2,200 points. ReceiptPal does cap the number of points you can earn in a week. Both apps also connect to your email to scan for receipts as well. While these aren’t huge moneymakers, we’ve already earned $40 worth of gift cards this year from Fetch and ReceiptPal.

Summary

Are you going to earn a free trip just from the points and miles you earn at gas stations alone? Probably not! But the points and miles you earn from this tactics can be combined with the points and miles you’re earning elsewhere to get you one step closer to that dream trip.