How to get the most out of your UAE air miles credit card

12 tips to help you build up your air miles balance and use those miles in the most effective way possible.

In this week's Money section, The National has studied airline-affiliated credit cards to assess whether consumers still gain from signing up for one. Five UAE banks offer these cards, including Emirates NBD, Emirates Islamic and Citi. Here, we reveal 12 tips to help you build up a sizeable air miles balance on your UAE card but also use those miles in the most effective way possible:

1. Maximise spending - put all your day-to-day purchases on the card - from grocery shopping to paying the utility bills - instead of using cash, debit cards or other credit cards.

2. Ensure large purchases – such as buying a new car, school fees or rent – go on your card – they can help to grow your balance quickly.

3. Beware of any terms that may limit the miles earned on some purchases, such as groceries, government, utilities or real estate, though.

4. Also check whether international transactions that gain higher miles have to be made in a foreign currency rather than dirhams.

5. It's cheaper to upgrade to business than to use reward miles to buy a business-class seat outright.

6. Upgrades do not attract any further taxes, as you have already paid them with the original commercial ticket.

7. Be flexible with your dates, and choose off-peak days and times of the year to ensure you secure a seat and get the best deal on your miles.

8. You'll gain more miles if you have a companion on the same card - and look out for deals on free companion tickets.

9. You often earn more miles when actually buying your flights – and your loyalty programme may offer miles multiplier deals with certain hospitality and car partners.

10. Remember only purchases on your credit card count towards miles - beware of balance transfer offers as you won't build up any miles.

11. Sign up for emails from the airline and watch out for miles sales.

12. Beware whenever using a credit card that balances that are not paid off completely will incur high interest charges.