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Updated July 4, 2015 because this deal is still alive, and I love reading the full Economist print edition online each week for free.

Updated August 14, 2014 because my miles were credited to my account several weeks ago, and I just got my free magazine and newspaper subscriptions today! The updates will appear throughout this post.

Complain about any airline in less than 140 characters to earn 8,000 Spirit miles, which are enough for several magazines or three free flights for some people.

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This is a three-step process that takes just a few minutes. I have gone through the process and now have free subscriptions to The Economist, Entrepreneur, and the Wall Street Journal.

  • What are the three steps?
  • What are the possible ways to redeem 8,000 Spirit miles?

1. Sign up for a Free Spirit account.

It takes a few minutes to sign up for Spirit’s loyalty program.

2. Leave a 140 character complaint.

I left a complaint about a Spirit flight from several years ago. Here’s the complaint site.

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The site says you’ll get the miles within 10 days. I got mine 11 days after my complaint.

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The Terms & Coniditions say that the promotion say that the promotion “will end” on July 31, 2014 unless extended by Spirit. Since the site is still up, I assume the promotion has been extended. You may not get your miles, but in that case you’ve only lost a few seconds.

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3. Redeem the Miles.

Magazines

I recommend redeeming your 8,000 miles for magazines. Here is the magazine redemption page.

I redeemed for:

  • The Economist: 51* issues for 2,600 miles
  • Entrepreneur: 12 issues for 900 miles
  • The Wall Street Journal: 228 issues for 4,100 Miles

I had a few hiccups.

First, I kept getting an error message in my Firefox browser after making my selections and typing in my address that I had to go back and make new selections. I switched to Safari, and the order went through.

Second, The Economist was listed at two prices for 51 issue subscriptions, so I chose the cheaper one.

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My confirmation screen said that I had just redeemed for digital access only.

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My confirmation email confirms the 51 issues. We’ll see what I end up getting, but I’m OK with just digital access.

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Flights

You can also redeem the miles for flights, but the Spirit program is terrible if you don’t have the Spirit Airlines World MasterCard.

Spirit miles expire after 90 days if you don’t have and use the Spirit credit card every month. Awards start at 2,500 miles one way for Spirit credit card holders or 10,000 miles one way for non cardholders. Here is the chart and legend:

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The Spirit card might be worth getting if it weren’t so terrible on its own:

  • 15,000 bonus miles after you make a purchase within 90 days of account opening with the World MasterCard® credit card – enough for up to 3 roundtrip off-peak tickets with taxes and fees from $5.00 per award
  • Earn 2 miles for every dollar you spend on purchases with the World MasterCard credit card
  • Earn 5,000 anniversary bonus FREE SPIRIT™ miles when you spend at least $10,000 in purchases annually and pay your annual fee
  • Enjoy Free FREE SPIRIT™ miles that don’t expire for active members (active members must use their Spirit Airlines MasterCard® credit card each month)
  • Start redeeming round-trip reward tickets at just 5,000 FREE SPIRIT™ miles with taxes and fees from $5.00 per award (redemptions levels start at 20,000 FREE SPIRIT™ miles for noncardholders)
  • Enjoy an Introductory annual fee of $0 for the first year; a $59 fee will apply to World MasterCard® accounts thereafter

Bottom Line

Spending a few minutes to open a Spirit account and complain about any airline can get you several free magazine subscriptions or a few flights if you have a Spirit Airlines World MasterCard.

 

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Editorial Disclaimer: The editorial content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuers. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuers, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuers.

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