Proving that there is more than one way to earn a mile from telephone partners, Delta SkyMiles and US Airways Dividend Miles have begun to offer miles to members who use Nextel Wireless phone service.

This change has been a long time in the coming. While both programs continue with MCI as their primary telephone partner, MCI has no true wireless phone product to match those offered by rivals AT&T and Sprint. We suspect that other airlines who currently partner with MCI, such as American and United, won’t be far behind in developing similar wireless partner relationships.

The Nextel/SkyMiles/Dividend Miles relationships are still developing, though we do know that members can earn 5,000 bonus miles when they sign up for any of Nextel’s wireless service plans. What is unclear, even after repeated calls, is how and when you earn the bonus miles. Some service representatives told us that we had to purchase the services directly from them, while others said we only needed to provide a VIN to receive the miles. All were uncertain if current subscribers to the Nextel service would receive bonus miles.

We’ll update this story as time goes on and you may enroll and find out more by calling (800) 994-6385.