turpintine

I have a trip to HNL already taken care of with points, but want to limit expenses for a 3 day excursion to the Hilo area on the Big Island. I'm thinking of getting the Hawaiian Barclay card for the inter-island flights, and thought hey, this may be a good chance for an AOR.

Current Cards:
AAA Bank of America Card, opened 2005
Chase SP: 31,458 points, opened 11/11
Citi Diamond Preferred: opened 11/11
Club Carlson Visa: 99,706 points, opened 3/13
Citi Hilton Reserve: 32,258 points, opened 3/13
US Airways Barclay: 52,018 points, opened 3/2013
Citi Platinum Select AA Mastercard: 57,359 points, opened 8/2013
United MP: 677 points (just emptied for the flights), opened 8/2013
Amex SPG: 35,587 points, opened 8/2013

Not really any major chains in the Hilo or Volcano area, so other apps in this round will go towards future vacations, possibly for lodging or flights back from MSY since i tacked a free one-way onto my HNL return. So other than the Hawaiian Airlines Barclay personal card, what others would you recommend? Don't want to do a ton of minimum spend, maybe $1,000 per month total. Thanks!

KennyBSAT

This would require 10K MS, but you can take care of your inter-island flights and hotel with one card, and maybe get back to MSY with it as well: an AA Executive card. HA inter-island flights are 5K each way, and the Exec card gets you reduced pricing for hotels. I see 5 different Volcano/Hilo hotels for 38K-42K AA miles total for 3 nights. Plus lounge access in HNL and anywhere else you travel with an AA or US lounge.

turpintine

Thanks for the reply! I've been reading up on the exec card, but I don't think I'm comfortable with that much MS. I think I'm pretty set on getting the Hawaiian Barclay due to it being a pretty exact fit for what I need with little spend. Just wondering if I should get a few more while I'm at it, such as the Hyatt or IHG cards, or any others I haven't thought of. I'd like to get another USAir card, or the Barclay Arrival, but I'm pretty sure getting two Barclays in one day is a no-go.

buck3y3nut

Question for you experts. It's going to be time for my annual fee's to start kicking in ~45 days. Since this was my first AOR, can I get some advice on how to proceed with another one?

On my last big AOR in July of last year, I did the following:
Barclays US Dividend - Currently using it as a no interest balance transfer (Keep or not)
Citi AA Platinum - Didn't meet min spend due to my stupidity and haven't used it since. (Keep or not)
Amex SPG - Received the bonus points and haven't used it since. Have an upcoming stay at the W Scottsdale next week and will be using it. (Keep or not)
Chase Ink Bold - My goto card for gas station purchases (Keep)
Chase BA Avios - Have not used since getting the Avios bonus (Keep or not)

In January of this year I did a mini AOR and got the following:
Alaska Airlines BoA Card
Club Carlson
UA Explorer Card - Have not used since getting the UA bonus
UA Club Card - 1st year annual fee was waived; have until April of next year

I've also recently done the Citi AA MC Elite Card (100k already posted)

So my question is, should I cancel the Credit Cards that I'm not using? I'm thinking of another AOR and I want to make sure my odds are high on receiving the approvals of CCs. Have to do some research on which CCs I can apply to, but I want to do another AA card; possibly the Barclays business card for US Airways and if there is another Avios card, maybe that. Any thoughts on what new cards I could go for?

Cheers

TravelingRabbit

You're probably fine then. Worst case you will have to cancel one Chase card to get another one opened.

raccah

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I currently have only one mattress card, many airline cards, a few amex cards and some general cards - need help with my next round.

I have these cards:

1) SPG Biz (and converted my SPG to Cash card)
2) Amex Blue Cash (converted from personal SPG)
3) Amex biz cash card
4) Amex blue Cash preferred
5) Amex Plat
6) Chase Ual explorer
7) Chase Sapphire
8) Chase SW (biz and personal)
9) Chase freedom
10) Chase Ink and Bold
11) Citi AA Exec (two already - closed one up for a third if I so choose)
12) Other Citi AA cards from before including two Biz cards
13) Barclays Arrival

So, I am ready for my next app-o-rama and I am targeting good to solid mattress cards, along with either another 100K AA Exec card or a mattress Citi card, since you are only allowed 1 citi card per the alloted time, and I have a slot now for 1 Citi card.

So, what are the best Hotel cards out there? Should I shoot for a Citi Hotel card or stick with the Citi AA 100K. Spend is mostly not an issue, even without VR cards.

Thanks in advance for any help you can lend me!

raccah

OK - so after looking around I thought these would be my best options for mattress time, please tell me if I am off base or not for my next app-o-rama:

1) Club Carlson 85K
2) Another Citi Exec 100K
3) Chase IHG 80K
4) Amex Hilton

I will hit the spends on these, then upgrade the Amex Hilton to Surpass and then on the next round get Citi HHonors. This way I get the mattress work I need and one more toke on the AA crazy pipe before they bail on it.

Sound like a good plan??

dcpilgrim

I just hit the Amex 4 credit (not charge) card limit on my last app (its YMMV). So figure out which card to potentially surrender if you want that Hilton card.

MilesGator

Sounds good to me. Two things though:
1) The Citi Reserve has the potential to give you really great value if you want/need Hilton nights...so you should probably consider what you really need...more AA miles or a couple of nights in a (really nice) Hilton. I would probably err on the side of the AA miles if for no other reason we all might as well stock up now prior to the (assumed) imminent deval.
2) My experience with upgrading from the no-fee Hilton Amex to the Surpass was that I could not upgrade until I had the no-fee version for a year. So I wouldn't count on those upgrade bonus pts anytime soon.

raccah

Are those personal or biz cards? Or is the limit 4 credit cards of either biz or personal (ignoring charge cards)??? Since, I have:

1) SPG Biz (and converted my SPG to Cash card)
2) Amex Blue Cash (converted from personal SPG)
3) Amex biz cash card
4) Amex blue Cash preferred
5) Amex Plat

I would close the biz cash card. Did you run into the problem and they ask you to close or did they deny you because you had 4 open and made you close one and the reapply???

Thanks for the help!!!!

raccah

Thanks MilesGator! Indeed stock up till they say no. On the Amex - given that the upgrade may well be a no or very hard to do, should I take the current 75K option for surpass or may there be a better one in the future? No one is a fortune teller, but is 75K so far the best that has been seen for surpass? If yes, maybe Surpass is the best first pass???

Thanks!

dcpilgrim

Personal/biz doesn't matter.

Of your list #5 is a charge card.

My list is BC, BCP, HHonors, Everyday (all credit); plus Biz Gold Rewards (charge). I applied for Simpy Cash (Biz) and got the deny due to too many cards. I haven't called yet since I haven't decided what to close (if needed).

I am not sure if I can talk my way past the 4 card deny w/o closing a card.

raccah

Thanks - that is what I though biz/personal is no matter. I want these 4: SPG, Hilton, Everyday, and BC - that way I get my mattress time and I get spending covered. In the end, having both BC and BCP (like I have now) really is a waste of time. Who cares about the extra 1%. I did it for the 250 bux bonus to signup, and I got the 6% twice. Now, I will chuck it along with the gray biz cash card and stick with BC. Of course, they could kill the BC card, but then I will rotate back to the BCP card but get no bonus - I could care less. Finally, the everyday card interests much more as the rewards are points! Which are more valuable to me than dollars, but are maxed to a certain point.

SquarePeg

Depending on the cost of the inter island flights and how many travelers, you may be better off going for the Arrival card to mitigate your hotel expenses for your side trip.

RavenHawk

Disregard