Can miles from frequent flyer programs from the same alliance be combined?

Yep. Especially because the OP is in New York, he can take advantage of AA's stopover rule to create the first half of a domestic RT. Although this thread talks about using the stopover on the outward bound portion of a flight from SFO, the principles are the same if JFK is the originating airport.

Just as a quick example. If you did JFK-LHR (ignoring for the moment the potential for huge fuel surcharges if your flight ends up on BA metal) on a MileSAAver award during the offseason, you could structure LHR-JFK-SFO on the way back. The award cost for JFK-LHR-JFK-SFO would be the same as for JFK-LHR-JFK, 40K miles. You have a year to complete travel on the JFK-SFO leg left from your "stopover," so you could possibly book a MileSAAver SFO-JFK award to complete the second trip at 12.5K.

In other words, you could potentially spend 110K on AAnytime economy awards for JFK-LHR-JFK and JFK-SFO-JFK--or 52.5K as set forth above.

If you have limited means to gather miles, make your goals realistic and learn how to use the rules to stretch the value of your miles. Trying to do a business class award with limited means is like a hungry, unemployed man taking his last $500 for dinner at Per Se. Might be a delicious dinner, but it's almost certainly not a wise use of $500 for him.

Very excellent point. I should have thought of this myself. This will give me some much-needed flexibility.




Thank you much for this suggestion. This actually sounds workable. I am now in the process of putting together an app-o-rama using one of these two options as the centerpiece.
Question from a newbie: In addition to these 2 options you suggest, should I also apply for other cc's that have no minimum spend requirement, just to get the ball rolling with those miles?

did you not read my post about Avianca/TACA Lifemiles? In that program, you can do cash+ points.

Go and study this thread: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/other...gram-star.html

I kind of disagree. With signup bonuses and a variety of creative ways to maximize points, flying business vs. coach is like a man deciding to eat once at Cheesecake Factory rather than twice at McDonalds.

Business class is usually about 2/3 more than coach. If you can sign up for a bunch of credit cards, you can perhaps get 300,000 miles or points, which is 3 business-class trips to Europe or 5 coach trips. Admittedly it's not all THAT trivial. (For example, you can get 40K USAir points for signing up, but with limited transfer partners and them allowing only round-trip awards, it's not trivial to get your US account to 100K for a business class award.)

A purely personal perspective; as I get older I find myself achier and crankier and less willing to sit in coach on a long trip. I took my first-ever overseas trip last month and did fly business class both ways. I'm really happy I did, and unless I had a particular reason to be in Europe, I think I'd rather stay home and save my points for another trip than fly coach. If I had to pay the cash prices, where business class is 2-4 times as much as coach, it would be a different matter.

I might - might - feel differently if points were that hard to get, but by signing up for credit cards and using assorted tricks outlined on this website, my wife and I will earn about 800K points this year while flying almost not at all and spending only about $25K on credit cards. I certainly don't expect to do 800K every year, but it will be a nice stash to last us a few years.

I personally think the US air card at no minimum is a must:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...5k-benies.html

You need develop better reading skills ;-) No one was suggesting you should travel to Asia in economy class. On the other hand, a non-stop flight from NYC to Paris, for example, is only approximately 7 hrs in duration, thus more tolerable if you have to fly in coach (compared to future flights to Asia). You are also a bit over dramatic -- I've done 14+ hour non-stop flight in coach to Asia when necessary and once upon a time even spend 22+ hours en-route each way with connecting flights. If you would be traveling overseas with your parents or other elderly relatives, then I would definitely agree with business class seats for them. On that thought you should do something nice for your parents (as you live rent free), in whichever way that they might appreciate.

Wow, you took the thoughts right out of my head. I was actually going to mention this card by name.
Thanks, I will definitely add this to my app party.

I just wanted to point out that though you can apply for both of these cards, if you apply for more than one Chase card within 30 days they will auto-deny the second one. I have done this, and I was able to get approved for the second by calling the reconsideration line, but if there's no rush it's probably better to space out your Chase applications.

I just saw that FTG had a post yesterday that gives an overview of the various CC issuers and guidelines for dealing with each:
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/2012/...lications.html

I already have 2 Chase credit cards-- the Chase Freedom and Chase Slate cards.
I don't want to get rid of my Chase Slate card, as it is the oldest card I have, dating back to 1998, which helps my credit history. However, what should I do with my Chase Freedom card once I get the Chase United Mileage Plus and Chase Sapphire cards? Should I cancel it? I've only had this card for about 1 year.

No, no, no, no, no. The Chase Freedom, despite its modest profile, is a great card to have in combination with the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Why? The CSP has two bonus categories, travel and dining, that earn 2 UR points per dollar spent. The Freedom, designated as a cash back card, actually earns points that can be transferred to a UR account IF you have a CSP or an Ink Bold or Ink Plus. Even better, the Freedom's quarterly bonus categories (for which you must remember to register--there's nothing automatic about these earning categories) will eventually get you 5 UR points per dollar instead of 1, up to a maximum of 6K bonus points per quarter.

Here's a thread on the upcoming bonus categories: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...ategories.html.

In short, keep the card. And since you're in New York, open a Chase checking account if you don't already have one: http://thepointsguy.com/2012/04/maxi...nk-bold-combo/.

This combination is one way that folks with modest spending patterns can earn a lot more miles.

This is brilliant advice. I will do exactly as you suggest, and, believe me, I'm such a stubborn person that I rarely take advice without modifying it! In your case, the advice was perfect as is!!

for myself, and my wife, i just purchased some 220K united miles at $0.02+tax each. i used a credit card. cost was $4.4k+ so, got another 8k in miles on my chase card.

slawecki: it's good value if these purchased miles are used wisely. However I wouldn't bother trying to convince OP at this point, especially after seeing his statement in another post as follows:

I absolutely still stand by that statement. I'm not saying that they will be dishonest, but my b.s. meter is pretty sharp, and I can identify unfairness from a mile away.

Waste of effort. The programs set the rules and can change them at almost anytime, inherently building a certain level of unfairness into the game. Accepting THAT fact and then learning to deal with the changes when they come, including identifying new opportunities when old ones are taken away (and there generally are some), should be at the very heart of what people who chase miles and points do.