Actually, I just added it up, and since we started at the end of February... it's over a million miles!!

lwildernorva is right. You have to have good credit to pull off a haul this large. This will be a long post, but I think some other noobies might learn a couple of lessons, so I'll chronicle my whole journey so far.

It all started when I was standing in line to check in at the Marriott near where I work, where I stay often when I'm on call there. While I'm standing there, another guy walks in off the street, zips up to the Elite check in line, and is on his way while I hadn't moved an inch. I figured there HAS to be a better way. I had never bothered with loyalty programs and special offers before, thinking that they were a scam to get me to spend more. Some googling led me to Flyertalk, and that's when the madness began.

I applied for the Chase Marriott, but being such a noobie, I applied for the "regular" one with only a 22.5K points signup bonus. The next day I realized there was a 30K points offer out there for the Premier card, so I cancelled the one and applied for the other. But Chase let me keep both bonuses. Good thing they did, actually, since I got two credit inquires for that...again...rookie mistakes. But a short while later, I learned from thefrugaltravelguy.com that Chase had upped their bonus to 50K, and that I could try the "bump-the-bonus" maneuver. I called up Chase, and they said sure, we want to make you happy, we'll credit you the difference for the new offer. Now I had 72.5K sign up points. I quickly attained Platinum status with Marriott thru stays and...better yet...meetings at Marriott (learned about that one on FT as well). And here's a little known secret...at least to non-FT folks: once you hit top level Elite status in a program, the points/miles acumulation really starts to snowball. At this point I have over 125K points at Marriott, along with priority check in, lounge access, and free breakfast and internet - all for just making the same amount of stays I made last year for no extra benefits. My wife was getting very very troubled by my new travel rewards obsession and the new credit card sign ups, but then I took her with me on a trip, and we stayed in the Presidential Suite for free! She still rolls her eyes, but now she's going along with the program.

Next was the Amex Plat card, with the 50K memb rewards points, which I learned about from thepointsguy and frugaltravelguy. But the special incentive for me was the concurrent Delta transfer bonus of 50% with the extra 25K MQM. I signed up, transferred to Delta, and achieved Silver status. That was my first ever status on any airline. My very next flight was to Hilton Head with some buddies for a golf trip. We had a layover in ATL. I got bumped to 1st class on all 4 legs! And while my buds were b*tching about the exorbitant luggage fees for golf bags (and they are ridiculous), my clubs got checked thru without a penny extra charge, and a "thank you for your business". Best of all, when I escorted my buds into the Sky Lounge in Atlanta for some beers while we waited...I never had a better time getting the jealous razzing.

Shortly thereafter I learned that Amex had upped the offer to 100K points for the Plat card sign up. I called up, and the first 3 agents I talked to all said the same thing...that offer has expired, it was a targeted offer an you don't qualify, etc. But on my 4th attempt, I got a very helpful rep who was politely issued me the extra 50K MR points. I then tranfrerred those points to my wife's Delta account, and now SHE is a Silver Medallion. 150K Skymiles between us, including 25 MQM's times 2.

Next was the Amex SPG card. Everyone seems to agree that this is the best everyday spend card for earning travel rewards - which is my goal, as opposed to cash back reward cards. Knowing your goals is important, so you can pick and choose which offers are best for you. We quickly hit the spend requirements, and got the 25K sign up bonus. At this point, we've got over 40K SPG points.

I was really getting hooked, and the deadline for the Chase British Airways card was looming. Although I already had 4 Chase cards (not counting that 5th Chase Marriott card I had cancelled), I couldn't resist. My wife and I both put in for applications. She got approved right away, but I got a "we'll have to think about it" letter. Thanks to FT, I already had the application reconsideration phone number, which I promptly called up. The nice rep told me that Chase thought I already had enough credit with them...but I was ready. I suggested that she just lower the credit on one of my lesser-used cards, and put the difference on the new Brit Air card. Viola...done. I was so nervous asking for something like that, but I was well-armed with my Flyertalk info, so I sounded casual and confident on the phone with her. The whole thing sounded so reasonable, and it went through without a hitch. Now we had 200K BA miles between us.

Thepointsguy made a blog entry about how, although the AAdvantage card offer deadline had passed, many FTers were still getting approved for the 75K sign up bonus deal. I knew I'd had several credit report inquiries at that point, but...by signing up for both cards at once, it would only count as one more credit pull. Plus, these were Citibank cards, not Chase, and I didn't have any Citi cards on my credit file at this point. My wife and I both signed up for BOTH the personal Visa AND the Amex AAdvantage cards. The FT thread made it very clear about how to sign up for both simultaneously - using a second internet browser, if necessary - and how that would not only get you approved for both cards, but it would only look like one credit pull. Bingo...4 more cards approved, along with 75K miles time FOUR between us. 300K more miles. In 61 days we plan on going back and getting the Citi biz Amex cards, for another 75K x 2...another 150K miles, 450K total. Wow.

My next Flyertalk victory was the status match. There is a Holiday Inn at my daughters small college town where NOBODY can ever book a room. It's right in the center of town, and it's always packed every weekend, what with football games, parents weekends, sorority functions, etc. So...I learned about status matching on FT, and I contacted Priority Club. After faxing over my Marriott Platinum status, they basically comped me Platinum status with Priority Club. And I waited until AFTER I was a confirmed Plat to call Priority Club and add the 4 night stay I had at a Crowne Plaza 2 weeks earlier. Again, once your top tier Elite, the points just mushroom. PLUS...I learned from FT that PC is a program that is easiest to accumulate points, since they often have promos that run concurrently with each other. I learned that I should sign up for every single promo that PC offers, even if they were "expired", so that I could pile up the most points for future stays. My very next stay resulted in over 13,000 points! Booyah! At this point I've got 40K+ and counting PC points. But...best of all: I called the Plat line, and asked for a reservation at that Holiday Inn at my daughter's college for parents weekend. They told me it was sold out. I said, yes, but what about my Platinum override...with more than 72 hours notice, I'm gauranteed a room. They got the manager of that hotel on the line with us, and she didn't seem too pleased that she was being forced to give me a room, when they hold a lottery every year for rooms for that weekend. I kept her on the phone for a little while, trying to show her that I really wasn't too much of a DYKWIA kinda guy (how could I be...I'm such a noobie to this), and she softened up some. Then I sent her one of the Amex gift cards I had bought to accelerate my spend requirements for one of my credit card sign up bonuses (another FT trick), thanking her for taking such good care of my family. I got a hand written thank you note in return! I think I've got a room at the most convenient hotel in that town now, for the rest of my daughter's college career. Maybe next time I'll give her a roll of silver dollars as a thank you gift. ) My daughter thinks I'm an evil magician who gets whatever he wants, but my secret weapon is FT. While I was at it, I learned that my Amex Plat gets me gold status at SPG hotels, and there was a recent promo where a Visa Signature card gets you gold status at Hilton properties. I was LMAO that I actually got gold status at Hilton my signing up with my Marriott Premier card!!

At this point I'd become hooked on status, and that became one of my goals. I applied for and got the Delta Amex Reserve card. 10K MQM for first purchase, and I just got another 15K MQM for the required spend, which made me a gold Medallion. Eventually I'll get the biz card version, along with the Delta Plat card. Between those 3 cards, I'll get 80K MQMs a year, which will give me Platinum status on Delta without ever flying a mile. Now, I don't recommend that for everybody, esp since the spend requirements are pretty high. Also, Delta is not everybody's cup of tea. I live in Cincinnati, and Delta is by far the most convenient airline to fly here. I know Delta award bookings are a hassle, so it's not the best airline for everybody, but I'm going to the FT seminar in Chicago, and I hope to gain more expertise in using expertflyer, ita, etc., and learn how to get the best value for my Skymiles. Plus, my job commitments don't allow me to fly enough to maintain elite status via butt-in-seat. For my own situation, I'll have enough reward miles piled up that I don't foresee having to pay for a flight for the foreseeable future...by emphasizing the Reserve cards, I'll get to fly for free AND in First Class, by picking my flights accordingly. This will work best for me.

So here are the results of our journey so far:
Marriott - 125K+
Delta (Amex transfers plus Reserve card bonus and miles) - 200K,
including Gold and Silver Medallion status
Amex SPG - 40K+
British Airways - 200K
Priority Club - 50K+
AAdvantage - 300K, soon to be 450K


Assuming the Citi Amex biz cards work out, that's a total of 1,065,000 points and miles. Since the end of February!

I should point out a couple of things. I am lucky to have a job with a nice income, and I've lived in the same house for 15 years and paid my mortgage and all other bills on time without fail. So I'm fortunate to have built up excellent credit. Without that, I never could have made so many new applications...in fact, I think it would otherwise be reckless to go on such a credit card binge. And just as important, I'm not carrying balances on these cards. If I had to pay interest on all this, then I'd be paying more on that interest than I would be just to buy the airfare and hotel rooms with cash. So I'm trying to be very careful not to be spending money that I would not have spent. And yes, I've had to do some gift cards and Mint purchases to meet all these requirements. BUT...thanks to the info I've learned from FT, I now have a war chest of travel rewards, as well as status with which to enjoy it. If you're careful, there's no reason you can't get a whole lot of extra rewards for your money!