Originally Posted by
Bob Herrington
Answers to your 5 questions:
1)We would prefer coach class -- don't think we can accumulate enough points for first class, at least not in the near future.
5) Our current goal is to get two tickets to Italy for next summer. We are frantically trying to meet our AA requirements on the 4 new Citi AA cards so we have the miles necessary to search through them. I think we will have them by Dec 1. -- we have about 180,000 miles with Alaska.
First, let's be clear: nobody PREFERS coach. We are simply forced to accept it as the best alternative under certain circumstances
For the immediate goal: have you called Alaska to make sure that there are no low tier awards? I can't speak for Alaska, but with AA and Delta I've sometimes found calling reveals options that are not available on-line. Also, as you get close to the spend on AA, start searching and put your itinerary on hold if you find availability.
For the longer term:
1) Ignore BA--they have high surcharges, which for some people is fine for premium cabin redemptions
2) After you finish with the AA, I'd recommend two additional cards:
-AmEx SPG: you can transfer in increments of 20k to get 25k miles for many airlines (including AA). In addition, you can get some nice hotel stays. The challenge is that they have small sign up bonuses (25-30k), and very few promotions.
-AmEx MR card -whatever flavor offers the best sign up. The Platinum card has a hefty fee ($450), but research it to see if the perks ($200 airline credit, etc) would make it worthwhile. Otherwise, just watch for the flavor of the months sign up bonus. MR transfer to many airlines, but not AA.
3) Start building your cache in one of two ways:
-identify your target destinations, and then figure out which alliance offers the best options (cost/schedule/availability to get there). Then, direct your spend accordingly on the SPG/MR/and perhaps an airline specific card.
-identify your best redemption offers (cost/schedule/availability and sign-up bonuses), if you're pretty flexible.
The key is really research what you want, and what will work for you. You'll want to begin building a portfolio based on your spend/bonuses/redemption value. I haven't even touched on cash/travel rewards card.