I suspect this question has been asked before, but I can't find it, so I apologize if I'm treading well-worn ground. I'm looking to do an app-o-rama shortly for me, but we need to finish up some minimum spending on the Citi AA cards we recently got for my wife first (I expect this to take about a month more). That wasn't going to be a problem, except now I'm hearing today that the two-free-nights Chase Hyatt signup bonus might be disappearing. If that's true, that's no good - those two nights were an important step towards my goal of this App-o-rama, namely finishing up getting enough points for business class to and hotels in Japan for next year. The minimum spend on the Hyatt card is minimal (relatively), but I'll also be applying for the AA cards for me this time, and I want the ticker on that to start only after we've finished it off on my wife's. So, all that to say, does the timer start when I apply for the card, when I'm approved (I expect to be approved right away, but you never know), or when I activate the card? If it's the last of these, how long do I have to activate the card?