MIT_SBM: Thank you for the advice, and I think you're right. I think we should go ahead and book her ticket now to ensure availability. Then I can work to see if I can accumulate the miles in this time frame. I appreciate the suggestion.

Peter I'm not trying to imply that under normal circumstances affording $1,500 on $100K gross would be prohibitive. We just recently graduated (May) and have putting our all into paying down student loans, while helping to support our families and get on our feet. It's not as if we've been making this for years. We're extremely frugal. The only reason I even mentioned the household income is because although we have lower credit scores due to our age, I was hoping the income would help offset for these credit card applications.

By the way, I've read that most credit cards don't take into consideration Household Income anymore just individual gross income. Mine is ~$70K and my girlfriend's is $30K. Ironically she has a higher score because she's had her card longer and we've been paying off her student loans first. Who should be doing the applying?

mnscout Long story short - I was a loyal, frequent card user for 2-3 years. I had my annual fee waived every year and was assured by CSR that it wold be the case going forward. Last September I lost my wallet and ordered a replacement card. I never received the replacement card but it was a busy time in my life and frankly, it took me a while before I realized it as I had received all of my other replacement debit cards, etc. At the time the card was lost, there wasn't a balance on it either. A few months later (lesson learned, but I thought no balance, why would it matter?) it dawned on me that I never received the card. I checked my account and had a ~$350 bill. In October they charged me the annual fee and it had compounded with late fees, surcharges, and the annual fee. When I contested telling them that the annual fee was the only activity on it, I hadn't received the card, etc. they wouldn't waver. Part of it was my fault for not being on top of it, but it just left a bad taste in my mouth. Ultimately they agreed to remove the $350 in charges but closed the account.