Originally Posted by
Stubtify
...in a few months (or a year) you've used up the cards and all is well.
But this still leaves the problem of having thousands of dollars left on gift cards that you still have to spend....sometime. Whether that's now, or later on, this will necessarily interfere with one (or several) of your app-o-rama minimum spend requirements. You will have to pay either Peter or Paul sometime, so it is a zero-sum game.
Considering that you need about 100k miles for an international r/t business class ticket
in one frequent flyer program, you will necessarily have to do frequent app-o-ramas (and meet the minimum spends) to have any hope of achieving this kind of mileage in a single program. This, by itself, is a struggle. But, to have the added burden of
also having to get rid of thousands of dollars on gift cards becomes overwhelming.
Now, if you could buy gift cards; get the bonus miles, and then return the gift cards for a cash refund (without losing the miles), it would be a bonanza. But, anything short of this just comes up......short.
Originally Posted by
deltame
...AA credit cards? You can get 50K miles each and applying 2 cards at the same time would net you 100K plus after you meet the spend requirement....
In light of what you're telling me I
may be able to do the gift card hustle in this case, even though this will mean that I will spend months trying to get rid of thousands of dollars on gift cards-- and
American Express gift cards at that (which are not as accepted as others).
Of course, this will mean that I won't be able to do frequent app-o-ramas, but I will have enough miles (in AAdvantage) to redeem for my r/t international Business class flight.
Yes, I have been a member since 2011, but I only very recently discovered the miles game. I'm ashamed of this, and I want to kick myself for not starting many years earlier, when offers and terms and conditions were much more favorable, and when there were much fewer people participating.