Originally Posted by
maxpower212
Did you and your wife each pick up multiple AA cards (personal/business at 75k each)? Did you book one set of tickets with your points and one set with hers, or were those all your points? And do you still feel like you have a good amount of points left for your next vacation, or do you have to basically start over for the next trip? I'm thinking about some long-haul F seats but the cheapo in me wants to book economy seats and stretch the miles. I suppose that I'm anxious about using them all in one go, but really any number of free trips is better than none.
I started in January 2011, where my wife and I each took a personal and business AA card when the bonus was still 75k. At the time (still, maybe?), the biz card was churnable. We both also did SPG cards and transferred to AA. And I took advantage of a few other high-yield offers out there (Fidelity, etc.). In all, I spent about 20 months collecting the miles.
I booked the trip using 4 PNRs (outbound F, outbound J, return F, return J). Since I booked these flights the minute they became available to AA, I had to book the outbound and return separately. Cathay only releases 2 F on each flight, thus the need to create a record for the 2 biz seats each way, as well as the 2 F seats each way. Two of them were booked from wife's account, 2 from mine.
Points left for the next trip? not with AA. I blew the wad in Bali (and actually wish I could have spent my remaining 25k that was budgeted for the J to F upgrade on the return). I'm focusing on UR and UA for the next trip. While not as lucrative as 75K, Chase has enough UR products that you can cobble together a small cache. (if I had an affiliate link, I would put it HERE).
F vs. Y - to each his own here. Do what works for you and your crew. For me, it was F all the way.