Originally Posted by
wormtail
Thanks for the reply.
I have looked at the manufactured spending threads. I'm not sure how it would help me unless you are saying it would generate points on the spending dollars and not on the signup bonuses. Is that what you mean? My credit card spend for 2013 was about 30K which would cover a lot of initial spend for the first 90 days to get a lot of bonuses.
I am reading other newbie threads and suspect all the rookies are getting the low hanging fruit and it quickly gets more difficult.
What do you think would be a realistic expectation for 3 years of work here, mostly on bonuses?
That Chase United card you just got will give you a 10k mile bonus if you spend $25k on it this year. I generated most of that last year with manufactured spend.
You could add the USAir card, which will eventually be combined with any AA miles. There is a current AA card offer of 75k miles with a $450 fee and $7500 spend. Or you could get a Amex Gold card, which also gives a 15k bonus on $30k annual spend.
Maybe you should map out the destinations you have in mind and figure out which alliance has best availability and then apply for cards based on that.