Another data point that Chase is likely tightening the bolt. Applied for 3 cards last night. Citi and Barclay instant approval. Called Chase this morning, guy said "gonna put you on hold for 3-5 min while I review". Knew it was trouble then - previous calls always worked in real time. Came back and said too many recent new accounts and too many cards with Chase. Asked about moving exiting CL, said not possible. HUCA'ed until I got a nice agent, same answer.
Now I do have 11 new accounts this year (not counting the mini AOR last night), which is more than I've ever had when applying for a Chase card. So it could be simply because of that. But the fact they did a 5 min review and other recent data points make it feel like they are putting more scrutiny to extending new products.
It also means be very selective in the recon agent you settle on. HUCA until you get a really good one. In my case the denial note is not gonna be easy to reverse.