You should use
Code:
[QUOTE]orginial text[/ QUOTE] (leave the space out after the / to close the quote, can't do it here since it'll show up as quote ;) )
tags to mark quoted post from somebody else, on the bottom right corner of each posting you will find also a button for that... like:
Originally Posted by
ODell148
Thanks for your feedback. And yes, I was referring to CC bonuses, program affiliations, transfers, and MS. Due, to the fact that Germany is basically a Cash/Debit country I found it very difficult to pay for things with CC. So I'm wondering if there is a way to accrue bonuses/stack credit cards/MS to get world travel. I'm familiar with Lufthansa and Hilton cards (but what is there value to transfer). If you have links or suggestion, much appreciated!
Anyway:
- Sign-up bonuses: Sometimes the cards mentioned have sign up bonuses e.g. AMEX had a 30.000 MR sign up bonus last year. Be careful, mostly this is not advertised online. I just found out as a AMEX sales desk in Munich airport tried to sign me up, so you might want to call AMEX from time to time and inquire if they have a sign up bonus. The Hilton card used to have a 10k sign-up bonus, not sure about the miles and more and topbonus card. You will need to look for yourself but in general the signup bonuses in Europe a marginal and faaaaaar away from what is available in the US.
- Manufactured spending: Almost impossible at a good value. You can of course try to pay your rent and other spending where you have to wire money using the Miles and More card which will give you a mile for each € but also will cost you 2,5% as a service charge, e.g. you will get in the end 1000 miles for 25€. Need to see if that is worth it for you. Same goes for wiring money via Paypal charging to the card. There are some ways which are questionable, like buying Amazon gift certificates and reselling them but if you do not find somebody paying almost the full price for it... you will not gain much from it.
As a general rule: Put every purchase possible on a CC, most stores nowadays accept at least Visa or Mastercard (although some will require a minimum spend of 5 to 10€), a lot of the bigger ones like Real, Karstadt, Marktkauf etc will also accept Amex. Insist on paying with CC in hotels, taxis, restaurants. 99% of them will take a card even though they will first say they prefer not to. It is a long way to go... and only helps to pad the account with a couple of thousand miles a year.
The only way in Germany (and most of Europe) to get to substantial amounts of miles is through flying. And to be honest, most people here which have hundred of thousand miles banked get it from corporate payed business travel. I see it as part of my salary
Originally Posted by
ODell148
I'm familiar with Lufthansa and Hilton cards (but what is there value to transfer). If you have links or suggestion, much appreciated!
Not sure what you mean with value to transfer? for the Lufthansa Miles and More card you get 1 mile per Euro spend, you will need 170.000 miles for a first class award Europe-US. (see this table for a full list
http://www.miles-and-more.com/mediap..._785183620.pdf)
Be prepared for hefty fuel surcharges on the tickets, it really only makes sense to redeem business class or first class tickets.
Same for the Hilton card, you get 1 HHonors point per Euro spend on the card and will need between 5.000 (cat 1) and 95.000 points (cat 10) for redeeming a night depending on the hotel category. Good thing is since you automatically get HHonors Gold at least every 5th night is free, if you book 5 nights or more on points which is a decent discount.
There is no way to stack or combine cards for some synergy bonuses or in some other meaningful way to get to that first class flight including a 10 night stay in a Waldorf Astoria quickly and for cheap. Sorry, that's our pain living in Europe.... On the other hand it saves you the pain of keeping track of 27 credit cards in your drawer