Originally Posted by
baburai
Airline Programs
AA
This is our mainstay. We can churn once every 24 months for the citi and aviator cards. That is what we are doing.
Well, you need to keep up with the news:
Citi Moving from 24-Month Signup Bonus Restriction to 48-Month Restriction (DoC)
(It's changing at Barclays too but Barclay isn't publishing the rules like Cit is, so it's harder to tell what the newest restrictions are at Barclays.)
And that's the general problem with your plan too. Churning rules are constantly changing,so you could pick a program based on today's churning rules and next month the churning rules at the bank for that program could completely change.
Theoretically Hilton has 4 different credit card with Amex, each of which has a "once in a lifetime" policy, but Amex doesn't like people only singing up for bonuses, doesn't like people cancelling cards, and has a 4-to-5-card limit on credit cards (so you'd be able to have no other Amex card if you were stacking up these Hilton cards). You may or may not be able to get upgrade offers for two of those cards after starting out with the lowest-end card; that would be the path. But nothing is guaranteed, and you need study up
a lot on these cards and how to stay in Amex's good graces before diving in.
Meanwhile, any program that partners with Chase is out of consideration for you (if you don't already have the card) because you will be denied for all Chase cards if you've opened 5 or more new accounts (whether theyy're now open or closed) in the past 24 months. And just what you described about AA would already have put over 5/24.