Probably not. It is known that no balances can hurt. I think very low is typically best.

Ok, now that we've established (from later posts of yours) that you have credit issues, let me suggest that the next best thing to upgrades for a tall person is seats with extra legroom. Since it may be some time before you have the miles (or whatever) to upgrade you all the way into the next cabin, I suggest you consider two things:

One, if you do gain status with one airline, even the lowest level of status on many airlines will let you reserve exit row seats (if available) at the time of booking. That can be a great improvement over a 31" pitch seat, even if still not as good as a business class cabin.

The issue with this perk is that many planes used for int'l longhaul have very few exit row seats (and in some cases, half of the exit row seats are bulkhead and don't actually have much extra legroom).

With that in mind, you may want to consider airlines that have "premium economy" seats with more legroom available for sale (at the time of booking, preferably) at a price you can afford. BA and some other airlines do this with a separate cabin, while UA/CO and DL do this (or are planning to do this) with a subsection of the main coach cabin.

Again, if you can afford to fly (on cash or with miles or with status-specific upgrade instruments) in a real business or first cabin, that's great. But if you can't, and you still have to fly internationally, you might want to refocus on the more specific issue of how to get the next most comfortable seat for you if you can't get all the way up to business class.

Update: got the Mileage Plus Explorer
 

Hi everyone it's been a while.

I didn't think it was possible but somehow I managed to get my bank to issue me a regular $2,000 limit card. Then I sent off a bunch of apps for a bunch of other cards. All declined, until, somehow Chase said yes and gave me a United Mileage Plus Explorer card. In fact that's the one I want the most because United is convenient for me and the most obvious perks of free checked bag, plus twice a year lounge access, are worth more than the annual fee to me. Then I get a big miles bonus for signing up, plus earning lots of miles as I spend, etc. I will be able to route a lot of biz expenses through this card. It has a $5,000 limit (which also surprised me) but with on-line payment I can get payments to clear into it the same day.

I guess I'll wait a bit and then perhaps apply for the next one, maybe a Delta Amex of some kind. I fly enough that perks like lounge access are a big deal for me.

Anyway, I'm happy to now have two CCs, one of which is the mileage card I wanted the most.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

Yes, zero balance is definitely bad. My research indicates you want about 10% utilization. You start getting some degradation if it goes up much above that.

NOTE that your CC will report your utilization on some specific day of the billing cycle. You may need to call them to find out. My credit utilization fluctuates between 0% and 100% several times throughout the month so if you know you need to optimize your score, you need to find out which day of the month it reports, and peg it at 10% for that day.

Hi everyone, another update:

I have already earned just about 100,000 points on my Chase United Mileage Explorer card, which is amazing because I didn't think I would even qualify for any kind of card, and they sent me a Visa Signature card. I'm happy with it because of all the extra services, also, like purchase protection.

Well, I also want hotel points, and I really wanted the Priority Club card. I've had great experiences at Intercontinental and I often stay at Priority Club hotels for business. The Chase Priority Club card gives me 5x points on hotel stays, point rebate, extra points, blah blah blah, all of which are very helpful to me.

I could not imagine that I would get it. I have a credit score around 600. I think I had to apply for it several times, and they finally issued it to me, with a $10k credit limit! I was amazed. This one is not the Visa Signature so it has less purchase protection. That's fine. My strategy is to put most of my purchases on the United Visa Signature card, where I get United points (which are more valuable than hotel points) and I get the higher levels of purchase protection. However when I pay for a Priority Club hotel, I'll get a major points boost from that, so I'll use the Priority Club card. I'll also use it for groceries, restaurants and gas, as they give 2x points for that. It's clever of them because it encourages people to keep the card with them and use it regularly. They probably take a slight loss on those purchases but they want users to get in the habit of using this card.

Anyway, I'm happy about this whole situation, especially because I'm remodeling my home right now and can pile up points from that, plus all the expenditures from my business. It really adds up.

I love to travel and it looks like I'll have enough points for a biz-class round trip to to Europe and a few days in a top-end Intercontinental this year. That's a great deal!!!!

I'm still amazed that all this happened, given my credit score.

Chase is smart. This makes me think they will also refinance my house. These loyalty cards are very effective way to build customer relationships.

JFR, one way to turbo the card yield during a remodel job is to buy discounted Home Depot or Lowes cards at Card Pool, Plastic Jungle, etc. for 92% of face and use them for materials.