Hi, so I discovered this site through a recommendation, and after lurking and learning for a while, I've decided I want to start taking advantage of free points.

What I want: to earn as many free points as I can that can be easily converted or used for domestic flights and hotel stays. International travel is not an interest at this time. New York is may favorite place to go. Big cities in general are my thing.

Austin is my closest airport, followed by Dallas.

I already have 3 credit cards. A Southwest card with like a $13k limit that I've had for about 2 years and have had a great experience with (had a companion pass in 2012). A MasterCard that I've had for like 10+ years that I never use anymore. Not even sure how much my limit is on that one but it's over 10k. That one has no rewards or anything associated with it. Then one other card that has like a $500 limit that I never use and don't even remember who it's through.

I have good credit. Not sure the exact score but I know it's good. I spend anywhere from $1-2k per month on my card and never carry a balance.

So, I have lots of questions that I'm sure have been answered a million times already but any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Which card should I start with? I don't prefer any particular hotel chain. Just whichever one will give me the most bang for my points. Should I sign my wife up for cards too? Should I apply for multiple cards on the same day?

Thanks.

Glad you decided to start a thread... Welcome to FT...

You'll want to budget at least 20 hours of leisure time to simply read thru the recent and popular threads in this forum and in MilesBuzz!. The general education will be very helpful.

There are quite a few people who conduct "app-o-ramas", applying for several cards at a time as often as every quarter. It's a valid strategy. There are also many who apply for individual cards and stagger them out. It's up to you to decide what's right for your situation.

You'll also want to spend some time on the forums at myfico.com, in particular the section about how credit scores are calculated. It would be an excellent idea to use your once-a-year free credit reports from annualcreditreport.com and to take the free 10 day trial at myfico.com to get a real FICO score.

My travel goals are similar to yours. There are a few programs to consider:

Is your Southwest card a Plus, Premier, or no label? Chase will likely let you take a fresh bonus on whichever you don't have. There are Plus and Premier versions of the business and personal cards right now. If you take any two different cards, you could have the Companion Pass again for almost 2 years and 100k points toward fares (up to around $1700 value).

Beyond that, United miles are generally the easiest to redeem for domestic travel. There's a 50k bonus UA card plus several Ultimate Rewards cards that will transfer to UA miles.

AA could also be a good choice from AUS or even better directly from DFW. You can earn 100k right now signing up for 2 of their cards.

If you have short hotel stays, the Priority Club card is probably best to get started. Another option is Hilton: you can quickly earn a large pile of points from signup bonuses but unless you're redeeming for longer stays, it's not a great value.

Before you actually apply for anything, you'll also want to go to each airline/hotel's dedicated forum here, to get a sense for the unique opportunities and issues with each program - and make sure you go to each program's own website and run test searches for your likely destinations and dates to see how availability looks in the real world.

As you do your reading and learning, you should use this thread to keep us updated and ask questions. One immediate action item: go use your old cards, even if for one small purchase each. Old credit lines are your best asset in this "game" and you don't want to risk anything being closed due to dormancy.

Here are some thread recommendations:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...-2k-spend.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nt-credit.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nks-first.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...lect-visa.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nors-visa.html
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ows-based.html (will show you who has direct flights from Austin and other airports)

For domestic flights the Chase Southwest and the companion pass (as you have experienced), also Citi AA cards, be sure to read the thread about how to apply. BA avios are useful domestically. What level of hotels are you comfortable staying at? Think of the hotels you plan to stay at and then look at which cards can get you in those hotels. Before you apply for a bunch of cards you might want to apply for the Club Carlson card first (if those hotels are places you would stay) they don't like inquiries or other new cards (big thread about it in milebuzz) which is why you would want to apply for that one as one of the first cards. There's the Hyatt card, several Hilton cards, Priority club, etc. There are more general points plans like Chase UR points. The Sapphire Preferred, Ink Bold, and Ink Plus cards for UR points can be used for travel in different ways. You and your wife should definitely both apply for your own cards. If she is hesitant, plan a trip, get the cards that will allow you to take that trip for low cost, and she should be converted to liking the idea. So focus on a specific destination, plan it out, look at what cards will get you there, how many miles, points, will you need to get there? Calculate how many points you would need to stay at different hotels you are considering. Get the cards, meet the spend in time to get the reservations, and go on the trip.

It's a tricky program, since it doesn't work like most others. Avios redemptions are distance based and do not allow connections without redeeming separate awards. But they can be used on non-stop AA flights from DFW and can be an excellent value if you understand the program thoroughly.

So with most cards, if I and my wife both sign up separately, we can both get the same bonus and then just get twice as many points? Do we need to not list each other on each card then or does that matter? And can points in most programs typically be transferred from one spouse to another?

Yes, both you and your wife could get bonuses individually, pending approval. Just be mindful of the spend requirements and don't over-extend yourselves.

I think Chase Ultimate rewards allow transfer between spouses, and Amex Membership rewards let you transfer your points to a spouses airline/hotel account. Most airline accounts charge a fee for transferring points between people. I'm not too sure about hotels, but I know some don't have a fee for transfer between people.

In general, it's a bad idea to sign up for "joint" credit cards - where the application and approval are dependent on both incomes/signatures.

However, it's just fine to apply under one person's name then add the other as an authorized user. Many people here sign up for a card for each spouse, then add the other as authorized user.

However, there ARE impacts to your credit score (positive and negative) from being an authorized user. For most people here, those effects are more likely to be negative. So most people do NOT add authorized users. Once again, it is in your best interest to learn about how FICO scores work BEFORE applying for cards. Here is a good place to start: http://www.myfico.com/crediteducatio...yourscore.aspx

Most programs do NOT allow transfers. However, as was noted, there are exceptions.

In hotel programs, Marriott will let you combine at time of redemption and Club Carlson will let you transfer whenever. Others might allow it as well. Something you can research.

Hi,

I am a first time user of this site and am looking into free points rewards. I would love any recommendations for credit cards. DCA is my local airport and I typically fly U.S. Airways, Jetblue, and Sun Country. I frequently need to mix and match airlines to get the best deals to pretty obscure destinations. Any suggestions? I am only interested in flying rewards because I don't often stay in hotels. My credit score is good.

Of those options, USAirways is the only one with a decent program and a decent credit card.

You can learn more about their credit card here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...5k-benies.html

It would be an excellent idea to make a list of all the places you want to go, then go to each major airline's website and see how many miles it would take to go there.

Then compare against how you can earn the miles (credit cards, flying, etc.)

You'll also want to spend time in each program's forum here, learning the practical details of each program and airline.

I figured instead of starting another newb thread I'd just join in this discussion.

I've read enough to know that churning is probably not something I want to be doing right now since we are hoping to buy a house within 2 years time and may need a car loan before then. I would however like to be able to at least pay for 1-2 trips for the next two years using miles. Preferably Western Europe, Asia or South America. Home airport is Orlando International. Before I found all this I opened a Capital One Venture card which I have now and will probably use for domestic flights since I already have enough miles on it to cover one trip and right now is my go to card.

I am eyeing the Chase United MileagePlus Explorer and the two Citi AAdvantage cards, as the only other cards to grab right now unless someone else has a suggestion. I have fresh miles and they had the 50k bonus miles advertised on United's site. I think 4 cards would be my max. Monthly spending isn't an issue.


Any suggestions?

You'll want to start conditioning yourself to call them points or, preferably, cents, since they are worth 1 cent each. They are not "miles", regardless what the commercials want to say. You'll make better decisions if you start conditioning yourself now.

AA miles are excellent for Asia and UA miles are excellent everywhere. Chase UR points can be converted to UA miles as well, if you hold a qualifying UR card.

You might want to consider looking at business cards, especially the UR business cards. Most business cards do not report on your personal credit report so you'd only have the hits from the inquiries, not the trade lines.

Invest in real FICO scores to monitor your progress, since you're playing a dangerous game with the mortgage coming up.