grlmopz

"Sky Pesos", as so many people seem to call them, can be incredibly lucrative. In the past year, I've flown:

JFK-Dakar, Senegal-JFK (120K, business class)

JFK-Mauritius; Reunion-Paris (stop)-JFK (120K, business class)

JFK-Seoul-JFK (70K, economy class)

All 310K were earned via credit card bonuses (including transfers from Membership Rewards with 50% bonus). Even after all of this spending, I still have 240K left -- enough for two more African trips.

mnscout

Really? Read more, then come back and tell us you weren't serious.

mnscout

I agree. Flew JFK to Paris in J for 100K. But I also agree that they are a pain to redeem.

Daniel on the way

No, it is still pretty good.

atwnsw2

Starting my first quarterly AOR:

Here is what I/wife have:

American 50/100k
BA 130/104k
Delta 360/0k
Southwest 36/22k
United 100/40
Amex Reward 104/112k
Hilton 88k/0
Starwood 294k/0

Today I have applied for 2 cards:

AA Citibank Visa 50k each
Chase Sapphire 40k each

We rarely use Hilton.

Am I right that I should limit my quarterly AOR to 3-4 cards?

If so, here are my thoughts:

1) Barclay 30k for USAirways which will eventually disapper as Citibank would like take over after merger (my guess)
2) Wait 8 days and apply for a different AA card at Citibank
3) Apply Southwest Visa.

Input/suggestions/ideas?

Thanks in advance

Calipso

I beg to differ. I have both the Amex Hilton and Citi Hilton Signature and got 120,000 points combined (70,000+50,000)from both through manufactured spend.

120,000 is worth two hard pulls for me.

PainCorp

It depends. If you don't have any Hilton points, probably not worth it. But if you're sitting on around 200k, might be worth a few more cards to get to whatever award you want.

FlightNurse

It's what you are comfortable with, remember this is a marathon not a sprint. When you are looking for links to sign up for, look at the bloggers, I found a 50K CSP link and a 40K US Airways link.

nrdk

There's still a CSP 50k around? Thought those went with the days of the MC CSP

KennyBSAT

Different? Why? Reread the wiki and the last few pages.

baller4ever85

Wow I just read all 58 pages and I wanted to use miles to get a trip to Tokyo and Frankfurt from KC in economy so I think from what I've read AA Advantage has the lowest rate to those 2 places. I want to do my own AoR but I have recently quit my job and am going back to school full time and I feel like with my 0 income my app would be rejected and the bank may take action on some of my other accounts I have listed below (I've always paid in full before due date). Does anyone have experience with applying with 0 income?
BTW here is whats listed on CR all accounts are open and i listed the open year and limit

Citi Dividend 6k (2004)
Citi TY 20k (2007)
Chase Freedom 9.5k (2005)
Chase SW Premier 13k (2011)
Discover More 5k (2008)
AMEX Blue 11k (2006)
US Bank Cash+ 11k (2012)
BOA Cash Rewards 7k (2011)
Barclays NFL 7k (2012)

thanks for your input

mintcilantro

I have recently started renewing my interest in the Hilton program for average stays. Their points+money can offer phenomenal value. If you + SO get the citi reserve, then it's 2 nights per year (1 night stays are a pain) that could be used for nice locations and the points earned in that process for points+money. Plus if you manufacture spend via the amex cards you can really go very far. IME HHonors Gold is the most meaningful status that can be obtained with CCs.

PainCorp

Not sure about any more, but there were ways to get HH Gold without spending on CC or staying in the hotel.

hmmurdock

Personally I'd rather (and did) sign up for the 35K US Airways ($89 fee waived), which can be found on FT on the special credit offers thread. 5K extra miles for $89 just doesn't make sense to me.

GuySmylie

Ok read through most this thread, but still have some questions.
First off, I'm a single male who already has a mortgage, so no worries about that.

I have: a capital one free card (my CC from 8 years back in college)
Amex Delta gold (got with a 70K bonus, downgrading to a free Amex blue sky soon)

I signed up for this week:
Chase UA card: 50K with 2000 in 3 months
Barclays US card: 35K with first purchase, 10K each year
Both have first year fee waviest

So my big questions are 1. Does downgrading a card from delta to sky blue reset my time on that card so I can apply in 18 or so months again?
2. There seems to be some discussion on which cards are the easiest to close and then reopen or downgrade and reopen. Is this possible with chase? Or should I sign up for a citi AA card to start churnning? I'm planning on getting an AA card once US merges and I have one account.