**I am a definite noob to the finer details of travel/credit programs, so I apologize in advance for all dumb and obvious questions**

My 10th wedding anniversary is coming up next year, and the wife and I are taking an early look at possible trip destinations. At the moment, one of our top candidates is Australia/NZ. I've been to both once before, so I know we'd be in for a long-arse flight that is also pretty damn expensive. We've used air miles to great effect in the past, but we know we need to up our earning game a bit if we're going to fly that far for little/no money. Ergo, I'm turning to the experts for some 'earn maximizing' advice...

To avoid writing a novel, here's our current situation:

Combined AA miles: 50,479
SPG points: 18,510 (not our primary concern, but for reference)
Current cards: Citi AA World MC; SPG AMX

We have a 3rd card from our college days that is rarely used, and offers no perks. We'd like to replace that one with a card that earns perks, has a decent signup bonus, and is a viable 'everyday' card if needed. Sifting through these awesome forums, and other 'points guy' style blogs, the choices are both copious and confusing, and frankly, there are enough horror stories on each to dissuade me from all of them at times, lol.

So, any advice you all can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

GMJ


PS: A few other details - we both have great credit, and don't plan on doing any frequent card churning, if we can help it.

Hit the AMEX/Chase combo hard. Very hard.

Do it right, and you can easily get your hotel and airfare.

I've racked up 250k chase points, 300k delta miles, and enough Hilton points to house a small country...all in 1 year.


But...you say you don't want to churn. Why?

Don't be weak and give us this "I care about my credit score" line.

Credit scores recover...the pain of leaving miles on the table never really fades.

You will regret not going full-bore, especially when you are paying for travel you should have gotten for free...

Yep, I get that the credit score recovers quickly from basic inquiries, and as long as you manage it well, the long term effect is null, if not a net positive for a person.

I suppose it sounds a bit silly, but my hesitance towards churning isn't over the credit score itself, but the juggling act of opening/closing cards, and keeping track of which one(s) are in use, their point status, etc. More critically though, the threads I'm seeing lately about Chase and Citi closing accounts and confiscating points adds to the 'tred softly' mindset.

Perhaps I'm over thinking it. But, I'd rather start out from a guarded position, and expand from there when I know the coast is clear, so to speak.

I can certainly see what you're saying, and can't really disagree.

But, the cc game is one of organization and juggling.

If you do not want to hassle, you should simply get a 2% cashback amex, and put all the earnings towards a ticket.



It seems that...

On one hand, you want free travel to Australia, and maybe even some hotel action to boot...

But, on the other hand, you don't want "the juggling act of opening/closing cards, and keeping track of which one(s) are in use, their point status, etc" (per your own words).


Can't have both, unfortunately...

In the last 18 months Mrs. Redtop and I have probably accumulated over 1 million miles/points with relatively little flying and nothing absurd (although there have been some trips to Walmart in there). The points/miles "game" has become my hobby, and she accepts that it's a relatively lucrative hobby, like this weekend when she's flying from Toronto to Washington and Bermuda for free.

Well, nothing is quite free. Yeah, I have to do some work, but it's worth it.

One thing I do is, when I get a card I immediately pay the amount of the min spend, and I add it to my online management software. So if I have to spend $3K, I pay $3000 (or $3100) and then as I see the credit balance hit zero, I know I've met my min spend. Yes, it requires some cash to do that.

I also keep all my credit cards in a spreadsheet and move the closed ones to another sheet. So occasionally I look at the ones that are open and think "Hmm, which ones need to be closed?" You could also add the date opened if you wanted.

You didn't say if you want to fly coach or biz, but whichever, you're looking for travel worth $5-10K for free. Is that worth a few hours of your time here and there?

If you're serious, PM me and I'll give yo ua few tips on how to make this happen. It's actually not that hard, if there are two of you. The hard part is going to be using your miles to actually get tickets, especially in biz.

Don't we all want our cake, and to eat it as well?

Re-reading my posts in the AM, I think I botched the point I was trying to articulate. so, let me say it this way:

I realize that some amount of juggling and leg-work on my part is needed in order to have any real success in this endeavor, and I'm fine with that. Between my wife and I, I'm sure we can keep tabs on things adequately.

Before I jump in though, I want to tread a bit carefully, and make doubly sure that I'm going after the right offers in the right manner. The 'mile maximizer' blogs I read recently all seemed like paid adverts to get me to use their referral links 20 times over, and that didn't hit me too well. So, I came here first to get a reality check before continuing.

So far, the advice/debate has been great!

If you are just trying to save money and don't mind flying coach, you can get to Australia or New Zealand with 3 credit cards. And if this is a one-time thing for you, you can get them, meet the spending requirements and cancel in~11 months without using them again or tracking 22 credit cards like I do. U.S.-down under is 37.5K on AA one way and 40K on United one way, both allow one way redemptions. You can get an AA gold MC with 30K miles, and any 2 Chase cards - United, Sapphire Preferred, Ink Plus or Ink Bold. The lowest spending requirement would be for both of you to get the United card from post 1654 of the United CC thread. Each can add the other as an authorized user and have 57.5K miles after spending 2500, and have enough for one way U.S.- N.Z. as well as enough for a one way within Aus/N.Z. if you want to have time in more than one place.

Churning and maxing out all the programs is a great hobby but not necessarily for everyone. Who knows - start slow and see how it works for you!

Lol, perfect.

OP - What is your monthly household CC spend?

Is your spouse employed and willing to help gather miles and points?

Do you have any side businesses that may help support business card applications?

Will all the miles come from credit cards or is there any biz travel to help?

Redemption to Australia/NZ can be tough from what I have read. Not to plug the blogs, but you may want to read one with a redemption focus like milevalue to figure the paths. The cobwebs of my mind say that from LA (on Virgin Australia) is a rare Delta sweet spot. Which will push you towards Amex. AA is the Quantas partner which points to Citi and SPG.

Your tenth anniversary sounds a bit better than the weekend getaway my wife have planned for next month (kids being the roadblock, not miles), put in the work.

Sorry for the delayed response folks. To save space, I'll answer a few questions at once:

1. Like every sane person, we'd love to fly business or better all the time, but we're working under the assumption of coach. Also, we figure the coach class mileage targets are much easier to attain and redeem.

2. We're both employed full-time, and are willing to contribute to this effort from both sides

3. Outside of the occasional spike due to unplanned stuff (i.e.-car repair, home maintenance, etc), our total monthly spend (across all cards) usually falls in a range of $3800-$4000. We keep all accounts current, and unless circumstances warrant, we pay in full each month.

4. My wife pulls a handful of business trips to SEA each year, but that's about it for us. The rest of our spend is from normal CC activity (and a vacation or two)

5. No side business for me.

6. We're in the STL, so our airport is just about useless these days. Everything that's not Southwest requires a connection, which can make routing a nightmare at times.

With the big three - Chase Sapphire Preferred and Ink (Bold or Plus) and an AMEX Platinum with Membership Rewards - and regular spend, no funny business - you should be able to meet your goal easily. Although I would wait on the AMEX as better deals have popped up in the past. Flexible points may be better for now. Manufacturing spending is not that difficult but I can understand if you don't want that (small) hassle.

Your spend level should make supporting this hobby very easy.

I agree with the advice to wait for deals on the amex side. You can be boxed out of a 100K or 75K promo on the gold or the plat if you hold one or the other on a 25K sign up.

I concur with the above posters: Your goal is realistic and it shouldn't take too much effort. Everybody finds a pace at which they are comfortable-- mine is pretty minimal, others find the 90 day program to be easy and fun.

I'm not a logistics person and here's how I did it: One churn for me, 4 cards. Meet the spend, get the points. This was last fall. Not quite 3 months later: 3 card app-o-rama for my husband. (He's not keeping track of spend, points, etc, at all). Meet spend on those cards, enjoy watching points balances go up! Use the shopping portals, Fidelity, occasional bonanza targeted promo offer to boost point balances.

My pace is MUCH slower than many, but the truth is, I've made a couple of boo boos and that has been stressful. Had our first ever late payment on a new card I thought had set up online to pay. That was a pretty big "whoopsy" that I don't want to repeat.

Also, it's worth stating that you should NOT close that old credit card. Just keep it to increase your average age of accounts.

Thank you both for the heads-up on the Amex! What time of year do these higher-grade offers usually pop-up? Or, is it just a random occurrence? Also, when you mention 'flexible points', what are you referring to?

Thanks!

Timing is sporadic. Amex will do a biz gold for 75K for a whopping 10K of spend every 2-3 months. Less frequent is the same 75K for 5K. Also offers of 50 for 5 on the personal gold or 50 for 1 happen from time to time.

Flexible points are ones that can be transferred to a variety of programs (air/hotel). The three primary ones are:

Chase ultimate rewards (many ways to earn)
Amex Membership rewards (several ways to earn); and
SPG points (only hotel stays and the amex pers/biz cards)