Originally Posted by sdsearch

Actually, a slight correction. The Visa, MC, and Amex were never considered separate products. Various other things have changed which have affected Citi AA churnability, but I've been churning AA cards for close to 10 years now, and never did it matter to any of the rules (that have changed multiple times over time) whether I was getting 2 Visas or 2 MCs or 1 Visa and 1 MC or whatever. Even the Amex was not considered a separate product.

It never mattered what the product was; what mattered is what the terms of the offer were. If it was an offer that allowed "fast" churning, then "fast" churning worked. if it was an offer that was officially restricted to "first time" cardholders, then "fast" churning didn't work. (Please note: Sometimes, for certain offers, the published T&Cs were incorrect, or at least contradictory between landing pages and application pages.) The difference between "fast" churning and "slow" (12 to 18 to 26 months) churning was time, not product. After the required time (which as I said changed from offer to offer), it never mattered whether your previous card was the same (Visa vs MC vs Amex) or not. (And, also, Citi never cared whether you had cancelled the previous card or not, just how long ago you'd last applied for it.)

The only suspicion (not necessarily ever corroborated, because it didn't last for more than one or two specific offers) was that a Gold card (lower tier) may have been considered separate for a brief moment in time than a Platinum or Signature (higher tier) card. But that still may have simply been the individual offers...

The only real distinction Citi makes is between personal AA cards and business AA cards. Those always were and still are totally separate.

Originally Posted by glassgow22

So what cards currently can be "fast" churned? I'm planning to "slow" churn the citi aadvantage personal and business cards but I plan to wait at least a year. I think the amex gold and platinum I have to "slow" churn as well. I know that the citi aadvantage business card was a card people were able to "fast" churn , but the latest reports in the citi thread are indicating that people are getting rejected with accounts in the past year.

Any other ideas?

Originally Posted by sdsearch

This is the one Citi card that earns "real" miles/points (ie, ones in an airline or hotel program) that I know can still be "fast' churned:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...nors-visa.html

There may well be other Citi cards that can be "fast" churned that earn Citi's own points, but I don't care about Citi's own points (since they can't be transferred to real airline or hotel programs, despite rumors about a year ago that that was coming), so I haven't paid attention to what can done with those cards. (At Citi, I only pay attention to their AA cards and their Hilton HHonors cards, since those are their only two partners that are an airline or a hotel program.)

(And I don't offhand know of any non-Citi cards that can be "fast" churned. It doesn't mean there aren't any, just none that I've been paying attention to.)

Originally Posted by skibum7732

I completely disgaree, my wife and i have gotten more than that and still have excellent credit scores. I would agree with diversifying into hotel programs...you have to stay somewhere in Asia and SPG has some great properties in Asia for low # of points. You can do SPG, Marriott, IHG, Hyatt, and even some Hilton properties with good value depending where in Asia. Barclay Arrivals and Citi TY are other good options for buying cash tickets with and earning miles on the ticket. You also have DL and if you know the tricks you can get low level award space and their miles(pesos) can be minted quite easily

I have been to SE Asia 3x this year and heading back for another month soon. You are far from done, but you will need to get creative to earn UA and AA, but there are ways to ramp them up as well.

Originally Posted by sdsearch

(And I don't offhand know of any non-Citi cards that can be "fast" churned. It doesn't mean there aren't any, just none that I've been paying attention to.)

Originally Posted by glassgow22

By fast churning, do you mean you are applying for a new one every 3 months? Are you closing accounts, or just opening new credit cards without closing? How many of these citi hilton cards can you have at once?

Originally Posted by glassgow22

What are more creative ways to ramp up earning UA and AA points (most valuable to me)? Any good examples? I"m all ears! I've been buying bluebirds to meet minimum spending requirements, I'm considering getting bluebirds just to get more miles, but haven't gotten to that point yet.

Originally Posted by glassgow22

I don't mind having miles in lots of different programs, although I'm planning to primarily travel to Asia. Miles in programs like southwest and jetblue are not really going to help me so much. I'm focusing primarily on ultimate rewards, united, usairway, american airlines, SPG points, and to a certain extent membership reward points.

I'm trying to map out a plan for churning, but that means I have to cancel my amex business gold soon so I can get an amex business platinum (with hopefully 100,000 points) in a year. In another year, I can try again for another Citi personal and/or business.

I agree with pricesquire, finding a balance between maintaining a healthy balance and frequent business class trips to Asia is starting to get to be an issue. Maybe I should suck it up and fly economy, and stretch out the miles I do have...which is a little depressing after knowing what business class is like.

Originally Posted by SFOPhD

Chase in general can't be churned. Once you get the bonus for that cards, that's it. The exception is when the card is replaced with a similar but new card. i.e. the Chase United cards after the merger.