What next?
 

Hey guys, I'm a long time lurker, first time poster.

Was wondering though, for all those guys who've accumulated millions of miles, what I should do next...?

I've accumulated almost 800,000 miles over the past few years, starting with the citi aadvantage 2 browser trick for 150,000 miles, but got really serious about it 6 months ago. In the past 6 months, I've applied for about 12 cards for over half a million miles. I've redeemed for multiple business class trips to asia and the caribbean, but I feel like I've reached the point where I can't find anymore new cards to apply for. I currently have:

Chase Sapphire Preferred 40,000
Chase Ink Plus 50,000
Citi Aadvantage personal 50,000
Citi Aadvantage business 50,000
Chase United Explorer Mileageplus 30,000
Barclay US Airways Mastercard 40,000
Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card from American Express 30,000
American Express Open Business Gold 75000
Starwood American Express SPG 30000
Barclays Frontier Airlines 40,000
Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Credit Card 50,000
Bank of America Alaska Airlines 30,000
Citi® Hilton HHonors Visa Signature Card 50,000

I was denied for US Bank Club Carlson and Barclay Lufthansa.

What new cards can I even apply for to get more points? I'm mainly focused on business class redemptions to Asia, so cards for primarily domestic travel like the Chase southwest card are out. And I'm not that interested in hotel credit cards at the moment.

I'm planning to get the Chase Ink Bold for another 50,000. After that, I feel like the only cards I can apply for are the ones I already own, and it seems like these cards are getting harder and harder to churn. What are all you million mile holders doing to get more points that I don't know about? I was planning to churn the citi aadvantage business card, but I heard that people are getting denied now if they've had the card within a year.

What next?
 

I'm not trying to judge but opening that much credit in a year can't be a good idea.

Welcome to Flyertalk! I would look into opening another Citi AAdvantage personal card. There are still 50k offers out there and they have 2 separate products (visa/mc). I have both and there is a thread outlining how much time you should leave between applications.

Also, you can always do an AMEX Plat personal or business (or both!) for 50k. I would personally wait until a 100k offer comes around. Chase United Explorer has a decent offer if you don't want to apply for another Ink Bold.

figure out how to use what you have...give credit a chance to cool off...amassing a huge pile of points is not the object...using them is....in that light I would suggest you look into hotel cards to go with your airmiles to make vacations with.

My credit score is actually about the same as it was before I started applying for these credit cards (dropped by maybe 4 points overall).

Thanks for the reply DR88. From reading the Citi aadvantage thread, it seems like I have to wait 12-26 months or more to apply for another personal citi aadvantage product. I got both the citi aadvantage mastercard and visa 3 years ago using the 2 browser trick for 75,000 each and recently got the citi personal visa again 6 months ago. I think I probably have to wait at least another 6 months to apply for a citi personal credit card again.

I do have the amex mercedes benz personal platinum (forgot to list it). I actually called about applying for the amex business platinum but they told me that since I got the bonus 50,000 for the amex business gold, I wouldn't be eligible for the amex business platinum bonus until at least 1 year after I close my gold. I have the Chase United mileageplus already.

If anyone else has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Excellent point. I am actually planning on 2 more business class trips to Asia and another business class trip to the Caribbean. After those three trips though, I will be very low on miles! I'm not too big on hotel credit cards yet, as the places I tend to travel to have cheap accommodations usually (and no big hotel chains to use points on anyway!)

Oh, I just realized this could be misleading. What I meant to say was that I've accumulated ~800,000 points in the past 3 years, but I've already used ~400,000 on various trips. So I only have about 400,000 points left, for which I plan to book 2 business class trip to Asia and 1 business class trip to the Caribbean. So I'll be pretty low on miles after those 3 trips.

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.

I have to disagree, as the rules have recently changed.

I don't think the AAdvantage Visa and MC cards are considered separate products anymore. As per the wiki:

"Personal AA cards: As of August 25, 2013 all linked personal AA cards can be churned only after Citi decides that you are no longer an existing cardmember. This usually occurs between 12 and 26 months after your last successful AA personal card approval of any type. Although it is not a hard-and-fast rule, 18 months after previous approval is the most common. YMMV. You do not need to cancel old cards.
Note: You cannot circumvent this rule by applying for a card type different from your previous Citi AA card. If your last personal AA card was a Visa, the waiting period for your next personal AA card will be the same regardless of whether you apply for a Visa, MC, or Amex."

As for Amex, the rules appear to have changed as well. If you have any personal gold card, according to the new T&C, you are not eligible for a bonus on the personal platinum:

"f you are identified as a current American Express® Card Member, you may not be eligible for this welcome bonus offer. This offer is also not available to applicants who have had this product within the last 12 months or any Consumer ZYNC®, Green or Gold Card account within the last 90 days."

The T&C for the business platinums seem to have changed as well:

"Welcome bonus offer not available to applicants who have had this product or any other Business Gold or Green Card account within the last 12 months."

1) As Mr. Moonlight pointed out, the Visa and MC versions of the Citi AA cards are no longer considered separate products (as of 8/25 I believe).

2) I disagree w/ rgritt. I've applied to about 12 or so cards this year (since February/March), and my credit score has literally gone from a 700 to a 792.

"Cooling off" may or may not be the answer for you. I'm grappling w/ that decision myself right now.

Supplementing w hotel cards is a great idea.

I think what you're asking is a valid question, one that I myself am thinking of: once you hit all the "big cards"--then redeem those bonuses--then what? Churning is getting harder. Trying to find a synthesis on maintaining a balance while traveling multiple times a year is an issue, for me at least.

I think most people reach this point after 1-2 years. Do you want miles/points in a lot of different programs (rather than just sticking to the ones you like)? If not, try to map out a plan for churning based on how long you need to be closed for, and go from there.

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.

Have people been able to successfully churn the chase sapphire preferred, chase ink bold/plus, chase united mileageplus? How long are people waiting to cancel and reapply?

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.

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.