Newb to churning however..
 

Hey!

I'm hoping to get some advice here from you experts whether it's quick, rational and/or risky. :D

With that being said, I've only got in on the BA 100k offer back in the day which proved pretty lucrative and I've kept it due to no foreign exchange fee however dumb that might be. I've done a fair amount of research within this forum and other blogs about the best current cards to churn however I wanted to see if you guys had any advice to offer.

Goal: Earn as many miles as possible that operates to or within Europe and the West coast/Texas. Our current miles are isolated to oneworld (BA) and Alaska Airlines. We are ideally trying to get to Hawaii, Italy, France, and Spain. We aren't picky with hotel brands and my entire angle isn't looking for hotel redemption but I'm considering all options.

We just opened a mortgage so I'm ok taking a few hits to my credit. I basically want to know if I'm missing any opportunities. We're aiming to travel Dec 2016.

Current cards & Miles:
Me:
1) British Airways Chase (2011) - 70k miles
2) Bank of America (no rewards, 2010)

Wife:
1) Alaska Airlines BOA (2009) - 42k miles

I believe I should go after these current promos:

Airlines: CSP - 50k, United MP - 55k, Citi Prestige/AA - 50k, Chase INK (within the branch however the business is practically brand new with no hx), Chase freedom or another chase card, American Airlines promotion, UA promotion.
Hotels: Hyatt Visa, or Citi Hilton- Maybe SPG with AE or Marriott? I presume that is all based on what properties you like and where.

I would appreciate any and all comments, just looking for some quick input whether or not I'm missing out on an opportunity here. Again, main objective is airline miles so if I only apply for 3-4 cards on the same day, I'd rather dedicated it to airline miles. This assumes we both will apply for similar CC offers.

Thanks again for the help! Really appreciate it.

Welcome to FlyerTalk, ggll.

For one thing, apply for the Chase non-partner cards (such as Freedom and CSP) first. Chase has a policy of denying you (without an ability to get them to reconsider it) if you opened 5 or more cards with any bank in the past 2 years, and looking at your list, if you open the other cards first, you'll be at 5 or more new cards within a very short time.

No other bank currently has that kind of policy, though some may look astern at more than, say, 6 inquiries aka "hard pulls" in the past 6 months, on whichever credit bureau they pull. So you still may need to space these out over time.

Your wife should apply for another Alaska card from BofA ASAP. That will get her 42k miles up to about 67k (for a $75 annual fee, though by spending $1k within the first few months she can get a $100 credit, using a link in the thread below). BofA currently has no policy preventing you from having multiple Alaska cards, nor from applying for another one while you have one open and earning the bonus for the new one. See this thread for details:
(This policy may or may not change on June 1, when other things willl change about the application process for this card. That's why I suggest she do it ASAP.)