carolannjeanette

I am relatively new to this points/miles thing. It is awesome. All I want to do is find ways of getting more! More points, more miles--more, more, more! Somebody stop me, I am out of control!

I few months ago I signed up for Chase United and Chase Southwest, each with 50,000 miles. I have a trip to Curacao planned soon using my United miles.

I don't have a trip planned for my Southwest miles yet.

I realized that I have the flight miles, however, I didn't plan for the hotels. Ugh!

I am paying out of pocket for my hotel in Curacao. Oh well.

I am not planning my Southwest trip yet because of the hotel and other cost issue.

I recently read on the Frugal Travel Guy about a trip to Hawaii. I applied for those cards so now I am working on the spending requirements for a trip to Hawaii. This trip has airfare, hotel and rental car. Once I get from this trip in October, I will cancel the credit cards before incurring the annual fees. My plan is to then plot out another trip using miles.

I want to use my Southwest miles (50,000) for my child and myself to fly to the Caribbean. Need to find how to get a place to stay.

I have been looking at the forums and I have a lot to learn, including abbreviations, i.e. "DO 10" DO 11, etc.

This miles thing is a whole new world. I find myself getting a bit obsessed!

satman40

They have hotel cards also,

LostInAmerica

If you are looking for someone to talk you out of collecting miles and points, you have come to the wrong place! Here you will find enablers of your new-found obsession.

Don't fight it, enjoy the rewards.

I almost forgot, Welcome to FlyerTalk.

redtailshark

You will learn, you have a very mild affliction so far. You will know when you cross the Stage 2 threshold...and then, later, the others. You will find notorious bandits on this site.

carolannjeanette

Thanks for the friendly welcomes! I am hooked! I already am finding myself trying to plot out a change in plan with my airlines miles so I may use them for another vacation.

Initially I was going to fly round-trip for myself and minor son to Hawaii on Citi AAdvantage (plus using United for my son to fly one way as unaccompanied minor because I was short AA points) but I recently discovered that if I can get another Citi Advantage, either the Visa or Amex, that I could use those points for my son and I to fly round-trip to Zurich. Then I could get a couple other cards for our Hawaii trip, maybe the Chase Ink bold and Ink Business. Wait, that's too many cards in one year to be approved for, although, I do have great credit, I still don think it will work, plus, I could not meet all the minimum spendings. I will stick with my Hawaii, and on the side try to see what it would take to get my son and I to Europe.

I also have 50,000 Southwest miles I want to use within the next 9 months before I incur the annual fee from Chase. But I don't have any hotel points to accommodate use once we land somewhere. I do want to use the Southwest points to fly my son and I to Jamaica, or maybe Aruba or Dominica Republic. Oh, the obsessing I have ahead of me!

I wonder what the maximum amount of cards somebody has been approved for in one calendar year?

I wonder what is the most somebody has traveled off of miles and points?

darthbimmer

You don't need to keep the credit card to maintain those points. They are in your Southwest Rapid Rewards account now.

In the "App-o-rama" threads people talk about getting a dozen or more cards in a year.

Meeting the spending targets on that many cards can be tough if you don't normally spend close to that amount on family or business. Most of the folks who churn through lots of cards engage in something called Manufactured Spending, or MS for short. There are lots of threads on that in other forums.

Last week I saw someone boast of earning 1 million points (airlines, hotels, and other points) in 2013 primarily from credit card spending.

Of course, people who travel heavily can earn more than that just from flights and hotel stays!

carolannjeanette

Wow, that makes total sense, but for some reason it never occurred to
me. @:-)

I have been going along thinking I had to keep the card to use the miles because they were connected. Thanks so much for mentioning it. I am canceling my Southwest card next week! If you didn't mention it, I would be going along like an idiot!

Well, I am off to search for the App-o-rama thread now.

BarbiJKM

Be careful that you don't do too much too soon. Each new credit card app puts a "hard inquiry" on your credit score, which may take a slight bump downwards with each new card, at least temporarily. Also, don't burden yourself with too many spending requirements all at once within too short a time, or you will find yourself buying things you don't need and destroying your budget. And manufactured spending can be both tricky and dangerous to your credit, so be very careful!

sdsearch

Don't try to use up everything just as soon as you earn it. Learn how to keep miles/points in each program from expiring.

You may not be able to repeat some of these same credit card signup bonuses again for a long time (maybe ever?), especially with Chase! So if you use up everything you earned right away, what are you going to do for repeat?

Yes, it's easy to earn lots of miles/points the first year, maybe even the second year. But it's harder, and takes a lot more planning, the longer you've been doing it, to collect as much as you might be able to the first year or two.

(But you can cushion that if you earn much more than you need the first year or two and save some of it, so that you have something you can use when you really need it.)

sj22

+1 to the post above.

Don't underestimate your points, it only gets harder to earn more and more after the first couple of years, when you have applied for all the cards, and spoilt youself enough!

SquarePeg

Read up on how and when to cancel. Each bank has different quirks that you need to pay attention to. There is no reason to cancel the SW card if the AF is not due for another 9 months. In fact, with Chase, it is recommended that you wait. Love your enthusiasm. Good luck and Happy Trails!

beckoa

Agree this is not the place to look for help (perhaps we should have a sub-forum dedicated to helping this )

But the answer always seems to be more travel!

DCA1983

to the OP (short for "original poster"):

you expressed a concern about booking hotels on your trips where you already had the airfare taken care of from credit card bonuses.

i find that you can really save a bunch of money using hotwire.com and priceline.com, especially hotwire, if you are careful and choose properties that their own customers have rated highly. You can usually find the lowest possible rate in a particular market using those two sites. Good luck!

World-Wide

Good advice +1

Anyway welcome there are a lot of airlines/hotel CC's. But when you 1st starting out I would advice going slow. Also do some research sometimes you can get a LOT better offers by waiting. Check what offers been around before for the CC's you want. Why get 30K when you can get 50K for the same CC by waiting a little. I never just jump on a offer. I try to get the best one even if I have to wait.

For example I am still waiting for the lower spend 100K British Airway offer. I am hoping the 75K AA offer will be back. I don't need the miles now so I will wait.