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Originally Posted by element7
(Post 16242600)
Do you actually realize that it is AWESOME that all these people are lazy? Can you imagine if everyone wanted to get free miles and worked for it, it would be MUCH harder for us (who currently do it) to get miles.
It would be like Kettles with miles!:eek: |
Originally Posted by Stoughton
(Post 16239762)
And if your anything like my spouse, Father, Mother, or Mother-in-law, you put in over 40 hours per week without any additional compensation, be it grading papers, preparing lessons, assisting students, or whatever.
Luckily up here, we are very well compensated (a 10+ year experienced teacher can make $95k+), and have lots of spare income to travel in the summer , which I have done every summer since I started in 2003. I also take off every break we have, and have been known to go on a long weekend trip to Europe or Asia :P Last few years, I've been on contracts that expired mid-term - so I also had quite a bit of additional time off during the year to travel :) To me miles are a way to fly around in the summer - when tickets are most expensive - around the world. All my family and immediate friends see me as a nut, but my family has come around in the last 5 years, and are now all avid collectors and redeemers of miles. My mom, who is 55, now always ask to use points for business class. I love my teaching job, I wouldnt trade it in for anything, despite the sometimes long hours and thankless teenager attitude. Its still a very rewarding job, both on the job (Sep-Jun) and off the job (Jul-Aug) When I fly, it means I am going on holidays, everytime I see a poor fella working away on his laptop in the airport lounge on a Sunday evening, I cry a little. |
I recently signed up for 2x AA 75k cards, and told a friend about it. Told him some of the places you could go with 150k miles. He just kind of shrugged.
A couple days later we were at lunch and he was complaining about how much his wife just spent on something or other, saying he needed the money because "I want to go to Europe someday". I just ignored it. You can lead a horse to water, and all that. I think he's one of the anti-cc people who think it will ruin his credit score. As for the amount of research required, sure, to absolutely maximize your miles that's true. But if you only want to take advantage of the really big offers, just look at the thread titles on the first page of MilesBuzz. Right now that'll get you 75/150/225k AA, 100k BA, and 50k CO. If the average person takes a couple domestic trips a year, that number of miles will give them free(-ish) travel for a good long while. |
In my case, I see the miles game as a fun hobby that I enjoy pursuing. If my other friends enjoy it too- awesome. If they don't, it's often because they're doing something else wonderful in their lives.
In some cases I do have friends who want to get in on the game, but don't want to get a credit card due to struggles with debt in the past and other tactics require more time/effort/knowledge then they want to put into it. |
I've finally gotten my father onboard with the new BA 100,000 mile Visa card. He and my mother have seen what I've been able to do by playing this game and are tired of spening their hard earned money for Y tickets when they can just as easily fly in F.
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Interesting thread. I used to be one of those people who didn't care. I didn't even sign up for mileage programs at all. I never bothered with any of it because frankly, it seemed like an awful lot of work for little return or because I felt like I never traveled enough to warrant anything. Plus, I didn't consider things like a "round trip ticket on southwest" worth the hassle, time and risk of impacting my credit report. It was also pretty intimidating to get started -- lots of acronyms you don't easily know and flytertalk isn't always the friendliest of places.
I got into it mostly by chance, work suddenly required me to move around a bit and one day I realized I had managed to accumulate 100K BA miles, 180K venture miles, 250K HHonors points, 2 Q3FNs with Hilton, Diamond @ hilton and Plat @ Starwood. Im not prepared to go through all the hoops that some people here are, but I find that if I keep an eye on MilesBuzz once a week, I can find a few goodies here and there. One day I sat down and realized what I could do with all this stuff: The Hilton points are enough for a week at the conrad bali which is about $1800, the Venture miles are worth the same, the 2 q3fns are probably worth another $500 or so if used wisely, I'll save money cash with the diamond/plat benefits as well (no paying for internet), and the BA miles are worth perhaps $1000 -- all told, I've got about $5000 worth of free hotels and flights in a year. That's a LOT more than I ever thought this could yield and so now I'm interested.... I'm still weary of applying for CCs by the truckload like people here seem to be willing to do with such ease (couldn't convince my wife to get on the BA bandwagon) and no doubt I'm leaving stuff on the table but for now I'm happy. |
I used to be interested in telling others about miles, but in my circle, I really am an odd ball wrt to travel. Whenever I go off on a trip, everyone bristles with envy and ask me how I do it. Some of them ask me to send them special offers, I tell them to email me, some do some don't. And those that do, sometimes don't even apply.
I actually have got tired of trying to help others and it could mean that they will keep asking for more info, if they do get interested. I learnt a lot thru FT and I doubt others will go to the lengths that I went to. They would figure they can simply ask someone who knows the stuff. |
I would say in general airfare will be preferred, probably looking to fly coach to maximize distance I can travel. I can't say for sure the places I travel will have hotels or places to stay that I can use points on. I figure airfare can get me wherever I am going cheaper, and i can use that savings for other things.
I am travelling from the east coast, most likely flying out of BWI (Baltimore) or IAD (Washington Dulles) Travel plans for the next 5 years will likely include: Australia/NZ, South/Central america, europe, and some domestic (CO, TX, FL etc) I want MC/VISA because I will not be getting into a ton of the Credit Card signups, at least for a while. I will only spent like 15-20k a year on them, and I don't think I can spread the spending out enough to get any kind of bonuses on multiple cards. Does that narrow anything down?
Originally Posted by Mile-a-holic
(Post 16246613)
To answer your question on availability, it would help to know where you are located. People bash Delta, yet we've had no problem redeeming low business class to Europe using Air France because we live near a hub (including calling in August and getting 2 seats returning on Christmas Eve, and now 4 business seats on one flight).
Doing some binary questions may help you narrow the field: 1) Do you care more for hotel or airfare? a) hotel i)are you looking to get free nights in very nice hotels or do you want more free nights in average hotels? ii) are you looking in the US or in X country/region? I love SPG because of their higher end European hotels. Had Hilton points gathering dust (business travel) until we went to London, yet those are great if you prefer less expensive hotels. b) international airfare: are you looking for coach or business i) coach (I'm not sure of any differences here, since I'm not familiar with redeeming) ii) business: are you willing to pay more in fees to have greater flexibility, or do you prefer absolutely lowest cost? Then, combine your answers with your location and your spending ability. Examples: -Prefer business/first, okay with fees for flexibility. Combine that with live on the East Coast with easy access to BA, AF and US carriers. Spend over $30k/year, so the BA makes a lot of sense. By spending $30k year and with the sign-up bonus, can get two business or first class tickets for around $800-1,000 and the points. -Prefer business/first, want lowest cost, live away from hub. AA is probably best bet with current bonus. -Completely confused, have no idea: default to the SPG or get one of the AmEx MR bonuses. I know you mentioned Visa/MC, but you may want to consider AmEx so you can let things percolate, and then transfer once you're more comfortable. The only bad decision you can make is to be paralyzed and not get anything for your credit card spend. |
Originally Posted by IceWilly
(Post 16250490)
I am travelling from the east coast, most likely flying out of BWI (Baltimore) or IAD (Washington Dulles) Travel plans for the next 5 years will likely include: Australia/NZ, South/Central america, europe, and some domestic (CO, TX, FL etc)
I want MC/VISA because I will not be getting into a ton of the Credit Card signups, at least for a while. I will only spent like 15-20k a year on them, and I don't think I can spread the spending out enough to get any kind of bonuses on multiple cards. 1) I'd suggest researching your credit a bit more to see if you can swing three cards without it hurting your credit. Many people can, and that helps a lot. Your bang isn't the annual spend as much as the sign-up bonuses right now, and at $15-20k, you can get a few of those this year. Then, consolidate on annual spend. 2) I'd prioritize your destination based on cost/timing. I haven't done the Australia/NZ, so will speak to the others. For Europe/domestic/South America, I'd recommend: 1) the AA sign up first--and frankly, I'd do the two personal cards at once to get the 150k. Read thru the posts to confirm my understanding, but you could get the Visa for $1500 spend, and the AmEx for $4000. AA has off-peak fares of 40k to Europe if you plan in advance, so you could turn just one sign up and $5k of spend into two roundtrips. 2) Consider the BA for South America and domestic--I understand that LAN is a great partner redemption with lower fees (no experience, just reading). Can redeem for AA domestic travel at low cost (100k sign up turns into 4 domestic coach rts at low redemption). 3) I'd keep my eye on the Delta/AmEx MR promotions next. Air France is direct out of IAD, and has terrific availability from my experience at low redemption (50k). AmEx has had regular transfer promotions to Delta and BA. AA and BA have great sign-ups right now, which is why I'm emphasizing those. |
Originally Posted by Mile-a-holic
(Post 16251177)
This helps a lot. A few suggestions:
1) I'd suggest researching your credit a bit more to see if you can swing three cards without it hurting your credit. Many people can, and that helps a lot. Your bang isn't the annual spend as much as the sign-up bonuses right now, and at $15-20k, you can get a few of those this year. Then, consolidate on annual spend. 2) I'd prioritize your destination based on cost/timing. I haven't done the Australia/NZ, so will speak to the others. For Europe/domestic/South America, I'd recommend: 1) the AA sign up first--and frankly, I'd do the two personal cards at once to get the 150k. Read thru the posts to confirm my understanding, but you could get the Visa for $1500 spend, and the AmEx for $4000. AA has off-peak fares of 40k to Europe if you plan in advance, so you could turn just one sign up and $5k of spend into two roundtrips. 2) Consider the BA for South America and domestic--I understand that LAN is a great partner redemption with lower fees (no experience, just reading). Can redeem for AA domestic travel at low cost (100k sign up turns into 4 domestic coach rts at low redemption). 3) I'd keep my eye on the Delta/AmEx MR promotions next. Air France is direct out of IAD, and has terrific availability from my experience at low redemption (50k). AmEx has had regular transfer promotions to Delta and BA. AA and BA have great sign-ups right now, which is why I'm emphasizing those. Thanks, someone had mentioned the Qantas airlines (partnered with BA apparently) flys to Australia, so that may be an option. I suppose the question that springs to mind is...holding these credit cards with annual fees. Say I go for 3x cards. 2x AA and the BA. Lets say my spending for 1 year is 10k to be safe. the 2x AA cards are 85$ fee (waived first year) : Either requires $1500 or $4000 within 6 months (can't tell which) the BA card is 95$ annual fee: Requires $2500 within 3 months. So assuming I did 2AA now and then BA in 6 months I would wind up with 150k AA 100k BA with first year fee total 95$, second year fee total $265 I know that holding cards are better to protect your credit score, but how can you hold 3 cards with 265$ fees when you can't afford to actively spend on all of them to generate miles? If the 265$ is just the price you pay to get 250k miles thats fine, but eventually i would want to close down those cards if the gain from them is over. |
Originally Posted by IceWilly
(Post 16251298)
I suppose the question that springs to mind is...holding these credit cards with annual fees.
I know that holding cards are better to protect your credit score, but how can you hold 3 cards with 265$ fees when you can't afford to actively spend on all of them to generate miles? If the 265$ is just the price you pay to get 250k miles thats fine, but eventually i would want to close down those cards if the gain from them is over. The best strategy is to have a no-fee card that you hold onto, which keeps your average up. Then, churn one or two other cards per year. Watch your credit score, see what happens. But, most important is to pay on time and keep utilization low. I consider the $95 fee for BA as price of admission--but after spending $30k on it, will ask for next year's fee to be waived. Will probably cancel AA cards before the fee is due. The advantage with AmEx (supposedly) is that if you get an AA AmEx, then trade it for a Delta or MR one to get the bonus, it reports as the longest account. Again, there's some debate on that, but people report that as working. |
Originally Posted by Mile-a-holic
(Post 16251376)
Good question...differs for everyone. Many of us can afford to "churn" the cards (cancel before the annual fee) because we have a long history on another one or two cards, plus mortgage etc. If you're just starting out, then you need to be more careful.
The best strategy is to have a no-fee card that you hold onto, which keeps your average up. Then, churn one or two other cards per year. Watch your credit score, see what happens. But, most important is to pay on time and keep utilization low. I consider the $95 fee for BA as price of admission--but after spending $30k on it, will ask for next year's fee to be waived. Will probably cancel AA cards before the fee is due. The advantage with AmEx (supposedly) is that if you get an AA AmEx, then trade it for a Delta or MR one to get the bonus, it reports as the longest account. Again, there's some debate on that, but people report that as working. |
Originally Posted by Mile-a-holic
(Post 16251376)
Good question...differs for everyone. Many of us can afford to "churn" the cards (cancel before the annual fee) because we have a long history on another one or two cards, plus mortgage etc. If you're just starting out, then you need to be more careful.
The best strategy is to have a no-fee card that you hold onto, which keeps your average up. Then, churn one or two other cards per year. Watch your credit score, see what happens. But, most important is to pay on time and keep utilization low. I consider the $95 fee for BA as price of admission--but after spending $30k on it, will ask for next year's fee to be waived. Will probably cancel AA cards before the fee is due. The advantage with AmEx (supposedly) is that if you get an AA AmEx, then trade it for a Delta or MR one to get the bonus, it reports as the longest account. Again, there's some debate on that, but people report that as working. |
IceWilly - have you checked your Fico? If you are above 750 I wouldn't concern yourself at all with churning cards. If closer to 700 then you need to be more cautious, open a couple and see what effect it has.
Don't close your oldest card(s) Personally, if I was in your shoes I would do 2 AA's and the BA card... right now (who knows how long these will be available) then sit back and see how your score is effected. |
Originally Posted by NC_Girl
(Post 16251885)
IceWilly - have you checked your Fico? If you are above 750 I wouldn't concern yourself at all with churning cards. If closer to 700 then you need to be more cautious, open a couple and see what effect it has.
Don't close your oldest card(s) Personally, if I was in your shoes I would do 2 AA's and the BA card... right now (who knows how long these will be available) then sit back and see how your score is effected. |
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