New User is Overwhelmed
 

Hello everyone. I have lurked for a number of days on this site and so far I think I have learned some things. I will go ahead and say that I don't usually do points and reward programs. I am really terrible at it! I have an AMEX blue cash card and it's easy for me just to get the cash back. But when I saw the Chase Sapphire deal, I had to jump on it and give it a go. Honestly, we don't travel by air or stay in hotels much. We are a camping family and like to drag our camper around and commune with nature. But lately, I have been wanting to take our 2 DD's on an airplane somewhere and I am too cheap to spend the dough on a trip. So I'm going to try again with this. You that know how to find the deals and work this thing are amazing!! I know that I will be able to reach the sapphire card $3000 in 90 days terms, but after that, I will be totally lost. I will be back with many questions. Thanks for all the info I have digested so far.

Plenty of people will chime in with specific advice but you're sensing a key issue:

The best signup bonus is not necessarily the best everyday card.

If you don't fly much, you probably want a great cashback card, such as the Fidelity 2% back card. (There's a thread in the "other CC programs" forum)

Also, if you're hauling a camper, you probably buy a lot of gas. So think about the Pentagon Credit Union Visa with 5% back on gas.

This should probably be a separate decision from which signup offers to look for. For example, right now you could sign up for two AAdvantage credit cards and land a total of 150k miles.

Try to determine how many credit cards you're willing to sign up for and how quickly, then compare to the signup bonuses available.

Welcome to FT (Flyertalk)! You might find the glossary helpful:
http://www.flyertalk.com/glossary/

And here are some popular blogs:
http://thepointsguy.com/
http://www.frugaltravelguy.com/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/onemileatatime/
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/

Welcome to FlyerTalk!

Well, there's the AA 75,000 mile deal which between you and your wife can give you 225,000 AAdvantage miles EACH! That's a lot of air travel!

As MDtR-Chicago wrote, evaluate how many cards you want to apply for and then maximize the bonus!

I'd also like to recommend my blog Million Mile Secrets as a way to get up-to-speed on all the deals available!

I suggest you take about two hours to read everything on my website below. Then you will know about just about every worthwhile offer out there. Start with the Credit Card and Finance sections, where you will find the best current mega offers.

Careful, you might get addicted to this stuff.

+1

I was new last year myself. You cannot learn everything in a few days. The best you can do is overwhelm yourself. ;) Start reading, learn the search functions (they really do help) and ask questions. Good luck on meeting your goal, with a little perseverance, you can get there!

You will get there. The first thing to do is to define your goals. Your goals might not be my goals (and clearly yours aren't mine--the closest I've come to camping was a zillion years ago in my Cub Scout days--now I think I'm roughing it if there isn't a towel warmer in my hotel room!). As others have pointed out, airline miles are not the only method of getting closer to your travel goals; however, if you now want to do more airline travel, you'll probably find that this is the golden era for accumulating miles.

The second thing to do is become more aware of your opportunities. As an example, my extended family asked me to be responsible for planning our group gift to one of my sisters and her husband for their wedding anniversary. I was fortunate that the group's goals in this situation meshed nicely with my goals.

Using the information I learned here, I arranged a hotel for my sister and brother-in-law through a hotel chain that gives me nice benefits (and also some nicely earned points for using them). I set up a dinner for them at a restaurant that also participates in a dining loyalty program with one of the airlines. I then charged all of this on a credit card that earns me points through the Amex Membership Rewards program (which I'll use later this summer to convert, at a 50% bonus, to miles in the British Airways program). And, because I'm getting contributions from my other family members while serving as the banker for this gift, I'll get all of these rewards while contributing only 20% of the total cost. Spend some time reading the threads; you'll start understanding where your own opportunities lie.

This is not genius stuff; it'll take a little work and research on your part to start getting the basics. But I learned fairly quickly the wisdom of an old saying: "The first right answer isn't necessarily the only right answer." In other words, don't over commit yourself to credit card offers that ultimately might not meet your travel needs. Figure your needs out first; then go get the programs that will meet those needs.

If you liked this deal and can get the spending done, sign up your wife and double up. :)

^^

My wife is a stay at home mom. I sign her up for nearly every card I sign up for. Since March, we've accumulated over 750,000K points and miles, as well as elite status at 3 hotel chains and an airline. She thought I was nuts until the first time we got bumped up to first class on a dirt cheap domestic fare, and then stayed at a Presidential Suite at a Marriott for free. Now she rolls her eyes, but goes along with the program.

Nice side effect benefit is that her credit score is even higher than mine! Guess it helps to have plenty of credit that gets paid off.

750,000k points in 3 months? That is incredible. How did you do that?

this thread is great.

I have been gone for a year, family health issues...

I was : CO - Plat (now silver)
Hilt Diam (now gold)
AMX Plat (closing in on 100k pts)


I am going to read all of the links you guys posted, but ANY further tips on how to regain status quicker would be appreciated.

Basically, I am a frequent flyer now with no perks :/

First, anyone who does this already has good credit. YMMV depending on your credit scores. Second, two people may separately apply for each individual offer you'll find here on FT. With the AA 75K promos alone, the chances are pretty good any family would get from 300K to 450K miles in AA's program. Two successful Amex Premium Rewards Gold or Platinum applications, made several months ago, would have earned at least 150K Membership Rewards points (and maybe 200K). Delta and Amex ran a promotion that recently ended (and then was reinstated with some modifications) that allowed transfers of MR points to Delta's FF program at a 50% bonus plus sufficient elite qualifying miles to earn Silver status with Delta. United has a credit card that offers a membership to their airport clubs. Many hotel programs, many with 50K point bonuses, offer some level of status as part of their branded cards (and one of the benefits of the Amex Platinum card is Gold status in the Starwood Preferred Guest program).

Third, be prepared for some stiff annual fees in some cases. Many, but not all cards will waive the annual fee for a year or two; others will consider waiving the fee when it comes due if you retain the card; and others will make you pay the fee up front or will do no waivers when the annual fee comes due. You have to decide whether you wish to cancel the card to avoid paying the fee and what the possible effect on your credit might be.

As I noted above, this isn't genius stuff. Just get more familiar with the threads here.

Welcome to Flyertalk! There is a lot of info on here, and it is a lot to take in. Just keep in mind that there are both "beginner" and "advanced" strategies on here- if an idea makes your head spin you may have bumped up against an advanced strategy that will take more research and info before you truly get it.

The other thing that I remember being fairly disconcerting in my early days here- sometimes you will ask what seems like a straightforward question and people will start inquiring about what seem like unrelated details. That's great because sometimes there is a different way to accomplish what your end goal...but, being new, you might not even know the right questions to ask to find that strategy.