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.

Hang around here for awhile and you will pick up stuff....

18 months ago I would have read that paragraph and said WTH??
:confused:

sadly?? now I actually know what 90% of it says.... LOL

Actually, I just added it up, and since we started at the end of February... it's over a million miles!!

lwildernorva is right. You have to have good credit to pull off a haul this large. This will be a long post, but I think some other noobies might learn a couple of lessons, so I'll chronicle my whole journey so far.

It all started when I was standing in line to check in at the Marriott near where I work, where I stay often when I'm on call there. While I'm standing there, another guy walks in off the street, zips up to the Elite check in line, and is on his way while I hadn't moved an inch. I figured there HAS to be a better way. I had never bothered with loyalty programs and special offers before, thinking that they were a scam to get me to spend more. Some googling led me to Flyertalk, and that's when the madness began.

I applied for the Chase Marriott, but being such a noobie, I applied for the "regular" one with only a 22.5K points signup bonus. The next day I realized there was a 30K points offer out there for the Premier card, so I cancelled the one and applied for the other. But Chase let me keep both bonuses. Good thing they did, actually, since I got two credit inquires for that...again...rookie mistakes. But a short while later, I learned from thefrugaltravelguy.com that Chase had upped their bonus to 50K, and that I could try the "bump-the-bonus" maneuver. I called up Chase, and they said sure, we want to make you happy, we'll credit you the difference for the new offer. Now I had 72.5K sign up points. I quickly attained Platinum status with Marriott thru stays and...better yet...meetings at Marriott (learned about that one on FT as well). And here's a little known secret...at least to non-FT folks: once you hit top level Elite status in a program, the points/miles acumulation really starts to snowball. At this point I have over 125K points at Marriott, along with priority check in, lounge access, and free breakfast and internet - all for just making the same amount of stays I made last year for no extra benefits. My wife was getting very very troubled by my new travel rewards obsession and the new credit card sign ups, but then I took her with me on a trip, and we stayed in the Presidential Suite for free! She still rolls her eyes, but now she's going along with the program.

Next was the Amex Plat card, with the 50K memb rewards points, which I learned about from thepointsguy and frugaltravelguy. But the special incentive for me was the concurrent Delta transfer bonus of 50% with the extra 25K MQM. I signed up, transferred to Delta, and achieved Silver status. That was my first ever status on any airline. My very next flight was to Hilton Head with some buddies for a golf trip. We had a layover in ATL. I got bumped to 1st class on all 4 legs! And while my buds were b*tching about the exorbitant luggage fees for golf bags (and they are ridiculous), my clubs got checked thru without a penny extra charge, and a "thank you for your business". Best of all, when I escorted my buds into the Sky Lounge in Atlanta for some beers while we waited...I never had a better time getting the jealous razzing. :)

Shortly thereafter I learned that Amex had upped the offer to 100K points for the Plat card sign up. I called up, and the first 3 agents I talked to all said the same thing...that offer has expired, it was a targeted offer an you don't qualify, etc. But on my 4th attempt, I got a very helpful rep who was politely issued me the extra 50K MR points. I then tranfrerred those points to my wife's Delta account, and now SHE is a Silver Medallion. :) 150K Skymiles between us, including 25 MQM's times 2.

Next was the Amex SPG card. Everyone seems to agree that this is the best everyday spend card for earning travel rewards - which is my goal, as opposed to cash back reward cards. Knowing your goals is important, so you can pick and choose which offers are best for you. We quickly hit the spend requirements, and got the 25K sign up bonus. At this point, we've got over 40K SPG points.

I was really getting hooked, and the deadline for the Chase British Airways card was looming. Although I already had 4 Chase cards (not counting that 5th Chase Marriott card I had cancelled), I couldn't resist. My wife and I both put in for applications. She got approved right away, but I got a "we'll have to think about it" letter. Thanks to FT, I already had the application reconsideration phone number, which I promptly called up. The nice rep told me that Chase thought I already had enough credit with them...but I was ready. I suggested that she just lower the credit on one of my lesser-used cards, and put the difference on the new Brit Air card. Viola...done. I was so nervous asking for something like that, but I was well-armed with my Flyertalk info, so I sounded casual and confident on the phone with her. The whole thing sounded so reasonable, and it went through without a hitch. Now we had 200K BA miles between us.

Thepointsguy made a blog entry about how, although the AAdvantage card offer deadline had passed, many FTers were still getting approved for the 75K sign up bonus deal. I knew I'd had several credit report inquiries at that point, but...by signing up for both cards at once, it would only count as one more credit pull. Plus, these were Citibank cards, not Chase, and I didn't have any Citi cards on my credit file at this point. My wife and I both signed up for BOTH the personal Visa AND the Amex AAdvantage cards. The FT thread made it very clear about how to sign up for both simultaneously - using a second internet browser, if necessary - and how that would not only get you approved for both cards, but it would only look like one credit pull. Bingo...4 more cards approved, along with 75K miles time FOUR between us. 300K more miles. In 61 days we plan on going back and getting the Citi biz Amex cards, for another 75K x 2...another 150K miles, 450K total. Wow.

My next Flyertalk victory was the status match. There is a Holiday Inn at my daughters small college town where NOBODY can ever book a room. It's right in the center of town, and it's always packed every weekend, what with football games, parents weekends, sorority functions, etc. So...I learned about status matching on FT, and I contacted Priority Club. After faxing over my Marriott Platinum status, they basically comped me Platinum status with Priority Club. And I waited until AFTER I was a confirmed Plat to call Priority Club and add the 4 night stay I had at a Crowne Plaza 2 weeks earlier. Again, once your top tier Elite, the points just mushroom. PLUS...I learned from FT that PC is a program that is easiest to accumulate points, since they often have promos that run concurrently with each other. I learned that I should sign up for every single promo that PC offers, even if they were "expired", so that I could pile up the most points for future stays. My very next stay resulted in over 13,000 points! Booyah! At this point I've got 40K+ and counting PC points. But...best of all: I called the Plat line, and asked for a reservation at that Holiday Inn at my daughter's college for parents weekend. They told me it was sold out. I said, yes, but what about my Platinum override...with more than 72 hours notice, I'm gauranteed a room. They got the manager of that hotel on the line with us, and she didn't seem too pleased that she was being forced to give me a room, when they hold a lottery every year for rooms for that weekend. I kept her on the phone for a little while, trying to show her that I really wasn't too much of a DYKWIA kinda guy (how could I be...I'm such a noobie to this), and she softened up some. Then I sent her one of the Amex gift cards I had bought to accelerate my spend requirements for one of my credit card sign up bonuses (another FT trick), thanking her for taking such good care of my family. I got a hand written thank you note in return! I think I've got a room at the most convenient hotel in that town now, for the rest of my daughter's college career. Maybe next time I'll give her a roll of silver dollars as a thank you gift. :)) My daughter thinks I'm an evil magician who gets whatever he wants, but my secret weapon is FT. While I was at it, I learned that my Amex Plat gets me gold status at SPG hotels, and there was a recent promo where a Visa Signature card gets you gold status at Hilton properties. I was LMAO that I actually got gold status at Hilton my signing up with my Marriott Premier card!!

At this point I'd become hooked on status, and that became one of my goals. I applied for and got the Delta Amex Reserve card. 10K MQM for first purchase, and I just got another 15K MQM for the required spend, which made me a gold Medallion. Eventually I'll get the biz card version, along with the Delta Plat card. Between those 3 cards, I'll get 80K MQMs a year, which will give me Platinum status on Delta without ever flying a mile. Now, I don't recommend that for everybody, esp since the spend requirements are pretty high. Also, Delta is not everybody's cup of tea. I live in Cincinnati, and Delta is by far the most convenient airline to fly here. I know Delta award bookings are a hassle, so it's not the best airline for everybody, but I'm going to the FT seminar in Chicago, and I hope to gain more expertise in using expertflyer, ita, etc., and learn how to get the best value for my Skymiles. Plus, my job commitments don't allow me to fly enough to maintain elite status via butt-in-seat. For my own situation, I'll have enough reward miles piled up that I don't foresee having to pay for a flight for the foreseeable future...by emphasizing the Reserve cards, I'll get to fly for free AND in First Class, by picking my flights accordingly. This will work best for me.

So here are the results of our journey so far:
Marriott - 125K+
Delta (Amex transfers plus Reserve card bonus and miles) - 200K,
including Gold and Silver Medallion status
Amex SPG - 40K+
British Airways - 200K
Priority Club - 50K+
AAdvantage - 300K, soon to be 450K


Assuming the Citi Amex biz cards work out, that's a total of 1,065,000 points and miles. Since the end of February!

I should point out a couple of things. I am lucky to have a job with a nice income, and I've lived in the same house for 15 years and paid my mortgage and all other bills on time without fail. So I'm fortunate to have built up excellent credit. Without that, I never could have made so many new applications...in fact, I think it would otherwise be reckless to go on such a credit card binge. And just as important, I'm not carrying balances on these cards. If I had to pay interest on all this, then I'd be paying more on that interest than I would be just to buy the airfare and hotel rooms with cash. So I'm trying to be very careful not to be spending money that I would not have spent. And yes, I've had to do some gift cards and Mint purchases to meet all these requirements. BUT...thanks to the info I've learned from FT, I now have a war chest of travel rewards, as well as status with which to enjoy it. If you're careful, there's no reason you can't get a whole lot of extra rewards for your money!

OK, that just cracks me UP! Soooo true!!

Hey NC_Girl... what will it say about us when we can decipher 100% if that? Will that be good or bad? :)

That will be good, as long as we don't freak-out our friends and family by speaking like that in everyday conversation. :D