CivicDriver

Hi everyone,

(Sorry if my post gets lengthy! And thank you to anyone that can address all my questions.)

My first post! I recently was referred to Miles Buzz from a different forum. I have been following many threads on here and trying to understand as much as possible. There is SO much information to take in. Everyone seems pretty helpful so I decided to make an account.

I'll try to give a little personal info about me so you can steer me in the right direction: I want to reap some benefits of credit card bonuses and frequent flyer miles but I don't know what route to take. I'm still in college and working on building up great credit. I have two credit cards that I charge 99% of my expenses to and pay in full each month. Recently, I also paid off a car loan. I think I have "stellar" credit, at least for my age. When I checked last, it was about 750. I know that opening new cards can make a temporary dent in my credit but I'm not worried about applying for 1, 2, or possibly 3 cards because I have no big purchases planned for the next year or two at least. I know many people will warn me against potentially damaging my credit but I really feel that I have started a great foundation (feel free to persuade me differently... I don't know everything!).

I have been traveling to Cancun for the past couple years and I also would like to get back to Germany. If I could earn up a free flight, that would be awesome. I don't fly often but, like I mentioned before, I make all my purchases on my credit cards.

Here are my questions thus far:

- I had previously opted-out of credit card offers because I was sick of them but now decided to opt in to see if I would be eligible for targeted offers. When should I expect the "junk mail" to start flowing in again? At my age/credit score/etc., should I even expect decent targeted offers?

- What type of card should I be looking for? I see that 50K mile offers are a good start. Frontier and Airtran are the two airlines that fly direct from MKE-CUN and Frontier has a credit card that I can get 35,000 miles for signing up and spending $750 in three months. That 35,000 gets me a free roundtrip flight from MKE-CUN. Is that worth it? What about striving for a ticket to Germany? Should I look into something like a Capital One Venture card or check out offers direct from Lufthansa?

- I see many people signing up for cards, getting the rewards, and then canceling the card before the annual fee comes due. How does this work? Do you keep the miles if you cancel the card? Use the miles before you cancel? Or somehow roll them together with points you have earned elsewhere?

- After reading threads on this forum, I found out about airline alliances. I understand what they are but how do I use those alliances to focus on particular credit card offers? Are certain miles "interchangeable" between airlines?

I'm sure I'll have plenty more questions as time goes. (I wish there was a "Credit Card Churning for Idiots" guide! ) Any guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

HansGolden

You're definitely well-positioned to get some CC bonuses. At this point, I'd suggest applying for all of these on the same day:

• two personal Citi AA cards - 75k bonus each
• Chase Sapphire - 50K bonus (transfer to Continental)
• Amex Premier Gold Rewards (bump to 75k) (transfer to Continental if you can get it before 30 Sep, which is theoretically possible if you have extreme hustle)

If you apply on the same day, none of the requests will see the other requests, so you should be good to go! Always apply for cards in batches every 3-6 months. If you get approved for all of the above (and I think you will), then you would have 150K AA and 125K CO. That's enough for a business class ticket to Europe on Star Alliance (with Continental miles). With AA miles 2.5 trips in domestic First to Cancun or 6 off-peak coach tickets to Cancun or 4+ on-peak coach trips to Cancun.

zutmin

Hey Brian (CivicDriver), good to see you here asking questions. You will find answers to all of your questions here.

My computer ended up with some kind of spyware the past few days, thus I was unable to PM you to answer the questions you had asked me.

Have fun and feel free to PM me anytime with questions. I spend much more time here than I do on TA.

birdseye

Be aware that cancelling credit cards before the annual fee hits can reduce the age of your credit accounts and impact your credit score. Make sure you keep a couple free cards open long term (make a small purchase every year) as that will help reduce the impact of closing credit card accounts.

I would agree that the Citi Aadvantage cards (2 for 150,000 miles) and the Chase Sapphire Card are the best offers out there right now. I took advantage of the Amex Gold Premier Card bump the bonus but Amex has either stopped matching targeted offers or made it much more difficult to find a customer rep able and willing to match a targeted offer. But it is also important to look at what airline (and sign up bonus) works best for your travel goals. If you want to travel on Lufthansa, you can do it for the cost of taxes with United miles, so I would get as many Continental miles as you can before they go away and transfer them to United. The Sapphire Card is a good way to get Continental miles. I wouldn't sign up for a United Card until Chase has another 50,000 mile sign up bonus.

CivicDriver

Thanks to all of you for your replies thus far.

My questions are going to be very "beginner-ish" so please bear with me!

For the 150K AA miles - I went the American Airlines website and selected a flight next May for travel from ORD-CUN and selected the option to use frequent flyer miles. I assume that all AA miles need be redeemed on the AA website?

There were four options: Econ. MilesAAver, Economy AAnytime, Business/First MilesAAver, and Business/First AAnytime. Are all of those options for me? What's the difference between MilesAAver and AAnytime? Would I still need to pay for taxes, etc.? If so, how much should I expect that to be?

For the CO miles - I'm not sure what you mean by "on Star Alliance". I would still be booking that flight on the CO website, correct?

How do you transfer miles? And how do I know what programs I can transfer miles between?


Thank you!

TimesTwo

The Points Guy's website has a lot of good info about redeeming award travel. I suggest you check out his website and read about the different alliances and the pros and cons of each.

Cheers!

TimesTwo

Here's the website http://thepointsguy.com/ and you can browse by category to make the searching easier.

HansGolden

Here's the chart. That should answer your questions.

MilesAAver awards are regular "award" inventory that is limited. AAnytime awards are "last seat" availability. In other words, if there's a single seat that they're still selling for money, you can book it with miles. AAnytime awards require double the miles that MilesAAver requires. (Or in case of off-peak, more than double since there isn't an off-peak AAnytime category.)

Taxes will probably be $10-80, not sure for CUN.

Yes, but you can use any combo of Star Alliance carriers (CO, UA, US, AC, LH, SK, OS, SQ) and Virgin Atlantic to get to Europe.

On the Chase or Amex website. Research.

CO is the best Chase transfer partner. (Though I think Hyatt's a decent option as well, but don't quote me as I don't actually have the Sapphire.)

After CO leaves the Amex program as a transfer partner, your options for Star Alliance dwindle to basically AC and NH, which aren't bad options, depending.

Remember, you can use (basically) any Star Alliance miles on an any Star Alliance carrier's flights!

HansGolden

Second the motion. Hands down the easiest, step by step reading you'll find.

crimson12

One quick note re transferring miles: It might not be obvious, but some programs (Citi/AA, Chase/United, etc.) are designed so that you earn 1 (or sometimes more) airline mile per dollar your spend. But other programs, like the Chase Sapphire Ultimate Rewards, or American Express Membership Rewards, are designed so that you earn 1 (or sometimes more) "point" in their specific program per dollar you spend. What some of the prior posters are saying is that, if you get the Chase Sapphire Card, you'll have 50,000 Chase UR points, and you have to transfer them from Chase to Continental. (You can see how to do this on the Chase UR website.) One additional quirk is that, because of the CO-UA merger, CO OnePass is going to be folded into United's Mileage Plus. You'll have the same miles, just with a different name.

birdseye

The AA website only shows flights available on AA metal. To book a flight on one of its partners, you'll have to make the booking by phone (beware of British Airways flights as the fuel surcharges and taxes are almost as much as a coach ticket). Same with United and Continental; free tickets can be booked on their partner airlines by phone. Delta allows you to see and book Air France, KLM, and Alaska flights on its website.

pgary

I think all newbies should spend a couple of hours reading everything on my website below. Then you will be aware of all of the different types of programs and most all of the specific programs for earning miles. I would suggest paying particular attention to the credit card pages of that website, so you know about all of the best offers before you decide on one or two or three.

CivicDriver

I looked at this website a number of times and don't see anything specific about redeeming award travel. Maybe I don't know what I'm looking for but I don't see it... (sorry for being so slow )

Also, would anyone be willing to reply to this message or PM with ideas for getting spending up? The Citi 75K deal x2 is extra appealing but I don't see myself spending $5,500 in a few months. $1,500... yes. But, not $5,500. As I mentioned in my original post, I'm in college... no mortgage... no car loan... not a lot going on right now. Just buying gas, groceries, clothes, going out to eat, etc.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

AlohaDaveKennedy

Kid - "Card Churning" is not what it is all about - we recycle plastic. And recycling plastic is green, very green when done right.

Germany sounds very Continental. You could try a Continental and United card to double down on miles, if their fees are waived the first year.

crazyflier

Latching on to this thread as my requirements and situation are more or less similar to CivicDriver. Hope no one minds!