BTDT, free many, many times. Caribbean has been primarily AA, Hawaii primarily USAir and China depends on where you want to go and where you want to stop on the way in. I travel kettle-class as I tend to just sleep on my flights, but if you prefer to be part of the 1% you should research who has the best quality first and business class opportunities.

I think you are right. Years ago I had the AMEX Gold (personal not business). It used to have 2 points per USPS, but they stopped at some point. I didn't realize the business card has it! That is great! I probably spend over $3000/month on shipping. I am going to have to make some changes.

I'll run a test with Emily's Business Gold Card this weekend to see how USPS purchases post.

The Business Gold had a 50K sign-up bonus, but that disappeared from November 28. There was even a 75K sign-up bonus for a day in November! The current sign-up bonus is ZERO points! :(

I'd suggest waiting until the sign-up bonus on the Business Gold card returns before applying. Assuming that you'd get $3,000 extra MR points a month on the Business Gold card you could wait for a few months until a better offer shows up and still break even:

1) 5 months for a 15,000 point sign-up offer (15,000/3,000)
2) ~8 months for a 25,000 point sign-up offer (25,000/3,000)
3) ~17 months for a 50,000 point sign-up offer (50,000/3,000)

Just continue accruing points on your AMEX SPG until a juicy sign-up offer for the AMEX Business Gold.

In the current environment of mega credit-card bonuses you really shouldn't sign-up for a credit card which offers NO sign-up bonus! Chase is competing aggressively and it is only a matter of time (in my opinion) before AMEX responds.

Good Luck!

I like your strategy. I am going to sit tight and wait for a juicy deal :D

I might look into the Chase Preferred Sapphire to use for those non-AMEX charges. I am currently using a Chase Marriott. But, I like the flexibility of the Sapphire.

That's a great idea!

The Chase Sapphire Preferred will let you transfer points to Marriott at a 1:1 ratio, but will also also give you double points on dining and travel which you wouldn't get with the Marriott credit card.

That plus the ability to transfer to select airlines (United, BA, & Korean) and hotels (Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club) make the Chase Sapphire Preferred a better card than the Marriott for non-AMEX charges (assuming those charges were non-Marriott charges).

I have been reading a lot on here and on everyones blogs this week and it seems like everyone applies for multiple credit cards all at once to minimize the visibility on their credit report.

Do you think I should wait for an AMEX Business Gold award and then make a jump to several cards? Or can I slip in the sapphire now without much impact?

Dave

Before I decided to start hoarding AAdvantage miles through Citibank cards Chase Sapphire Preferred was my card of choice. I think it has benefits up there with the best of them.

If you want/have an Amex remember you can get AAdvantage miles at 1.25 p/USD using SPG. When you transfer 20k points they throw in an extra 5k.

IMO, I would reserve the AA cards for AA.com-related expenses only.

Virgin Atlantic & Amtrak
 

Virgin Atlantic because every dollar spent earns 1.5 miles and if you rent from Hertz or Avis every rental earns 1000 miles. VA miles are good on CO and US and they have attractive rewards on other partners. Of course there's the $90 annual fee....

Amtrak because it's a no-fee card from Chase earning one mile per dollar and the miles are transferrable to CO (you have to make a $200 Amtrak "purchase" which can be a refundable Amtrak ticket, and there's a limit of I think 20K miles per year to transfer). The Amtrak rewards themselves are outstanding too.

Virgin Atlantic often has a 50K opening bonus from BofA and Amtrak currently has a 32K opening bonus on this blog.

I believe Amtrak is ending their transferability to Continental by the end of the year. They are working on a deal with United, but nothing has been finalized.