jgodbey

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to points and miles and this is my first post on FlyerTalk. (Note: If this isn't the right thread, sorry about that! -- mod please move it to correct one).

I've spent the past month absorbing all of the Boarding Area blogs to learn what I need to do, and signing up for all miles/points accounts to prepare.

Kinda long post.. so I put a TL;DR at the bottom.

Here's My Predicament :

I really, really want to take my wife on an awesome vacation to Hawaii for our 2 year anniversary in February.
(we couldn't really afford anything for year 1, and honeymoon was kind of a bust as well :-\ )

I've already got a head start, but don't have much time left to acquire points and want to know the best way to do it. (and avoid any useless CC sign ups!)

Some Background Information

- [Edit] My wife cannot get any CC's because she just became a greencard holder and doesn't have a credit history in the US. We're starting her off with Student CC to build credit.
- [Edit] CVG is home airport
- [Edit] Spending capacity is about $2-3K per month
- I currently have 78,000 Delta SkyMiles
- I need 130,000 miles + $20 to go coach from CVG to HNL from Feb 22, 2013 to Mar 3, 2013 (doesn't seem so bad! Don't think I could swing First class though)
- I've had the Delta SkyMiles AMEX Gold card for 3 years now
- I have no other points anywhere
- I have 2 other crappy CC's that carry a balance and do nothing else for me
- My FICO TU score is 710 (as of 8/1/12)
- My FICO Equifax score is 670 (as of 8/1/12)
- I'm concerned about the difference in scores
- I've been paying down CC debt significantly over the past 2-3 months

My Goal

- Fly us both RT CVG to HNL for $20 + miles
- Stay at least 6 nights in SPG hotel level 5 or up (using cash + points if necessary)
- Stay another 4 nights somewhere cheap (~$100/night?) if necessary due to not having any more points for nice stuff

My "Noobie" Plan

- Get the Personal AMEX Platinum Delta SM card with 30,000 miles
- Get the Business AMEX Platinum Delta SM card with 30,000 miles

- Get the Personal AMEX SPG card with 10,000 points (plus 15K points after $5k spend in 6 months) probably doable
- Get the Business AMEX SPG card with 10,000 points (probably can't make second spend req.)

Total SM : 60K new SM + my current 78K miles = 138,000 (enough for trip)
Total SPG : 35K SPG points (enough for 7 nights + $90 per night at Level 5 Westin Waikiki)

Major Questions

- Can I actually get that many AMEX cards? or will I likely face a lot of rejection
- Are there any other ways to get good Delta SM outside of AMEX?
- I do actually own a business. Can I get both personal and biz AMEX cards on same app o rama?
- Am I missing any big promotions, problems or pitfalls?
- Should I aim for 1 big card application day, or try to get 2 in? (I have roughly 7 months until the trip as of TODAY 8/1/12)
- Do I receive the points in my account within days/weeks of getting approved?

I'm not "married" to this plan at all, I just want to take my wife to Hawaii for 10 days for very cheap! And this is all I could think of.

Please advise if there are any other ways that would work out much better.

Thanks SO much,

Jordan

TL;DR - I'm a travel hacking noobie who really wants to take his wife on our first amazing trip. I already have some Delta SkyMiles. Please help!

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

I would check aa.com to see if there are "MileSAAver" seats available to Hawaii on your desired dates of travel. If there are, I would try to get the sign-up bonuses for two Citi/AA cards, and hope that the MileSAAver seats are still available by the time your bonus miles post.

By the way, why do you want to spend all your time on Oahu? How about Kauai or Maui or the Big Island?

rajuabju

4 AMEX cards simultaneously is a bit of a stretch, but not unheard of. Someone else can opine better on whether your credit scores are good enough to try (personally I wouldnt, but thats just me). You definitely can get 2 since you have a business as well.

Despite their cutbacks, Delta is definitely the right airline to be amassing miles with if CVG is your primary airport.

I would also consider the Hyatt Chase card (gives you 2 free nights), and if your wife gets it too, thats 4 nights free. Hyatt's properties in Hawaii are pretty good IMO, particularly Kauai.... one of the best.

You could get BofA Hawaiian Airlines cards for easy intra-island flights.

Cohall

I would strongly consider getting the Chase United Cards (1 for you, 1 for your wife). That would give you 100,000 miles after first purchase, which is nice because you won't have to hit a minimum spend. 2 economy class tickets is 80K miles roundtrip, plus $20 in fees. That takes care of the flights. I checked the dates you posted above, and their seems to be good saver availability

Agree with the Hyatt card suggestion above as well. that gives you 4 free nights after first purchase.

Finally, I also concur with the above suggestion that you do not stay only on Oahu. It's fine, but IMO, you can't really experience what Hawaii is all about until you go to the other less commercial islands. Big island is my personal favorite, but Kauai/Maui are also very nice.

Good luck!

jgodbey

Great thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into AA as well.

To be honest, I really haven't spent any time thinking about the actually Hawaii vacation part yet, just how to get there and where to stay.

I definitely want to see as much as possible and not just stay in one place!

Thanks so much for the tip.

Jordan

jgodbey

Thanks for the advice Cohall. Unfortunately my wife just got her green card about a year ago and we haven't started building credit for her yet. We tried applying for a few cards for her and the lenders said she didn't have any credit history (even though she's on my AMEX). So we're starting her with starter cards to build some up.

One big question I have though is, if she COULD get a miles bonus CC, and I get it as well, do we both but the sign up bonus miles on ONE account or do we each have our own and have to build up our own frequent flyer miles accounts with the airlines/hotels?

I'll certainly look into planning out the best hawaii trip possible on our budget. I don't want to just stay in the same place the whole time. Since it's still 7 months away I've just been thinking more about how to get there and how to stay for free rather than what to do. I guess I need to start thinking about that too!

Thanks for the feedback,

Jordan

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)

The sign-up bonuses typically must go into the frequent-flyer account of the card-holder. So if your wife can obtain credit cards with mileage bonuses, she would also have to open a frequent-flyer account in her own name. Of course, miles in her account can be used to obtain award tickets in your name, and vice versa.

Keep in mind that both AA and UA offer one-way awards, so it's possible that you would obtain two tickets to Hawaii with AA miles, and two tickets from Hawaii with UA miles, depending on award-seat availability, and which credit cards you end up getting.

redtop43

Check out Priceline for hotels. I'm not suggesting you don't get all the free nights you can from credit cards, but Priceline is a good option, especially for higher-end hotels (not necessarily the highest highest, but 3.5 to 4-star). I'm referring to the "Name Your Own Price" area. See http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/onlin...ng-primer.html

Zolomark

another good data point to tell us might be what your spending capability is for an average month. also remember that points may not post as quickly as you need them...so if you're finishing your spending a bit close to the desired fly time...you may be cutting it close. also priceline sounds like a good option for you without any hotel points.

PresskittJon

I'd also research why your credit score is low. Knowing what is keeping it down will help you not make the same mistakes or fix what is semi-broken. Not terrible scores but certainly higher will help with this game.

jgodbey

Our spending capacity is about $2K per month on normal stuff. Could probably bump that to $3K or more using some tactics like paying rent with CC, etc. Great point.

Thanks for the tip Zolomark and redtop43 about Priceline for hotels. I probably wouldn't have thought of that.

Most important part seems like getting there. I'll try to find good options with Priceline if I can't use points for the whole thing (which likely won't happen).

Thanks!

Jordan

Stubtify

My estimate based on your credit score is that you may only get to apply for 2 credit cards here. Make them count.

I would put more focus on where you want to stay, and what hotels and hotel points/$$$ you will need to spend to do so. Put together a budget, with each item 2 different ways:

Flights: If you spend $$$ // If you spend Points

Hotels: If you Spend $$$ // If you spend points

You already have enough miles for one flight, so maybe buy the other flight with cash and focus on Hotel points? See which way ends up with you spending the least out of pocket, assuming you can only get 2 credit cards. Then try for cards 3&4 and if those come through, great. If not at least you've reduced your OOP expense the most you possibly could.

If you're doing 8 nights @$150 a night you'd be better off to just buy a flight, even if it costs you $800 as long as you can swing all those nights for free. Try to rethink the overall expenses and keep your costs as low as possible.

An Example:

Buy one ticket, redeem your current miles for another. This costs you $800 for the flight

Fly open Jaw, into HNL, then redeem 5k/7.5k delta miles for a flight to Maui, and fly home from there? Buying one flight gives you miles for these intra-island flights with what you already have in your delta account.

Apply for SPG Amex card, and Hyatt card and focus your spending for the next months there. Look for SPG C&P rates or 5 for 4 rates if you can get up to the needed point level.

It is really risky to do any of this without the miles already in your accounts, because you're "guessing" at what availability will be there when you actually go to book. If availability changes after you get your points a backup plan would be to surprise your wife with the details of the trip on your anniversary, and plan it to be at a date a few months in the future. Your wife gets to be excited for her trip for a few months and you can make sure you get to book C&P rates, and lowest award redemption levels. Trying to fit a trip into specific dates is hard enough when you already have the points, to do it like this might be setting yourself up for disappointment.

redtop43

YMMV - but...

When my wife got her green card, I contacted Amex immediately and gave them her social security number. Within a month, she had a credit score in the mid-700's.

As best I could tell, Amex confused her history with mine, and showed her as having had an Amex card since 1995.

In the past 6 months, we've gotten the Chase SP, Chase Hyatt, and USAir MC in her name with no real problems. (We didn't get instant approvals from Chase, but that's normal.) We also got her an Amex Plat card, but that wasn't surprising as she had Amex cards before based on her Canadian history with Amex.

I suggest you contact Amex immediately. It might not work for you, but it's worth a try. (We did have to fax them a copy of her social security card.)

Jesperss

I went through the same thing a year ago.

I added my wife as an AU to three cards (using her SSN) with a long credit history and within a few months she had a score of 740. ^

particlemn

I would focus on cutting spending and paying off your current credit cards, then place that amount into savings, use the delta miles to get 1 ticket and buy the other and look for an inexpensive hotel. if you can't pay off the credit card before next februray i would wait until year 3 for the trip.