credit card points travel/miles/airline and hotel rewards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have an United Credit Card. We live by an United hub as does my DD. We always fly United and run all of our purchases through the United credit card. It adds up and works for us!

This is what we do. I wasn't looking so much at accruing the miles as adding convenience to my life. With the United card, I can use points to pay the annual fee so I basically paid it once upon opening. My spouse and my three kids can get into the lounge with me. We get priority boarding and don't have to pay to pick the slightly better seats. We often only fly with carry ons, so the priority boarding really helps on full flights to make sure our bags don't get checked.

For whatever reason, when I look for flights on United out of IAD for Thanksgiving they are significantly more expensive (almost $1000 more for our family) than what I can get out of DCA on a different airline. I mention that just because if any of the PPs asking questions are a family that is looking at United and expecting to primarily use it to fly over Thanksgiving, it's pretty worthless to have the card perks or the points.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

You don't worry about the fee- you only pay it once, cancel after a year- open a different Amex card to keep the points alive.

And yes that kind of charge is exactly the easy to hit bonuses fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

For the United Airline credit, yes. You pick one airline and then get 200 dollars in incidental expenses (baggage fees, inflight drinks, etc). If you pick United, though, you can buy 200 dollars in credit in the United Travel Bank. Travel Bank funds can be used for tickets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

For the United Airline credit, yes. You pick one airline and then get 200 dollars in incidental expenses (baggage fees, inflight drinks, etc). If you pick United, though, you can buy 200 dollars in credit in the United Travel Bank. Travel Bank funds can be used for tickets.

Yes, this exactly.

PP, do you have a destination in mind?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

For the United Airline credit, yes. You pick one airline and then get 200 dollars in incidental expenses (baggage fees, inflight drinks, etc). If you pick United, though, you can buy 200 dollars in credit in the United Travel Bank. Travel Bank funds can be used for tickets.

Yes, this exactly.

PP, do you have a destination in mind?

Very useful to know but unfortunately Amex rejected me for the offer of 175,000 points and will only give 80,000 so probably not worth it. Don’t know why. Maybe because I already have Amex Blue Preferred or am authorised user on DH’s Amex Hilton Aspire card?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

For the United Airline credit, yes. You pick one airline and then get 200 dollars in incidental expenses (baggage fees, inflight drinks, etc). If you pick United, though, you can buy 200 dollars in credit in the United Travel Bank. Travel Bank funds can be used for tickets.

Yes, this exactly.

PP, do you have a destination in mind?

Very useful to know but unfortunately Amex rejected me for the offer of 175,000 points and will only give 80,000 so probably not worth it. Don’t know why. Maybe because I already have Amex Blue Preferred or am authorised user on DH’s Amex Hilton Aspire card?

Was the 175K offer for a business platinum and the 80K for a personal platinum and you applied for the personal? You can still get the business platinum for that bonus too. It is a different card family from the personal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

For the United Airline credit, yes. You pick one airline and then get 200 dollars in incidental expenses (baggage fees, inflight drinks, etc). If you pick United, though, you can buy 200 dollars in credit in the United Travel Bank. Travel Bank funds can be used for tickets.

Yes, this exactly.

PP, do you have a destination in mind?

Very useful to know but unfortunately Amex rejected me for the offer of 175,000 points and will only give 80,000 so probably not worth it. Don’t know why. Maybe because I already have Amex Blue Preferred or am authorised user on DH’s Amex Hilton Aspire card?

Was the 175K offer for a business platinum and the 80K for a personal platinum and you applied for the personal? You can still get the business platinum for that bonus too. It is a different card family from the personal.

No I think PP got served the new offers, which are "up to 175k", and then once you fill out the application they give you a window with what your actual bonus offer is, and then you choose to accept it and complete the application, or you say no and stop the application.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New poster here. We don't travel option, but we are planning a bigger international trip for our family of four next summer, and we hope to travel more in the future. We have a Chase card and a Bonvoy card. Is there another card we should open to help us with flights or hotels? We have great credit and always pay off our cards. We don't care about traveling first class, just getting the cost of our travel covered with points as much as possible. Advice?

This depends on the destination and your current mileage balance.

To get enough points for award flights for a family of four, I think you will need multiple sign up bonuses. It is possible. DH and I just signed up for separate Chase United Quest cards which will give 230,000 points once we had each met the $4,000 minimum spend and after including referral bonus and authorised user bonuses. Once you’ve done that, one of you could refer the other for a Chase United Mileage card for 60,000 points plus 10,000 referral bonus. One of you could also sign up for Chase Sapphire and get the 75,000 point bonus (make sure the one with the existing chase card gives a referral to get the bonus). But, as you’ve seen from previous posts, United points aren’t worth as much as they used to be. And you need to figure out how to mitigate the annual fee (eg downgrade the United cards to fee-free Gateway card at month 11).

I think locking yourself into one airline is sub-optimal, unless you're deadset on United. Let's put it this way: a single sign-up bonus on Amex Platinum (175K) can pay for 4 roundtrip economy tickets to Europe if you find saver rates at 20K each way. Your options are Air France, Aeroplan, Virgin etc so why lock yourself into United?

You’re probably right. I was thinking the $695 annual fee would be hard to mitigate but I guess it’s fine provided you use the $200 uber credit, $240 digital entertainment credit and the $200 airline fee credit. I’m a bit unsure about the airline credit. It sounds like you nominate one airline and then I’ll stuck with it. Do you know if that’s the case?

I read your post just as I opened my latest Montgomery County property tax bill for $7000. I suppose that would be an easy way of meeting the minimum spend of $8000 even with the $138 credit card fee.

For the United Airline credit, yes. You pick one airline and then get 200 dollars in incidental expenses (baggage fees, inflight drinks, etc). If you pick United, though, you can buy 200 dollars in credit in the United Travel Bank. Travel Bank funds can be used for tickets.

Yes, this exactly.

PP, do you have a destination in mind?

Very useful to know but unfortunately Amex rejected me for the offer of 175,000 points and will only give 80,000 so probably not worth it. Don’t know why. Maybe because I already have Amex Blue Preferred or am authorised user on DH’s Amex Hilton Aspire card?

Was the 175K offer for a business platinum and the 80K for a personal platinum and you applied for the personal? You can still get the business platinum for that bonus too. It is a different card family from the personal.

No I think PP got served the new offers, which are "up to 175k", and then once you fill out the application they give you a window with what your actual bonus offer is, and then you choose to accept it and complete the application, or you say no and stop the application.

Sorry, the exact language is "as high as 175k"

https://upgradedpoints.com/news/amex-platinum-up-to-175k-bonus/

[Anonymous]

Sometimes you have to try a few times before you get it. Def don’t get the platinum for 80 thousand! Wait for at least 150k. You can get the gold for 60k upwards and then platinum when you get a good offer. Start with the gold. That way you get the gold bonus, and then, when you inevitably get the offer to upgrade, get the plat bonus. Get the Barclays aviator card too, it’s 50k American miles for nothing.

[Anonymous]

I would say in general a lot of people incl myself do Chase. It's good. But beware these days the airlines have caught on and you'll notice that it's a lot more points and such for benefits. People talk about bonuses but typically you do one card with a bonus and that's gotta last you a while. It does add up though. You charge everything in a card and ultimately it adds up just manage your expectations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say in general a lot of people incl myself do Chase. It's good. But beware these days the airlines have caught on and you'll notice that it's a lot more points and such for benefits. People talk about bonuses but typically you do one card with a bonus and that's gotta last you a while. It does add up though. You charge everything in a card and ultimately it adds up just manage your expectations.

I open about 4 new cards a year and these bonuses carry me.