re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

Family of 4. The other 3 are traveling separately from me as I have less time off due to work. So I was going to splurge on my ticket and send them on a more direct star alliance route. Besides my wife would never agree to 4 segments with the kids even if it were to go in the apartments. We have biz in QR for the return.

But yes, new aa chart is 115k one way for us-India in F. 25k point devalue. Biz went from 67.5k to 70k so not terrible. I may still do it in F only if I can get the EY A380 from jfk. I don't think the 787 or 777 first is worth the premium over business now.

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LSU Delirium

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You are in luck. Your positioning and great stack of SPG miles make it easy for you to get this trip done. I quick checked and saw awards are wide open too.

Here are my suggestions for you:

Existing Miles

ANA

Transfer 120K SPG points to ANA to get 150K ANA miles. Use 75K miles + $116 per person round trip to IAH-SYD. Though economy is nothing to rave about, LAX-SYD leg will be on UAs 789 (the dreamliner). Its an awe inspiring aircraft. When you are walking in and you look at it, its crazy to think such a massive thing could actually fly in the air. Rather cool imo. Quick search on google flights showed flights to Sydney from Houston are ~$1476. Giving you a solid value of a little over 2.2 cents per mile. You will be left with about 45K spg miles to play with still if you go for the business card.
So that is your flights taken care of, but leaves you with hotels.

My personal opinion on that is that you can always find a cheap hotel. As long as your flights are taken care of.

Card Suggestions

Due to Chase's incoming rules, it is going to be impossible for you to get Chase cards if you have applied for 5 or more cards in the last 24 months. So it is in your benefit to get as many Chase cards as possible before you apply for any other cards.

Chase cards to get:

Chase Sapphire Preferred - This card will get you ~59K Points after you add (your wife maybe) an AU and complete the minimum spending requirements.

Chase Hyatt - This card will give you 2 Free Nights to use at ANY Hyatt Hotel + 5,000 Hyatt points when you add an Authorized User + 1 free Annual Night

I suggest going in two rounds. 1st round you, then in a few weeks your wife for the same cards I mentioned above. This is so that you can refer your wife to the Chase Sapphire to get an extra 10K points. And if you apply for both Chase cards on the same day, they will combine your inquiries into 1 hard pull.

You will end up with ~130K Chase UR and 4 Hyatt Free night certificates.

Sydney Hotels: Use the Free Night Certificates at the AWESOME Park Hyatt Sydney Rooms here consistently go for around $700, giving you solid value for your free nights.

Melbourne Hotel: Transfer 45K UR to Hyatt to use for 3 nights at the Grand Hyatt Melbourne (or 60K for Park Hyatt).
SPG options are 12k for the Sheraton or the Westin. I'd go Grand Hyatt (nicer) before I did any of these.

In a few months time, if you are still under 5 applications in 24 months, go for the Chase IHG card which comes with upto 80K points + $50 to cover the rest of your nights. However, I do suggest you go for the SPG ones this month, after your chase applications.

I think this covers most of your vacation and the most expensive part of it for almost completely free.

Although I would suggest against it, if you still plan on going for the AA card. Here is a page with all the links for the 50,000 points (instead of the 30,000 points) offer: AA 50K offer

I will add to this post throughout the day if I get the time to look at Singapore Suites or other such redemptions.

Hope this helps.

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So how long does it usually take between meeting the minimum spending threshold and having your Chase points in your account

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When your CC statement is cut that includes that spending. Or at least, I got my SW points the statement date after I spent my $2k

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to write this. Glad I came and asked before starting the credit card applications!

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rhanse1lsu

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Nice. I like Tahiti trips.

In short (for RT in business using 90K Korean Miles):

Apply for:

Chase Sapphire Preferred (look at my last post to LSU Delirium to see how to maximize your bonus for this with your wife).

Chase IHG

AmEx SPG - LINK
The max bonus of 35K will go away end of this month, so you may not have time to refer your wife for the extra 5K on this month. So I'd go for this one immediately. If your wife doesn't apply for this one right away, that is ok too. You will only be short 10K miles and you can get these in other ways.

Citi Hilton for 2 Free nights. 1 for you, 1 for SO for a total of 4 free nights.

Use:

Transfer 130K Chase UR to Korean and 40K SPG to Korean to end up with 170K Korean miles. Use 180K Korean to book RT to PPT on Air France (90K per person RT). I am using round numbers for ease but you will only be off 3-4K. Again, see my post on the last page to see how you can get ~130K Chase UR between you and your wife. If you follow these suggestions, you will have just about enough miles for 2 business class tickets.

Use 2 weekend nights at Hilton Moorea and 2 at Hilton Bora Bora.

Use IHG points for 2 nights at Thalasso. If you want more nights at Thalasso, buy 1 night with cash (I think it is around $1000, buy Ambassador for $200 from IHG and get the 2nd night free. You're paying 1200$ for 2 nights basically)

Note: This is a tailored recommendation for you for your Tahiti trip. In general, right now, I would not suggest new people to get any other cards before they get 5 chase cards:

In order:
1) CSP,
2) Hyatt,
3) IHG,
4) 2 of 2xSW/Ink/Marriott/United/Ritz.

If you want more detailed help: Please email awards@pointsify.com and I'll be happy to assist.

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Kill the recon?

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Don't call in at all. Otherwise recon will kill you instead

Just hang tight after (if) app goes to pending. Call in only if denied.

It is. But one can hope and give oneself the best shot at it

InterContinental Thalasso is hardest. And now it looks like Moorea is too. But its not impossible. You can book 364 days in advance. There is a tool which will text you as soon as a free night becomes available on your dates. I suggest you get that. It costs $3/month.

Hiltons shouldn't be too hard especially if you book far in advance.

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Are there any recommended credit card reward options out there that help with vacationing via cruise ship?

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3 recommendations:

1) Barclays Arrival+ - This one will cover $440 of your travel expenses

2) Chase Sapphire Preferred. See post about this on my long post to LSU Delirium to maximize points between you + wife. 130K UR (60K per card) = $1625 in statement credits for Travel expenses

3) Citi Premier - Same as above. This is for the 40K offer though. Dig around for the 50K one.

Highly suggest you to go for Chase cards first.