 |
| photo, courtesy of Forbes.com |
As in most Points and Miles relationships, it usually begins with one who’s involved in points and miles, and one who isn’t. What happens as the relationship progresses is anyone’s guess.
Won’t Run For Miles likes points and miles a lot especially when he’s going on vacations to, among other places: Argentina (on my British Airways miles) or Sweden (my birthday present to him, on a Delta mistake fare of $150 a few years ago) or Istanbul (we each paid about $550, and I used points for one night and paid for the other at Grand Hyatt Istanbul) or Israel (we each paid $500 on an El Al mistake “glitch” fare, and one night at Le Meridien and three nights at a Club Carlson hotel on my points). He definitely liked the suites at the Hyatt hotels in Buenos Aires and Istanbul and the club benefits, which we enjoyed by virtue of my (prior) Hyatt Diamond status.
When it comes to planning trips, Won’t Run just…… well…… Won’t Plan. That seems to fall on my shoulders though its not because I need to take control. Its exasperating. He says he will research and help, but nothing happens. NOTHING. Finally, I ask him what he prefers between two cities, two dates of travel, two hotels, etc., etc. and …. he says he’ll think about it. And then…. NOTHING. Eyes glaze over…
Won’t Run has finally gotten a few good credit cards – he now has the Chase Sapphire Preferred Visa, the Platinum Amex (with the 100,000 points), and the Chase Hyatt Visa (his 2 free nights were used in Argentina). He has a few others that probably suck, and he probably doesn’t use, and probably has them thrown in the back of a drawer, like photos of an old girl friend. He probably should clean out that drawer! I do not know his credit score, and like planning trips, he says he’ll sign up on CreditKarma and/or CreditSesame, but still hasn’t done so.
To his credit, he did use Amazon Payments once or twice, and he does now have a Bluebird card – the other day, he asked me whether he should buy a $500 Vanilla Reload card in order to get points to pay his $500 Chase Sapphire bill. Suddenly, we were transformed to a scene out of My Fair Lady:
Won’t Run: The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Will Run: I think he’s got it. I think he’s got it.
Won’t Run: The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.
Will Run: By George, he’s got it. By George, he’s got it. Now once again, where does it rain?
Won’t Run: On the plain! On the plain!
Will Run: And where’s that soggy plain?
Won’t Run: In Spain! In Spain!
Well, I’m not running out of points and miles, but we need some more help from him, if we’re going to travel to Maine in July, Seattle and Vancouver in August, Tokyo next September, Belize next year, and whatever else comes up along the way. Other than one flight from Miami to Cancun on American, and a few Delta domestic flights where we’ve been upgraded, we have flown only in coach. It might not be comfortable or prestigious, but the miles do go twice as far. My status is on Delta (yeah, I know, I know… ).
So, the question is – what cards should he get?
Here’s some cards I was thinking of, but I‘d be grateful for your input.
1. At least one, or perhaps two (business and personal), American Airlines cards. We are planning a trip to Japan, and probably one to Belize, and I think we (I mean, he) can use more AA miles. Do you agree? What‘s the best offer he can get – 50,000 miles?
2. An Ink Plus or Ink Bold card. Well, because we all know the reasons.
3. Chase Freedom. Well, again, because its a phenomenal card.
4. There are a host of others, but we’ll have to choose one. SPG? USAirways? Priority Club?
No one knows for sure whether Won’t Run will appreciate your responses, but I surely will!
A New York frequent flyer who elegantly combines her passions for worldwide travel, running a gazillion marathons all over the globe and staying fit ... without sacrificing her fancy for good wine and food.
Love your blog and writing style. Won’t Run sounds similar to my significant other except that my SO has not as yet reaped the benefits of my new hobby. He is also my husband of 37+ years so I try to be tolerant when he grumbles about when to use some new cc in his wallet. Removing the ones he shouldn’t use works well but he still misses the old cards although like old girlfriends they do not compare to the newest model!
I am very new at this game but it seems that Won’t Run ought to get a US Airways card given its low spend – is it still miles after just a first purchase? – esp. since it will disappear soon and the miles will if not used just add to your AA totals after the merger. SPG also seems to be the card of choice for many. And what about Club Carlson? It does have a fee but that second free award night is a great benefit.
Good luck!
thanks Elaine! Everyone seems to be adding US Airways card into the mix, so I’ll suggest that to him. So, now that I have a list of probable cards for him to apply for, the next step is getting him to actually do so…..
As for Club Carlson, I have the card – maybe next round for him. If there is a next round!
I churn a bit for my parents. They love the free flights, and really appreciate the savings. But I have to do all of the work. I mean ALL of it. I got them a second set of USAir cards. Instead of activating the cards and making a purchase, they threw them out. I now need to spend a few hours chasing those points down for them. It my folks, I love them, but I’m only willing to do this for my closest family.
That’s actually pretty funny, Kay! By the way, I enjoy reading your blog.
I have become a pretty faithful follower of the following website: http://milevalue.com. It has a lot of really good info on the best travel/rewards cards.
I just got the following:
1.US Air Premier World MC (40,000 miles after 1st purchase, although the annual $89 fee is not waived for the 1st year)
2. AA Advantage (50,000 miles after $2,500 spend in 3 month s)
3. Ink Bold business as mentioned above
I found out on this website that if you do your applications all in one day, one bank won’t see the other inquiries. Then after 90 days you can do it again as they drop off and your score rebounds and possibly improves as your credit to balance ratio improves.
Besides those I carry the Delta, Starwood & Jetblue AMEX for various reasons (Delta free checked bag, Starwood just because its advantage of transferring to miles although I never have, I prefer to stay at Starwood properties and tend to use the points for that)
I have learned a lot about credit scores and how often I can apply for new cards and not damage my credit (actually improve it).
Thanks Marlin! I agree that Milevalue is a worthwhile blog. He explains points and miles in a simple way, yet without insulting one’s intelligence! I know about the 3 month rule, and the benefit of making multiple apps at one time. My problem sometimes is actually waiting three months to start the next round when I see a card I want. Oh well.
Well, it seems that, these are the cards in the running:
Ink Bold
Chase Freedom
AA Advantage
US Airways or SPG
Kat, I think you have good ones in your sights. Can’t go wrong with any of those. Only reason to potentially wait on SPG it so see if they do the increased bonus again this summer, but solid card either way.