Credit Card Rewards and Recommendations

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xie: Jul 29, 2004; I GET UPSET WHEN PEOPLE SPEND THEIR MONEY ON WASTEFUL THINGS THAT I DONT APPROVE OF

My girlfriend and I are taking an International flight in 2015, and I've been looking at how to best take advantage of offers to help offset. Has anyone done anything like this, or know if it can be done?

The US Airways MasterCard is offering 50k bonus miles upon payment of the $89 AF and one purchase. The American Airlines Platinum Select is offering 50k on 3k spend. That would be enough for Elite Platinum status for 2015 (and into 2016?) and a RT 1st class ticket to Europe, since US Airways are converting to AA once they finish merging.

Does this make sense? Is there a better deal to take advantage of? I'm pretty new at the airline miles game, I only have a few cards for straight $$ signup bonuses. It seems like $89 and a 3k spend for a few thousand dollar ticket which is a no-brainer.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2014 17:02

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# ¿ May 5, 2024 16:03

xie: Jul 29, 2004; I GET UPSET WHEN PEOPLE SPEND THEIR MONEY ON WASTEFUL THINGS THAT I DONT APPROVE OF

Brian Fellows posted:

That's the general strategy yes, but there are a few things take into account:

Card earned miles (including your bonus mileage) don't count toward elite status, so you won't get any platinum status from that.

The bonus miles sometimes have a lag between when you earn them and when they're deposited in your account. This might end up being negligible, but you're not going to have them right away. This becomes a problem because the airlines only open up a certain amount of award seats, and depending on when and where you're going, they might be sold out with no intent of opening any more.

And I'm not sure where you're getting that 50K miles is enough for a round trip first class ticket to Europe. I'm assuming you're in the US? It's 50,000 miles for a ONE WAY business/first class trip from the US to Europe at the lowest level of award on AA (and finding awards at the lowest level is rare/difficult, mostly depending on what time of year you're going (peak vs. off peak)). I'm guessing you're reading the award charts wrong - the AA chart shows one way costs, the US Airways chart shows round trip costs.

How is 100k miles not enough for a R/T ticket to Europe? I think you misread my post. US is offering 50k that convert to American at the end of the year. American is also offering 50k.

# ¿ Dec 21, 2014 14:25

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