Free (almost) flights to and from China - just earned our 11th

[True Blue]

Greetings

 

I hope everyone here is doing well. Thought I'd share some tips for maximizing free trips to/from credit card mileage. Wife and I have followed a pattern of opening a new credit card, getting the mileage bonus (40k or 50k miles) charging everything we can think of including car insurance, gas, food, home repairs, we only use cash in very small places that are cash only (farmers fruit stands etc). but anything and everything we spend goes on our new card, then finding a new deal and closing the first credit card.

 

We spend average of about 2 thousand a month on everything and a little more if we have a major home repair or purchase like a camera or new laptop or doctor visit or pay our car insurance so we get to 70K-75K (lowest minimum needed on certain days to fly round trip to and from China) within a year. Then we open another one and cancel the first card.

 

Here's the deal.

 

1. You need good credit to qualify for the best free bonus airline mileage credit card deals.

 

2. Find a good mileage deal;. Here is one site I have used - https://www.nerdwallet.com/travel-miles-credit-cards/

or use google or baidu to find best credit card deals and do some research. If you find a good deal, post it here.

 

3. Make sure you can normally pay off the full balance every month. If you cannot, stop reading here as I don't want you to get into big credit card debt trouble. Travel cards with good mileage bonuses typically have very HIGH interest rates and high annual fees. Find a card that waives the first year's fee- many do. You want to get to 70,000 or 75,000 miles (minimum depends on the airline) to earn a round trip ticket to/from China before a year is up. Then you can cancel the credit card before year 2 and avoid the unwaived 2nd year annual fee charge.

 

4. You always need to find and open your next air mileage credit card before you cancel your existing card so you will have 1 card to concentrate your charges into one card. Credit card companies will give you cards, but will not give you the miles rewards "again" if you reapply within 3 years. So you will be switching credit card providers and the primary spouse name you put the credit cards in (you can get 2 or more cards if you have kids and trust them not to overcharge,cards on the same account

 

example: names of bank and order is meaningless in this example of what you might do - So if you apply for Citibank Delta Mastercard in year 1 in your name as primary card holder, then apply for Chase United Visa in before year 1 ends in your name just before you close your account. Then the following year apply for Citibank Mastercard in your spouse's name as primary card holder just before the 2nd credit card expires. Then apply for Chase in your spouse's name. You still both get credit cards to use in your wallet - just the primary cardholder changes.

 

Need to be honest about your expenditures. Unless you spend some serious big money each month, you don't want

(A) True Blue Chase Mastercard primary name and at same time 2nd Chase Mastercard with Mrs True Blue primary name.

 

Instead you want (B) Chase Mastercard in Mrs.True Blue name only with two additional cards on the Mrs True Blue primary account for True Blue and for True Blue Junior (assuming he/she is old enough to responsibly use credit).

 

Understand the difference? (A) above you are trying to spend $30,000 each ($60,000 total) in a year on two separate 40,000 free mile credit cards so you can get 2 free flights within a year. Unless you have a lot of expenses you might not get there by a year in which case you will be paying annual credit card fees. (B) above is spending $30,000 total in a year to earn 1 free flight. More doable in a year to avoid the 2nd year annual credit card fee

 

5. If you are big money spenders you will have no problem with (A) so go for it. If you are regular folks like us, you can't get to (A) and you will have a hard time getting the extra 20,000 or 30,000 miles needed to do (B) get to your 70,000 before the end of the year so do the following. Get rid of any other debit or credit cards you have except for one "no annual fee low interest rate" emergency card, You will keep this card at home and only use this card only if you have emergency expenses that can't be paid off in total within a couple of months. Move any electronic payments to your new airline credit card.and pay anything (fast food, any small purchases, doctor bills, car insurance, restaurant tips) you can with your credit card. We keep almost no cash in our wallet so we force ourselves to charge to add to our total. The little stuff adds up and you will be surprised how fast it accumulates. note don't use credit card for street vendors, farmer's stands unless you know them or any place that you might be worried of credit card number theft. But you are charging everything else. For us, we typically spend only $20-$40 a month in cash (2 people combined). Everything else is on credit card. You will find that more difficult with American Express (not all places take American Express) so look for a Visa or Mastercard deal first if you can.

 

6. The "Deal" - what is a good deal? I just got the Barclay's Mastercard deal noted at the nerdwallet link above and I think it's a good one. In my opinion, a good deal is 40,000 or more in free miles, waived first year fee, no foreign transaction fees. But it may vary based on your circumstances If your credit is not as good then 10 or 20 or 30 thousand free miles might be a good deal. If you are earning megabucks then 50 or 60 thousand miles might be your good deal.

 

I can find 40,000 free miles deal on our modest salary, excellent credit rating and occasionally (but not recently) I found a 45,000 or 50,000 deal. Read the fine print. Typically, you need to spend $3,000 or $4,000 during the first 60 or 90 days to get the bonus miles that are being offered. Check the internet and see if the card is listed on several best credit card sites. Then plan ahead. If you are shopping for (furniture/electronics/clothing/jewelry/whatever) hold off until you get your new card. Time your vacation for when you new card arrives. Time your car insurance payment (they will switch your payment cycle if you ask) . I even had them bill me once so I prepaid anther 6 months to help me get to my $3,000 in 60 days target. Shop for your kids/grandkids/friends/relatives birthday/holiday purchases early and store them until needed later, Prepay car maintenance or charge whatever you need to do. You absolutely want to beat whatever the first 2-3 month target is so you get your bonus miles. If you can;'t do that wait a few months before applying so you are sure you can meet the target and get the bonus miles. That's the whole point of this strategy.

 

7. You will need to be flexible about travel dates. Some dates will be 150,000 miles. That defeats the strategy. Look ahead and plan for two days where can leave for 35,000 or 37500 miles and return for 35,000 or 37,500 miles. That won't be in summer travel season but we have found flights at Chinese New Year holiday and Oct 1 holiday.

 

8. Your mileage won't pay for airport fees. They vary by airport but aren't too bad. Last trip, I booked for wife the total fees were $42.00. (which I paid for on my latest new credit card as I was about to close the old one as we met the 75,000 miles for another free flight - get the idea?).

 

9. We have also used our miles to fly relatives from China to visit us here in US and then send them back to China. You will need their U.S. VISA information when you book the trip for them. Also remember most U.S. airlines have China (and other foreign) partner airlines so can also book from that angle.

 

10. The flights we book are always 70,000 or 75,000 and are always the shortest flight time with layovers available. But wife is retired so we ave the flexibility. You may end up finding longer layovers so search different date combinations. Travel to and from on Tues/Wed or Thurs often has better results for shorter overall travel times/

 

Final comment -I hope this helps someone get a few almost free (airline miles never covers the airport security fees) trips to and from PRC Have fun! Sorry, I am not here much to answer questions. You may need to fully read this post to understand what I am trying to say here because I am getting old and this is a little second nature to me so sorry if I repeat myself or if it may be scrambled a bit in the order. I'm trying to get the information across to a new reader who has never used a mileage card.

 

I have a hectic work schedule now so I only check in once in a blue moon. Maybe someone can jump in and answer questions, or post any great deals they have found.

 

Thanks everybody!

 

True Blue

Edited August 31, 2015 by True Blue (see edit history)

[yuehan123]

Yep, it's a long post. I'll read it and digest it slowly.

 

I agree with the concept that miles CC are better (for us) than 1% or even 2% cash back. We also just earned a r/t USA-Shanghai between May and July of this year. It began with a United Airlines pre-screened (means limited offer) offer of 50,000 miles plus 5,000 for adding an authorized user with qualified net spending in 3 months. A few purchases later including tickets plus 1 x tickets points got us over 70,000.

 

Actual dollars spent on the ticket? $43.

 

Next up- Citi AA (also a pre-screened offer) of 75,000 miles with qualifying purchases in 3 months.

 

Most of these cards now have an exclusion that prohibits receiving any bonus if you had the bonus or the card in the last 18 months.

 

Therefore, because the last United Miles card was in the wife's name I'll next get the next one in my name. Of course, foregoing the standard 30,000 mile offer and wait for the pre-screened 50,000 mile offer.

[True Blue]

Well done, Yuehan! You are really getting some fantastic offers! I'm jealous. But I'm glad to hear they are still out there. 75,000 free miles is really a free round trip to China. I wish I could have that offer show up in my mailbox.

 

We get about 20 offers a month - mostly with no miles and best case with 30,000 miles so I have to dig the better offers out by searching the internet. I did find two 50,000 mile offers and one 55,000 mile offer on the internet several years ago and got all 3.

 

But I can't catch a break in 2015. I haven't seen anything better than 40,000 miles out there in the past two years. My credit score has got to be the same. I wonder if they are seeing my pattern of applying and canceling in 10-12 months and just not offering much. Then again, I seem to have crappy luck and this year has been a bad one for us financially, health wise and just with stuff breaking down. It's definitely been the Year of the Goat and not the sheep, as it seems to have ram butted me all year - hahaha! The 2016 Monkey can't arrive soon enough. I just hope it's not is waiting in the wings to bite me.

 

If anyone hears of any good mileage card offers, please post a link so some of us can try to see if we can qualify.

 

Best to all,

True Blue

[yuehan123]

Ready, set, go-

 

http://www.aa.com/i18n/AAdvantage/earnMiles/beyondTravel/creditDebit/citi-executive.jsp?anchorLocation=paidSearch&title=citi

[yuehan123]

and now, use your 75,000 Hilton Points to book a free room during your free flight.

 

http://creditcards.citicards.com/usc/Hilton/HHonors/signature/2015/July/75Koffer/v2/default.htm?BTData=GmL.B.gAB4f.J.BjE.QKfi.bMw.ihE.pFU.Bj.D.CB.E&m=73PM111111W&ProspectID=4C48E1668C6F4A13A9B0F4DE79EB33AE

[yuehan123]

or, follow along at:

 

http://www.milevalue.com/guide-book-united-flights-hawaii-singapore-krisflyer-miles/?nabe=5869811131219968:0#comment-1357085

 

To see hints such as this- "Use Singapore miles instead of United miles to book economy and First Class awards to Hawaii on United flights. You’ll pay fewer miles, lower fees, and be able to book the exact same seats. Plus Singapore miles are so easy to get as a transfer partner of pretty much everyone."

 

The gist of it is that certain award points earned on United credit cards are transferrable to Singapore Airlines.

 

Such as-

Citi ThankYou® Premier Card: 50,000 bonus ThankYou Points after $3,000 in purchases made with your card in the first 3 months the account is open. The card also earns 3x points on travel and gas