Reader request: New York to London with Chase points

For the couple people who read my blog regularly, I apologize for the month-long hiatus as I was unable to type with both hands due to shoulder surgery.

This past weekend a WenneTravel reader sent in a request for help booking a flight to London from New York City. She had close to 100,000 Chase points from her Chase Ink credit card (thanks in no small part to a 50,000-point signup bonus), and was looking to use those to finance her trip.

Booking airfare vs. transferring points to airlines

Chase's Ultimate Rewards points are valuable but also complicated because they can be used in two ways. The first way, which is the easy way, is to simply purchase airfare, hotel rooms, or rental cars on Chase's website. Each point is worth 1.2 cents, so a $500 airfare would cost 41,600 Ultimate Rewards points.

The second way is to actually change your Ultimate Rewards points into airline miles or hotel points. Let's say you look on United's website and you see a flight costs 25,000 miles. You can send 25,000 Ultimate Rewards points to United and buy that flight. The same can be done with: British Airways, Southwest, Marriott, Hyatt, Virgin Atlantic, Amtrak, and more.

Airline miles options

3 airlines that partner with Chase provide nonstop service between NYC and London: United, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic. I made a fake booking on each one to determine the mileage price and taxes/fees:

United - 60,000 miles + $200
Virgin Atlantic - 35,000 miles + $450
British Airways - 40,000 miles + $700

Why the ridiculous taxes/fees? Every airport charges airlines to land planes there. Heathrow's charge is on the very high end. Their fee is based on how far the plane has traveled to get there, meaning that flights over the Atlantic are expensive. Airlines pass that charge on to customers, so generally if you are traveling anywhere but London you should avoid going through Heathrow.

Fare options

As I mentioned before, you can also just buy airfare directly through Chase's website with your points. The best fare:

Delta - $880 = 70,000 Ultimate Rewards points

Which option is the right choice?

Immediately we can cross off British Airways. Compared to Virgin Atlantic, they are more expensive in both miles and dollars. The other thing we can do is cross off United, because for just 10,000 more points we can save $200 by flying Delta. So the choices really come down to personal preference between spending more points or spending more money.
Personally, I feel that Ultimate Rewards points can get far better value than they're getting on this route. Virgin Atlantic costs 35,000 miles + $450, so we can calculate the points' value by doing the following math:

$880 (cheapest fare) - $450 (VA taxes/fees) = $430
$430/35,000 miles = 1.2 cents per mile

1.2 cents per mile is actually the minimum value you should get out of your Chase points, because that is their value when used directly on airfare. When I transfer 9,000 points to British Airways to fly between DC and Chicago, I'm saving myself a $250+ airfare, which works out to nearly 3 cents per mile of value. Similary, taking Amtrak anywhere along the Northeast corridor between DC and Boston costs 8,000 Chase points roundtrip when transferred to Amtrak. These trains easily cost $200 roundtrip themselves, giving you 2.5 cents per mile of value, more than twice what you're getting on this route.

So my recommendation is to transfer 35,000 Chase points to Virgin Atlantic ticket and pay the $450. Save those points for another day!

Understanding the merger of US Airways and American Airlines, and what it could mean for you

In early December, American Airlines and US Airways announced that they were going to merge, having finally gotten the approval of the Department of Justice. Here are the basics you need to know:

1. US Airways is going away and all their planes, flight crews, and branding will become American Airlines.
2. The new American will have all the old American hubs plus all the US Airways hubs.
3. The combined airline will be in the Oneworld alliance.

Why I’m ecstatic about the merger

1. The merged airline will be in Oneworld

American Airlines is currently in Oneworld, while US Airways is in the Star Alliance. The airlines won’t be completely combined for a year at least I would guess, but in the meantime US Airways will be leaving Star Alliance and joining Oneworld. This will happen on March 31.

Why does this matter to me, and perhaps to you as well? Because my favorite airline in the world is in Oneworld, British Airways. I spend 9,000 British Airways miles (Avios) to fly American between DC and Chicago. When US Airways joins Oneworld, I’ll be able to spend 9,000 miles to fly so many more places. This is because US Airways has a hub at my home airport, Washington-Reagan. I will be able to use 4,500 Avios to fly one-way anywhere from DCA that is 650 miles or less. Here’s a visual.

For those that live at a US Airways hub, the same will be true for you. Their hubs are Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington DC. Start earning those Avios!

2. One airline will fly between all of my top destinations

I fly to Saint Louis for work and Chicago and Boston for girlfriend and family. Currently, AA serves Saint Louis and Chicago from DC, while US Airways serves Boston. Now I will be able to fly one airline between all of them, meaning I can earn both elite status and miles faster.

3. US Airways Dividend Miles are going away

US Airways consistently has had some of the worst award availability of any carrier, plus they charge some ridiculous fees to use your miles. Now technically US Airways is taking over American and just using American’s name, but since they’re using American’s AAdvantage program I’m assuming (or maybe hoping) that they will keep American’s more liberal award availability policy.

4. Dividend Miles will become AAdvantage miles

This is kind of a corollary of the last one, but all my Dividend Miles and AAdvantage miles will be combined at some point. The US Airways Barclaycard has been kind to me, and I’ve earned about 150,000 US Airways miles by signing up for a few of them. Now all of those miles will be actually useful!

Why I’m nervous

The merger won’t be all great news for customers, especially leisure travelers who are more price-sensitive.

1. One less airline means less competition

Last year there were five major airlines that had a nationwide presence: American, US Airways, United, Delta, and Southwest. This year there will be four. Theoretically the new American should be the same size as American and US Airways individually, but I would guess they will start trimming flights on routes where they offer too many as a combined airline. Plus, the deal they made with the Department of Justice stipulated they have to give up some flights at Reagan, O’Hare, La Guardia, Logan, Dallas-Love, LAX and Miami, so they’ll legally have to fly fewer flights. Four airlines instead of five means that fares will remain higher because there will be fewer seats available for purchase and fewer airlines to begin fare wars. This will hit leisure travelers especially hard in my opinion.

2. One less airline means one less award program

By the same token that fewer seats will mean higher fares, fewer seats will also mean less award availability. Flights will be fuller, and airlines don’t tend to sell cheap award tickets when flights are full. Whenever I’m looking for flights, I like looking at all of the major airlines’ award programs to see who has the best deal for the route I’m looking at. Granted, US Airways never won this competition. Seriously, not once in my two years of possessing US Airways miles. But it will still make finding award seats tougher when there is one less airline making them available.

3. Loss of the Barclaycard

US Airways’ credit card, as I mentioned, is a treasure trove of free points. You sign up, make one purchase, and earn 35,000 miles. No annual fee the first year. And I’ve gotten three different cards in the past year. Sad to see it go as the new American will stick with American’s current suite of Citi credit cards. Sign up for the Barclaycard while you still can.

4. Loss of lounge access with Amex Platinum

A month ago, Amex announced that the combined US Airways and American Airlines were not going to renew their contract with Amex Platinum. Currently, Platinum cardholders get unlimited access to both airlines’ airport lounges, a benefit I use almost every single time I fly. Now I will have to either buy membership in the new American’s Admirals Club for $500 a year, or get the Citi Executive card, which is also $500 a year, in order to retain my access.

Today’s news

The combined airline had mentioned that there would be a merger-related announcement on January 7, and this morning I received an email with some good news. Starting today, the following will take place:

1. You can now earn and redeem US Airways miles on American Airlines and vice-versa

This makes one-way award tickets on US Airways now possible by using AAdvantage miles.

2. Elites will receive reciprocal benefits on both airlines

Now when I fly home I can get priority boarding and free checked bags using my AAdvantage Gold.

3. Reciprocal lounge access

Members of either club can now visit both.

4. Codesharing (in two weeks)

This means you’ll be able to piece together fares and award tickets using flights on both airlines. For instance, if you buy a ticket from Phoenix to Boston via Dallas, you could fly US Airways to Dallas and American to Boston but have your bags transferred like you were flying one airline.

If you have questions about the merger and what it means for you, feel free to reach out via Twitter @wennecorp or by posting a comment here.

An important development at Air Canada for holders of Amex Membership Rewards points

Amex Membership Rewards are a great currency. You can earn them very easily with a number of different Amex cards, including Premier Rewards Gold and Platinum, both of which offer signup bonuses.

The points are usable like cash on Amex’s travel website at one cent apiece. This means you can use the points to purchase airfare, hotels, rental cars, and other forms of travel. This is a good feature, but what makes Membership Rewards great is the ability to transfer the points to many airlines as miles. Some of these airlines are well-known, like Delta and JetBlue. 25,000 MR points can become 25,000 Delta SkyMiles instantly. Oddly enough, however, Delta and JetBlue are probably the worst partners that Amex transfers to in terms of value.

My personal favorites? Air Canada and ANA. You might have heard of Air Canada, being the national airline of…Canada. And ANA is All Nippon Airways, a large airline in Japan. These are my two favorite airlines despite my having never flown either of them.

These programs are my favorites for a few reasons, the first of which is that they’re both in the Star Alliance. Star Alliance includes United Airlines, US Airways (for a couple more months), Lufthansa, and some other major airlines all over the world. I can use ANA or Air Canada miles to fly on these partner airlines.

Second, they’re both great programs for specific uses. ANA charges you based on the total distance you fly roundtrip. You can fly a lot of short flights, something that might cost hundreds of thousands of miles on a regular airline, for just 20,000 miles with ANA. It’s perfect for complicated trips. Last August I was able to book two roundtrips on United, one from DC to New Orleans and the other from DC to Chicago, on one ticket for just 22,000 ANA miles. That would have cost 50,000 United miles for the same flights.

Air Canada, on the other hand, is great because they don’t charge last-minute booking fees. I can book a flight on United or US Airways only a few days before I want to leave and it only costs me a few dollars, versus the $75+ it would cost me to book the same flights with United or US Airways miles.

The new development

Starting January 1 (2 days ago), Air Canada began allowing one-way tickets for exactly half the price of a roundtrip. Previously a one-way ticket cost something like 70% of a roundtrip, meaning one-ways just didn’t make sense to purchase with Air Canada.

This development is huge because it makes the program much more flexible. Now if I want to fly one-way in Star Alliance I’m not limited to just United miles anymore. My American Express points can transfer to Air Canada, which I can use to book the same flights as United miles can. For last-minute, one-way trips, this is now the best program in Star Alliance for me.

How to find flights

Air Canada’s mileage program is called Aeroplan, and it can be accessed at www.aeroplan.com. Creating an account takes just a few minutes. Once you’re done, you can log on and click “Use points” and then choose “Flights” from the drop-down menu. Enter your search and it will bring up any flights bookable with Aeroplan miles. DC to San Francisco on United, for instance, is 12,500 one-way, plus about $5 in fees for next Saturday, January 11. The same flight would cost 12,500 miles plus $77.50 with United miles.

How to transfer Membership Rewards points to Aeroplan

Log in to your Amex account and click on your MR-earning card. On the right you will see your points balance. Underneath your points balance click “Use Points”.

On the MR page that appears, one of the drop-down bars is labeled “Use Points”. In this drop-down, click “Travel”.

On the “Travel” page, the left black column has “Other Travel”. Choose “Airlines” in this menu.

A list of airlines you can transfer points to will appear. Aeroplan is the second choice. Transfer away!

Two Christmas travel miracles in one week!

Last week I experienced not one but two miracles in this season known for such events. Both were travel-related and both could have largely ruined an otherwise wonderful two weeks of family time.

Background

Last Friday I began a 2+ week trip with 6 legs. On Friday I flew to Chicago, Saturday to Oklahoma City, Monday to Boston, and tomorrow I will be heading to Cancun, followed by a return to Boston then a final trip back to DC. The first miracle occurred in Oklahoma City.

Miracle 1: The Bag

As this was a two-week trip involving two climates and many levels of attire, I chose to check a bag. I never do this because it adds a ton of time to check it when you get to the airport and pick it up at baggage claim, but I do admit I’m not entirely opposed to it because it does make the travel experience itself much easier since I don’t have to worry about boarding early because I have no bag to put overhead, and I also don’t have to lug it around a bunch of airports.

On Friday flying American direct DCA-ORD I checked my bag without issue. Saturday morning I checked it at MDW over an hour before I took off for a direct AirTran-operated Southwest flight to OKC. The flight was 30 minutes early on arriving – my bag was not. I went to the baggage office where I found out, along with about 15 other people, that there was a baggage ramp failure at Midway and my bag would probably be on the later flight.

No such luck. In fact, no such luck for 48 hours. Unlike the legacy carriers, Southwest is a bit behind technology-wise. Not only is there no way to track your bag online, there is in fact no way to track your bag at all. They provide you a central phone number to call to get information, but until the bag actually shows up at its destination, the system doesn’t keep track of its whereabouts. So for 48 hours neither I, nor more importantly Southwest, had any clue where my bag was.

In the meantime Southwest gave me $50 for toiletries. By comparison, Delta gave me $50 per day. This makes a huge difference when your bag is lost for more than 24 hours. I used Southwest’s $50 the first night on basics plus new underwear and socks. Luckily I had already met my girlfriend’s extended family once so they hopefully didn’t judge me too hard for wearing the same sweater, pants, and sneakers two days in a row (including at church). After two days though I felt gross enough in the same food- and baby-stained clothes to go to Kohl’s and buy a new sweater, pants, and belt (my other one snapped in half when I took it off that night).

On Monday morning, two days after I’d arrived in Oklahoma, I put my customary call into the baggage office and, lo and behold, my bag was on its way for delivery. It arrived at 1pm. We left for the airport not two hours later. A Christmas miracle!

As an aside I took a look at the bag tag when it arrived. For some reason it had gone through Houston on its way to Oklahoma. I’m guessing that since the only flights from Midway to OKC are on AirTran’s relatively small 717s, and during this time those planes are chock full of people and bags, they didn’t have enough leftover capacity to squeeze the missing bags on. I have written to Southwest to request reimbursement for both toiletries and clothes, and will also write to them requesting a significant number of points for their utter failure to get my bag to me on time.

Miracle 2: The Passport

On Sunday afternoon, at that point still bagless, I called my family to let them know the situation as I would probably have to head to Wal-Mart or somewhere at home this week to stock up for the Cancun trip. My father happened to ask if I still had my passport, which made me realize it was sitting in my desk…back in DC.

An outward-calm, inner-panic ensued. I thought perhaps I could change my flights and spend some points heading down to DC to pick up the passport on the way to Boston, as well as to get some replacement clothes from my apartment since my bag still hadn’t turned up and I figured it was gone for good. First, though, I called the front desk of my apartment building and told them the situation.

All I can say is, thank goodness for a young man named James. James answered the phone, followed my absurd rigmarole of instructions on how to get into my bedroom, and shipped my passport the next morning with FedEx Priority Overnight. Incredible person, thank you James.

Unfortunately that wasn’t the end of the story. The package arrived in Boston as expected on Christmas Eve morning, but then it didn’t move. It passed the 10:30am delivery time and it was still at the airport. I called FedEx’s 800 number and was told there was some delay due to high volume (duh it’s Christmas…) but my package would be delivered by the end of the day.

That answer wasn’t good enough for me. I called again around 1pm and learned that it wouldn’t be delivered by the end of the day, it would only get to the regional delivery center by then so I would have to go pick it up there.

Around 230pm I called again because it still had not moved from the airport and I was getting nervous. This time the rep couldn’t even promise it would get to the regional facility. With time running out my father and I dashed to CVS to print some passport photos and then sped downtown to the Boston passport facility to beg them to print me a new passport. It closed at 4:00; we arrived at 3:50. An incredibly kind officer named Scott gave me an appointment time for the 26^th and helped me put my paperwork in order. Problem solved.

But if I could avoid paying $500 for an emergency passport I wanted to. My dad and I headed to Logan airport and went into the FedEx cargo facility where we were told our package in fact had left their facility and was on a truck somewhere on its way to the Needham regional center. We called the 800 number and put a “tracer” on the package, meaning that at its next stop it would be pulled out so we could pick it up, and then we drove over to Needham.

Turns out we weren’t the only ones with package problems on Christmas Eve. There was a line of 5 people in front of us all with the same issue: their promised delivery hadn’t occurred. And boy were they pissed. I felt horrible for the FedEx staff since they had obviously been dealing with this all day and none of the delays were their fault. But that didn’t change the fact that FedEx (and it appears UPS) had royally screwed up this season and had not correctly anticipated the volume of shipping they would be handling.

Once it was our turn we explained the situation to a rep. She told us not only was the package probably not there, but even if it was there it was in a big shipping container and would be almost impossible to find until the container had been sorted. Oh, and the sorting wouldn’t take place until Thursday or Friday. She also questioned why we had sent it Priority Overnight in the first place, since FedEx can’t guarantee delivery times during the holidays.

Well that wasn’t exactly what we wanted to hear. And also the shipping guarantee is a load of crap. How could so many online retailers offer overnight shipping on the 23^rd with a guarantee of Christmas Eve delivery if FedEx couldn’t guarantee it themselves. Not possible. Anyway, we asked her very kindly to have the staff look for the package, which she did. She told us it would be awhile. We sat down, and while we waited we watched the FedEx staff magically appear from the back room every couple minutes with another and another astonished customer’s previously lost package. Our hopes were up, but we were still skeptical. 15 minutes later, a lady came from the back room and called my name. I was shocked. It was my passport.

Now who knows if this was an amazing delivery staff, a failed tracking system, or just bad back-end customer service. I don’t really care. I am very grateful to the staff that spent the time looking for my package, and I am grateful to have it.

FedEx has already agreed to refund the shipping costs for Priority Overnight. I have also written in to them to request reimbursement for the $25 I paid for passport photos. We’ll see what happens there.

Happy holidays to all!

Things to keep in mind when traveling for the holidays

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year’s is both wonderful and terrible. Wonderful because the holidays are awesome. Terrible because it is by far the most trying time of the year to travel. With that in mind, I thought it might be helpful to the 2 or 3 readers I have to make a list of pitfalls to avoid and tips to make use of to ensure your holiday travel is a breeze.

Pitfalls to avoid

1. Short connections

If you’re not traveling nonstop to your destination this season, leave plenty of time between flights. At the major airports I’d say leave a good 90 minutes or more if you can, and leave two hours at Newark. Delays are a problem at this time of year because of winter weather. But the bigger problem is actually fuller planes. Normally in a delay you can get switched to another flight pretty easily. But when planes are full, this gets much more difficult. Don’t take chances. Leave a lot of time.

2. Back of the plane

This time of year is the most popular for leisure travelers, and specifically for leisure travelers who don’t travel almost ever. They’re understandably cost-conscious so they won’t check a bag, but they also are not necessarily the most seasoned of packers. The back of the plane will be overfilled with huge carry-ons. This not only means you might not get your bag on there, it also means it will take an extra long time to get off. If you have an option to sit up front, even if it’s in a middle seat or you have to pay for it, I recommend doing so.

Tips

1. Underwear and miniature toiletries in your backpack

Checked bags get lost, and the increase in volume of checked bags during the holidays certainly doesn’t help. You won’t always be saved by carrying on either, since with packed planes it’s more likely you’ll be asked to gate-check your bag if you are not in the first couple groups on the plane. Mitigate the consequences of a lost bag by carrying a couple essentials in your regular backpack or carry-on that goes under your seat. I got stuck in Atlanta once without my bag and I was so glad I had a fresh pair of underwear and contacts solution for the night after traveling the entire day.

2. Take advantage of free changes during bad weather

The airlines have developed an extremely consumer-friendly practice of allowing free changes to itineraries when there is even the possibility of a storm. Take advantage of this. Last year when the hurricane was threating the DC area it looked like my girlfriend might not get out on her afternoon flight going through Chicago. We called United and they switched her to the direct Saint Louis flight only a couple hours earlier for free. Her old flights ended up going out just fine, but she saved a layover and a few hours with the change.

3. Show up early

Security lines are out of control at this time of year. No point in missing your flight because you didn’t get there early enough. I’d get there 90 minutes ahead of time. Better safe than sorry.

Happy holidays!

Chase Sapphire Preferred vs Chase Southwest

We had a reader question from Victor this week. He was looking into whether to apply for the Southwest Airlines credit card issued by Chase. Specifically, he was wondering whether there was any way to get the annual fee waived. I told him that the Southwest credit card was, counterintuitively, not the best card for earning Southwest miles. Instead, he should sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred.

Chase Southwest

Don’t get me wrong, this is a great card. It has a 25,000-mile signup bonus (sometimes even 50,000). It also comes with a $69 annual fee, however, and this is not waived for the first year unlike many other Chase and airline credit cards. In pure mile value this is a still a great deal, since 25,000 miles are worth almost exactly $420 (each Southwest point is worth 1.69 cents of airfare, although this number will go down 13% next year). The card earns 1 mile per $1 spent, and 2 miles per $1 when spending with Southwest.

Chase Sapphire Preferred

CSP earns Ultimate Rewards points, a Chase points currency that can be instantly transferred to Southwest, United, Hyatt, Marriott, Amtrak, and a few other partners at a 1:1 ratio. It can also be used like cash at 1.2 cents apiece on Chase’s travel site to pay directly for airfare or other types of travel. CSP earns 1 point per $1 spent, and 2 points per $1 on dining and travel (airfare, hotels, metro, parking, etc.). So right off the bat, even if the only thing you ever did with your points were transfer them to Southwest, you’d be better off using Chase Sapphire Preferred instead of Chase Southwest because it earns double points at more places.

But there are a few kickers that make Sapphire far and away a better card:

1. Points flexibility

As mentioned earlier, Ultimate Rewards points can be used not only on Southwest but on a number of other travel partners , all of whom you can transfer your points to instantly. The points can also be used like cash. Southwest’s card only lets you use your points on Southwest.

2. Annual fee

Chase Sapphire Preferred has a $95 annual fee, which is higher than Southwest’s $69 annual fee, but it’s waived for the first year. You could do a year of earning your miles, transfer them all to Southwest, and have paid no annual fee to do so. And if you wanted to keep the card, it would take 4 years to pay the same amount in annual fees on Sapphire as on Southwest.

3. Signup bonus

The signup bonus for CSP is 40,000 points, versus 25,000 for the Southwest card. Chase also gives you a 7% bonus on all points earned on your Sapphire at the end of each year.

The one instance I consider the Southwest card to be a better choice

Chase Sapphire Preferred does the financial equivalent of kick the crap out of the Chase Southwest card. But the Southwest card offers one thing that I believe causes it to be the superior card for a very select group of people, and that is the companion pass.

Southwest’s companion pass allows the owner to name one person (changeable twice) who can fly with them for free anytime they fly Southwest, be it on a paid fare or on miles. It’s good from the time you earn it until the end of the following calendar year.

You can earn the companion pass by earning 110,000 Southwest points in a calendar year. This includes miles earned from flying but also miles earned from the credit card (including the signup bonus). It does not, however, include miles transferred from Chase Sapphire Preferred.

So, here is how I would describe someone who the Southwest credit card would work for:

1. You fly with one person a good amount of the time you travel for leisure
2. You generally use your Southwest miles to pay for your own tickets (instead of for family members or friends)
3. You spend $110,000 a year

If this fits you, I’d recommend getting the Chase Southwest card. Personally, I don’t meet any of these criteria. I imagine most of my 10 to 20 readers don’t either. So for me, the Chase Sapphire Preferred makes far more sense.

Results from my most recent credit card churn

Yes it’s that time of the quarter again. With the wind at my back and a fire in my belly, I was ready for another credit card churn. Here was my list of applications and the results:

Starwood Amex Business – APPROVED (Phone)

10,000 SPG points after first purchase

15,000 points after $5,000 spend in 6 months

$0 annual fee first year ($65 after)

Why I signed up

I signed up for this card to add to the ever-growing SPG balance from my personal card and my girlfriend’s two SPG cards. These points are very valuable as hotel points, with even very nice hotels often costing just 7,000 or 10,000 points per night. They’re also valuable because they transfer to a number of airline miles at a 1:1 ratio, including our favorite program, British Airways. When you transfer 20,000 points to an airline, SPG adds another 5,000 points, so you get 25,000 miles from 20,000 SPG points.

Approval process

I didn’t get an immediate decision on this one, but the landing page after I submitted the application had a number for me to call. Normally I’ve found this means I have to provide some additional information just to prove I really am me. That turned out to be true here, and it only took about 5 minutes on the phone to get an approval on this one.

Chase British Airways – APPROVED (Phone)

25,000 Avios after $2,000 spend in 3 months

25,000 Avios after $10,000 spend in 1 year

25,000 Avios after $20,000 spend in 1 year

$95 annual fee

Why I signed up

This is kind of the mother lode of cards for the traveling we do. DC to Chicago is 9,000 Avios roundtrip, so this card alone, if the signup bonus is achieved, yields 13 roundtrips. Not bad. I had already gotten this card in the 50,000-point version earlier in the year, but I waited until after I closed it and it fell off my Chase login to apply again. It’s very possible I don’t get the signup bonus, since I’ve already had this card and I wasn’t able to find in the blogosphere a definite time period you need to wait to get a Chase signup bonus again. We’ll see.

Approval process

Between my business and personal cards, I already have a ton of credit with Chase, and wasn’t expecting this one to go through instantly. I did get a “pending” so I called into Chase’s reconsideration line (888-245-0625) and asked if there was some information I could provide to get approved. The agent told me I had enough credit with Chase and they weren’t ready to offer more, but I could move the credit line from an existing card I had in order to be approved for this one. Well, this was about as perfect timing as I could’ve asked for since my Southwest annual fee was coming up and I was planning on closing it. They made the swap, no problem.

Barclaycard US Airways – APPROVED (Instant)

35,000 miles after first purchase

$0 annual fee first year ($89 after)

Why I signed up

This is actually my third US Airways card. And not just third of all time. Literally third currently open. I’m not entirely sure why Barclaycard lets me do this, but I will mostly certainly take a free 35,000 US Air miles. On their own they’re great. I can use them to fly any Star Alliance airline and US Airways agents tend to be pretty loose with the routings they’ll allow. But now that they’re merging with American Airlines, I’m just going to sit on them until they magically become AAdvantage miles. Barclaycard also often has a bonus after a few months where they’ll have you spend at least $750 in three consecutive months and get an additional 15,000 miles.

Bank of America Alaska Airlines – APPROVED (Phone)

25,000 miles after approval

$75 annual fee

$100 statement credit after $1,000 spend in 3 months

Why I signed up

Good thing I wrote this post, because it reminded me that I have to get that $100 statement credit! Anyway, the offer on this card essentially is getting paid $25 to receive 25,000 miles. I accept. I’d accept that in pretty much any mileage currency, but Alaska miles are especially valuable. Why? Alaska partners with both American and Delta, meaning that I can use these miles to fly on either airline, or on Alaska itself.

This is my second Alaska card with BoA. I opened my last one about a year ago, and have since closed it. BoA, like Barclaycard, is known for letting you churn cards like this.

Approval process

This was a difficult one. I actually got declined for this one, so I called the BoA reconsideration line (866-530-9829). I spent about 20 minutes on the phone with the rep, who asked me all kinds of questions about my income and work and reasons for getting the card despite not using my Hawaiian Airlines card I had with them. She also asked about all the inquiries I had on my credit score. I told her I do not use the Hawaiian card anymore because I do not fly Hawaiian, and that I was trying to build up credit since I left college so that I could show that I’m creditworthy. She put me on hold for about 10 minutes and finally came back and said she could approve me.

Citi ThankYou Preferred – DECLINED

10,000 points after $1,500 spend in 3 months

20,000 points after another $3,000 spend in the following 6 months

No annual fee

Why I signed up

I really like ThankYou points, Citi’s proprietary points currency. They act like cash usable on travel, gift cards, or merchandise, and they’re pretty easy to use. More importantly, however, they’re really easy to earn and they’re valuable. With my Citi Forward for College Students (my version is no longer available for new applicants) I earn 5 ThankYou points for dollar spent at restaurants, which includes bars. As a 20-something, those two categories make up most of my disposable income. Normally ThankYou points are worth 1 cent apiece, but because I also have the ThankYou Premier card, all my ThankYou points, even ones not earned on the Premier, are worth 1.25 cents apiece towards airfare. So basically anytime I use that card I’m earning 6.25 cents back. I would’ve been more than happy to add another 30,000 points from this Preferred card.

I also love cards without annual fees because I can keep them open forever. Lenders like credit card companies look at the age of your oldest account as well as the average age of all of your accounts. Having old cards therefore is a great thing for your credit score.

Approval process

I was declined for this right off the bat when I applied. I called into Citi’s reconsideration line (800-695-5171), which historically has been incredibly unhelpful but more recently has been reported to be able to reverse decisions. An analyst took my information then handed me to a manager to explain why I wasn’t approved. He said I was actually a great candidate for a card but had too many recent inquiries. He also gave me some fantastic insight into how Citi scrutinizes card applicants. He said next year, in 2014, I would probably be approved for the card and that was because my inquiries were in 2013 and they would not be considered in 2014. I’ll be honest, that makes no sense to me from an analytical perspective, but I’ll take it!