Credit cards are the easiest way to earn miles and points. I’ve been doing it for years and have earned millions of miles while maintaining my good credit score.
Here are a list of resources which should help you get started with earning miles and points from credit cards:
I have earned and redeemed millions of airline miles and hotel points to travel the world for free. Now I'm blogging to help more people do the same! 
hey, i just wanted to let you know that when you click on your credit cards tab, (like if you don’t choose airline cards or hotel cards but click on credit cards itself) it goes to this empty page. you don’t have to publish this comment or anything i just wanted to let you know
thanks so much for the credit card tab…it’s great!
Love your site…just came across it. One question though. You mention that you’ve maintained a good credit score. What is considered a good credit score? Mine is currently ~802. Will the score suffer by using your method to obtain miles/points?
@robert - I consider a score of 700+ on the FICO scale to be good. Yes, your score will likely drop a bit from 800 if you churn lots of cards. I wouldn’t recommend churning if you have a mortgage or refinancing in the next 2 years (much better to do everything possible to get the lowest rate), but otherwise the drop in score from the 800s to mid 700s shouldn’t have much impact on your ability to apply for credit.
I will be purchasing a 1 way europe flight in the next few weeks. The cost will be around $2000. Is there a credit card you would suggest me apply for to pay for this?
@Krys – If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you will get twice the number of points i.e. 4,000 which can be then transferred to United. The card also has a 50,000 point sign on bonus, and has no foreign transaction fee. It costs 60K miles for an award on United or partners such as Lufthansa or Swiss from Europe to the US.
I guess I should have told you which cards I have. I have the Chase Preferred, Chased Prioirty, the 2 Citi, and US Airways Mastercard. I was looking for 1 more before the year was up. I knew with that 1 ticket I could easily get the spending up.
@Krys – If you’re looking for hotel points you could get the SPG AMEX which offers 25K points after spending $5K in 6 months, or the Chase Ink Bold business cards which offer 50K Ultimate Reward points after spending $5K within 3 months, or the Citi business AA card which offers 50K points + a $150 statement credit for any AA purchase + 2 lounge passes or the Citi Thank You Premier with 50,000 bonus points good for $500 in gift cards or $625 towards air travel.
Hi Daraius
Great blog and great tips. Thanks for showing us how.
I understand the Chase Sapphire card is the most recommended card for its benefits for non-business folks. So do we just maintain this card like any other and continue to pay the annual fee,as Chase does not allow churning ?
I plan to apply one for me and one for my wife looking at the great benefits.
Some of the websites now say Chase Sapphire is only 25k points or 250$ sign on bonus. Has the 50k offer expired for Sapphire and Ink bold?
@upupandaway – The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great card and I would consider keeping it and paying the fee if I wasn’t meeting minimum spends on other cards. The Chase Sapphire Preferred offers a 50K bonus and has not expired. Neither has the Chase Ink Bold expired. You can find the links in the “Hot Deals” or “Credit Card” tabs.
Hey upupandaway ..
I think the sapphire cards you are looking at is the Chase Sapphire and not the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. The Sapphire only has 25k points.. The Sapphire Preferred has 50k bonus
“It costs 60K miles for an award on United or partners such as Lufthansa or Swiss from Europe to the US.”
Hi please explain this, how can i transfer my 65k chase saphire points towards a flight on SWISS (I have 40k miles and more points, which is swiss’s milage program) I would like to make it 105k miles and more points.
I’d like to first say that I’m an avid reader of your blog and have found a lot of great information here (and I look forward to finding more in the future). I’m looking to implement a cc churning strategy in 2012 but I’m unsure about one thing – income. I have excellent credit but is there a minimum income threshold needed to be approved for let’s say, 12 different cc’s? I’ve read some posts from ff’s who have been approved for airline cards but at lower limits but are the 50k & 100k cards really looking to add clients with lower spending limits? Thanks
Hi Darius,
Happy New Year!! Love your blog.
I have a Citi Business Visa since 9/2011. I remember I read on your blog that I can cancel my current business card and apply for a new business after 3 months for the 50,000 bonus miles. Do you think I should do that or wait a bit longer?
Thanks,
Tsui
@Manish – Thanks for helping out!
@Jason – Unfortunately, you can’t combine Ultimate Rewards points with Swiss’ Miles and More, but you can book a flight on Swiss or Lufthansa with United or Continental miles since they are part of the Star Alliance.
@Josh - Thanks for the kind words! I don’t know the exact income requirements needed for the cards, but I suspect that the cards are looking to get credit worthy customers. Of course, you need to have an income to get approved, but I know that Emily has got approved for cards with fairly low income, but here credit lines were low.
@Tsui Tse – Happy new year to you too! I used to cancel the AA business card and reapply after 3 months and get approved again. I recently reapplied after 11 months and got the bonus again. If this isn’t one of your oldest cards then it could be worth it to reapply for the card.
there are posts of CHASE SP 50K points ending on JAN12,
true?
@jimmy – They added the words “limited time” to the Chase Sapphire Preferred, but there are no reports of when it will end. Even if it ends, I suspect that the offer will come back soon or will still be available just like the Southwest 50K offer is still available.
Hi Darius,
Happy New Year!! Just came across your blog, it is awesome!
I am fairly new to this, but I did apply and was approved couple of years ago for Citi AAdvantage cards. Will I be able to re-apply and get the bonus again? Do you recommend cancelling old cards, or just simply re-apply? Thx.
@PaulC – Happy New Year to you too! If it has been more than 18 months since your last successful Citi AA card approval you should be able to get the bonus on both the AA Visa and AMEX cards again! This post on churning AA cards may also help! http://millionmilesecrets.com/2011/07/18/churn-aadvantage-credit-cards/ If the Citi AA cards are your oldest cards, I don’t recommend cancelling them, but if not, you could cancel them and then reapply.
Should I apply for the 50k Citi Business Card now or wait for a better offer?
Can you assist me with a good reason cancelling my current business card after 3 months without hurting my good standing with Citibank?
Thanks,
Tsui
Great site. Having fun learning “the ropes”. Today I applied for and received online approval for a Citi AA Platinum Signature. I also applied online for the Chase Sapphire Preferred and got a “Our anaylsts are currently reviewing your application” reply. Does this mean I will not be approved. I currently have 5 credit cards, with 2 of them being Chase. Approx 800 FICO. Also, can I apply now for a Citi AMEX, or should I wait since I just got the Visa? Thank you for you help!
@Tsui Tse – I just applied for the Citi AA business card again for the 50K bonus. You may want to keep it open for a few more months and then cancel it, if you unsure about the churning. It worked for me, but didn’t work for Emily when she tried churning the business card.
@newton – Apply for the AMEX AA card ASAP otherwise you won’t be able to get it for another 18 months! For the Chase, you may need to call in to their reconsideration line. I hope it is not to late to get the other AA card because you can apply for both at the same time using the 2 browser trick. Let me know if you have any other questions!
I read your response, applied immediately and just got approval for the AMEX AA. Thank you for your fast response!!!!!
@newton - You’re welcome! If you hadn’t applied at the same time or close enough, your wouldn’t have been able to get the sign-up bonus for another 18 months! More miles are always better than less miles.
hey boss,
Where can we go with 159k AADVANTAGE MILES?
I have 171k advantage miles and my wife has 159k miles earned from the 2 citi advantage amex and advantage visa.
is 159k miles more than enough for a roundtrip to India? whta about domestics?
thanks
@jimmy – Check out this post!
I got an offer of 40k AA miles for AAdvantage MASTER card. I got AAdvantage visa & AMex card 3 months ago (Thx to your 2-browser trick).
T&C says this offer is only for first time citi AA card member.
Also, there is an AAdvantage membership card attached with this mail and it has my name but a different AAdvantage number.
Do you think I can still get 40k points for AA master card offer that I got in my mail? Any idea why did they send me a new AAdvantage number?
Thanks for your help.
I’ve heard that Amex suspended many people’s card and review them years before, and the reasons are too many recently opened accounts or cash-advance-like purchases. I am wondering whether the Co-branded ones, such as Citi Amex AAvantage and BOA Amex Virgin Atlantic cards are also subject to AMEX review? Thanks.
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Is the Southwest 50k still available?
@Scott - The links in the Airline Credit Card tab to the 50K offer still seem to be working.
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I applied for the Chase Southwest CC(personal one) and got it two months back. I didn’t know that i can apply for the business version too. Do you think i would stil be able to apply for it ?
@Hari – Folks have been able to get the business and personal version, but it will likely need a call to the Chase reconsideration line. Only you can decide if you should apply for it or not!
I have received both the personal and business SW cards. Is there a way to use ultimate rewards points from my Chase Freedom card to get the other 10,000 points for a companion pass?
@Dave – If you have the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold, or JP Morgan Select card, you can transfer points from the Freedom to those cards and from there to Hyatt and then to Southwest for the Companion Pass. See this post for more info!
My daughter is 18. Which hotel/airline credit card will be easiest to apply for her? Being a student with no income and credit history, I understand she would have to start somewhere, hopefullly with points and miles.
@TTN – Actually, I would NOT reccomend signing up for a hotel or airline card 1st if she’s just starting out. Much better to build her credit history for a few months (3 to 6 months) with a student credit card (Capital One, Citi, Discover etc.) and then apply for a mile earning or hotel credit card. She should charge something small to the credit card each month and pay the bill completely to build her credit history.
Darius, My recent credit card statement served as a wake up call. I made an online lodging reservation for my 2013 trip to Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada and was charged a foreign transaction fee. I learned my lesson the hard way. I did search your site for ‘no foreign transaction fee’. I could still use some help. Which credit card currently has the best combination of sign up points and no foreign transaction fee? Thanks, Chevy
@Chevy – That’s a great idea for a future post! My best picks are the Chase Sapphire Preferred with a 40K sign-up, the Chase British Airways with a 50 to 100K signup bonus, the Chase Hyatt or Fairmont with 2 free nights, or the Chase Priority Club card.
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We were recently in the UK on vacation. Several times we had a problem using credit cards because we did not have a card with a chip which is apparently required in most cases when you are accessing any automated service such as a ticket machine. It is my understanding that there are both chip and signature cards and chip and pin cards and that the pin card may be better. What is the difference and which is better for foriegn travel? Can you reccomend a card with a chip?
@david sugar - Ideally you’d want a Chip & Pin card, but only 1 bank which I know of issues that card in the US. Several banks in the US issue Chip & Signature cards (Chase Hyatt, Chase British Airways, etc) which may be helpful overseas, but not all the time. Here’s a previous post on the topic.
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Does the Chase Sapphire Preferred Card cover Iberia in its ONEWORLD ALLIANCE? Can I apply for the Sapphire Preferred and the Ink Bold/Plus if I already have an AAdvantage Citi Visa since 11/2011 and United Mileage Plus Explorer Chase Visa and Delta SkyMiles Amex since 06/2012. I canceled a US Airways Barclays Card in 11/2012 that I had for about 8 years and a British Airways Chase Visa in 10/2012?? that I also had for a long time.
@Steve – You can’t transfer Chase Ultimate Rewards points directly to Iberia, but you can transfer them to British Airways which is a partner of Iberia. You can also later transfer British Airways Avios to Iberia. You usually can get 1 Chase personal and 1 Chase business card at the same time, but it may require a call to the reconsideration line to get approved. Good luck!
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Hi, thanks for all your helpful info! I have about 25k miles on both Alaska and United, through regular mileage accounts (non-credit cards). I am trying to figure out which, if any credit cards would be best to continue to acquire new points/miles, but that can be combined with my existing points on Alaska/United. I’m trying to find an alternative (such as Starwood) credit card to the Alaska or United cards, as I would prefer to have more flexible points moving forward. (I also currently have the Capital One Venture card, but want to find another one to combine with my existing points…) I appreciate any help/advice you can offer. Thanks!
@nlh22 – Thanks for reading! The Chase Ultimate Rewards cards (Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Ink Bold/Plus) allow you to transfer points to airlines and hotels including Hyatt and United. You also get double points with the Sapphire Preferred on travel and dining so that could be a good choice.
The Starwood card lets you transfer points to both Alaska and United, but the transfer ratio is very poor for transfers to United.
Thanks for your response. I got my Capital One card in December – is it too soon to apply for another one of these cards? My credit score is in the mid 700′s. If its ok, would you recommend getting both cards, Chase for United miles, and Starwood for Alaska miles? Or just do one? And between Starwood vs Chase Ultimate Rewards, do you have a preference? Thanks!
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Can I use the Chase Sapphire points for Delta fights?
Thanks-Darius!
Hello (Darius and anyone else who can offer some insight)!
I’m hoping someone can help me with my first “app-o-rama.” We are a soon to be family of 5 moving to Hong Kong. We love to travel and look forward to traveling regionally in Asia as well as visit my family in Chicago. I am very interested in minimizing travel expenses through the strategies outlined on Darius’ blog and similar blogs. I currently have a SPG Amex and Chase Amazon card. I just cancelled my United Explorer Plus card. My first travel goal is to get myself and three kids from HKG to ORD in late Aug/Early Sept for a wedding. I’m considering the following cards for my first “app-o-rama.”:
Chase Ink Plus (for my husband) (50,000 UR points which I will transfer to United)
Chase Sapphire (for both myself and my husband) (40,000 x 2=80,000 UR points which I will transfer to my United account)
Mileage Plus Explorer Business card (30,000 MP points)
Total for above to my United account: 160,000 (plus I have 30,000 or so miles)=190,000
Citi Advantage (for myself) (50,000)
Citi Advantage business (for myself) (50,000)
Plus I can transfer 60,000 SPG points for 75,000 miles for a total of 175,000 miles
So I will apply for a total of 2 personal cards and 2 business cards at one time (should I throw another in there?)
My husband will apply for one personal and one business.
I’m also interested in the AmEx MR cards (50,000 miles on Asia Miles) and the British Airways Signature (50,000 miles–useful on Cathay Pacific) but that is for another post!
Thanks so much for your help!
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Hello,
I’m very interested in using my AMEX membership rewards to go from SFO to India. I have about 77K points, which I know is not a lot. Is is possible to get an economy award ticket for this many miles to India? I would prefer to fly on a carrier that does not have heavy fuel surcharges like United, US Air or AA, but I’m not sure if this is possible.
Thanks for any help that you can offer!
Paige
I need a card that does not charge a 3% international fee. I’m considering the Southwest card, which I can still get the 50,000 points before May 25. (I have verified with them by phone it is 50K point offer is still available through an e-mail sent directly to me). However, since I had one of their cards a long time ago and cancelled it about 5 years ago, I called to see if I could still qualify for the bonus points. They said previous card holders probably will not qualify, even though I explained to them that my previous card did not have the same benefits and if it had I wouldn’t have cancelled it. They said that I have to apply for the card and if I don’t qualify for the points then I will be issued a card without the points. I told them I don’t want the card without the points and around and around we went. Do you know a way around this, i.e., for a past card holder to find out for sure if they will qualify for the points. I’ve called three times to the application number and get the same answer. Is there another number to call? Otherwise, I’ll just apply for some other card that will exempt the 3% fee that will at least give me a $100 sign-up bonus – maybe BofA’s. (I have an AAdvantage card and am very surprised that it does not include the 3% foreign fee exemption…it’s a travel card – duh! They will lose my charges for extensive upcoming international travel!)
@Judy – If it has been 5 years since you cancelled the card, you likely will get the bonus. But there isn’t a way to find out for sure before you apply. Here’s a list of other travel cards with no foreign transaction fees –>
I have a homestay program set up for this summer and I have to pay the merchant $6000. I’m thinking that’d be a good way to hit my $5000 target on my Chase Ink Bold card. The problem is the merchant isn’t set up to handle credit cards. Can I use the card to PayPal him the money and would that still count towards my $5000 target? Does anyone know?? I think I may also incur a fee for this as well. Any advise would be great. Thanks
Sam
@Sam – You can use PayPal to pay the merchant and it should count towards the minimum spending requirement.
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Hi Darius
Im planning an Australia trip for next year. What would be your opinion for the best way to get there using credit card signup bonuses (Im good on hotel points). Also, spouse is going and im planning on paying for one of the tickets (if that helps out). Thanks
@mott – United and American Airlines miles are good for travel to Australia in coach. You could use Delta miles, but may have to pay a higher fuel surcharge. I’d do dummy searches on each of these sites to see what works best for you.