If you have been waiting to get the targeted  50,000 point offer,  you may miss out. Some of the links to the offer are saying it is no longer available. I have no word yet about just when it will end, but deals like this one only come now and then with such little spend to get this many membership rewards points! If it has been more than 365+ days since you closed this card, you should have no problem getting the bonus again. – René

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
from American Express®
Click here for more information

Most of the thousands of visitors to DeltaPoints each day understand the list above. We get that earning elite status is nice and what it can bring us with our airline. We get that a 3 hr connection is just the right amount of time so we can enjoy time to “decompress” in the Skyclub with a beer or a glass of wine and free wifi. We use the sky priority lane to board an international flight while there are 100+ people glaring at us who have to wait.

Those who fly a ton of BIS (butt in seat miles that is) on Delta are not very happy about all we can get from churning Delta cards. But we know this a fast track way to get higher level status status since our dear airline that keeps beating up Silver Medallions.  I shared some of my thoughts about this fact last month with MICHELLE HIGGINS from the The York Times about her current piece out this weekend “Have Elite Fliers Been Downgraded?”

One thing that I now love more than any of the above is GOES. While I have blogged about how to go about getting GOES before now TSA PRE CHECK is open to all who have GOES as we see also from the NYTimes:

PreCheck is also open to travelers who are enrolled in government trusted-traveler security programs like Global Entry, which provides international travelers with expedited re-entry and the ability to avoid long lines at United States Customs and Immigration checkpoints.

The result is the best of both worlds. You fly through security at check-in and you get to beat the flight crew getting through international customs. I had mine paid for with my AMEX Platinum card and enjoyed $200 in incidentals as well and instant GOLD SPG status! Membership Rewards transfer 1:1 to Delta and do so almost instantly if you need them for an award! Plus you get lounge access for you and two guests.

Bottom line, if you have a churn planned this month, why not enjoy the perks that 99% of the flying public just don’t get and will never get. If you also add with your churn the 40,000 Chase Sapphire plus the 40,000 Citi Hilton and you have over 100,000 points plus Silver Status with Hilton hotels! I either have or have had all 3 of these cards and Lisa as well! – Rene

PS – don’t forget you still have time (till noon EST) to win the
HP Laptop Backpack from yesterday post!

Æ- Platinum Membership Rewards Card
25,000 points
$100 GOES rebate+$200 incidentals
SPG GOLD status+Lounge access
Click HERE for more information

Photo from mikepauljr.com

I had a client (on my real job) ask me the other day where on the blog I show what credit card to use for what to get the maximum value. I sheepishly said, uhhh, I don’t have one. Time to fix that right now.

I not only churn a ton of cards but I also use a ton of cards. I rotate what I keep in my wallet. I always have my Delta AMEX Reserve card, also my Sapphire and Freedom card and then one I am fulfilling some kind of spend from my latest churn. Some cards, like my INK BOLD, I use mostly for specific things that are set for autopay. So let me show some ideas for you.

• INK BOLD & INK PLUS Both pays you 5x back, i.e. 5 UR points per dollar, spent on

“wireless/telecommunications services (excluding equipment such as phones and fax machines), cable and satellite television and radio services, office supply stores and wholesale distributors of office supplies.”

So what I do is set my cell phone and cable bills to autobill to my INK BOLD card. Simple and max rewards. When I do order office supplies I also use this puppy.

• Chase Sapphire. It is my card when in Sweden as there is no international transaction fee. I also use this when dining out as it pays 2x points in restaurants!

• Chase Freedom. This card rotates what it pays 5x UR points for every 3 months. There is a cap of $1500 each period but if you and spouse both have the card you are talking $3000 and a net win of 15,000 points! Another tip that is a YMMV but works for me is this. My local grocery store sells gas. They also sell their brand of gift cards. So, I buy $1500 in gift cards and then use them to pay for food and gas even after the 3 months from Chase is up!

• Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express. Earn triple points on airfare, double points on gasoline at U.S. stand-alone gas stations, double points at U.S. stand-alone supermarkets, and single points on other purchases. So food and gas on this card but ONLY when Chase Freedom does not have specials going on.

• ANY Delta AMEX card. When it comes to buying things on a Delta flight:

“Card members will receive a 20% savings on eligible in-flight purchases of food, alcoholic beverages, movies, television shows, video games and audio headsets on Delta Air Lines®-operated flights”

This is not instant credit but shows up as a credit back on your account a few weeks later. But still, 20% is not bad! I then use this for most other purchases to meet the spend to get MQM’s each year on my Reserve card.

• Hilton Honors card. When paying for a room at Hilton they pay you 6x points. This card is also an option for supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations as they pay 3 points per dollar on these places. For this card it depends on what Hilton points are worth to YOU or what you have on the way regarding a vacation at a Hilton property.

• SPG AMEX card personal and SPG OPEN Business cards. Like most hotel programs you get big bonus points for paying for your room etc. with the hotel’s card. The SPG card is the same way.

• Chase PC card. You can get 5x points for spend at hotels. You can get 2x points for gas, grocery and restaurants but I value PC points much less that UR points so I would stick with Sapphire other than paying for hotel stuff.

So there you have it. This is my basic list for maximizing points. Are there other things you do to eeek out a few more points on purchases with cards? Let your fellow DeltaPoints readers know. – Rene

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information

Over the past few years Delta has had some sweet deals when it comes to Membership Rewards from American Express. I have taken advantage of these promo’s for both my wife & I (I even sent 50k to a friend) and have enjoyed the FREE bonus MQM’s and Skymiles.
I was able to do this because I had points to use in my Membership Rewards accounts. So even though the new bonus for the AMEX Premier Rewards GOLD card of 25,000 may not sound like a home run in today’s market, with no 1st year fee, and 3x points for airline tickets and 2x points for gas, if you are going to do a card churn soon this should be a card to be considered in your mix!

Will Delta have another transfer bonus deal this year? Who knows? The last rounds had a 50k minimum transfer to get 25,000 MQM’s and then the subsequent deal was moved to 100k to get the same MQM bonus. Either way, it is better to ALREADY have the points in your account so when and if the offer does happen, you can plan your next move.

My current and past point cards

above is my current credit score from Credit Sesame

And as that wise man Rick always says: “your credit is one of your most important assets” – always treat it as such!

American Express Premier Rewards
Gold Card – 25,000 points
Click here for more information

This is a great question. There is only one time when the answer is simple and black & white. If, for whatever reason like starting your 24 month new card bonus clock, you are going to close all your Membership Rewards cards (or one going to a single account), you MUST get the points out first or they will be lost forever! End of story. Also if you are ever targeted with the AMEX Financial Review it may be wise to move the points out as if you do not “win” the review, the points will be gone, but you can move them out during the process.

If you are not going to close the card then there should be no “pressing” reason to move your points anywhere else.  Many times during each year there are good bonuses of 30-50% for sending them to many airlines. Now if you are short some miles and want to book seats right now, that is also a good reason to transfer some, but not more, than you need now. I have done very well with this card as the $200 airline incidentals credit, $100 towards GOES, lounge access and more + 25,000 points is a very good value and should be a card to include in your next card churn if you are planning on one soon.

The same thing goes most of the time with the SPG points earned from either the personal or the business flavor of the cards.Your SPG points will NOT go away if you cancel your SPG AMEX card. However, SPG points do expire if you do not have activity in the account, like a stay. You can also every month take advantage of the audience reward trivia and get 10 free points to keep the account alive as now any activity counts!  The answers are even provided here at MilePoint in this thread. So no rush to get those miles out until you need them.

Lastly with SPG it is important to remember the bonus they give you. For every 20,000 you transfer to an airline, they give you 5,000 bonus miles so you net out 25,000 at the other end. This is a great value and one of the reasons SPG points are so good. So I hope that covers the question asked and feel free to shoot off any more if this is not clear. – René

Also, to end the month on a high note, let me know if you have a MR or SPG card,  plus if you want to brag, tell us your credit score, or just tell us you are working on getting it back up again to be able to churn cards, and you will have a chance to win ONE – FREE DAY PASS to any DELTA SKYCLUB!

Neither answer will increase your chance to win btw.

▲Delta▲ SkyMiles® Credit Card
American Express – RESERVE/PLATINUM/GOLD
Click here for more information