The opportunity will run through 6pm Eastern time on Friday, February 10th.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to register for Gold Passport’s new promotion, either.

I am a rather faithful United/Star Alliance flyer for international travel. I have just booked a trip to South Africa with them and also a BA internal flight. I currently have a UA MC, Visa and Business Visa. I also have a Chase SW card that I’m thinking of dumping.

I would like to apply for a few cards to get bonus miles. I was targeted for a BA card after booking my flight (40,000), am interested in Chase Sapphire for the bonus and the card benefits, but wonder if I should grab the Continental Onepass since I’d get the 25,000 and maybe get switched to the Explorer card after the merger. I know I would need to do this soon. I don’t want to miss out on the Sapphire and bonus and am not sure Chase will tolerate my several apps since I already have several of their cards. My credit is good. I’d appreciate any advise.

First, Diane, congratulations! Premium cabin awards to Africa are most always a great value, not to mention a great time. While British Airways award availability is excellent, the awards are expensive both in terms of miles and fuel surcharges. Star Alliance offers great options – via London, Zurich, Munich, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Lisbon, Cairo to name just some fo the options. Having South African Airways, Lufthansa, Swiss, Brussels Airlines, Turkish, EgyptAir and TAP Air Portugal providing service is a real plus. And I’ve even had good luck planning about 10 months out and getting those South African direct flights from New York and DC.

And with the caveat that the which mileage program you choose depends on the destination you want to fly to on your award, there’s some pretty straightforward advice I think that I can offer you.

You’ve hit those United signup bonuses nice and hard, and while it’s generally true that Chase will only give you the signup bonus on a given card only one time and that the Continental Onepass Plus card is going away making that a tempting offer, I’d generally skip a 25,000 mile signup bonus. Especially with Chase since they are also persnickety about approving folks for too many cards.

What I’d do is go for the Chase Sapphire Preferred card — 50,000 points after $3000 in spending within 3 months and no fee the first year – that’s double the points as the Continental card, the points are especially flexible (transferring not just to United/Continental but also to Hyatt, British Airways, Marriott, Southwest, Priority Club, Amtrak, and Korean Airlines).

No foreign currency transaction fees, access to the Ultimate Rewards mall (often the most lucrative points-earning shopping portal), 7% annual bonus on all points earning. This is the card every points fan should probably have and the double points on all travel and restaurant spend make it appeal to actually use, and not just churn.

You say you’re thinking of dumping the Southwest Visa. Don’t. Apply for the Chase Sapphire Preferred. You may get approved right away, you may not, but if you aren’t you want to still have that Southwest Visa since you can always call up Chase and offer to trade the credit that’s available to you on the Southwest card in order to get approved on the Sapphire Preferred.

I don’t like cancelling Chase cards, I like holding onto them and trading them in for new cards, it makes approvals that much easier. Here’s my longer discussion of what cards to cancel and when.

Now, two reasons other than the signup bonus that you might want to get the Continental card now — primary collision damage waiver coverage when renting a car (the coverage pays before your own insurance, not just whatever your insurance doesn’t cover, subject to its terms and conditions of course) and also because it’s a Mastercard and my most recent understanding is that when they convert Onepass Plus cards to Explorer cards they will leave you with a Mastercard. So if you want a Mastercard instead of a United Explorer Visa, this is a good way to get it.

Beyond that though I’d certainly do the Sapphire Preferred card and not focus on a 25,000 mile signup bonus from Continental.

Got other questions? Ask away!

Once upon a time it was Transmedia, and then iDine, and now Rewards Network, but I’m still stuck calling it iDine. You register a credit card with Rewards Network, linked to a particular co-branded frequent flyer program, and when you pay a bill at a participating restaurant with that credit card miles will post to your account.

Just signing up earns 1 mile per dollar in most programs, creating an online profile earns 3 miles, and dining 12 times in a year (becoming elite) with a single program means you’ll earn 5 miles per dollar.

The American program has a particularly good joining bonus currently — 1500 bonus miles after you sign up, create an online profile, and complete your first $30 dine within 30 days of joining. The offer should be valid through the end of the year.

You can also double dip with the get ahead bonus (registration required). If you spend $75 at program restaurants before March 31, 2012 and complete your dining reviews within 30 days dining you’ll then earn 2 bonus miles per dollar for each subsequent dollar spent at their restaurants through April 30 (provided that you review those dines as well).

It used to be that you could only go to a restaurant once in a month to earn miles, and anything after your first visit wouldn’t earn anything. Many restaurants now allow multiple visits to earn points, though some do not. It’s a legacy of this old restriction that i’m a member of most dining programs — I would sign up one card with one program, another card with another program, and that would allow me to earn miles multiple times a month at a single place.

But this legacy has paid off nicely, because each program runs their own bonuses all the time. I can get a bonus promotion, register for it, and take advantage of it — sometimes it makes the most sense to credit to US Airways, sometimes American, etc.

And don’t forget that multiple people can split a check and get multiple dining credits at a single meal.

Other programs have similar bonus offers as well, a good place to find these is Gary Steiger’s Free Frequent Flyer Miles website.

But it’s worth highlighting again, because at the time I flagged it as the most generous current promo in the market. It’s not the most generous hotel promotion that’s ever been but it’s pretty good and I like it more than other current offerings.

For every 4 nights between February 1 and April 30, members earn additional points and Hyatt Visa also earn an extra 25% bonus on top. Registration required by March 31.

• 4 nights earns 4000 points (+1000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders)
  
• 8 nights earns an additional 8000 points (+2000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders)
  
• 12 nights earns an additional 12,000 points (+3000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders)
  
• 16 nights earns an additional 20,000 points (+5000 for Hyatt Visa cardholders)

Members staying 16 nights during the three months of the promotion, who also have a Hyatt Visa, will earn 55,000 bonus points in addition to their regular earning.

Register here for the promotion.

Hyatt Gold Passport offered me an opportunity to highlight what they’re doing by giving away 66,000 Gold Passport points to my readers. I’m not taking anything from Gold Passport in this, I’m just giving away the points to you.

The giveaway

1. First prize: 44,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points. That’s the number of points you can earn through Hyatt’s new promotion (without the bonus points for being a Hyatt Visa cardholder) and is enough for two nights at any Hyatt property in the world.
   
2. Second prize: 22,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points. These can be split up however you’d like, it gets you a few nights or at the very high end it gets you a night at any Hyatt in the world

Official Rules:

• Enter by leaving a comment in this post, name a Hyatt property that you would like to spend your points at!

• You may enter as many times as you’d like in this official entry thread. However you may not enter more than one time in a row. You have to wait at least until someone else enters in order to enter again. And please don’t name the same Hyatt property more than once.

• This giveaway opportunity will run through 6pm Eastern time on Friday, February 10th.

• I will draw the winners at random using random.org, post the results on this blog, and put the winners in touch with Hyatt Gold Passport in order to claim their prize.

• This is a giveaway, it’s done with Hyatt’s generosity and I’m not taking anything for myself here so hopefully it will be received in the spirit that it’s offered, no technicalities please and no complaints, all decisions on my part are final, any questions just ask.

Good luck!

• Via Dan’s Deals, you can get a free 26 week subscription to the Wall Street Journal and also to Barron’s.

• Via the Points Guy you can get 3000 free Avios points if you log into your account and search for Realtytrac in the top right search bar, then sign up for a free 7 day trial. You’ll need to call (877-888-8722, 8am – 5pm Pacific) in order to cancel within those 7 days to avoid being charged for the service.

• Matthew points out that Continental.com has now added all Star Alliance partners to their website for award booking except Ethiopian Airlines. Continental.com is the easiest site to use for searching for award seats in my opinion, you don’t even have to log in to search flights. And if the miles aren’t in your Continental account you can hold an award, and then transfer miles over from United in real-time, then go back and issue tickets. Thank goodness this will be the surviving platform, although note that sometime the website will misprice awards especially when searching multi-city, you may need to call for the right pricing so be vigilant!

• Richard Quest says “Never board a plane or a train, or rest your weary head on a pillow, or spend a dollar, euro or shekel on any credit card, without making sure a mile is being earned along the way.”

As y’all are aware, the single most lucrative thing you can do to earn miles and points is to pay attention to your credit card earning. First, there are big bonuses for signup. Second, several cards offer really good bonuses for specific kinds of spending. And third, day to day expenses really do add up quite nicely.

More miles are earned from credit card spend than from actually flying (the last time I saw the data this was true excluding elite bonuses, route bonuses, etc. although it’s possible that now it would be true even including those).

If you have any questions about rewards credit cards, please just fire away.

What’s the best non-airline/hotel loyalty program credit card?

In general I like flexible points the best. Not bank points like Capital One or Bank of America’s, those are usually not worth much (at best a penny a point towards paid travel), but points that can be transferred into another mileage currency. That way you have the specific points you need when it’s time to redeem for the award you want.

The very best would be:

• Chase Sapphire Preferred is going to be number one. I outlined why this card is the King of credit cards back in November.
  • Double points on all travel and dining spend.
    
  • Points transfer to United/Continental, British Airways, Korean Airlines, Hyatt, Priority Club, Southwest, Marriott, Amtrak
    
  • 7% annual bonus on all points earned (including on the 50,000 point signup bonus earned after $3000 in spend)
    
  • No fee the first year
    
  • No foreign currency transaction fees, I use this card instead of my Starwood and Hilton American Express cards when staying at SPG and Hilton HHonors properties overseas even.
    
  • It’s the best-looking card I know, no embossed numbers on the front and it’s heavier than a standard card and gets looks.

  Seriously, if you don’t have this card already, it’s probably the one card you should have in your wallet, my advice is to get it.

• American Express Premier Rewards Gold is going to be number two on my list.
  
  • Triple points on airfare (for me, this is huge)
    
  • Double points on gas and groceries
    
  • Points transfer to tons of programs, the most useful in my opinion are Air Canada’s Aeroplan, Delta Skymiles (frequent transfer bonuses, sometimes over 50%), British Airways Avios (they’ve had frequent 40% and 50% transfer bonuses), Air France KLM Flying Blue (25% bonus currently), All Nippon, Singapore Airlines Krisflyer (which is introducing new saver awards for first and business class long haul flights).

Now, it’s possible that in asking the question about non-airline/hotel loyalty cards you’re thinking about a cash back card. If you must have one of those, the Fidelity Investment Rewards American Express earns 2% cash deposited into a Fidelity investment account and is probably the best all-around cash back card.

Is it better to cancel immediately after earning the signup bonus or wait the year out?

Back in November I wrote a fairly detailed explanation of what cards to cancel and when.

Bottom-line is that you don’t want to cancel no annual fee cards, unless and until you need to in order to get approved for another card. I really hate to ever cancel a Chase credit card in particular, I’ll hang onto whatever credit they’ve given me until I get rejected for a new credit card that I want the signup bonus on. Then I’ll call Chase’s reconsideration line at 888-245-0625 and offer to trade credit from a card I no longer want in order to get the new card.

But certainly many folks won’t be in a position of signing up for several cards, they might get a single credit card bonus and want to cancel before the annual fee hits. Don’t’ cancel in the first six months, it’s rare enough as to almost be an urban legend but there are scarce reports of bonuses being taken away from folks cancelling their cards right away.

Instead, wait until maybe 10 months into the card. Then call to cancel and you may be offered a bonus to keep the card, a bonus that’s worth the annual fee. The last time I cancelled an American Airlines Mastercard from Citibank I was first offered an $85 statement credit (equivalent to the annual fee) for putting 5 charges on the card. I did the spending, I got the statement credit (free $85!) and then I called up to cancel the card anyway.

You don’t need to be in a hurry to cancel the card, even if a fee shows up on your statement you can still ring up the credit card company to cancel.

Plus by holding onto the card you might get an unexpected bonus. I signed up for a US Airways Mastercard for the 40,000 miles after first purchase back in December (I wrote about my recent credit card churn here). Since then I’ve received an offer that if I put $1500 on the card for 3 consecutive months I’ll earn another 15,000 mile bonus. And I also want to keep the card almost to the end of its year because activity on the card should count for the 2012 Grand Slam (multi-partner) promotion, which most imagine will return. It’s a regular offering from US Airways with bonus miles for lots of transactions with their partners, and spending on their co-branded credit card generally counts as a partner for this promotion. Since I can get that spending in before the annual fee is due, it’s worth keeping the card for that purpose.

Tips on the best way to keep track of what cards to cancel and when?

Here’s how one of my readers does it:

With the exception of the cards I’m working at any given time, I keep them semi-organized in a small zip lock (actually it’s a quart-sized bag). I use a black sharpie and write right on the cards “2x gas” “50k w/ 10k spend” “cancel 1/2012″ etc. I can only imagine what waiters and clerks think, but who cares? When I cancel a card, I write a cancel sign on the front of the card with the date cancelled.

Me, not so much. I just keep the cards in a stack in a drawer, and I flip through them every so often. I could certainly improve the process either with an Excel spreadsheet or just setting up an Outlook auto reminder to cancel a given card by a certain date.

How soon after applying for a mortgage is it ok to start churning credit cards again?

I always tell folks to hold off on applying for new lines of credit in the year or two leading up to a mortgage. You don’t need perfect credit for a mortgage. If you have a 760 FICO score you’ll generally get the exact same rates as if you had an 800+ score. But consumer-initiated inquiries on your credit report will ding your score a few points apiece usually, and that effect will age off your report completely after a couple of years. This is an amazing game, and there are some really amazing offers out there, but messing with your credit before getting a mortgage is not something that you’ll be better off for most of the time.

That said, the only thing that gives me pause is a mortgage, and I’ve been playing the credit card churning game for years, I still had stellar scores when I went for my mortgage.

But how long to wait after applying for a mortgage? You wait until closing. Because you don’t want to do anything that could jeopardize things if your score needs to get pulled again. But once the mortgage has closed, churn away baby!

(Note that some of the cards mentioned in this post will provide me with referral credit if you use my links. You’re not obligated to use my links of course, but I certainly appreciate it if you do.)

The really funny thing is that Starwood hasn’t moved the needle of my opinion about where it stands relative to other frequent guest elite programs. Its top tier was number two behind Hyatt before, and it remains number two behind Hyatt in my opinion.

Starwood has, in my view, completely addressed its deficiencies. A Platinum checking into a hotel with no lounge and not many suites really just got 500 points and internet as the sum total of recognition for their stay. Now breakfast at least will make Platinums feel recognized each day of their stay.

But for those for whom Hyatt has the range of properties and locations to meet their needs (and Hyatt is growing, to nearly 500 properties, not close to Starwood’s thousand or so and not in any way close to bigger chains like Marriott and Hilton) I do like the Gold Passport program better:

• Confirmed at booking upgrades to suites for Diamond members, rather than just an upgraded preference confirmed within 5 days of arrival.
• Full breakfast guarantee when there’s no lounge or lounge isn’t open (and closed lounge generates bonus points, too!) versus Continental breakfast for Starwood Platinums, and Hyatt Diamonds get their 1000 point amenity in addition to breakfast rather than as a choice to make between the two benefits

Still, Starwood has come much closer, Gold Passport is no longer quite as far ahead. While certainly the programs don’t want to engage in an arms race, I do think there are things that Hyatt can and should do to improve their program, to remain the clear leader.

• Cash and points awards. I understand they’re working on this. Starwood, Hilton, and Priority Club all offer it. And Hyatt uniquely needs it, because Gold Passport points are relatively hard to earn certainly compared to Hilton and Priority Club since there are fewer partnerships. Thus there’s a really strong desire to stretch the points further.
• Early check-in. Intercontinental’s Royal Ambassador level pioneered this, and it’s still arguably the best version of the benefit with 8am checkin guaranteed versus Starwood’s any time but subject to availability. Intercontinental will put its top tier members in a temporary room while waiting for their upgrade if needed. Hyatt doesn’t need to do 24 hour check-in, and they could limit the number of times a year a member does this, most will only do it a few times such as arriving on an overnight flight from North America to Europe. The challenge of course then is that it tends to cluster around a limited number of properties. But when it’s valuable to a member it’s reallyvaluable o a member, and with Starwood offering it we’re no longer just talking about the small Intercontinental program. I’d love to see 9 am checkin for Diamonds.
• Upgrades confirmable on award nights. This is probably the biggest elite benefit wish I hear from Diamond members, Hyatt already has the most generous upgrade program in the industry allowing top tier members to confirm at booking, from any Hyatt ratea suite. No more hoping at the front desk, you declare the times that the suite matters most and if it’s available when you book you confirm it. But it’s available only on paid rates, and certainly offering it on reward nights would increase costs and reduce breakage (expiring, unused suite upgrades). Starwood doesn’t distinguish paid versus reward nights and it would be a grand wish for Hyatt not to either. I don’t think Hyatt will count reward nights towards requalifying for status, but I’d love to see more than anything the ability to use all elite benefits on all rates, paid or points.
• Suite upgrades on availability at check-in when not confirming in advance. While Hyatt lets Diamond members confirm their suites 4 times per year, on those stays when suites aren’t confirmed in advance there’s no comparable upgrade benefit on other stays, Diamond members are not entitled to available empty suites at check-in. Not only Starwood offers this, even Hilton does now. This seems like it should be easy, the suites are empty anyway, this may not happen often with all the confirmed upgrades out there but upgrades to the best available room at checkin ought to include suites if those are indeed available.

And of course, what I’d love to see from Hyatt or from any chain I laid out at the end of my review of Starwood’s new elite benefits — I suppose it’s my hobby horse but I’ll keep trotting it out until someone takes me up on it.  And then I’ll scream it from the rooftops.

Elite recognition when not a registered guest. This isn’t specific to Starwood. Eventually some chain will pick up on this idea. Before the rollout of Club Carlson, Radisson in Europe, Africa, and Middle East had a benefit they called “Our World, Your Lounge” where all elites were welcome in their hotels any time, to use wireless internet and have a coffee. An honored guest with a relationship to the chain is just that — an honored guest — regardless of whether they happen to be registered on a given night.

Not worth it for the miles alone, but a great offer for signing up for the TV service, I prefer my DirecTV to the Comcast service I had before.

Frequent Business Traveler says that there’s a new meet and greet service available at Paris Charles de Gaulle starting at 200 euros. That’s a bit more than American charges for their Five Star service, but this is Europe after all.

For a fee of €200, an Air France representative will provide an escort for departures, arrivals, and connections at the airport. Flying Blue members will receive 400 points each time the service is purchased.

If your flight arrives prior to 10 a.m., you can arrange for breakfast and access to a hotel room for two hours for €56 for a single room and €68 for a double. Airport transfers to Paris by motorcycle taxi, shuttle, or car start at €24 per person and luggage pickup and delivery is also available.

Unfortunately I can’t find details online of this service, I’ve found some third party services at de Gaulle however. Regardless, it will be occasionally a good addition because while pricey this is one of the more annoying airports to transit in my opinion and if I had older family members unfamiliar with international travel making connection I might be inclined to pay for the assistance.

Update: link is here at the Air France website.

Since I much appreciated all of the advice, I thought I’d share an update on what I decided to do.

• It’s slightly old technology but I went with the tried and true Canon s95. There were mixed reviews of the pricier s100 and I’ve always liked the photos I’ve seen taken with the s95. So far I’ve been happy using it, I’ve taken better, richer photos and the auto mode works great. I know nothing about photography, just point and shoot, and this was the right size, quality, and price.

• I’m fully migrated over to my new Lenovo u300s. It’s a little “boxy” and not nearly as sexy as some of the other ultrabooks. But what I was really looking for here was functionality in a truly portable device, that would serve as my primary computer and that I’d carry back and forth between my two offices, take home with me each day, and travel with.

  The keyboard isn’t backlit, and I’m realizing I actually miss that, but the tradeoffs are worth it. The keyboard is light years better than on my Samsung Series 9. It’s got more power (I opted for the Core i7 processor, largely because it comes paired with a much larger hard drive). And the battery life is better too, I wasn’t lasting a full DC – Dallas Westbound flight while using inflight internet with the Samsung. (Not to mention that the keys were peeling, and my second power supply in 6 months was fraying and coming apart).

  Bottom-line is I’m happy with the choice. The machine won’t get me dates (like Ben’s Chase Sapphire Preferred card apparently does for him), but it gets the job done without slowing me down.

• I’ve punted a bit on the phone. If the next generation Blackberry operating system was coming out early in the year I’d give it a go, my interest is primarily in a work/productivity device. Blackberry seems to be a dying platform, I’m doubtful that the new generation operating system when finally released will make a difference. I’m inclined towards an Android phone, but they still seem a little clunky to me, and the best ones with the slide out keyboard (I’m a blackberry junkie..) don’t have the latest technology in other dimensions. So I’m going to suffer my current device a few more months waiting for the right replacement to hit me in the head.

Still happy with the rest of my technology – wireless pocket router, travel power strip, etc. And now I’m happy with my laptop and camera. Just waiting for the right phone solution to materialize.