With 2014 in the books it’s time to reflect and look back on how many miles and points I earned from credit card sign up bonuses.
I decided to be a bit more conservative this year and try to keep the applications down. I did manage to earn another big haul that will help us to continue to fund lots traveling for years to come.
While we rarely pay for flights, we ended up paying for the flights for our first three trips of 2014 due to the amazing fares offered by Wideroe.
Otherwise we used miles and points to cover the rest of our 2014 travels.
Another way to earn points was through gift cards at office supply stores and Vanilla Reloads which sadly came to an end at CVS stores back in April.
Here are the miles earned over the previous three years:
(While I’ve been collecting and earning miles for many years, I never really kept track until I started writing my blog.)
Each year it seems harder and harder to find the right offers worth applying for. Since I’ve had so many credit cards over the years, for some banks I might not qualify for the bonus anymore. I also try to limit the amount of Chase cards that I apply for even though they tend to offer the most (and best) worthwhile offers.
When calculating my yearly count of miles and points earned, I’m including bonuses for all of the credit cards that I applied for in 2014. I’m currently waiting on one bonus to post and need to finish off the spend on another.
Here are the cards that I was approved for in 2014:
- Citi Executive AAdvantage– Three Cards– 100,000 miles each + $200 statement credit + AA Admirals Club Membership. Card comes with $450 annual fee
- Chase Ink Plus Business– 60,000 Ultimate Rewards points
- Chase Marriott Rewards– 70,000 points + 1 free night (category 1-4)
- Citi AAdvantage Platinum Card– 50,000 miles + 2 Admirals Club lounge passes
- Barclays US Airways – 40,000 miles + 10,000 bump for sending secure message, $89 annal fee
- American Express Gold Business– 75,000 Membership Rewards points, no 1st year annual fee
Adding it all up:
In 2014 I was approved for 8 new credit cards and earned 605,000 miles & points from sign up bonuses.
A few things to consider:
- I paid $839 in annual fees.
- I have American Airlines Admirals Club lounge membership with 3 cards which would cost $500 (or 80,000 miles) for a new membership.
- Have one free Marriott category 1-4 night to redeem by early 2015
- I received 2 American Airlines Admirals Club passes
- 10,000 miles were earned due to sending a secure message to earn a better bonus for one card. (This shows- It never hurts to ask!)
While 2014 was my lowest total earned for miles & points from credit card bonuses in the past 4 years, I feel that I still earned a solid amount. This total also doesn’t include what Kim earned this year. (I never include her credit card earnings in my totals.)
Most of our flights for 2015 trips are already booked or in the process of being booked. So far I’ve purchased flights for two trips, one which was booked on the best flight connection ever. The other was booked after the JetBlue apocalypse.
I also spent a big chunk of my United miles to book possibly the top destination that I’ve wanted to visit for many years now.
I’m still on the hunt for a trip for end June- early July and for something after the summer. I guess I have some time to worry about those items on my wish list!
Hopefully I’ll use miles to get us flights for the rest of our 2015 travels… Unless other amazing fares are found.
How did 2014 treat you when it comes to miles & points? Do you have a strategy for the new year to help earn even more miles & points?
Keaton- All three of these cards are in my name and were applied for (something like) a few months apart. My wife got one of these cards too.
On the three AA cards did you take advantage of the multiple applications at once glitch or were some of these cards in family members names?