
to the group and glad you decided to join us here. Your goals are not too lofty at all in my opinion. I’ve done all kinds of outlandish things thanks to this hobby. If I can do it, so can you. You’ve received some excellent advice already. So I’ll chime in with a few thoughts. When planning international trips and wishing to fly up front in the first class lie flat seats, understanding that there may only be a few award seats made available is critical. So you want to plan at least two years out as a general rule. One year to get the points/miles you need and one year to have them in place ready to book as airlines generally open up booking 330 ish days out. If you are ok flying coach then that is less important. I am married to a Plane Princess, so coach is not an option at Calypso house. He’s an awesome P2 and it’s not like I’m complaining about flying up front either
I’d also suggest building a family of Chase cards that help you maximize the UR earnings on your spending. I have 2 Chase Freedom cards to maximize the 5x quarterly bonuses on each, a Chase Freedom Unlimited for 1.5x all non bonus category spending, 3x on dining and 3x on drugstores and 5x travel purchases through the Ultimate rewards portal.
My workhorse is the Chase Ink Plus which is no longer available but the closest equivalent is the Chase Ink Cash which offers 5x on phone, cable, internet and office supply stores. Office supply stores sell gift cards like Disney,
Amazon, retail stores, gas stations, restaurants etc. I try to make all purchases at 5x if possible by buying GCs at office supply stores. I also like to stack earnings where I can by shopping though the Chase UR portal. Example: Buy a Macy’s GC at Office Depot for 5x with my Ink+. Go online and shop at Macy’s through the UR portal which may be at 4x per dollar and pay using my Macy’s GC and I just earned 9x on the pair of jeans I needed or whatever.
Always keep at least one premium fee Chase UR card so you can transfer points to Chase partner airlines or hotels or redeem for travel through the UR portal and making the value of your points .0125 cents each. If you find you will redeem over $1,000 through the UR portal annually then you need to consider keeping a Chase Sapphire Reserve card. The $300 travel credit and the points you save redeeming at .015 vs .0125 actually cover the difference in the fee between any of the $95 cards and the CSR annual fee.
A PLATICORN!!!!If you can still pull up the offer get this card! Even if you have no use for the points at this time it’s a great offer. Wait until the annual fee posts next year to cancel. But before you cancel, make sure you open up an Amex Blue Business Plus card. It won’t affect your 5/24 and has no annual fee. But it will keep you MR rewards alive once you cancel you Platicorn if you haven’t used them yet.