What is the best credit card to rack up miles and introductory bonuses for flying to multiple interviews?

[907914]

I am a non-Californian West coaster. All the schools are back East. Question in the title!

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[Wahkoon]

Chase Sapphire Preferred (not reserve) was my go to. $750 on travel if you spend $4k in first 3 months... super easy to do when applying. I went with Sapphire because it can be used for all airlines (even transfers to Southwest). Reserve is good too but annual fee is $300 vs $95 for the same sign up bonus.

Overall, it got me 2 roundtrip coast-to-coast tickets and a 2 night hotel stay... not bad.

 

[ciestar]

Chase Sapphire Preferred (not reserve) was my go to. $750 on travel if you spend $4k in first 3 months... super easy to do when applying. I went with Sapphire because it can be used for all airlines (even transfers to Southwest). Reserve is good too but annual fee is $300 vs $95 for the same sign up bonus.

Overall, it got me 2 roundtrip coast-to-coast tickets and a 2 night hotel stay... not bad.

Annual fee is $450, but you also get a $300 travel credit with it. The Reserve is awesome, though. They (Chase) also pay for TSA Pre-Check which is realllly nice at airports.

 

[Tenk]

Washington or Oregon? Alaska.

 

[DameJulie]

I just signed up for each airlines' frequent flyer program and earned some miles that expires in 18 months...am I behind? 🙁

 

[2019App]

What airlines fly out of your local airport to the East Coast? American, Delta, SW, etc.,. all have good initial signup bonuses for their credit cards (issued through Citi, Barclays, Chase, etc.) but require a min spend (e.g. $3K in the 1st 3 months). For the most part, these all waive the initial annual fee and you can cancel the card next year. Check out pointsguy.com.

 

[IMGASMD]

Platinum is $450 annual fee with 100k miles if you have good credit scores.

Worth it if you actually travel a lot.... (as a student/resident, maybe not) lounge access, tsa credit, Uber credit, and maybe saks fifth credit. (All credits together maybe ~$300-350 a year). If you can use everything. If you use the card to book “travel”, then you earn 3 points per dollar spend. Additional benefit would be the the card actually has one of the best warranty in the industry. I’ve gotten a few brand new iPhones after Apples warranty ran out....

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

AmEx Delta

 

[meronebib]

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[907914]

Washington or Oregon? Alaska.

Eastern Washington, and unfortunately no direct flights to the east coast. As far as I know, everything passes through Salt lake, Denver, Minneapolis, Houston or Seattle. I think those are all the ones I have gone through?

 

[ciestar]

What airlines fly out of your local airport to the East Coast? American, Delta, SW, etc.,. all have good initial signup bonuses for their credit cards (issued through Citi, Barclays, Chase, etc.) but require a min spend (e.g. $3K in the 1st 3 months). For the most part, these all waive the initial annual fee and you can cancel the card next year. Check out pointsguy.com.

TPG is the king

 

[ciestar]

Chase Sapphire and United MileagePlus. Benefit from both sign up bonuses, and the United card will get you free TSA Pre/Global Pre (a must imo). Sapphire lets you transfer points to other airlines, including United and Southwest, and hotels. I actually found it most useful for hotels, especially the Hyatt hotels.

I have both cards, they’re really nice.

 

[ciestar]

Oh, another perk of the Chase Sapphire Reserve is Priority Pass lounge access. Really nice when you’re at an airport waiting for a flight. Food and booze included for free.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

Chase Sapphire Preferred. $95 yearly fee, $750 in travel rewards.

 

[Tenk]

Eastern Washington, and unfortunately no direct flights to the east coast. As far as I know, everything passes through Salt lake, Denver, Minneapolis, Houston or Seattle. I think those are all the ones I have gone through?

Chase is probably the best unless you’re gonna fly alaska. I’d personally travel alaska with a stop over another airline nonstop but I’m somewhat biased to their awesome customer support and nice flights. They are usually ranked very highly if not the best. Also somewhat depends if you will use the buy one get one for $99 perk. If you don’t plan to travel with anyone else it may a far less useful card but you can’t beat a ticket to anywhere they travel for $99.

 

[907914]

Chase is probably the best unless you’re gonna fly alaska. I’d personally travel alaska with a stop over another airline nonstop but I’m somewhat biased to their awesome customer support and nice flights. They are usually ranked very highly if not the best. Also somewhat depends if you will use the buy one get one for $99 perk. If you don’t plan to travel with anyone else it may a far less useful card but you can’t beat a ticket to anywhere they travel for $99.

Does Alaska fly to most major airports, even out east?

 

[Tenk]

Does Alaska fly to most major airports, even out east?

The major ones like NY, Boston, yes. Dunno about smaller ones. I don’t ever fly to the east coast because well, you know, the PNW is better. They have a flight map on their website though.

 

[Tenk]

Whatever card you end up with try to put everything under the sun on it during medical school (and pay it off of course) to accrue as many miles for residency interviews as possible as well!

 

[ciestar]

The major ones like NY, Boston, yes. Dunno about smaller ones. I don’t ever fly to the east coast because well, you know, the PNW is better. They have a flight map on their website though.

Also PHL

 

[907914]

The major ones like NY, Boston, yes. Dunno about smaller ones. I don’t ever fly to the east coast because well, you know, the PNW is better. They have a flight map on their website though.

True that - we unfortunately only have 3 schools, and one of them won't take me as a WA resident 🙁. Sounds like Chase would be better then because of all of the small cities I will be throwing in there.

I definitely regret not racking up everything during my undergrad - I didn't even think about it until a few weeks ago that I have probably spent in excess of $80,000 during undergrad on things...that is enough points for what, like 2 flights? lol

 

[teenyfish]

I'm near a major JetBlue hub so I signed up for their rewards card, was able to get 4 round trip flights out of it! I would recommend if you prefer to fly JB. However, I would recommend the Chase Sapphire cards like others have or the AMEX Platinum - my SO has that one and it is INSANE for rewards and perks. The annual fee is pricey, but he's gotten so much out of it.

 

[deleted927529]

I got the Citi AAdvantage w/ 60,000 mile bonus, Barclays AAdvantage w/ 60,000 mile bonus, and now Chase Sapphire Preferred with the 60,000 point bonus. I recommend at least one airline card for perks like free carry-ons and early boarding. I plan on only keeping the Sapphire card after interviews are over

 

[907914]

I got the Citi AAdvantage w/ 60,000 mile bonus, Barclays AAdvantage w/ 60,000 mile bonus, and now Chase Sapphire Preferred with the 60,000 point bonus. I recommend at least one airline card for perks like free carry-ons and early boarding. I plan on only keeping the Sapphire card after interviews are over

You would have to spend like $9,000 to get all of the extra bonuses - how you do that? Am undershooting by only estimating 3 or 4 interviews or something?

 

[deleted927529]

You would have to spend like $9,000 to get all of the extra bonuses - how you do that? Am undershooting by only estimating 3 or 4 interviews or something?

The Citi card spend was $2,000 (I talked my way up from 40,000 to 60,000 through customer service) and the Barclays bonus (not sure if this is in-flight exclusive) only requires the annual fee and a single transaction. Preferred is $4,000, though. I started racking up points earlier this year, so I was able to spread out the spend. If I were you I'd probably just get the Preferred.

 

[Hirro]

Chase Sapphire Preferred/Reserve
Chase Ink Preferred (biz card - great if you spend in the bonus categories for points)
Hyatt (if aiming to be at hotels often)
United MileagePlus Explorer
British Airways Visa (only if you can spend $30k in a year)

 

[Hass_Love_Fitness]

I found it was better to get a card that gave cash back instead of miles. I had to fly across the country several times this past interview season.

 

[907914]

I found it was better to get a card that gave cash back instead of miles. I had to fly across the country several times this past interview season.

Looks like the Chase one can be redeemed as cash or miles.

 

[IMGASMD]

Looks like the Chase one can be redeemed as cash or miles.

I used to think like you, cash is king right? I still do at times. Look into evaluation of different points before you decide. In some instances Amex points can worth as much as 3cents, if you do it well.
Example:
I get 100k as sign up bonus for Amex. I convert it to “ANA” points. ANA has flight in business class to Asia for 95k.
If I were to buy that ticket with cash, it’s more than $3K easy.

Not to say having that cash isn’t good, but with lots of planning (I know, something very difficult to do in residency/med school). You can come out ahead......

Good luck!

 

[907914]

I used to think like you, cash is king right? I still do at times. Look into evaluation of different points before you decide. In some instances Amex points can worth as much as 3cents, if you do it well.
Example:
I get 100k as sign up bonus for Amex. I convert it to “ANA” points. ANA has flight in business class to Asia for 95k.
If I were to buy that ticket with cash, it’s more than $3K easy.

Not to say having that cash isn’t good, but with lots of planning (I know, something very difficult to do in residency/med school). You can come out ahead......

Good luck!

Oh I fully get the concept as it applies to having wealth traveling a lot and utilizing different avenues for long-term investment on travel. I’m not looking for that I’m looking for something that gets me the most points the quickest with the least fees so that I can schedule all of my interviews over this coming interview season get as many points as I can to subsidize flights and hotels and then get rid of the card. The fancy ones like the American Express card are phenomenal and I’ll probably look into that more when I actually will be traveling for leisure. At this point, i want to get in get out

 

[ciestar]

I used to think like you, cash is king right? I still do at times. Look into evaluation of different points before you decide. In some instances Amex points can worth as much as 3cents, if you do it well.
Example:
I get 100k as sign up bonus for Amex. I convert it to “ANA” points. ANA has flight in business class to Asia for 95k.
If I were to buy that ticket with cash, it’s more than $3K easy.

Not to say having that cash isn’t good, but with lots of planning (I know, something very difficult to do in residency/med school). You can come out ahead......

Good luck!

For real. Ive flown business class to hawaii and europe on points lol

 

[PTPuser]

I have jet blue. Love it.

 

[907914]

I used to think like you, cash is king right? I still do at times. Look into evaluation of different points before you decide. In some instances Amex points can worth as much as 3cents, if you do it well.
Example:
I get 100k as sign up bonus for Amex. I convert it to “ANA” points. ANA has flight in business class to Asia for 95k.
If I were to buy that ticket with cash, it’s more than $3K easy.

Not to say having that cash isn’t good, but with lots of planning (I know, something very difficult to do in residency/med school). You can come out ahead......

Good luck!

For real. Ive flown business class to hawaii and europe on points lol

Also, as far as planning goes, you can tell by my twice-a-day posting that overplanning is not a problem for me lol I have just never been in a position to have enough wealth to travel for liesure. I travel for work and family. So, I guess I have actually never paid out of pocket for a plain ticket....Huh...weird.

 

[ciestar]

Also, as far as planning goes, you can tell by my twice-a-day posting that overplanning is not a problem for me lol I have just never been in a position to have enough wealth to travel for liesure. I travel for work and family. So, I guess I have actually never paid out of pocket for a plain ticket....Huh...weird.

My SO is an over planner. Credit card points get us places, not so much the money. I didnt get to travel for leisure up until the past few years.