Free First Class 2014: Cancelling Cards

This is the twenty-eighth post in a monthlong series that started here. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete. I am writing this for an audience of people who know nothing about frequent flyer miles, and my goal is that by the end, you know enough to fly for free anywhere you want to go.

Most travel credit cards have an annual fee.

Can You Get the Annual Fee Waived on Your US Airways Card?

Reader Joanna emailed me to let me know the results of calling Barclaycard:

"My US Airways® Premier World MasterCard® annual fee was due August 29. I called and got 5,000 miles for $1,000 spend over 90 days and annual fee waived for a year."

Barclaycard is really going all out to get people to get this card, keep this card, and use this card, and Joanna's email is another example.

The Three Cards I Just Applied For

I just applied for three cards:

Citi Executive American Airlines card
Alaska Airlines Personal Card
Alaska Airlines Business Card

I'll earn 165,000 very valuable miles after spending $10,000 in three months on these cards. Miles that I value at around $3,000. Miles that can get me back into Cathay Pacific First Class or Emirates First Class.

My Cathay Pacific First Class Bed

It had been about three-and-a-half months since my last applications, and I always like to wait at least 91+ days between applications.

Credit Card Negotiations: Lowered Retention Bonus on Citi AA Visa

This post is part of a series that will detail verbatim my negotiations with credit card companies to squeeze every last point and cent out of my cards.

Last August, I opened both the Citi AAdvantage Visa and Citi AAdvantage Amex at the same time to earn 150,000 American Airlines miles. The Visa had a spending requirement of $1,500 within four months to unlock its 75,000-mile bonus. After hitting that bonus, I moved on to unlocking the Amex's bonus then on to other cards.