My wife and I flew business class from SFO to Greece last year, airfare that would've cost $25k to book cost us $2k cash and the reward points from about 18 mon

My wife and I flew business class from SFO to Greece last year, airfare that would've cost $25k to book cost us $2k cash and the reward points from about 18 months worth of spending. In this case, it was on British Airways co-brand card that gave us 100k mile bonuses (to each of us). One $11.5k business class ticket ran about 190k miles, and we earned a companion pass for spending $30k on the card in a year. (The flight was great, and combined with the BA lounges saved us from the schlep). Most of our spending is on cards that earn cash (or cash-redeemable) rewards but I love to take advantage of big bonuses on co-branded cards. We also earned 250k AA miles, 100k from a bonus on a new card, and the rest from US Airways cards that Barclays was giving away to burn thru their cache of prepaid miles ahead of the AA merger. I cancel the card the following year before the annual fee hits -- or not, because often it's waived for a second year. Don't get crazy and it doesn't impact your credit.