I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[bernina]

SOOOOO, I am OBVIOUSLY back!!! I've been posting but wanted to post a real update. I left my most precious cargo in WDW for the next 6 mos. My super sweet dd19 is there for her dcp. I miss her desperately! She is not only one of my dd's, she is one of my best friends. I am blessed to be able to say that!

We flew in last wednesday and used a FNC for a springhill suites off Palm Pkwy. This hotel is so, so nice! It was 10 mins to Disney property. Our room slept 6 but we were only provided bedding for 5. Since we were only a party of 4, that was fine. Breakfast was great and included Mickey waffle making stations. My only complaint was the bathroom could have been a tad bit cleaner (hair in the shower when we hadn't used it yet...) but otherwise, so nice. We did have to pay a $14 parking fee.

Next three nights were at ASMo. I have zero complaints. Comfortable and I love the refurbed rooms. All was great there.

DD is settling in. She already has a lot of friends and is making more. She will be at BOG for breakfast and/or lunch. If you see this cutie, tell her that her momma misses her!
View attachment 471893

I wish I could love this post 10 times over. She looks so happy, you did good momma!!! And now you have the very best reason ever to visit WDW. Hugs to you during this transition time and glad to "see" you back on the boards.

 

[Haley R]

My kitty is named Max as well. He was my daughter's and when I suggested Max, I had Goofy's son in mind. She was more along the lines of Baymax. Then he stayed with me when she went to college and is now mine, he won't leave my side. I sometimes call him Maxine Marie now because he looks like Marie (Aristocats) and is a total diva princess. He'll even wear a crown lol

I rarely call my cat max lol. Dh does all the time but I always end up calling him some nickname that’s not even close like Bubby I call him Matsy a lot too

 

[calypso726]

An account of why I am an opportunistic hoarder that advocates having multiple plans and diversifying one's miles and points portfolio. AKA, I booked our flights today for the Dubai/Africa trip over Christmas and New Year's.

When I began planning this trip it was supposed to be only to Africa so we could hit our 7th continent and stay one night at the Giraffe Manor. Giraffe Manor books up very quickly and there was only one night open for our time frame and it happened to be smack in the middle of the trip. It's a bucket list item and I was wiling to plan a trip to Africa just to cross it and our 7th continent off the list.

There are other countries in Africa I wanted to explore, but with Giraffe Manor smack in the middle of the trip and wanting to spend as little OOP as possible I began to realize I'd have to adjust my plans. The other countries I wanted to visit and things I wanted to do in Africa were rather expensive considering we are trying to not spend much money for this particular trip. After our night at Giraffe Manor we decided to book the Fairmont Safari Club for the rest of our time which is an all inclusive and includes two safari game drives per day. Those are being paid with URs.

Initially, I planned to book flights on Qatar using miles with a partner airline that has currently been shutting down many frequent flier accounts and cancelling award flights. That was plan A. With that airline going all scorched earth, I was not about to take a chance that I got burned down the line. So, not touching those miles. Must come up with another way to get there. I needed a plan B if you will.

While brainstorming how to keep this vacation budget friendly we decided to stop in Dubai on the way to Giraffe Manor first and spend some time at the Al Maha Desert Resort and Spa. Meals and two activities per day are included. We visited last year and have been wanting to return. So, that was 400,000 BonBlah points and get the 5th night free. Our trip now requires flights to Dubai and then to Nairobi. Ok, I start looking at pricing via the Amex travel portal. I figure I will use MRs to pay for flights in business and get 35% of the miles back since we have the Amex biz Plat cards. When I began looking to get an idea of what the pricing might be our dates were not available for booking yet. I was seeing flights in the $3900 - $4700 per person range and we have enough MR points to make that do-able. However, once the flights started getting closer to the holidays, they started to creep up in price. Now they were ranging from $6700 to $11,000 per person for our dates. Deal breaker and there goes Plan B out the window.

Plan C for flights is going to be award flights. We decided to go with Emirates. We've flown them before in first, some of you may remember last year's shower in the sky picture. We did a short haul in their business class, and it was PlanePrincess approved for a long haul. Total for the two of us, 470,000 MR points transferred to Emirates to book the award flights in biz plus a whopping $3567 in taxes and fees Are. You. Kidding. Me. I thought BA taxes and fees were super high on our London award flights. Emirates is all, "hold my beer." Those were paid with a CSR and will earn 3x URs and the charge will be promptly wiped off with a statement credit. Now that I had to deal with award flight availability I had to accept the fact that I may need to position. Sure enough, no award flights were available to or from FLL. We will be positioning to MCO and will use BA Avios or United miles for the short haul flight. Then, on our return we will be flying in to JFK as there was no award availability at FLL or MCO. So we will use BA Avios or United miles for that too.

I'm still not done with the planning as I haven't booked our first two nights in Dubai or our first night in Kenya. If I wasn't an opportunistic hoarder, I would not have the well over 1.5 million points and miles I will be blowing on this trip. I also wouldn't have the flexibility to switch from Plan A, to B and then to C. If I didn't diversify the miles and points portfolio, I wouldn't be able to switch plans easily and I would be very limited on what I could do. Here I was planning to use airline miles from a particular airline and when that wasn't an option, pay with MR points, then that option wasn't possible so I had to transfer MRs to airline miles but wound up with cray cray taxes and fees which I will pay with URs. BonBlah points to the rescue for part of our trip to make it a bit more economical and some BA miles and United miles thrown in for good measure. So far the trip is already at about $24,000 and counting if we were paying real money. Definitely not my best redemption for 1.5 million points and miles but still worth it for me since we are still at $0 out of pocket.

 

[afan]

Trails Head BBQ Bar at Seatac added to PP. We'll see if this restaurant lasts more than week like the others seem to have done. Hoping this is still good March 5 and I'll get a breakfast sandwich, 2 bottles of coke and a bottle or 2 of water for my credit Though I'm also ok with the PP breakfast, though I've never seen it at this one and am not confident I'd get more than cereal but that's what I normally eat. Plus really all I'll be doing is thinking about the In & Out we're having for lunch anyway.

 

[miztressuz]

Hilton no AF 100k/1k incognito offer is back.

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ymmv...s-card-no-annual-fee-card-100000-point-offer/
It's supposedly been around but I haven't seen it in a while. I just pulled it up first try just now though.

There's still the 75k+$100 statement credit offer out too. With how many points are needed for Hilton nights I'm inclined to go with more points if I can get it.

 

[Minnie368]

This thread has been very helpful and I’m still in awe of what so many of you have managed to do with your points. I have plans kind of in the works now for our upcoming trips to wdw and cruises. But we’re starting to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 or 2022. We’ve never been before so I’m looking for advice on what points/cards will benefit us the most. Our plans are to fly in to London, with stops afterward in Paris and ending in Rome for a few days with hopefully a day trip/train ride to Venice. It’s the very early stages of planning and I’ve got lots of research to do, but this is where I’ll start. Afterall, for years all of my best research for our wdw trips has been done here on the DIS in the other trip planning forums!
So my biggest questions for now are-
1. Is London the best city for us to start in? I thought I read several pages back that London was tough to fly out of so that’s why I thought we’d start there instead. Also, flying out of Pittsburgh- any recommendations on a particular airline?
2. Is there a hotel brand we should focus on building a stash of points for? Not looking for anything super high end but definitely places with a good reputation (clean and safe).
3. Once in London, what is the best way to get to Paris and then on to Rome?
We hope to take this trip in June of 2022 right after DS graduates from college. Would love to go in May but DD will be playing college softball and we won’t know when her season will end. Second option would be August 2021 before he starts his last year but I heard lots of places close in august in Europe. Is that true and how would it affect our trip? Fyi our travel party will be me, DH, DS22, DD20. Thanks in advance! Europe is a whole new animal for us as we have stuck mostly to the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

This thread has been very helpful and I’m still in awe of what so many of you have managed to do with your points. I have plans kind of in the works now for our upcoming trips to wdw and cruises. But we’re starting to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 or 2022. We’ve never been before so I’m looking for advice on what points/cards will benefit us the most. Our plans are to fly in to London, with stops afterward in Paris and ending in Rome for a few days with hopefully a day trip/train ride to Venice. It’s the very early stages of planning and I’ve got lots of research to do, but this is where I’ll start. Afterall, for years all of my best research for our wdw trips has been done here on the DIS in the other trip planning forums!
So my biggest questions for now are-
1. Is London the best city for us to start in? I thought I read several pages back that London was tough to fly out of so that’s why I thought we’d start there instead. Also, flying out of Pittsburgh- any recommendations on a particular airline?
2. Is there a hotel brand we should focus on building a stash of points for? Not looking for anything super high end but definitely places with a good reputation (clean and safe).
3. Once in London, what is the best way to get to Paris and then on to Rome?
We hope to take this trip in June of 2022 right after DS graduates from college. Would love to go in May but DD will be playing college softball and we won’t know when her season will end. Second option would be August 2021 before he starts his last year but I heard lots of places close in august in Europe. Is that true and how would it affect our trip? Fyi our travel party will be me, DH, DS22, DD20. Thanks in advance! Europe is a whole new animal for us as we have stuck mostly to the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Love reading others travel plans...your trip sounds amazing....we have never been to Europe...so can’t help, but many others will jump in with advice

 

[calypso726]

This thread has been very helpful and I’m still in awe of what so many of you have managed to do with your points. I have plans kind of in the works now for our upcoming trips to wdw and cruises. But we’re starting to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 or 2022. We’ve never been before so I’m looking for advice on what points/cards will benefit us the most. Our plans are to fly in to London, with stops afterward in Paris and ending in Rome for a few days with hopefully a day trip/train ride to Venice. It’s the very early stages of planning and I’ve got lots of research to do, but this is where I’ll start. Afterall, for years all of my best research for our wdw trips has been done here on the DIS in the other trip planning forums!
So my biggest questions for now are-
1. Is London the best city for us to start in? I thought I read several pages back that London was tough to fly out of so that’s why I thought we’d start there instead. Also, flying out of Pittsburgh- any recommendations on a particular airline?
2. Is there a hotel brand we should focus on building a stash of points for? Not looking for anything super high end but definitely places with a good reputation (clean and safe).
3. Once in London, what is the best way to get to Paris and then on to Rome?
We hope to take this trip in June of 2022 right after DS graduates from college. Would love to go in May but DD will be playing college softball and we won’t know when her season will end. Second option would be August 2021 before he starts his last year but I heard lots of places close in august in Europe. Is that true and how would it affect our trip? Fyi our travel party will be me, DH, DS22, DD20. Thanks in advance! Europe is a whole new animal for us as we have stuck mostly to the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

Forgive me if you have already started on the churning journey and some of what I recommend below you already know or have done. I don't have the @Lain spreadsheet and can never keep track of who has done what or when. Either way, I'm sure the info will be valuable for someone starting out.

I'll start by highly recommending you plan 2 years out. I'd recommend that for 2 people traveling to Europe, you are looking at 4. If you are just planning to use points and miles to mitigate your expenses then maybe a 2021 trip would still work. Also, keep in mind if you are looking at traveling in business or first it would be very tough to find award availability for 4 people. Plus, it would require many more miles. Becasue of the ease and flexibility of Ultimate Reward points I am going to recommend you start with the Chase cards due to 5/24 and get your DH as a P2 on board. CIP would be first because of the large sign up bonus. Most everyone here has a "business" or is thinking of starting a "business" which requires they have a business card for their babysitting, pet sitting, ebay selling, yard sales, baking cookies, consulting, tutoring, life coach, essential oils, travel advisor etc. "business." They use their first name and last name ONLY as the business name, apply as a sole proprietor and their ss# instead of an EIN number. I know many have reluctant P2s and my advice is the same, "if you don't want to play the game you can fly in coach but I'll be up in first." If everyone is flying in coach then it's, "you can budget and pay for your own flights and I'll use the money we saved to buy souvenirs." I know that wouldn't fly in some households, but if someone is in P1 mode than you will need even more time to get your points and miles in place.

1. What makes London tough is that a number of airlines charge very high taxes and fees. British Airways is a prime example. Also, a number of airlines are doing dynamic pricing so it can be tough to find award availability for fewer points and miles. PHL flights I'd be looking at American Airlines since PHL is a hub. Here is a nice little primer to get some ideas going on what may work for you and your family as far as award flights to Europe go. https://upgradedpoints.com/best-ways-to-fly-to-london-with-points/

2. I am a big fan of the Radisson Blue properties in Europe and have held their Premier Visa for years and so has PlanePrincess. The card has a $75 AF. The bonus is 85k for $2,500 spend in 3 months but you will wind up with 97,500 because you get 5x/$. The card gives you gold status which allows for early check in/late check out and an upgrade. It is a keeper card for use because you also get 40,000 anniversary points each year. That amounts to 275,000 points in P2 mode after the first year anniversary. My next go to would be Hilton because it is easy to rack up Hilton points through various cards without ridiculous rules for approval and to add to the stash if needed by purchasing the points during a 100% bonus offer.

3. I think the train is easy from London to Europe and fun. There are a ton of flights available within Europe for very little cost and can be booked via the UR portal. Sometimes transferring to BA for short hauls can work but check the taxes and fees first to see if it is worth it. Hope this helps

 

[WardFam]

This thread has been very helpful and I’m still in awe of what so many of you have managed to do with your points. I have plans kind of in the works now for our upcoming trips to wdw and cruises. But we’re starting to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 or 2022. We’ve never been before so I’m looking for advice on what points/cards will benefit us the most. Our plans are to fly in to London, with stops afterward in Paris and ending in Rome for a few days with hopefully a day trip/train ride to Venice. It’s the very early stages of planning and I’ve got lots of research to do, but this is where I’ll start. Afterall, for years all of my best research for our wdw trips has been done here on the DIS in the other trip planning forums!
So my biggest questions for now are-
1. Is London the best city for us to start in? I thought I read several pages back that London was tough to fly out of so that’s why I thought we’d start there instead. Also, flying out of Pittsburgh- any recommendations on a particular airline?
2. Is there a hotel brand we should focus on building a stash of points for? Not looking for anything super high end but definitely places with a good reputation (clean and safe).
3. Once in London, what is the best way to get to Paris and then on to Rome?
We hope to take this trip in June of 2022 right after DS graduates from college. Would love to go in May but DD will be playing college softball and we won’t know when her season will end. Second option would be August 2021 before he starts his last year but I heard lots of places close in august in Europe. Is that true and how would it affect our trip? Fyi our travel party will be me, DH, DS22, DD20. Thanks in advance! Europe is a whole new animal for us as we have stuck mostly to the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

When we did London/Paris for Thanksgiving we took the train from London to Paris and it was easy and fun. I would definitely fly from Paris to Rome. I traveled in Italy last August with DS 15 and DSIL 18 and and while I found a couple of restaurants were closed it wasn’t a big problem. But it was really hot! We would get up early, take naps in the afternoon and stay out later. This also helped avoid crowds which was great!
We mostly have stayed in air bnbs in London, Paris and Italy because it’s nice to have a little extra space when traveling with kids. This makes it harder to use points, but the places we stayed in Paris, Rome and Venice were amazing. You can DM me if you want me to send the links!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

On the plane to Orlando, visiting our son...and WDW with free airfare and hotel thanks to
-URs with my CSR to book 3 nights at Marriott Royal Palms-2 br villa
-Marriott points booked another 5 nights there
-SW booked on points and the CP
-thanks to our SW cards did upgrading boarding A1 & A2 out of ISP..only 5 positions used and WIFI both will be reimbursed by SW
-will pay for any WDW food using discounted Disney GCs

Looking forward to seeing my son and the warm weather....DHturned 60 yesterday, so this is his birthday trip, lots of father/son bonding golfing

Will attempt to keep up here each morning since I’m up way before the guys

 

[hsmamato2]

I have a card from 1994 that is still open. Was checking my list for #24. I had an older one but closed it after I paid it off. It was my first Chase card. I still have that old card as it had airplanes on it and I liked it.

Edited to add: my sign up bonus for my first Chase card - a tshirt.......

I remember the days when I carried just one cc,no bonus,no nothing for simplicity I think I still have that card,tho I closed a bunch back before I knew better...I think my oldest acct I have open is about 13-14 years old...

 

[hsmamato2]

This comment makes me feel old!!! My oldest card is the Chase Disney from 1997 and I just received a notification that they were going to cancel it since I hadn't been spending on it. Called and they were able to reinstate, so this can be your reminder to put $$ on those sock drawered cards! I would hate to lose those 22 years of credit history.

I add $ to my Amazon acct every 6 months with all the sock cards... it's only about $2 each but so far so good...

 

[disfanforlife]

When we did London/Paris for Thanksgiving we took the train from London to Paris and it was easy and fun. I would definitely fly from Paris to Rome. I traveled in Italy last August with DS 15 and DSIL 18 and and while I found a couple of restaurants were closed it wasn’t a big problem. But it was really hot! We would get up early, take naps in the afternoon and stay out later. This also helped avoid crowds which was great!
We mostly have stayed in air bnbs in London, Paris and Italy because it’s nice to have a little extra space when traveling with kids. This makes it harder to use points, but the places we stayed in Paris, Rome and Venice were amazing. You can DM me if you want me to send the links!

I am hoping to plan a similar trip in a year or two and would love to message you too about air bnbs.

 

[hsmamato2]

CSR AF just posted. Still $450 but I’m just not feeling it. $300 credit doesn’t reset until October. I did just book a few hundred $ of stuff for our Spring Break trip but our other trips are covered. Only thing I’ll use it for is Lyft on the 3 trips we have planned in March and June.

If I PC to CSP in June, will they still refund a prorated amount? (And why can’t I remember this stuff). Should I just PC now? I’m thinking I just need another sip

same

 

[hsmamato2]

I rarely call my cat max lol. Dh does all the time but I always end up calling him some nickname that’s not even close like Bubby I call him Matsy a lot too

my cat has like 10 different nicknames that I call her.... she still glares at me no matter which name I use....(real name, Asia Blue,which quickly becomes Boo...etc)

 

[alryan]

I think this is a VERY UNDERRATED comment right here! So I'm gonna bold it and highlight it - but give @alryan the credit here:

Anybody who signed up for a SW Performance Business Card in the past 90 days should consider whether they'd want to spend $20k more for an additional 30k bonus SW points (plus 20k base points for the spend). So basically you'd get 50k points for spending $20k.

If that would interest you then reach out to Chase via PM and ask to be matched to the offer! You have nothing to lose!! Make sure they say yes before you start spending too, lol.

If you are not interested in that offer, I probably wouldn't ask to be matched. Who knows how they allow and track matches but I wouldn't want to "burn a match opportunity" on something I didn't plan to actually achieve.

Thanks, they must be thinking about it because usually I get a response to a SM within a few hours, but I still haven't heard anything. Keeping my fingers crossed.

 

[becauseimnew]

This thread has been very helpful and I’m still in awe of what so many of you have managed to do with your points. I have plans kind of in the works now for our upcoming trips to wdw and cruises. But we’re starting to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 or 2022. We’ve never been before so I’m looking for advice on what points/cards will benefit us the most. Our plans are to fly in to London, with stops afterward in Paris and ending in Rome for a few days with hopefully a day trip/train ride to Venice. It’s the very early stages of planning and I’ve got lots of research to do, but this is where I’ll start. Afterall, for years all of my best research for our wdw trips has been done here on the DIS in the other trip planning forums!
So my biggest questions for now are-
1. Is London the best city for us to start in? I thought I read several pages back that London was tough to fly out of so that’s why I thought we’d start there instead. Also, flying out of Pittsburgh- any recommendations on a particular airline?
2. Is there a hotel brand we should focus on building a stash of points for? Not looking for anything super high end but definitely places with a good reputation (clean and safe).
3. Once in London, what is the best way to get to Paris and then on to Rome?
We hope to take this trip in June of 2022 right after DS graduates from college. Would love to go in May but DD will be playing college softball and we won’t know when her season will end. Second option would be August 2021 before he starts his last year but I heard lots of places close in august in Europe. Is that true and how would it affect our trip? Fyi our travel party will be me, DH, DS22, DD20. Thanks in advance! Europe is a whole new animal for us as we have stuck mostly to the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

We are in the early stages of planning a 2 week trip to Spain June 2021, possible stop in Amsterdam to see Anne Franks museum, per DD1’s request. I can’t help with specifics but I can tell you want I’m doing to collect miles to get there and use points for 90% of the travel.
Collecting URs, plan A was to use United and take advantage of their excursionist perk. We are a family of 4 so flying business/first is never going to happen. To do that we need to book Savers on United needing 240,000 miles. I have 65k United miles, meaning I would need to transfer 180k URs. So I’ve been hoarding our URs. We have 300k. We are slow churners.
Then I discovered that AA has Web awards, 34k miles for round trip tickets to Madrid. I decided that this would now become plan A. I applied for my first Citi AA Biz and quickly earned 65k AA miles, DH had 17k AA miles from a previous SUB. DH had been approved for 70k AA SUB right at the beginning of this AA fiasco. So he will soon have 90k AA miles. We will be 28k AA miles short of 4RT tickets. Still trying to figure this one out. Would really love to use those AA miles for flights and save URs for hotels/apartments. You can book apartments on the Chase portal.

I don’t have a plan C for flights, we are sitting on 100k MRs. I’m hoping those will come in handy for a plan C. I guess plan D would be 2 of us fly on AA miles and 2 on United miles.

Our booking window will open in 6 months, I will have all the miles/points in place to book flights. After that I will focus on points for hotels.

I would suggest that focus on collecting and diversifying your rewards. And ask lots of questions, don’t be afraid to ask for advice before you apply for your next card.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Do you have any trips booked using that card (reward or otherwise) where the travel insurance could come in handy? This didn't used to be a big consideration for me but will now likely be enough for me to keep the card even though when I reach my anniversary I'll be paying the higher AF.

We have a few things, but no airfare. Activities in NOLA booked with URs, hotel at USO with URs both in March.
Do they just pro-rate refund if I PC in April. I just can’t afford the $450 right now.

Sorry your trip ended on such a bad note. Glad Chase helped out but wouldn’t your health insurance cover the urgent care trip?

 

[trenty]

I think I literally laughed out loud when I read it. Mostly cause my oldest card is from 1987. Older than some of the folks on here

My oldest open card is from 1989 - my Amex Everyday. Had store cards before that. I think JC Penney may have been my first circa 1984- also before many on here were born.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

my cat has like 10 different nicknames that I call her.... she still glares at me no matter which name I use....(real name, Asia Blue,which quickly becomes Boo...etc)

My kid and dog have a nickname or 2 but my sister and her family have multiple nicknames for all their pets (currently 3 dogs, a foster pup and maybe a couple fish). They even gave my old pup a nickname. Her name was Cody and they called her Coco, which for some reason annoyed me. My sister tends to call all her dogs with a repetitive portion of their names (Charlie is CharChar ) but one of their dogs was Sydney and her nickname was Lucy.