I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[wdwpluto]

Anyone have thoughts on fun, cheap uses for the AmEx $200 FHR/HC credit? I used last year's at the Waldorf in Panama City. I'm in. Orlando, so nothing really exciting to use it for here (to me, ymmv) This year's planned trips are Japan and Hawaii and I didn't find any good uses there. Considering taking a shorter trip somewhere fun (not Vegas lol) if anyone has any good redemption ideas!

 

[mmmears]

ok..... Bilt.... is this a good card to try out if I don't rent? Seems like a decent deal just for the bonus points to transfer....(?) yes? no?

I think it's good if you need to pay rent, but otherwise not so much. Of course YMMV. DD likes it for her rent and a few other charges, but I didn't get one for myself.

Do you know about the "secret SUB"? 5x for 5 days. Link

I read online (not sure if this is true though) that if you "lose" the card and they need to reissue a new one it often unlocks the secret SUB. DD doesn't want to try it though.

TBH, I don't know if I'll proceed with this since I'm keeping an eye on my 5/24 status. I want to get the CSP and the SW CP so I will likely wait on this. Also, I saw lots of complaints on reddit about Bilt customer service so it will go on the back burner for now. Thanks @mmmears for providing the link on DISchurners!

You're welcome. I asked DD about their CS and they were pretty helpful. There was an issue with a rental payment one time. She's not playing games with this card, though, just using it for her rent, so I'm not sure how that would go.

thanks for posting this! The Bilt card is on my shortlist because DS will have rent payments at college starting in August. This is great to know!

If you can use the card it's great. It didn't seem worth it to us to try to use Plastiq for rent because of the charge, and at least this way she's getting some points for the money she was already spending on her rent.

I was able to successfully trigger this offer when doing an award booking. It did show up right before entering payment info. I didn't pull the trigger though, because, for whatever reason, there were no seat assignment fees in biz class on our KLM flight. What the heck? I know there was talk it wouldn't apply to North America, but many people said it did for them. But it clearly shows as an included item. We don't have status and we didn't book with kids, so we'll just take the win!

View attachment 754826

Very nice! I'm so annoyed about the seat charges. We booked the flight about a year in advance, when there were no seat charges, and I haven't bothered to call them and try to argue about it when the empty seats are only marginally better than the ones they assigned us. But I kind of want to do it. Also, mine are on AF, not KLM, although I don't think that makes a difference.

 

[wanderlust7]

Anyone have thoughts on fun, cheap uses for the AmEx $200 FHR/HC credit? I used last year's at the Waldorf in Panama City. I'm in. Orlando, so nothing really exciting to use it for here (to me, ymmv) This year's planned trips are Japan and Hawaii and I didn't find any good uses there. Considering taking a shorter trip somewhere fun (not Vegas lol) if anyone has any good redemption ideas!

We did the Conrad Osaka for about $350, but it was booked before Japan reopened. It's probably more now.

These are rather far from you, but I'll just throw it out there. The Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe is often around $200 on weeknights. Portland, OR also has several FHR that can be $200 or below.

 

[leeniewdw]

Anyone have next March 14-19 int’l travel plans? Apparently at the moment United Polaris for these dates is 60k.

I confirmed it with a random search from my home airport, so no positioning needed.

 

[djmeredith]

It's been so long since our last precheck renewal. Both that and my passport need to be renewed. Do I need to renew passport first? Then precheck? It seems to me, the precheck may ask for passport info, but I can't recall...

You can use an unexpired passport to validate identity and citizenship. If you don't have a valid passport, you are required to present an official state issued ID to validate identity and a birth certificate (or other approved citizenship doc) to prove citizenship.

Anyone have thoughts on fun, cheap uses for the AmEx $200 FHR/HC credit? I used last year's at the Waldorf in Panama City. I'm in. Orlando, so nothing really exciting to use it for here (to me, ymmv) This year's planned trips are Japan and Hawaii and I didn't find any good uses there. Considering taking a shorter trip somewhere fun (not Vegas lol) if anyone has any good redemption ideas!

I'm glad you posted this. I haven't been able to use my credit either.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

You can use an unexpired passport to validate identity and citizenship. If you don't have a valid passport, you are required to present an official state issued ID to validate identity and a birth certificate (or other approved citizenship doc) to prove citizenship.

Is TSA precheck and passport numbers linked? Like, if I need to renew my passport, and so then it'll have a different exp date... will that matter to TSA precheck? If so, then maybe I'll renew first, then renew precheck. If they don't link it or need the passport exp for anything then I guess it doesn't matter... if they only need it for the one time validation when you apply/renew.

 

[djmeredith]

Is TSA precheck and passport numbers linked? Like, if I need to renew my passport, and so then it'll have a different exp date... will that matter to TSA precheck? If so, then maybe I'll renew first, then renew precheck. If they don't link it or need the passport exp for anything then I guess it doesn't matter... if they only need it for the one time validation when you apply/renew.

I don't remember seeing anything in the FAQs that addresses this scenario, but I don't think they are linked. I think they just use the passport to verify ID and citizenship before processing the Pre-Check.

 

[mmmears]

Congrats and Happy Anniversary! We just did our first Disney (and first ever) cruise! It was just myself, dh and our boys. One of our girls is now married and the other is on the Disney college program. I'm already kind of thinking of how to finagle another cruise! It was a ton of fun and so different than anything we'd done before!

I don't know what took me so long to book a DCL cruise, but my family had a blast the first time we tried one. I like that it's much more relaxing than a trip to the parks.

 

[familyman123]

Very infrequent visitor to these thread, and I had a quick question (I think)

I currently have a Chase Ink Unlimited and Chase Ink Cash card. I wanted to grab another Chase Ink Cash. For those who have multiple of the Ink card, did you apply for both under your social security number? Or did you need to use an EIN? (I don't have an EIN and don't want one. If I need to I could cancel my current Ink Cash).

 

[IFlossU]

Very infrequent visitor to these thread, and I had a quick question (I think)

I currently have a Chase Ink Unlimited and Chase Ink Cash card. I wanted to grab another Chase Ink Cash. For those who have multiple of the Ink card, did you apply for both under your social security number? Or did you need to use an EIN? (I don't have an EIN and don't want one. If I need to I could cancel my current Ink Cash).

You can have multiple Ink cards using just your SS #. No need to cancel

 

[newski_mom]

Anyone have thoughts on fun, cheap uses for the AmEx $200 FHR/HC credit? I used last year's at the Waldorf in Panama City. I'm in. Orlando, so nothing really exciting to use it for here (to me, ymmv) This year's planned trips are Japan and Hawaii and I didn't find any good uses there. Considering taking a shorter trip somewhere fun (not Vegas lol) if anyone has any good redemption ideas!

Last year we stayed at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco - the room was around $300 a night, so $100 after the credit. We were able to use the credit on a meal at the Pied Piper restaurant at the hotel, but it was still around $50 after our credit. We also used the breakfast credit there and it covered most of the cost of a great breakfast!

I'm not sure what we're going to use it on this year. We're going to be in Seattle and Miami, but haven't found anything to use it on in either of those places.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Very nice! I'm so annoyed about the seat charges. We booked the flight about a year in advance, when there were no seat charges, and I haven't bothered to call them and try to argue about it when the empty seats are only marginally better than the ones they assigned us. But I kind of want to do it. Also, mine are on AF, not KLM, although I don't think that makes a difference.

I think you should call, too. There were no seat charges at the time of booking and you already selected seats, as I recall, and they changed aircraft. I feel they should reassign you to your preferred seats at no charge.

Remember if you call to push the option for flying blue, because otherwise the regular agents won't help you with an awards booking, even seat assignments. The number I have programmed in my phone is 1-800-375-8723 for Air France Flying Blue.

Alternatively, if you don't want the frustration, I'd be logged in right at checkin (I think that's 30 hours prior) to see if you can select your preferred seats.

 

[georgina]

I’m pages behind, currently sitting in Skyview Lounge in Basel waiting for the first of 3 flights. Made a rookie mistake when I booked this trip a year and a half ago, told Viking to fly us into/out of Reagan which of course has no customs. If I had gone with Dulles it would only have been 2 flights. Oops.

 

[havaneselover]

I decided on Hyatt Regency MCO before our cruise for convenience. The price through Chase UR was $470 so 31k URs. I have never transferred points before but transfered 18k points to Hyatt instead and booked the room that way. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn about playing this game

 

[Judique]

I decided on Hyatt Regency MCO before our cruise for convenience. The price through Chase UR was $470 so 31k URs. I have never transferred points before but transfered 18k points to Hyatt instead and booked the room that way. Anyway, I still have a lot to learn about playing this game

Great! I transfer points to Hyatt all the time, but nowhere else. It's also the reason I never have used the CSP $50 credit. I can't bring myself to pay cash when I can just go cash free with points.

 

[Spivey378]

I am new to the points game and just found this amazing thread!

 

[BGparadise]

Great! I transfer points to Hyatt all the time, but nowhere else. It's also the reason I never have used the CSP $50 credit. I can't bring myself to pay cash when I can just go cash free with points.

This made me wonder regarding the Chase Offers. Quite a few hotels offers have come up, it would be nice to combine with the $50 credit. If you purchase through the Chase portal does it code as Chase or the hotel that you will be staying at?

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I just looked at my emails, for our trip to DUB from BOS in Biz (traveling on June 4, 2023), I booked on June 29, 2022. Booked via Avios website.

Well I can't seem to find ANY Biz seats on ANY flights right now in March, Feb, Jan, Dec, or Nov. ***?!?!?! Like how am I going to rebook this trip?

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Anyone have next March 14-19 int’l travel plans? Apparently at the moment United Polaris for these dates is 60k.

I confirmed it with a random search from my home airport, so no positioning needed.

UGH. I'm looking at 15-20. But I have 200k in Avios I want to use. Maybe I'll look at United but then wth do I do with my avios?

ETA- Not for Dublin, or at least not through CLE which would be the closest united place to fly out of w/o too much headaches, LOL.

 

[AndreaDM]

Also, so excited! Hubby and I booked the coast of Portugal for our 25th anniversary! We have biz class seats on KLM into Porto for 56k each OW + ~$200 in taxes/fees pp. But I'd pre-emptively transferred points (risky) during a transfer bonus, so I think it ended up being 45k MR + taxes/fees.

Our itinerary is super open right now. We usually go for luxury, but I'm thinking quaint, cosy and romantic for this trip. I'd love any Portugal suggestions.

LOL, we don't have a flight home yet... but that's the fun of booking for just two.

From where? KLM is my favorite airline and have been looking for an excuse to fly them again. Haven't been to Portugal and that's on our list too. I LOVE the little Dutch houses full of gin they hand out in biz.