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

[EACarlson]

What is the best MR card for everyday spending?

My personal vote is Gold for food and BBP for everything else.

I do not like the metal cards because I can't use my shredder to destroy them.

Every time I've gotten a new card, I hold on to the old one until I get an envelope from Chase or AMEX to send back to them for destruction.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

What is the exact process on this? Go to customer service and tell them you want to pay the red card and then run the VGC as debit?

I've been using 5% VGC to buy Sam's 4% discounted with a 2.5% click through, but I'm maxed out on buying the 4% cards online "for a period of time" and target could get me higher velocity faster. I have a cruise payment due myself...

Exactly. Use the last 4 as your pin, of course. Every time I go I pay $200 when i first get there then another $200 after I check out.

 

[Spivey378]

I LOVE CREDIT CARDS SO MUCH I CAN'T FREAKING STAND IT!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I'm too much of a worrier to book a connecting flight and then not take it. I'm in this for the long run and don't want to burn any bridges.

100% agreed; I wouldn't either. The fact that it's fewer miles is counter-intuitive to what I would expect, ya know? That I can go further for fewer miles.

 

[happ]

You may already know but for the CSP there isn’t any bonus for PYB….like there is with CSR

Ugh. No, I didn't realize that. Thanks. Kind of silly for Chase to even offer it for the CSP like it's something special since we can always redeem URs for .01. Oh well. Back to hoarding my points.

 

[Spivey378]

Does anyone have go-to hotel recommendations for Manhattan when redeeming points? Most hotels I have seen aren't good deals for point redemption, and it is always better to use cash.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Just applied for a new CIU and received instant approval (for the first time in a while)! Need to call tomorrow morning to have the card expedited.

 

[AndreaDM]

I haven't flown on KLM yet, but we flew my daughter in biz class on KLM and she just loved the casual quirkiness of it. I am really looking forward to my delft house! I don't know much about gin but I remember drinking slow gin fizzes in my early 20s, so maybe I can do some throwback drinking. Slow gin fizz

We are flying out of Chicago, ORD. Awhile back I finally learned a trick for the AirFrance or KLM website. When you do the "book with miles" tab, you select one way and leave the departure date blank. When you click go/proceed (or whatever) you get a calendar view. I saw a lot of 56.5k availability. What's also kind of funny about Air France that I've noticed is that it's often more points to fly into Paris or AMS (70k) than it can be to continue on somewhere else.

ETA: I just looked up that cocktail recipe, and it's actually a Sloe Gin Fizz. Who knew? And sloe gin and gin are different things I guess I've retained zero bartending knowledge.

Perfect, thank you! We also flew KLM via ORD so I'll take a look!

We haven't cracked open our Delft houses, the chimney is sealed up pretty good. I told DH I like knowing it's there in case I ever have a gin emergency lol!

 

[AndreaDM]

I have $15k in tuition coming up soon. My plan was to signup for an AMEX business gold and personal platinum. How long between the two do I need to wait? Can I do one day between them like a MDD for a CSR and CSP?

Does the school take Amex? Just asking because I had planned on putting my daughter's tuition on it and her school does not take it. I can use Visa/MC (for a fee of course), but no Amex.

 

[elgerber]

Just applied for a new CIU and received instant approval (for the first time in a while)! Need to call tomorrow morning to have the card expedited.

I always just SM to have mine sent. I was approved Tuesday last week, sent message immediately, had the card Thursday.

 

[calypso726]

Does anyone have go-to hotel recommendations for Manhattan when redeeming points? Most hotels I have seen aren't good deals for point redemption, and it is always better to use cash.

We love NYC show weekends every so often.

My go-to is basically wherever is convenient and doesn’t cost any actual money

Last year we did a weekend using free night certificates from our Hilton Aspire cards at the Conrad and we also did a weekend with Hyatt points at the Park Hyatt. We’ve stayed at the Hilton Times Square with Hilton points a couple of times. I know we’ve done a few Marriott properties with free night certificates but that was about 4 BonBlah devaluations ago. I’m thinking our next stay might be the Waldorf Astoria or the Intercontinental. It will likely depend on where the rest of our friends decide to stay so we can be relatively close.

 

[mmmears]

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.

We tried again today, and there was no charge listed, so we just went ahead and moved up a couple of rows. Not sure what was going on there.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I always just SM to have mine sent. I was approved Tuesday last week, sent message immediately, had the card Thursday.

Thank you! Just sent an SM. Hopefully they respond quickly.

 

[lsutigers03]

Does the school take Amex? Just asking because I had planned on putting my daughter's tuition on it and her school does not take it. I can use Visa/MC (for a fee of course), but no Amex.

I keep forgetting that some places don’t take AMEX. Thankfully my kids school does take it. So doing the biz gold and personal plat should get me around 300k MR.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

We tried again today, and there was no charge listed, so we just went ahead and moved up a couple of rows. Not sure what was going on there.

Nice score!

Just booked our return flight on KLM in economy and despite the inclusion of "seat selection before check-in," there are seat selection fees for us to return from Portugal to the US. I'll wait awhile before I actually pay for anything. I'm hoping biz class will open up for a decent rate.

 

[mmmears]

I keep reading how people are able to extend their Marriott FNCs. I have a Hilton FNC that's about to expire. Has anyone had any luck getting a real extension (as in not just a week or two)?

 

[AmyAnne]

I need to book a specific flight on American Airlines. Cash is $187 and AA miles is 15.5K. If I use the miles, that's a value of 1.2 cents per mile, which the blogs seem to say is a little on the low end. On the other hand, we have 200K+ miles and no specific plans to use them.

Is there any advantage to booking with miles as compared to cash (or cash as compared to miles)? We won't be canceling unless something truly unforeseen happens in the next few weeks. If the flight gets delayed or canceled, though, would it be better to have booked with cash or miles? (In either case, will be booking directly with the airline).

 

[IFlossU]

I need to book a specific flight on American Airlines. Cash is $187 and AA miles is 15.5K. If I use the miles, that's a value of 1.2 cents per mile, which the blogs seem to say is a little on the low end. On the other hand, we have 200K+ miles and no specific plans to use them.

Is there any advantage to booking with miles as compared to cash (or cash as compared to miles)? We won't be canceling unless something truly unforeseen happens in the next few weeks. If the flight gets delayed or canceled, though, would it be better to have booked with cash or miles? (In either case, will be booking directly with the airline).

I mean if you have no use for the miles why not use them? Yeah it’s a little low in value but only you know how much you value AA miles. For me, living in an AA hub, they’re like gold, but I’d probably still book that flight with miles. Especially if I didn’t have any immediate plans.

 

[calypso726]

I need to book a specific flight on American Airlines. Cash is $187 and AA miles is 15.5K. If I use the miles, that's a value of 1.2 cents per mile, which the blogs seem to say is a little on the low end. On the other hand, we have 200K+ miles and no specific plans to use them.

Is there any advantage to booking with miles as compared to cash (or cash as compared to miles)? We won't be canceling unless something truly unforeseen happens in the next few weeks. If the flight gets delayed or canceled, though, would it be better to have booked with cash or miles? (In either case, will be booking directly with the airline).

Generally, if you have to cancel most airlines are allowing you to redeposit the miles. A cash ticket, depending on the fare rules might get you a voucher which has an expiration date for cancellation. Then there’s the points/miles you wouldn’t be earning (up to 5x) for purchasing an airline ticket if you use miles. This of course could also be a pro vs a con as far as not spending the money. A cash ticket would earn you butt in seat miles and go towards any AA status you may be trying to get or keep while an award flight will not.

If it were me, I’d pay for the flight. I also happen to view AA miles as a potential future flight out of the country and may need them as part of a Plan A, B or C and will likely need 200k, if not more, to make it happen depending on the destination and airline partner.

If you truly have no future use for AA miles, then sure why not use them if they are there.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

Thank you! Just sent an SM. Hopefully they respond quickly.

I always just SM to have mine sent. I was approved Tuesday last week, sent message immediately, had the card Thursday.

Good morning to both of you! Curious which business card is the one that everyone is going for right now. I've been on the fence for months about applying for a business card and was seriously considering it over the weekend, but couldn't decide which one to go for. Available to me in the app is the 100k points Chase Ink Business preferred card, but I cannot meet that $15k spend!