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

[IFlossU]

Thanks for the tips. I agree about the SWA seats because to me they aren’t the most comfortable for the 2 hour flight from MEM to MCO so I can’t imagine a 6 hour flight. I wondered how SWA does food for such a long flight. Is it just Chex mix and a coke like they do on short flights? I see that we are going to have to expand our airline horizons! I will check out Hawaiian Airlines.

Haha! Yep, like @iujen94 said, snack mix it is. Maybe 2 bags for the longer flight, and 2 drink services, but that’s it. Hawaiian economy is nice. More padding to the seats, seat back movies, food, and generally nice service. If you fly out of PHX you will be on the A330 wide body jet, which I prefer over the smaller 737 or A321.

 

[leeniewdw]

With IHG, you should not have to pay any room taxes, but you will need to pay resort fees. So for sure you'll be charged the $25 resort fee + tax on that. I think the 28.69 they reference is the $25 + 14.75% tax= 28.69. Not sure what the 3.50 is but I'd be prepared to pay that. You will not be responsible for 14.75% tax on the room rate.

Thank you! I went ahead and booked the IHG hotel. Looks like me adding his name to the reservation is all I need to do based on the IHG FAQs since I was just using points and not trying to use free night certs.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Thank you! I went ahead and booked the IHG hotel. Looks like me adding his name to the reservation is all I need to do based on the IHG FAQs since I was just using points and not trying to use free night certs.

Yep, per their T&Cs, you can book an award night using points for a someone else and just add their name to the reservation. If you have any status benefit, they may or may not extend it to your guest, which can be a nice perk.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Just a reminder that these Flying Blue (Air France/KLM) transfer bonuses are ending soon

ending 5/15 (tomorrow) Chase 25%
ending 5/22 Amex 25%

@sinnika

 

[disneylover81]

FWIW, I love Aulani and we are also DVC. Since we usually book 1 bedrooms, we also have a kitchen and washer / dryer in unit, so it's the same comfort as an airbnb plus all the resort experience and amenities. Our last trip we booked an island garden view and this is our view. My DD loved watching the luau (for free) from our balcony! I'm low on points this year, so we've booked a standard view and I hope she's not disappointed!View attachment 760435

You read my mind. I just explained this to my son. DH and I decided last night that we will book this view, save the extra points and hope for an amazing view like you got.

 

[Budzooka]

You read my mind. I just explained this to my son. DH and I decided last night that we will book this view, save the extra points and hope for an amazing view like you got.

To each their own, but I rarely upgrade for view. I would rather save those points to be able to visit more often. When we visited Aulani, standard view was not available and we could only get garden view. It was nice but not with the additional points for our family.

 

[Budzooka]

Thanks for the tips. I agree about the SWA seats because to me they aren’t the most comfortable for the 2 hour flight from MEM to MCO so I can’t imagine a 6 hour flight. I wondered how SWA does food for such a long flight. Is it just Chex mix and a coke like they do on short flights? I see that we are going to have to expand our airline horizons! I will check out Hawaiian Airlines.

We have flown SWA to Hawaii twice and it was fine. The planes were bigger and Wi-Fi worked great. They do give an additional snack pack but no meal. Definitely need to eat beforehand.

I would rather fly business class but free is free. And with the companion pass, it is much more bang for your buck.

 

[Limes96]

Time for me to ditch my Brilliant card, assuming there’s no good retention offers that would make it worth keeping. Has anyone here received THAT good of an offer? I still can’t believe they raised the AF that high. I mean, I do but I don’t. Lol

 

[calypso726]

Speaking of views and upgrades…

I received an email from the Conrad Bora Bora letting me know that two weeks before our stay, I will receive an offer for a guaranteed paid upgrade.

Currently, we are booked in a King Lagoon view suite room. While this trip is probably a one and done for us, I am willing to forego a paid upgrade depending on the offer. We’ve already had the amazing experience of staying in an overwater bungalow when we visited the Maldives. So, not upgrading to an OWB with the normal ocean view is fine.

My dilemma will be if there’s an offer to upgrade to an OWB with a view of Mt. Otemanu. I can only imagine if it’s available as a paid upgrade, the cost will be eye watering. I have a certain threshold that I am willing to spend for the view but seriously doubt it will come close to what they offer. This will leave me with crossing fingers for a free upgrade on arrival. But if it doesn’t happen, that’s ok too.

 

[Zhoen]

CSP 80k offer on the Chase website is now tagged "ending soon," but no date listed.

I got an Ink on March 5, 72 days ago. 90 days will be 3 June. Do you think the offer will disappear before then? Should I try now? Does it matter since it was an Ink, not a personal? (P2 got a CSP recently, so he can generate a support link for me and get an extra 15k, I think...)

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Not sure if this has been posted but for people who have Amex cards I just noticed a Disney+/bundle offer:
"Spend $9.99 or more and get $9.99 back up to (6x). Decent offer if you pay monthly.

 

[lsutigers03]

CSP 80k offer on the Chase website is not tagged "ending soon," but no date listed.

I got an Ink on March 5, 72 days ago. 90 days will be 3 June. Do you think the offer will disappear before then? Should I try now? Does it matter since it was an Ink, not a personal? (P2 got a CSP recently, so he can generate a support link for me and get an extra 15k, I think...)

I have no clue if it will be around by June 3. However, with these elevated offers there is usually an exact end date that gets out. I think you can wait for that to happen and if it is before you hit 3 months I would take a chance. The 3 month time frame is a suggestion not a hard rule. As long as you don't constantly apply for Chase cards sooner than 3 months you should be fine doing it every now and then. I was approved for a CIU on 03/08 and then a SW Performance on 05/10. The SW card took a week to get approved.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Speaking of views and upgrades…

I received an email from the Conrad Bora Bora letting me know that two weeks before our stay, I will receive an offer for a guaranteed paid upgrade.

Currently, we are booked in a King Lagoon view suite room. While this trip is probably a one and done for us, I am willing to forego a paid upgrade depending on the offer. We’ve already had the amazing experience of staying in an overwater bungalow when we visited the
Maldives. So, not upgrading to an OWB with the normal ocean view is fine.

My dilemma will be if there’s an offer to upgrade to an OWB with a view of Mt. Otemanu. I can only imagine if it’s available as a paid upgrade, the cost will be eye watering. I have a certain threshold that I am willing to spend for the view but seriously doubt it will come close to what they offer. This will leave me with crossing fingers for a free upgrade on arrival. But if it doesn’t happen, that’s ok too.

Fwiw I’ve seen reports of Diamond upgrades going out as early as 5 days prior to check in and as late as night before but didn’t recall seeing any all the way up to Mt view. If you check your dates now you’ll know if there’s a chance of getting a paid upgrade offer to Mt view, although eye watering might actually be low

The lagoon view rooms are quite convenient. Short walk to pool, food, pier & guest services, no dealing with the free for all bikes or calling for a golf cart. But the patio loungers suck, no padding like the OWB.

If you have Qs feel free to hit me up. Got back just over a week ago.

 

[AndreaDM]

I got back from my 5 week trip to Germany on Wednesday and am still fighting jet lag! Our flight back was on a chartered plane, ATI, which went from Ramstein Air Force base in Germany into BWI. Couldn’t beat the $39 fee! I’m now planning another trip at the end of August but my go to airline, United, has really increased their points! It’s now 40,000 points or more for a one way in economy at the end of August. So now I’m looking at other airlines and I can fly economy into Amsterdam from Houston if I transfer points to KLM. For as low as 16,000 points. However, I’ve gotten spoiled and would like to fly business class. I’ve got plenty of UR’s and over 100,000 MRs. Any tips on finding a biz class seat for 50 or 60,000 points?

So glad you're back. Air France/KLM have a "secret" calendar view for their award flights. Using a desktop, log into Air France or KLM. Book with miles-> choose one way -> departure and arrival airports -> leave dates BLANK -> Search. You'll be shown a calendar view and you can click on a whole month. Ideally you'll see rates for 56k or so. If a month is grayed out, know that's a glitch. You might have to click the month before or after and scroll by week to look for those low fares.

Or for this particular route, I can't recommend SeatSpy enough. Sign up for a free trial. You'll be able to see a whole year's worth of biz and econ availability in one click, on one screen, with outbound and return. It's amazing. Well worth the subscription if you'd use it often. But start with the free trial.

Yep, we flew business on KLM from AMS last Sept. for 56K points pp. Loved it and am looking for another excuse to fly KLM! With the 25% bonus right now you could get r/t for 88K points!

 

[wanderlust7]

Time for me to ditch my Brilliant card, assuming there’s no good retention offers that would make it worth keeping. Has anyone here received THAT good of an offer? I still can’t believe they raised the AF that high. I mean, I do but I don’t. Lol

The best I see is 85k for $3000 spend. There's also DPs for a 50k FNC for $1500, 60k for $2000. Plus some lower offers for 20k, 25k, or $200.

I'll be in the same boat later this year. If no retention offers, I'll probably downgrade after I get the 85k FNC to the $95 AF Bonvoy card (can't apply for it, so no loss there). That comes with a 35k FNC, but I don't know if I'd hold it a year to get that due to wanting to free up an Amex cc slot.

I was going to downgrade at the last AF, but was surprised that it was still at $450. So then it was worth it to keep for the $25/month restaurant plus 85k FNC.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Taking advantage of the 25% UR bonus from Chase to KLM, I booked my biz class flight home from Amsterdam next April for 44,000 URs (55,000 Flying Blue points)! Excited to be getting my first Delft house. I was able to use 1 of dh's SWUs to book a daytime flight on AA to LHR on April 2nd for $500.00 in biz class. I'll stay overnight at the HGI at Heathrow T2, then fly to Paris the next morning using BA Avios.

 

[georgina]

CSP 80k offer on the Chase website is now tagged "ending soon," but no date listed.

I got an Ink on March 5, 72 days ago. 90 days will be 3 June. Do you think the offer will disappear before then? Should I try now? Does it matter since it was an Ink, not a personal? (P2 got a CSP recently, so he can generate a support link for me and get an extra 15k, I think...)

My personal experience - Chase SW personal 5/28/22, then CIU 7/27/22, then Chase IHG 10/10/22. So not 3 months apart, no other cards in between. I would probably not wait until June 3.

 

[WaltsMartini]

In your experience, what is the best way to ask for a credit limit increase for a card you just received?

Finally received my first business card, CIU. However, limit is $3k and I have a $5,400 summer camp payment due.

I figure I can put $3k on and pay it off, then do the same again; or I can call Chase and ask for increase; or can ask for increase through the website.

Is there a best strategy?

 

[DCLMP]

I just got approved for a chase business ink. I fell under 5/24 on 5/14. It was weird though I got under review you’ll receive a new card in 7-10 days if approved. At first I thought it was a denial and then I realized it didn’t say we’ll make a decision in 7-10 days.

Another weird thing was there was no credit pull and the application status line said there was no application. About 8 hours later I started getting emails from Amex, Capital one, credit karma and Chase that I had s new inquiry. Usually those emails come within minutes after applying for a new card.
I then got sn email I was approved. It seems they didn’t process or pull a credit report on the application until several hours after I applied. I’ve never had that happen before

 

[WaltsMartini]

Just made my first big mistake in this hobby and I could just cry -

Got my CIU business today. Turns out I messed up and did not get the Ink Business Cash Unlimited - just got the Business Unlimited. (This is the last time I ever do any new apps sleep deprived and from my phone - coffee and at the laptop from now on!)

I called and told them I made a mistake; they said I have to have it open a YEAR before I can upgrade to Business Cash, or I can cancel the card and reapply.

I was depending on the 5% cash back from office supply stores as part of my strategy for earn over the next year. I feel like the only thing to do is cancel and reapply - BUT my big payment is due June 1 - so I need the new card to come by then - assuming I am approved!!!

Ugh ugh uggity ugh - any advice is appreciated!