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

[becauseimnew]

Any tips/tricks for awards bookings for a family of 5? Whenever I've looked at using points (which is often on shorter notice than I'd like) the rooms that fit 5 are either crazy high points or simply not available. To be fair, that's true on cash bookings, too (that darn 3rd kid makes travel so much more expensive!!), but it seems like the problem is heightened when I switch from cash to points. I can usually get a room at a cheaper chain that has the sleeper sofa, but once I start looking at a nice hotel instead of just a place to lay our heads, things get difficult.

Are there chains that are better/worse about 5th sleepers? We've got a stack of URs and would be good to open chain specific credit cards to earn nights/points, if we knew which family of hotels we were targeting.

Starting to think about Hawaii summer 2024 and would love any suggestions to tackle it.

Hyatt House/Hyatt Place is the way to go. Have you decided which islands you will visit? For Marriott the Springhill Suites will also sleep 5.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

DoC is reporting that the 3rd quarter categories for Freedom/Freedom Flex are gas stations, EV charging, live entertainment. Just great, since Discover's 3rd qtr is also gas stations. Why do they always do this, lol.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

We have the same situation. Since getting into URs, we have stayed with Hyatt Place as they are always suites. 2 beds with a large sectional in the living area.

Hyatt House/Hyatt Place is the way to go. Have you decided which islands you will visit? For Marriott the Springhill Suites will also sleep 5.

That's great to know, thank you.

No, we haven't decided on islands yet, but I'm open to suggestions. This far out, I wouldn't be opposed to making decisions about islands based on hotels, instead of the other way around. LOL.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Quick question about JFK T4. I will be landing there at 12:15pm and want to take a flight with Delta that leaves from T4 at 1:59. I will be traveling with carry-on only and have GE / TSA pre-check. Is this timeframe feasible?

 

[havaneselover]

DoC is reporting that the 3rd quarter categories for Freedom/Freedom Flex are gas stations, EV charging, live entertainment. Just great, since Discover's 3rd qtr is also gas stations. Why do they always do this, lol.

These are pretty worthless to me too.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Just sent my passport renewal on Friday 6/9. It was received on Monday 6/12 (according to USPS tracking). The check was cashed and status is now "In Process" as of today 6/14. (That's much faster than I was expecting the site to update!!) Hopefully this jump at the beginning means it may go a little speedier than 13 weeks!

 

[havaneselover]

Just sent my passport renewal on Friday 6/9. It was received on Monday 6/12 (according to USPS tracking). The check was cashed and status is now "In Process" as of today 6/14. Hopefully this jump at the beginning means it may go a little speedier than 13 weeks!

DD’s is in the mail! Her appointment was March 21 I believe and it was received March 24. So almost 12 weeks from when it was received until when it was processed. Mine was received almost 10 weeks ago. I’m thinking I have two weeks to go. But most people’s seem to be moving faster than ours.

 

[lsutigers03]

Not sure I understand your question, but the CSR 50% bonus in the portal applies to travel booked with points, so I’m not seeing where gift cards fit in. If you mean “pay yourself back” on gift cards purchased at grocery stores that would work, but it’s at 1.25 not 1.5.

I just posted that I saved $300 using the CSR in the portal and meant the equivalent to $300 in points. Hope that didn’t confuse anyone.

On the Chase portal you can use points to buy gift cards. Most of the time it's the normal $0.01 per point unless there is a deal on specific gift cards. I was curious if I used the portal with a CSR to buy a gift card would the 50% discount apply?

 

[platamama]

On the Chase portal you can use points to buy gift cards. Most of the time it's the normal $0.01 per point unless there is a deal on specific gift cards. I was curious if I used the portal with a CSR to buy a gift card would the 50% discount apply?

I went through the steps to make a dummy gift card purchase thru the CSP portal, and there is no extra discount i.e. no 25% for having a CSP. So I would conclude that the CSR does not give you an extra 50% for gift cards, and remains at 50% only for Chase travel portal purchases.

 

[disneylover81]

DD’s is in the mail! Her appointment was March 21 I believe and it was received March 24. So almost 12 weeks from when it was received until when it was processed. Mine was received almost 10 weeks ago. I’m thinking I have two weeks to go. But most people’s seem to be moving faster than ours.

DH & I apps were received March 30th. They are both still in process at 11 weeks. We were quoted up to 13 weeks. We just need them by mid July for our cruise.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I received this too. I vaguely remember being unable to activate it at some point, but just assumed it was because I had previously done so - easy to lose track. But happy to take another 20k MRs if Amex wants to throw them my way.

I did call to activate. Agent wasn't familiar but activated POT and then credited 20k points. I see my June 2023 rewards activity now includes those 20k points, though I don't see them in my rewards summary just yet.

It was a 20min call bc the agent could see the email but she didn't have instructions on her end on how to activate the offer and had to check with her supervisor to ensure she did it correctly. But yay for 20k!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Expedited DS's passport. It's been 8 weeks since it was received and is now showing the status of "shipped." So I think those estimates of 7-9 weeks for expedited are accurate. It'll be about 9 weeks total from appointment to receipt.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

On the Chase portal you can use points to buy gift cards. Most of the time it's the normal $0.01 per point unless there is a deal on specific gift cards. I was curious if I used the portal with a CSR to buy a gift card would the 50% discount apply?

I went through the steps to make a dummy gift card purchase thru the CSP portal, and there is no extra discount i.e. no 25% for having a CSP. So I would conclude that the CSR does not give you an extra 50% for gift cards, and remains at 50% only for Chase travel portal purchases.

Can confirm. No extra discount, just the usual 1cpp.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Don't forget to use up those Dell credits before the end of the month!

Also, the Virgin Atlantic 30% transfer bonus from Amex ends today.

 

[djmeredith]

Quick question about JFK T4. I will be landing there at 12:15pm and want to take a flight with Delta that leaves from T4 at 1:59. I will be traveling with carry-on only and have GE / TSA pre-check. Is this timeframe feasible?

Personally, that is too close for me. I landed in T4 on Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend. Our plane was 1 hour late and we were the last (or one of the last) international arrival that night. We were seated in the front row of premium comfort on KLM, so we were the first to exit after biz class. It took us 45 minutes from landing to when I ordered the Uber. I had GE and my nephew didn't. He exited about 1 minute after me. Bags took about 20 minutes. That was with no other flights in front of us in the passport lines. At noon, there is probably going to be more flights arriving. There were 4 or 5 GE terminals. My GE didn't work for some reason and it told me to "see an agent." It did that to several of us. Luckily, the agent just waved me on through. They also were not checking anyone's bags in the customs area (probably because it was so late). So, you might be able to make that connection if you are close the front of the plane and everything goes perfectly smoothly.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Personally, that is too close for me. I landed in T4 on Sunday night of Memorial Day weekend. Our plane was 1 hour late and we were the last (or one of the last) international arrival that night. We were seated in the front row of premium comfort on KLM, so we were the first to exit after biz class. It took us 45 minutes from landing to when I ordered the Uber. I had GE and my nephew didn't. He exited about 1 minute after me. Bags took about 20 minutes. That was with no other flights in front of us in the passport lines. At noon, there is probably going to be more flights arriving. There were 4 or 5 GE terminals. My GE didn't work for some reason and it told me to "see an agent." It did that to several of us. Luckily, the agent just waved me on through. They also were not checking anyone's bags in the customs area (probably because it was so late). So, you might be able to make that connection if you are close the front of the plane and everything goes perfectly smoothly.

Thank you! I booked a fully refundable flight and will only have my carry-on with me. I'm going to book a back-up flight out of LGA just in case. I have been monitoring the landing times for Singapore Air and they seem to be arriving approx. 30 mins ahead of schedule, so that is a plus. I should be one of the first off -- it's my long-awaited first class flight with Singapore Air (not on the A380, it's the 777, which is fine with me!).

 

[WaltsMartini]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a travel insurance outside of a credit card?

I really like tripinsurance.com, lets you input your trip info and then compare different policies.

I started getting “cancel for any reason” insurance during COVID, and I liked the policies and peace of mind so much I continue to buy insurance through this site.

You do need to read the fine print - but I assume folks in this group don’t mind some fine print reading

 

[AmyAnne]

Don't forget to use up those Dell credits before the end of the month!

Thanks for the reminder.

Does anyone know if Dell will sell the new Final Fantasy PS5 game? They sell a few PS5 games but I can't tell if there's any logic to which ones.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a travel insurance outside of a credit card?

I always books on my CSP for the travel insurance, but I had to change an upcoming award booking that had to be done by phone. I had the customer service rep pay for the $5.60 fees with the “card on file,” not realizing it was my AA card that offers nothing in the way of insurance.

Now I’m paranoid we will be delayed/cancelled since our midday return flight home is only half full. I am thinking the best thing to do is to add on trip insurance that offers delay/cancellation benefits. However, I was burnt in my younger years by a travel insurance company, so I’m apprehensive.

Do any of you experienced travelers have any recommendations?

I’ve used Insure My Trip for my last couple trips. Never actually used the insurance but I found their platform easy to navigate and the prices to be the same as they were from the various companies direct. Don’t forget to actually read the contracts, not just the prelim rundown they give you.

 

[becauseimnew]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a travel insurance outside of a credit card?

I always books on my CSP for the travel insurance, but I had to change an upcoming award booking that had to be done by phone. I had the customer service rep pay for the $5.60 fees with the “card on file,” not realizing it was my AA card that offers nothing in the way of insurance.

Now I’m paranoid we will be delayed/cancelled since our midday return flight home is only half full. I am thinking the best thing to do is to add on trip insurance that offers delay/cancellation benefits. However, I was burnt in my younger years by a travel insurance company, so I’m apprehensive.

Do any of you experienced travelers have any recommendations?

If you have access to USAA they have a partner that has great pricing. Of course I haven't filed a claim so I can't really say if it is a good or bad option.