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

I’m going to WDW in May and need to get some gift cards on my new CIC. Going to send DH to Staples since the card is in his name. He will probably not want anything to do with it, so the fewer amount of trips the better.
How much $$ in Disney gift cards will Staples allow? I’m hoping to get around $1000. Can he just get it all at once?
 
Question on Chase Ink cards that earn 5x at office supply stores. For those that use this to purchase gift cards, are you physically going into the store or is there an online option? I couldn’t find the ability to purchase online at Office Depot or Staples. If you are going in person, what is the most you suggest purchasing at once?

I will order from BJs $3000 or so at a time with no problem but it’s all online. Need to replenish for summer vacation plans to WDW and DCL.

Appreciate the input.

I have never been able to find them online. Good to know they are available online at BJs.

I know that many will buy gift cards at Target. If you have a Chase Freedom with quarterly categories you get 5% back this quarter at Target. It’s maxed out at $1,500. That’s through the end of March. I don’t have a red card, but I know some buy gift cards with 5% back that way.
 
Question on Chase Ink cards that earn 5x at office supply stores. For those that use this to purchase gift cards, are you physically going into the store or is there an online option? I couldn’t find the ability to purchase online at Office Depot or Staples. If you are going in person, what is the most you suggest purchasing at once?

I will order from BJs $3000 or so at a time with no problem but it’s all online. Need to replenish for summer vacation plans to WDW and DCL.

Appreciate the input.
I buy in store and the staples near me only allows $2,000 in gift cards purchases at a time…they said it’s company policy but YMMV
 
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Question on Chase Ink cards that earn 5x at office supply stores. For those that use this to purchase gift cards, are you physically going into the store or is there an online option? I couldn’t find the ability to purchase online at Office Depot or Staples. If you are going in person, what is the most you suggest purchasing at once?

I will order from BJs $3000 or so at a time with no problem but it’s all online. Need to replenish for summer vacation plans to WDW and DCL.

Appreciate the input.

I've been buying in store, but the VGC when they're fee free. So, that's up to $1600 a day for the week. Then taking those to BJs allows me to buy Disney there at a greater discount.

I'm not going so far as to buy VGC and trying to liquidate to cash. Only buying if I have a way to spend. But, I have enough spend that will take the VGC that it's worth it to stock up when they have an offer.
 
Question on Chase Ink cards that earn 5x at office supply stores. For those that use this to purchase gift cards, are you physically going into the store or is there an online option? I couldn’t find the ability to purchase online at Office Depot or Staples. If you are going in person, what is the most you suggest purchasing at once?

I will order from BJs $3000 or so at a time with no problem but it’s all online. Need to replenish for summer vacation plans to WDW and DCL.

Appreciate the input.
I have regularly bought Lowes and Airbnb gift cards online at Staples. Never any issues, and always earns 5% even if it's the only thing I purchased. Sometimes I'll bundle it with kcups to order, but most often not.
 
So this morning I called Avios and got a lovely lad who was happy to tell me the points are already back in my Avios account! I laughed and said, well let me check while you're on the phone please! And there were my shiny 200k avios! WOOOOO! So now all I have to do is watch to make sure everything credits back to me.

And now I stalk the booking to see when March 2024 opens and book that immediately!

And with that taken care of...and my Delta spend hit, I guess I need to look at my next card. I'm torn between seeing if I can get another Ink. I have 2 CICs, 1 CIU and a CIP. Do you think it's worth trying for another CIU? Will they approve one? I would close the CIP, but I just PC'd to the CIP in August, so not sure if I'm "allowed" to close that w/o chase being upset. WWYD? The other thing is, I want the Barclay Wyndham Biz and I know they are picky about card openings. Is it better to get that card first? I know the 90k is ending soon, w/ the inks. UGH!

Glad it sorta worked out. Maybe you can go for longer next year.

Not that it helps, but at least everyone gets the same bad service.

Oh I know that lots of people have issues w/ Aer Lingus. The whole damn Avios system is messed up though. Like don't punish us for using a "3rd party" to book when it's YOUR 3rd party!
 


And with that taken care of...and my Delta spend hit, I guess I need to look at my next card. I'm torn between seeing if I can get another Ink. I have 2 CICs, 1 CIU and a CIP. Do you think it's worth trying for another CIU? Will they approve one? I would close the CIP, but I just PC'd to the CIP in August, so not sure if I'm "allowed" to close that w/o chase being upset. WWYD? The other thing is, I want the Barclay Wyndham Biz and I know they are picky about card openings. Is it better to get that card first? I know the 90k is ending soon, w/ the inks. UGH!
I believe the 90k UR offer has ended, but it's rumored to be starting up again at the end of this month. Maybe do the Barclay Wyndham Biz now, then try for the CIU at the end of the month? I'm waiting for the increased offer at the end of the month (my last application was the end of December and I wanted to wait 90 days before trying again since my last 2 Inks were ~6 weeks apart).
 
I’m going to WDW in May and need to get some gift cards on my new CIC. Going to send DH to Staples since the card is in his name. He will probably not want anything to do with it, so the fewer amount of trips the better.
How much $$ in Disney gift cards will Staples allow? I’m hoping to get around $1000. Can he just get it all at once?
If you have an iPhone, you can easily add DH’s card to your Apple wallet and use it that way. That’s how i meet the spend on DH’s cards. Staples doesn’t check ID with GC purchases, but sometimes OD/OM does (i don’t really get this though because there is no name on the cards in my Apple wallet so when they ask for ID, i show them my own ID, but they don’t know that the card in my apple wallet doesn’t have my name on it 🤷‍♀️). If the card is brand new, i would only spend 200-600 in your first few purchases so it doesn’t get flagged as potential fraud for a large purchase right off the bat. After you’ve had the card for a month or two with some history, i think it’s fine to spend in 1000+ single purchases.
 
I believe the 90k UR offer has ended, but it's rumored to be starting up again at the end of this month. Maybe do the Barclay Wyndham Biz now, then try for the CIU at the end of the month? I'm waiting for the increased offer at the end of the month (my last application was the end of December and I wanted to wait 90 days before trying again since my last 2 Inks were ~6 weeks apart).
The 90k is showing on the Chase website. I think the 90k via referral links is done. But I don't have a P2.

But can I have 2 CIUs and 2 CICs? LOL
 
And I just got confirmation, I get to keep my diamond status till 2024 :) I had to call the diamond desk yesterday. For some reason my mexico stay wasn't registered correctly. It showed a negative stay. She added points for my stay (7k). I don't think she adjusted for pesos, LOL. But that fix + my "stay" in Dublin got me the 3 stays to keep diamond. So I guess I have another year to hope Amex offers me an upgrade on the surpass or honors card between now and next March, LOL.
 
If you have an iPhone, you can easily add DH’s card to your Apple wallet and use it that way. That’s how i meet the spend on DH’s cards. Staples doesn’t check ID with GC purchases, but sometimes OD/OM does (i don’t really get this though because there is no name on the cards in my Apple wallet so when they ask for ID, i show them my own ID, but they don’t know that the card in my apple wallet doesn’t have my name on it 🤷‍♀️). If the card is brand new, i would only spend 200-600 in your first few purchases so it doesn’t get flagged as potential fraud for a large purchase right off the bat. After you’ve had the card for a month or two with some history, i think it’s fine to spend in 1000+ single purchases.
My Staples checks for ID about 50% of the time and my OD/OM always does. So while I think adding the card to apple wallet to "assist" with making the spend is a good one, you might get asked for ID depending on your local manager. I do agree that if they do ask, they can't tell who's card is in your apple wallet. I buy at Staples so often I even know which cashiers ask and which ones don't.
 
And I just got confirmation, I get to keep my diamond status till 2024 :) I had to call the diamond desk yesterday. For some reason my mexico stay wasn't registered correctly. It showed a negative stay. She added points for my stay (7k). I don't think she adjusted for pesos, LOL. But that fix + my "stay" in Dublin got me the 3 stays to keep diamond. So I guess I have another year to hope Amex offers me an upgrade on the surpass or honors card between now and next March, LOL.
ASFAIK you can, yes. I think there are people here with more....
 
Well I'm posting this from my couch in Michigan. The saga.....

My mom and I decided last night to move forward with cancelling. I had spent the day messaging w/ Aer Lingus on FB. I was told I'd be able to cancel up until 2 hours before the flight. Last night I called Aer Lingus to cancel....and was told since it was an Avios booking I needed to call them. So I did, at 5:30pm. I sat on hold for over an hour when I was given the message that the call center was closed and I would have to call in the morning. Now while Aer Lingus says you can cancel w/in 2 hours, Avios says it has to be 24 hours prior. I started trying to cancel 28 hours prior! Once the call center was closed, I sent an email to Avios stating I was trying to cancel. I then called Aer Lingus and made them note that I was trying to cancel well in advance of the 24 hours. I tried messaging Avios on FB and twitter. I got up at 3am to start calling them today. Finally at 9am I got through. But we needed to leave for the airport if we were going to catch the JB flight. After being on hold for an hour I finally got through only to get disconnected. After getting through TSA I called them back. At this point I was worried someone might cancel our flight when they saw my email.

The plane was running slightly behind but it was on it's way. So when I finally got through, I confirmed our flight was still there and then confirmed and checked in. We ventured down to the lounge as we had 40 min before the flight was scheduled to land. Well I guess JB turns a plane faster than anyone known to man. Flightaware said they got to the gate at 11:07. At 11:24 they were announcing our names and stating they would be closing the doors. We RACED on. After the door had closed the pilot said they were going to open the door back up to add on a little more fuel with the weather in BOS. Well apparently the door wouldn't open. We waited 1.5 hours for maintenance to come out. THey couldn't get it open. They decided to deplane us from the right side of the plane, down stairs and then back up to the jetbridge stairs. At that point i knew we were screwed. DTW isn't a base, this was going to be a cancelled flight.

So I called Avios and asked them to cancel my flight. They said they could, but I would be out the 200k Avios. They said since it was under 24 hours. I pointed out that I sent the email AND my account was flagged as well showing that I tried to cancel well before the 24 hours. She said she couldn't refund the points, just the taxes. She said I had until 5pm. So we decided to wait and see....about 10 min later JB cancelled the flight. I called back and got my taxes refunded minus $55/per person. The crappy thing is, my mom has been on hold for over 45 min to cancel hers and they HUNG UP! I've now been on hold 35 min for her....we literally have 2 minutes left before she losses the taxes on her flight and the miles.

At this point we truly feel something is stopping us from this trip! Some force does not want us to go. From the fiasco booking originally to everything leading up, to just how today panned out. We were NOT meant to go to Ireland. I've cried a lot the last 24 hours. And slept very little. SIgh.
:sad1: That whole ordeal sounds just so awful! [insert Monsters Inc Sulley hug gif here]
 
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Yes, It was only 60K and $5.60 each for EWR-BOS-LHR. BOS was one of the repositioning cities I considered and I definitely saw some comparable pts deals from BOS. Just keep checking daily on multiple airlines.

I've done this a few times on United - definitely see more availability BOS-EWR-LHR than I do direct from BOS. Did manage to snag the direct once. Doesn't bother me to go via EWR - the Polaris lounge isn't a bad place to kill some time.
 

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