I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[SouthFayetteFan]

@Haley R - you wanted to see the ridiculous stuff...here it is:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/c80n1i

 

[afan]

@Haley R - you wanted to see the ridiculous stuff...here it is:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/c80n1i

I've been trying to get Dude to get a job to buy his own stuff for years. If only I'd knkw how instagram would take off I'd have had him on their daily. He's almost 13, maybe he can babysit

 

[wanderlust7]

See if you're targeted for the 20% off Amazon with the Amex Pay With Points deal!

@PolyRob There's also a $30 off $60 one.

 

[Lain]

@Haley R - you wanted to see the ridiculous stuff...here it is:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/c80n1i

I sure hope he's a good boi and at least contributing to the hobby by getting his human some AA mailers.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Alrighty, here is our excitement for the trip:

Spoiler: Because it's very long

I dont think I mentioned here that BIL, the one in Cali, went to the ER twice the weekend before the trip. So 6/14 to 6/16. Fri night he said numbness tingling and burning in his hands and feet, MIL told him he needed to go in right away so he did after a bit. He had gone in to urgent care a day or two before and been diagnosed with pneumonia. BIL had shingles last winter and has had a cough since then, but does not take care of himself so didnt go in. Then his wife had gallbladder issues (a whole other story) so he didnt go until that was taken care of.

So this ER trip they sent him home the next morning, not sure what was wrong but said he didnt have pneumonia. Then he went back on Sunday afternoon because he was having trouble breathing. They said his throat was swollen and thought it was a reaction to the medicine.

Meanwhile I am ready to fly ILs out to Ontario which is the closest airport for 12k United points, told them not to worry but they waited. After Sunday they switched meds or took him off or something and he was supposed to go back on 6/28 for a follow up and do allergen tests. BIL is all I'm fine now, still going to try and meet you guys for Kennedy.

Now, I could write a book on his wife. I tell DH I dont have to claim her as SIL because his brother married her But sticking to my personal observations and impressions. She is a high maintenance, attention seeking type. There is always some drama going on. Anytime BIL leaves or is about to there is a crisis. I also feel like she is the type who feels she needs to compete with and replace BILs family in his life, if that makes sense. I believe you can't necessarily let family get in between your relationship with your spouse and make all your decisions and cause issues, you need to put your spouse and kids first, but they dont need to be cut out unless there are certain situations. My dad is an Alien Swirling Saucers-hole but DH did not try to get rid of him, he left that to me and I had to figure out everything for myself which was good. My ILs are not crazy overbearing people. She had to have her gallbladder removed recently. Outpatient procedure. She kept putting it off with the excuse of needing to check out the surgeons, but also going to the ER every 3 days for the pain. Bad enough the ER dr was finally like, we are doing this tonight and being done with it. Then he got called away and said we will do it in the morning and you are staying overnight because we dont trust you not to go home and eat and sabotage this. So theres a teeny look at SIL.


So we bought insurance for this trip, right? Mainly thinking of grandparents but BIL is all no, I'm doing better, it's fine. Ok, so we give everyone including SIL the ship phone number and two email addresses. DCL gives you 50mb of free data, so the plan was to try and check email a couple times a day. Everyone was supposed to email BOTH emails because we didn't know which would get checked first. One was mine and one was FILs, chosen because we get the least emails to save data. But then MIL got worried about accidentally turning the phone on when we were leaving on tbr cruise Sunday so we didnt set hers up to check FILs email. It's fine, we'll just check mine!


Soooo can anyone see where this is going?


BIL goes back into the hospital on Monday morning. He sends an email like hey I'm going back to the hospital. To ONLY FILs email. Dropped ball number one. So we dont know. Other BIL back in CO doesnt know either, just his brother is no longer answering so he texts SIL who says hes back in the hospital but fine. Dropped ball numbers two to... five? BIL doesn't tell BIL, SIL doesnt tell him or us, BIL in CO sends an email about it... to ONLY FILs email. Arghhhh.

So then we figure out we can call and text over wifi! This never crossed my mind or came up online anywhere. Seriously next time I will just budget a data package and then tell people we can respond to texts but only occasionally. So DH sends BIL a text like how are you feeling and he responds, when can I call. Ok, this is not a good sign. So we try wifi calling and get ahold of him on speaker with everyone there.

One more small interjection, BIL mentioned on the call that he was going to call the ship that night if he hadn't heard from us... which is about $8 a minute plus fees. He sent ONE email that he was going, sent nothing else, SIL sent nothing else, before he was going to place a $300 phone call. Seriously next time data package, no one is getting the ship number.

On to seriousness. BIL seems to have contracted one of those one in a million chance auto immune diseases where after clearing a normal infection his antibodies for whatever reason started to attack his nerves. They are doing treatments but wont know what kind of recovery he could be looking at until they can do rehab or more tests. His regular dr is back today so they are supposed to find out more today. When we spoke to him on the ship he said he was too weak to get up himself. He couldn't eat solids because that was what was wrong with his throat, more paralysis/no control not swelling. It was hard for him to talk.

GUYS THIS WAS AT THE TIME SIL WAS TELLING OTHER BIL HE WAS FINE THEY WERE JUST RUNNING TESTS. WHATTTTTTT THIS IS NOT FINE IN MY BOOKKKKKKK

So BIL probably couldn't reach out more, but how could she not? What in the actual bad word????

And they knew that weekend he was going back in. We could have cancelled everything at that point and sent ILs out there. Had we found out Monday we could have jumped ship in Nassau on Tuesday and gotten half the money back and everything else. I dont want to sound like all that matters is the money it's more that everyone would have been happier being there sooner. And frustrated that BIL was not honest with us about what was going on because he didnt want to ruin the trip.... Instead everyone stressed and fretted and didnt really enjoy the last 1.5 days of the cruise. Other BIL booked flights out there and hotel for ILs and and flight home for aunt on Fri. So now on my to do list for the day is to reach out to insurance because I think the policy should cover those flights.

So that's how we ended up back at Disney over the weekend. We dropped everyone off at the airport and booked a room at the Dolphin. I had a thought of cashing out some Discover cb for Hotels.com GCs and booking through there, but their GC tool is still down online and would have had to call in the car and no notepad handy.... just said screw it and booked the AAA rate and used my $40 Amex offer. Just glad we have a cash cushion so it didnt really matter. I was able to refund the KSC tickets through Expedia. I cancelled the rooms in Canaveral for Fri night which were booked with certs and cancellation said we'd get them back. I havent seen them in the accounts yet but kinda figured I would have to contact Marriott because that's what happened last time too. Kept the original car rental and just paid for a second night of parking at Swolphin since we took back half of ILs things that they wouldnt need and left some bags in the car. Lost the AA points for the second Dolphin room but all I cared about was not getting charged the resort fee on it...

ILs hotel room is through Thursday currently. Early stages but will probably look at getting them SW CP to help with travel expenses and help them make the spend. Maybe something for hotels too. have a feeling there will be lots of back and forth. One set of grandparents knows what is going on becuase of aunt, but DH and I are off to try and tell other grandma tonight (along with his dad on the phone) which worries me, I think it will be hard on her

I’m so sorry your BIL is going thru this. Your SIL is a piece of work, hope she can support him thru this. Is it Guillain Barre? If he can’t eat, I assume he has a (temporary) feeding tube. Encourage him to have a gastric tube (Gtube or PEG) places unless he shows rapid improvement and can swallow in a few days. Nutrition is a huge factor in how someone recovers. (Says the dietitian) Even though they will tell him the feeding is “permanent” it can be removed once the person is eating enough and has recovered. PM me is you have questions. Hugs to your family.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Can anyone pull up a Hyatt hotel in Orlando that isn't a Hyatt Regency on the Chase UR portal? I keep going in to check prices on our Hyatt Place booking later this year and the hotel isn't showing. I thought it was one of those searching quirks on the portal but I tried a variety of different things and I cannot make a Hyatt show in Orlando that isn't a Regency no matter what I do. Hyatt Place and House in Anaheim are still available so they haven't been pulled across the board. Availability is wide open on Expedia. I don't feel like calling just to price check something I've already booked (thank goodness I did, we quite prefer the low end Hyatt hotels so I would have been pissed to have had this happen if we weren't booked yet).

I only see Hyatt Regency on the UR portal. However if you create a Hyatt account the UR transfer almost instantly and there are 4 Hyatt Place and 1 Hyatt house on the Orlando area from 8,000-12,000 points.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Did you get a letter letting you know when the af is due? It'll tell you how long ypu have to make changes. I think 45 days but I can't remember if it's from.the letter or af posting.

Oh that’s interesting. I haven’t gotten anything yet, but I just checked YNAB and it looks like I was approved one year ago today.

I will think about that every single time I go to BOG.


I have a custom PopSocket from them & I love it.

Mine is the white glitter Minnie with pink glitter bow:

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

I was going to use it only for Disney trips, but it's so cute that I never removed it. Highly recommend them if you're into that kind of thing!

My BIL just got one from there!!

 

[PolyRob]

See if you're targeted for the 20% off Amazon with the Amex Pay With Points deal!

@PolyRob There's also a $30 off $60 one.

Thank you both, but sadly I am not eligible for either:

20% off:


$30 off $60:


I do see that my 3,889 points are worth $27.22 on Amazon. What a sad redemption! $0.007 per point? lol

 

[Tikitoi]

Our family loves the Wave. We go every trip, great filet mignon! I read that they may close and change it to a steakhouse with characters. I hope it stays the way it is!

Concourse Steakhouse coming back...I would love that.

 

[snugglebug]

The majority of the Aspire MSR is from a refundable hotel (since I wasn't sure if I'd actually get the SUB and didn't want to "waste" spend). Then I put a smaller charge that actually met MSR. Plan to remeet spend before I cancel the hotel.

That seems like a good idea to test if the bonus is attached. This could work for ... too I'd assume. Book something refundable, see if the bonus posts, then meet the spend and cancel the booking. Hmmm.

 

[Andysol]

Looks like I am taking a quick girls trip to Boston. Any Marriott or Hilton recommendations for a hotel with a free HH use my Platinum or Diamond status or must dos for 2 ladies? Best place for lobster?

I’m in Boston this week for the 4th (just landed). Which Hilton you at? I’ll be at Hilton Back Bay and let you know what I think.

 

[Lain]

Thank you both, but sadly I am not eligible for either:

20% off:
View attachment 413507

$30 off $60:
View attachment 413508

I do see that my 3,889 points are worth $27.22 on Amazon. What a sad redemption! $0.007 per point? lol

Did you just add and enroll your Amex MR card in Amazon/Pay With Points? If so, keep checking over the next few days.

 

[wanderlust7]

Thank you both, but sadly I am not eligible for either:

20% off:
View attachment 413507

$30 off $60:
View attachment 413508

I do see that my 3,889 points are worth $27.22 on Amazon. What a sad redemption! $0.007 per point? lol

Did you just link your card that has MRs? Keep checking back. That's what it said on DH's account after I first linked the card.

And just use 1 point (apply $0.01). If your MR card is not the one you want to put spend on, reload or buy Amazon GCs first. The MR card needs to be the one you select for payment, but it'll apply Amazon credits first. You can buy GCs, but not Amazon GC or VGC/MCGC.

ETA: If it's your first Amazon reload, you might see an offer of $7.50 on a reload of $100 or more.

 

[Lain]

Office Depot/Office Max is also running a Visa Gift Card deal when you buy $300+, save $10:

https://frequentmiler.boardingarea.com/office-depot-buy-300-visa-gift-cards-save-10-instantly/
Expires July 6, 2019.

This is not as good as the Staples no fee VGC offer running concurrently, but it's still a cheap way to earn points.

To maximize the OD/OM offer, you'd need to buy two $200 VGCs, which will carry a combined $13.90 fee, saving $10 comes out to $403.90, and paying with a CIC/Ink+ for 5x UR gets you 2,020 URs.

 

[JKalai]

Wow guys...

Finally came back from Japan and flew both ANA Business and First and it was AMAZING (me and SO had to split the F class flight as there was only one available for our dates). They are easily my favorite airline now. The seats felt a bit outdated in both First and Business but the flight attendants I flew with on both flights easily made up for it. Seriously the nicest attendants ever. Not to mention they had Wagyu Beef on the menu from Narita -> LAX! No Hibiki 21 whisky, but they had Johnnie Walker King George V.

At first I assumed me and SO were going to have to go to the Business Lounge when departing LAX (since ANA does not have a lounge in LAX), but we were granted access to the Star Alliance First Class Lounge which was definitely less busy than the Business Class side. The ANA First Class Suite in Narita is also an A+.

Thanks again everyone for the tips on churning over the past couple of years. I know I haven't been posting lately because life has been crazy, but I'm glad this thread is still alive and chugging along!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

3. BoA Premium Rewards- I know how you feel about this one, @SouthFayetteFan lol. I am a longtime BoA customer and do all my banking with them and have my very first CC with them, so I think I could probably get this card easily. Again, GE credit is there. Not sure how useful their points are there so maybe someone can chime in? I have the old Amerideals card with them, so I've only ever used it for cashback.

DH has this card. The biggest downside is having to get to 2500 points to cash out. You can deposit cash directly into BOA account. Same offers as Chase. I used the $100 TC this year for seat upgrades to YVR. I have not booked travel thru them. We did use the GE credit, so will probably cancel next year (AF posted and I forgot about it, so made sure I used the TC)

I had a double pay out last week and I'm waiting for it to be snatched back.

I signed up for Showtime, had 2 offers on Amex. Went on and looked at Showtime offerings and could not find anything at all to watch. Their idea of family movies is not mine. Cancelled the subscription 10 minutes later. Both Amex offers credited. We’ll see if they drop off.

I think there was actually a post on the Budget Board about this not too long ago. My best friend has also had this problem with Capital One. She has her checking account with them and a credit card. She set the CC to pay the day it was due, as many people too, and it came back as a late payment on a couple occasions. I think she finally set it to pay 10 days in advance of the due date to try to avoid that. It was very frustrating for her. I think at one point Capital One even tried to tell her the bank sent her payment late and she was like "YOU are the bank!"

Happened with DHs CIU. Scheduled the payment from Chase checking to CIU on the due date. It posted days later and I was hit with a late fee. I called and yelled at them (after DH said here my wife needs to talk with you lol) and the rep credited the fee but said it takes a “few days” to get there. From Chase to...Chase?

nonaffluent areas of the Bay Area,

There are non affluent areas? Who knew?

I wish I had remembered just to call Disney wholesale from the get-go. We should consider putting their number on DISchurners somewhere. Leroy asked me how I got the number. I told him I had it from a couple years ago when I booked through cc points and had trouble getting our MDX number then. He said consumers aren't really supposed to be using it, and I apologized, and he immediately said it was fine that I did and reiterated that I could call if I needed help again.

I have a screenshot of that number and have given it out many times. When I called it was not Leroy but a very pleasant woman who literally fixed everything in less than a minute. She didn’t say anything about consumers not using the number. She didn’t even need a res number, just dates and last name IIRC.

 

[PolyRob]

Did you just add and enroll your Amex MR card in Amazon/Pay With Points? If so, keep checking over the next few days.

Did you just link your card that has MRs? Keep checking back. That's what it said on DH's account after I first linked the card.

And just use 1 point (apply $0.01). If your MR card is not the one you want to put spend on, reload or buy Amazon GCs first. The MR card needs to be the one you select for payment, but it'll apply Amazon credits first. You can buy GCs, but not Amazon GC or VGC/MCGC.

ETA: If it's your first Amazon reload, you might see an offer of $7.50 on a reload of $100 or more.

I added my Amex back on 6/23 when I placed an order. It looks like it is already enrolled because it shows the points, but the points didn't actually post until after my statement closed while I was on vacation. I logged in when I got back and had a pleasant surprise! I will keep checking to see it is takes some time!

 

[MrPTato]

I’m in Boston this week for the 4th (just landed). Which Hilton you at? I’ll be at Hilton Back Bay and let you know what I think.

Are you going to watch the Boston Pops on the Esplanade and the fireworks?

 

[snugglebug]

This is an interesting idea that might be useful for Citi AA Biz to see if SUB will post.

Great minds think alike lol

I'm slow catching up today, made a big work mistake last night that I'm still cleaning up tonight.

 

[wendow]

I have a screenshot of that number and have given it out many times. When I called it was not Leroy but a very pleasant woman who literally fixed everything in less than a minute. She didn’t say anything about consumers not using the number. She didn’t even need a res number, just dates and last name IIRC.

I don’t think it’s that they don’t want consumers using the number but more of that they aren’t used to consumers using it. He just seemed surprised but super friendly and willing to help