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

[miztressuz]

What’s the easiest way to keep accounts with Marriott and United? I have points that will expire in a few months so don’t want to lose them.

Also DH has platinum status with Marriott now. How does the 5 night suite work? Is it 5 upgraded nights or 5 free suite nights? Also is it good till the end of 2019 or till the end of 2020 to use it? Thanks for the help

Oh, for the SNA, if he earned Plat this year then they'll be good until end of 2020

Yes, Suite Night Awards expire on December 31 of the year following the year in which you earned them. For example, if you achieve Platinum Elite Status with 50 Qualifying Nights on October 1, 2019, and select the Suite Night Awards as your Annual Choice Benefit, you’ll be able to use them through December 31, 2020.

(From Marriott FAQ )

To keep Marriott points alive you have to earn or redeem them. Any redemption options work for you? Or can buy tours/activities through their portal to earn some points.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Yeah we won’t be going back to Busch gardens. We only stayed for 4 hours and were ready to go. Many things had over an hour wait. We paid $45 for a qs lunch only to be attacked by birds the entire time because the two tables around us decided to feed them. We’re heading to Orlando right now and going to seaworld tomorrow. I sure hope that goes better than today did. I know we get the quick que from the hotel we booked so that should help.

My BFF and I had a great time at Seaworld a couple years ago. Granted it was off-season but the roller coaster + boat ride (Atlantis themed) was quite fun and the Manta Ray roller coaster was awesome. Fingers crossed you guys have a great time!

 

[hsmamato2]

So I’m pretty sure AMEX has caught on and is not giving points for gc purchases. Made some staples mcgc purchases, giftcard.com and mygiftcard plus on my Hilton biz and my ticker barely moved. damn you AMEX!!
@speedyfishy have you noticed??

I still don't know what a ticker is to check

 

[amalone1013]

TSA precheck question. They're having a pop up near us Aug 5 to 9 and I'd like to send ILs... do we fill out the form online and pay that way, then they go for an appt at the pop up place? Or can you do everything at the pop up place? They dont have cards that will cover the fee but we do. The pop up would be much preferable to the airport

ETA. Can j make appts before they fill out the application? It seems like I can...

 

[gottalovepluto]

What’s the easiest way to keep accounts with Marriott and United? I have points that will expire in a few months so don’t want to lose them.

A couple years back I purchased like 1000 Marriott points for like $10-12(?) to keep my points alive. It was my cheapest option to keep them alive as shopping portal points didn’t count towards that. Double check the terms to make sure that will still work.

ETA: found the terms & idk if this will still work or not. Stupid Bonvoy. The terms do say converting to miles will work to keep the account active.

 

[elgerber]

Little birthday fun today. Went to Portillo's for lunch to get my free birthday choc cake (yum!!!). The manager just pushed a button and didn't take the code. So while were eating I placed a to go order just for the cake from the app, and the code was still in there, so I got two free pieces of cake. Then stopped at Nothing Bundt Cakes for my free cake there. My freezer is a very happy place right now

 

[Alexle2007]

Yeah we won’t be going back to Busch gardens. We only stayed for 4 hours and were ready to go. Many things had over an hour wait. We paid $45 for a qs lunch only to be attacked by birds the entire time because the two tables around us decided to feed them. We’re heading to Orlando right now and going to seaworld tomorrow. I sure hope that goes better than today did. I know we get the quick que from the hotel we booked so that should help.

Remember the quick queue card from the hotel is for a single use. Although on some of the rides, they did even check our card so we could use them. And it was super nice to have them since they are “free.”

 

[Haley R]

My BFF and I had a great time at Seaworld a couple years ago. Granted it was off-season but the roller coaster + boat ride (Atlantis themed) was quite fun and the Manta Ray roller coaster was awesome. Fingers crossed you guys have a great time!

We went to seaworld a couple years ago too and I think it was in late February. We rode mako 10 times in a row without getting off. I’m not expecting that to happen again though lol

 

[kmc8826]

TSA precheck question. They're having a pop up near us Aug 5 to 9 and I'd like to send ILs... do we fill out the form online and pay that way, then they go for an appt at the pop up place? Or can you do everything at the pop up place? They dont have cards that will cover the fee but we do. The pop up would be much preferable to the airport

ETA. Can j make appts before they fill out the application? It seems like I can...

I just paid for my friend for precheck last week. She made the appointment but we both had to be there so I could pay for it. The agent was a bit of a pod person but had no problem having her do it but I pay for it although she did want photo id with the card. I used my Biz Plat. Once the year is up I will most definitely be cancelling it so it saved her some money and it helped me since I was wringing a little more value from Amex. So win win!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

TSA precheck question. They're having a pop up near us Aug 5 to 9 and I'd like to send ILs... do we fill out the form online and pay that way, then they go for an appt at the pop up place? Or can you do everything at the pop up place? They dont have cards that will cover the fee but we do. The pop up would be much preferable to the airport

ETA. Can j make appts before they fill out the application? It seems like I can...

When they had it by us..we made the appointment online...but had to pay at the appointment....they didn’t give the option to pay in advance

 

[Haley R]

Remember the quick queue card from the hotel is for a single use. Although on some of the rides, they did even check our card so we could use them. And it was super nice to have them since they are “free.”

I don’t mind it being single use as long as I’m not waiting an hour for every ride.

 

[amcc]

We are about to embark on our Germany trip so wanted to give our experience on how the points helped for a large family (6)
$4500 flights - paid with 300k UR. We had older CSR that had received all our spend (used the 100k SUB a couple of years ago for France flights) plus both DH and I opened CIP. Economy all the way.
Rental minivan for 8 days - $6xx, paid 43k UR with the CSR.
Breakfast with the PP at an airport restaurant - used every penny of the $180 in credit we had between the 2 of us. Mimosas at 7am? Sure!
We got GE for 5 of us with an AmEx Plat, 2 AmEx Fold AU, 2 CSR and paid for one.
The rest of the trip I’m paying with the proceeds of my eBay side gig - which is the business supporting my business card apps.
So thanks to everyone here, we are able to take a great family trip!

 

[amcc]

Wait, I can’t edit - 2 of us didn’t spend $180 - 6 of us did! But on 2 PP cards.

 

[afan]

I get white hair not grey hair. Though they started as really dark brown/black when I was in college. Different texture and I have dark blonde natural hair so I knew it was weird. Can't remember when they changed to white and they aren't really noticeable but I still pluck them sometimes because they are too short to cooperate. Getting my hair colored next weekend so those already here will get a chance to grow longer at least.

So jealous. Why sb doesn’t offer it to DH or I makes no sense.

I read on the sb thread that not all states allow the purchase of them for some reason so that's probably why. I think it's only 3 or 5.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

We are about to embark on our Germany trip so wanted to give our experience on how the points helped for a large family (6)
$4500 flights - paid with 300k UR. We had older CSR that had received all our spend (used the 100k SUB a couple of years ago for France flights) plus both DH and I opened CIP. Economy all the way.
Rental minivan for 8 days - $6xx, paid 43k UR with the CSR.
Breakfast with the PP at an airport restaurant - used every penny of the $180 in credit we had between the 2 of us. Mimosas at 7am? Sure!
We got GE for 5 of us with an AmEx Plat, 2 AmEx Fold AU, 2 CSR and paid for one.
The rest of the trip I’m paying with the proceeds of my eBay side gig - which is the business supporting my business card apps.
So thanks to everyone here, we are able to take a great family trip!

Wow, awesome way to save on a great trip for your family I hope you have a fabulous time!

 

[Alexle2007]

Bonus my SWA vouchers arrived Friday and just had the time to check flights for Dec. cancelled my flights I booked Thursday and booked new ones using the vouchers out of DCA instead of BWI. anyone ever use way dot com to book their parking for DCA? looks like I can get parking for $8 a day which puts it at the same cost as BWI. Didn't do DCA to start with bc of parking. Got 5 flights to MCO for $156 out of pocket and 5710 points.

Did you already have to park at DCA? I am flying out of there early Wed morning and am at a total loss for the parking. And given that I am going to have get up at 2 am to get the airport, parking is the last thing I want to worry about. Onsite economy is $68 and Terminal A parking is $100 for 4 days.

 

[Albort]

I'm not 100% sure about this, but Chase's rules state "You can move your points, but only to another Chase card with Ultimate Rewards belonging to you, or one member of your household or owner of the company, as applicable."

Mom can move points from her CIC employee card > DH's CIC (owner of the company) > You (member of DH's household), but I'm not sure if Mom can move points from her CSP to her CIC employee card (because it's not "her" account) > DH's CIC > You.

I don't think you can do it the other way around to transfer points to her CSP.

to add to @Lain
I asked this question once in another group. I figured out a hyatt globalist scheme that involves AU. ppl say that chase really see this as if you are selling your UR points and can possibly shut you down for it. If you were to continue to do this, add her, leave her as AU, don’t add anyone else so it doesn’t look like ur selling URs...

I’d avoid it unless absolutely necessary.

 

[havaneselover]

Did you already have to park at DCA? I am flying out of there early Wed morning and am at a total loss for the parking. And given that I am going to have get up at 2 am to get the airport, parking is the last thing I want to worry about. Onsite economy is $68 and Terminal A parking is $100 for 4 days.

I’m not sure if they’re still doing construction but it was a mess in April and I was relieved to have been at holiday inn. Looked way less stressful/more convenient than navigating dca parking imo.

 

[amalone1013]

I just paid for my friend for precheck last week. She made the appointment but we both had to be there so I could pay for it. The agent was a bit of a pod person but had no problem having her do it but I pay for it although she did want photo id with the card. I used my Biz Plat. Once the year is up I will most definitely be cancelling it so it saved her some money and it helped me since I was wringing a little more value from Amex. So win win!

When they had it by us..we made the appointment online...but had to pay at the appointment....they didn’t give the option to pay in advance

Thanks both! If I can get the right appointment times we could go with to pay. just to understand, so you just go with the necessary documents to your appointment and they do it all in one go?

 

[Alexle2007]

I’m not sure if they’re still doing construction but it was a mess in April and I was relieved to have been at holiday inn. Looked way less stressful/more convenient than navigating dca parking imo.

Thanks! I was looking at the Westin Crystal City. It says it is a 5 min shuttle ride.