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

[amalone1013]

Experts, how do I switch my reservation to Costco? Do I call them first or Disney?

 

[havaneselover]

Experts, how do I switch my reservation to Costco? Do I call them first or Disney?

Call Costco and have them send you the transfer form.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Need some advice from the expert churners out there.

I checked with the limo company we usually use to get from Vancouver airport to Whistler and they want $492Cdn for the ride (including tip and taxes). I checked the Chase portal and they want 22,300 points. If I convert the cost to US$ it works out to .16. Is this worth it? At least for 1 way? I really don't want to take $1,000.00 out of my pocket for return transportation. Also there is no way for me to tell if the Chase portal price includes gratuities (which would be at least $80.00 if it didn't).

I have approx. 525,000 UR points but was hoarding them for our trip to the Maldives next year and possibly a transfer to Hyatt for a weekend in NYC at some point. I suppose using 22,300 wouldn't kill me.

 

[hsmamato2]

I have such a love/hate relationship with Costco because ours is obscenely crowded. They just sucked me into purchasing a SimpleHuman sensor mirror on sale for $125.

is that the one that lights up when you look at it? they had one at our resort in Maui and it was cool

 

[hsmamato2]

you should be getting one. the value of your points is *insert # of points from self referral *$.0067 = how much its worth.

urggg. So I calculated $134..then- I'm lost does this mean we owe $134? Dh is going to be so thrilled when I show him this

 

[hsmamato2]

Costco is like... the usual places u would go. Unfortunately, they wouldnt sell me any non-premium tires there...

So i just go to America Tires... they treat me a lot better than Costco does.

this is my Dh.... he says they only sell premium type tires at a higher cost- he goes elsewhere(since he's obsessed with the perfect tire for the perfect price lol)

 

[palhockeymomof2]

All the same number. I just tried that but it says 0 point difference, so I guess that must mean there aren't enough tickets at the lower price?

Yes unfortunately that’s what it means....

 

[hsmamato2]

It’s just on the fare. I transferred from obb and it should be on full amount and you get it as long as you are an executive member before the cruise. I upgraded a few weeks before.

oh yeah..... so if you book thru costco you get another 2% back from the booking?(and since I'm still muddled by how you transfer another booking to costco) if you booked cheap elsewhere and switched it over you could potentially get a gc+2% back for transferring?

 

[tink1970]

urggg. So I calculated $134..then- I'm lost does this mean we owe $134? Dh is going to be so thrilled when I show him this

**Disclaimer** I am not a tax professional!! But, my understanding (and anyone who feels more expert feel free to chime in)...is that the $134 is income so it would be taxed at your income rate. So say you received $1000 on the 1099s, and you're in the 25% rate, then it would be another $250 owed. That's my super basic understanding. I was freaking out until DH explained that it's not the raw numbers, they are just considered extra income then the percentage as it applies to you is applied. HTH!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

urggg. So I calculated $134..then- I'm lost does this mean we owe $134? Dh is going to be so thrilled when I show him this

No you don’t owe $134....the $134 is added to you income and you’ll owe based on the tax bracket your in..$134 x that %

 

[1st*toright]

reddit is guessing its for "private letter ruling" to which i have no idea what this means... google says... Private letter rulings(PLRs), in the United States, are written decisions by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in response to taxpayer requests for guidance.

my guess is that too many people started asking questions on how referrals are treated... which made IRS make a decision and forcing the banks to issue 1099s.
if someone knows better, please correct me.

Late to the party, as usual, but I can explain about the PLR, and I agree that its probably what happened. Haven't looked at the statutes, but I'm guessing that the wording of the rules around when you need to issue a 1099 made it seem like you probably need to issue one for sign up bonuses, because there isn't related spend that could be "discounted" to account for the rewards points. So the banks were running a risk that they could be penalized by the IRS for NOT issuing 1099s if 1099s were required. To figure out what they needed to do, the banks may have applied to the IRS for Private Letter Ruling - they have to write up the issue and pay the IRS to consider it, then the IRS comes back and says "based on your fact pattern, here is how the tax law would apply." There are a lot of parts of the internal revenue code that are unclear, and taxpayers (in this case, the banks) can get hammered on audit if they read a statute one way and the IRS disagrees. So they have to address these grey areas by asking the IRS what they should do. In this case, I'm guessing that the statutory language indicated that 1099s should be issued, but the banks really didn't want to anger their customers, so they asked for the PLR to see if they could avoid issuing 1099s (this is based on Chase issuing them last year and then backtracking). The "private" part doesn't mean that its a secret, just that it is a ruling based on a specific set of facts, paid for by a specific taxpayer (or group of taxpayers). Per google (didn't actually check the IRC), the penalty for failing to provide a 1099 is $100 per instance up to $1.5M. So that could mean millions of dollars in penalties if the banks get it wrong.

ETA- Google steered me wrong. Penalties can be as much as $530 per instance if there is "intentional disregard" for the rules involved - with no cap on the penalty.

https://www.irs.gov/government-enti...ts/increase-in-information-return-penalties-2

Got to MCO three hours before our flight. I don’t feel like going to the Club though.

Overall our Disney trip was good. Two problems the guy checking us in at the magical express gave us an attitude regarding the fact that I didn’t make a reservation. I was like you don’t need to make a reservation for arriving flights and when I gave him my bag claim number he rolled his eyes. Then when we get to All Star Movies they said we were in the mighty ducks section. I paid for a preferred room!! The lady is like where does it say you paid for a preferred room? So I had to pull up my email and screen shots and then she goes away for a bit and tries to move us to the Dalmatian section. But at this point I was pissed it was on the far end and we would have been better off at Mighty ducks and just using All Star Music’s bus. So they then moved us to Toy Story. I just got a scammy vibe tho that they were hoping that I wouldn’t notice being in Mighty Ducks wasn’t a preferred room.

After, that tho we had a great time and I had three cast member experiences that were fantastic that I’ll include in my email to Disney lol

Oh, also the parks are still crowded lol

Thank you- I haven't gotten my magical express documents (signed up, but only about 10 days ago). So I can check my bag through and just give them the claim check? Was not looking forward to having to pick up my bag and lug it. I usually am a no checked bags kinda girl, but DH and LO are flying down a couple days later (and later in the evening) so we are packing one big suitcase with all our stuff for me to check so that they can just fly with small backpacks.

 

[havaneselover]

Need some advice from the expert churners out there.

I checked with the limo company we usually use to get from Vancouver airport to Whistler and they want $492Cdn for the ride (including tip and taxes). I checked the Chase portal and they want 22,300 points. If I convert the cost to US$ it works out to .16. Is this worth it? At least for 1 way? I really don't want to take $1,000.00 out of my pocket for return transportation. Also there is no way for me to tell if the Chase portal price includes gratuities (which would be at least $80.00 if it didn't).

I have approx. 525,000 UR points but was hoarding them for our trip to the Maldives next year and possibly a transfer to Hyatt for a weekend in NYC at some point. I suppose using 22,300 wouldn't kill me.

Just wondering why you don't rent a car. I rented in Vancouver and drove to Whistler--it's a fairly easy drive. I only had the car for a day and returned it to the airport after renting it downtown and it cost me < $100.

 

[havaneselover]

is that the one that lights up when you look at it? they had one at our resort in Maui and it was cool

Yes. And it is the 5x but also has the 10x magnification. The one I really wanted was the trio (Costco doesn't sell) but that one is $300. I decided this one will have to do

 

[havaneselover]

oh yeah..... so if you book thru costco you get another 2% back from the booking?(and since I'm still muddled by how you transfer another booking to costco) if you booked cheap elsewhere and switched it over you could potentially get a gc+2% back for transferring?

You really can only transfer from DCL. And the prices shouldn't be different regardless of how you book. I always book onboard (to get the 10% off plus $200 obc), transfer to Costco, get the Costco cash card. The 2% is a new perk so this will be the first time I've done that.

 

[alryan]

-

 

[pillow]

Costco is great for travel. I got $680 back on DCL Alaska plus am getting another 2% back from my executive membership.

I need to remember to upgrade before we take our next cruise!!

 

[amalone1013]

Can someone please tell DH not to search the Disney website for info on things that I already have found the info for? It just confuses him

But really, we all know that the Disney sites can be somewhat vague and not always helpful, so we come to these boards for more in depth help. So I already did some research on phone service on cruise lines and now he is sending me the DCL page for internet/phone service asking what service they have... I already told you the real answer, not the generic 'be sure to contact your provider for rates' that DCL has on their page

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

All the same number. I just tried that but it says 0 point difference, so I guess that must mean there aren't enough tickets at the lower price?

If you search that flight for 2, then 3, then 4, etc you should be able to figure out how many tix are available at the lower price.

If you call SW they can likely assist in splitting the reservations so you can take advantage. I’m not sure it will be worth your time and effort but it should be possible. Out of old habits, I typically book each person and leg separately with SW to allow for ultimate rebooking flexibility in instances like this (just a tip going forward).

 

[speedyfishy]

Thank you- I haven't gotten my magical express documents (signed up, but only about 10 days ago). So I can check my bag through and just give them the claim check? Was not looking forward to having to pick up my bag and lug it. I usually am a no checked bags kinda girl, but DH and LO are flying down a couple days later (and later in the evening) so we are packing one big suitcase with all our stuff for me to check so that they can just fly with small backpack

Yeah I just gave them the claim ticket and my luggage arrived without any issues. The guy again did roll his eyes but the Disney website says if you don’t receive your yellow tags to just give the claim number when checking in to the magical express.

My grandma also forgot to put the yellow tag on her bag and i didn’t know this until we were already on the magical express. I called them and confirmed the bag number and they got her bag to the room without any problems.

 

[DisneyMandC]

If you search that flight for 2, then 3, then 4, etc you should be able to figure out how many tix are available at the lower price.

If you call SW they can likely assist in splitting the reservations so you can take advantage. I’m not sure it will be worth your time and effort but it should be possible. Out of old habits, I typically book each person and leg separately with SW to allow for ultimate rebooking flexibility in instances like this (just a tip going forward).

Thanks! Probably not worth it for this small amount. If the points drop drastically then I'll look into it further.