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

[EACarlson]

I am using AA miles to use those darn things up. I don't like the Hiltons on there because none of them offer a choice other than "standard room". With other properties I can book a King bed.
Not sure what we are doing, The Arch, maybe ballgame/stadium, not sure on that. Maybe go up to Forest Park, Budweiser Tour, really not sure. Any ideas for fun stuff we can do in 2 1/2 days would be great.

That Marriott is on AA, as is the Embassy Suites. Also looking at the Moonrise, but wondering if staying up there is a good idea, or staying downtown is better. I know we will have to drive some places no matter where we stay.

I have no idea how mobile you are, but the City Museum was a blast when I went there last year. It's like an adult sized kids play area. Don't forget to take parking into account, downtown hotels seem to have some obscene parking charges. I usually stay across the river in IL and drive in.

 

[MrPTato]

I don't know man, I'd say being in a relationship with Amex is torture.

We are about to cut ties...very done with them at the moment. BBP, SPG, & Gold all have issues with points either posting or transferring and both new Serve cards are locked after 4.5 hours in my hand.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Lol my first charge on my CF card was a $900 vet bill. Card came in the mail, I called in and verified it, hung up and immediately called the vet to pay haha. This was also the CF I got a month after getting my CSP. Just didn’t know how it worked in those days lol.

And it's probably totally fine...I'm sure thousands of people a day make their first charge a large one. Since we're all so in tune with churning we read all these DPs and we find the 1 person out of 10,000 who put a large charge on their card and got shutdown or something and then we're like "hmmm I shouldn't do that" LOL! I've done it too though, I try to avoid it where I can but sometimes I'm just waiting on a card to handle a large expense and I get too excited!

 

[DisneyMandC]

And it's probably totally fine...I'm sure thousands of people a day make their first charge a large one. Since we're all so in tune with churning we read all these DPs and we find the 1 person out of 10,000 who put a large charge on their card and got shutdown or something and then we're like "hmmm I shouldn't do that" LOL! I've done it too though, I try to avoid it where I can but sometimes I'm just waiting on a card to handle a large expense and I get too excited!

Yup! So many things I wouldn’t know about CCs if I wasn’t involved in this. Just like I’ve put more spend on DH’s old Delta Amex over the last few months planning to pick him up a couple Amex cards. In his mind, his Delta card is to put Delta purchases on and that’s it. And he would be mad if he applied for another card with amex and got denied for lack of spend, because to him he is putting only what should go on that card on it.

 

[mamathompson]

Yeah, that makes sense. I don't know why I thought it wouldn't be a problem - probably just got carried away by the train since it wasn't Chase and Amex didn't care before.

Time to pre-game that call per the r/churning recon chart

I'm anxious to hear how it goes since I will probably be doing the same thing once I get my letter.



In travel news, DH and I are considering taking the kids on a second vacation this year since we have points now Probably a 5-7 day trip sometime this coming fall. He doesn't want to do Disney again this year. We were looking at cruises but are now checking out Costa Rica. Has anyone taken kids there recently? Hotel/resort recommendations?

 

[MrPTato]

Ok, one more precheck question. Is it typically that if the lead goes has it everyone booked on that reservation has it? I was just thinking maybe I would offer our other credit to my cousin, he travels to Denver for work a lot and they also have at least one vacation planned this summer, so if he is the lead person would his wife also get it?

I have read that as well. We will find out on Saturday when I check in for our SW flights. I am the only one with Pre-Check. If DW doesn't have it, I will be trekking through the regular lines. I got it in the hopes of saving time in MCO if it does work. I have never waited more than 5-10 minutes in our home airports, other than Boston...I avoid that place.

 

[pillow]

I'm anxious to hear how it goes since I will probably be doing the same thing once I get my letter.



In travel news, DH and I are considering taking the kids on a second vacation this year since we have points now Probably a 5-7 day trip sometime this coming fall. He doesn't want to do Disney again this year. We were looking at cruises but are now checking out Costa Rica. Has anyone taken kids there recently? Hotel/resort recommendations?

Fall is rainy season in Costa Rica. You might want to save it for winter/spring. We love it there!

 

[georgina]

And why would anyone do this?

Because they had a fee-free card for a year and didn't want to keep it? I'm planning to cancel DH's gold AmEx before we have to pay the AF, and am not positive on the best timing.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Southwest Q (another one, sorry!)

If I book separate reservations for dh and I using my RR points, and then cancel dh's to rebook him as my companion, will the RR points return to me or be assigned to his account? I don't have the CP yet but there's a really good price right now for us to visit relatives in SMF in May.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Southwest Q (another one, sorry!)

If I book separate reservations for dh and I using my RR points, and then cancel dh's to rebook him as my companion, will the RR points return to me or be assigned to his account? I don't have the CP yet but there's a really good price right now for us to visit relatives in SMF in May.

The points will go back into your RR account

 

[speedyfishy]

Also any news on the Centurion at JFK? We are flying out of JFK in April and hoping it's open by then.

This is happening??? Do you know if it will be after security and what terminal? I hate LGA is before security. I like being through security early lol

both new Serve cards are locked after 4.5 hours

How’d this happen?

 

[Happy814]

Yeah I figured they might be too scary. If you don’t mind me asking, why is he so afraid of everything?

Not @CyndiLouWho, but I wanted to answer too because I was very much like this as a kid. I was born anxious. When I was 4 I can remember being in bed at night and feeling terrified the house was going to catch on fire.

It's continued throughout my entire life. As a child, it was kidnappers, floods, tornadoes, lions in the woods. As an adult, it's health issues, natural disasters, terrible things happening to my kids.

I have to carefully monitor what I "take in" to be sure my anxiety doesn't flare up any worse than it usually does. No cancer books, no dead kid movies, no climate change reports.

Not sure if @CyndiLouWho 's kid is a generally anxious kid like I was, or if it's something deeper, but I wanted to answer since this is such a loaded question. For years I tried to minimize or fight my anxiety because people told me I was scared of everything or I worried too much. Now, I realize it's a part of who I am. I've turned out great, my kids are happy and healthy, and I'm excellent at car seat installation and water safety it's a win win.

 

[Happy814]

I'm anxious to hear how it goes since I will probably be doing the same thing once I get my letter.



In travel news, DH and I are considering taking the kids on a second vacation this year since we have points now Probably a 5-7 day trip sometime this coming fall. He doesn't want to do Disney again this year. We were looking at cruises but are now checking out Costa Rica. Has anyone taken kids there recently? Hotel/resort recommendations?

I haven't been there but the Nickelodeon resort in Punta Cana is on the UR portal and looks like a lot of fun! We were considering it for this summer, but decided for an extra long Disney stay instead!

 

[AmyAnne]

I have read that as well. We will find out on Saturday when I check in for our SW flights. I am the only one with Pre-Check. If DW doesn't have it, I will be trekking through the regular lines. I got it in the hopes of saving time in MCO if it does work. I have never waited more than 5-10 minutes in our home airports, other than Boston...I avoid that place.

Wow, all of you who accompany your non-precheck spouse through the regular security line are making me feel bad for leaving DH alone in the regular line. Although suffering through the regular line while I went through precheck did inspire DH to get his GE application submitted so maybe I won't feel too badly.

 

[DaveL]

Got the full $450 back on the CSR=>CF change up. Short lived tho, DW blew a tire on her 2 month old new car this afternoon so thats prob going to eat most of that.

 

[MrPTato]

How’d this happen?

Activated the cards...went and made 2 small deposits, went to another place a couple hours later and made 2 more deposits. Tried to log in and the info was incorrect (the info was 100% correct when I tired, so I know I didn't lock them). I called and am being told they are restricted and they have to review and they will let me know in 8-10 business days.

I am also on my third case with Amex Gold on not being able to transfer my MR points to travel partners. I have been "under review" since October.

 

[Ngwira]

This is happening??? Do you know if it will be after security and what terminal? I hate LGA is before security. I like being through security early lol



How’d this happen?

It’s supposed to be happening. Lax, lhr, Jfk and Cleveland are all getting centurion lounges.

 

[Psychodisney]

So found out this evening we need a new furnace. Our 15 year old furnace is apparently going to have “an imminent catastrophic event.” Great sales tactic or scary truth. We’re going to hedge our bets and get a new furnace. I guess we’ll be meeting that 50K Spark card MSR sooner that expected.
Time to take a look at which one of us up next. I think my DH. I’ll have time to browse while my furnace gets installed on Thursday.

 

[mmmears]

There was a recent convo on here about Global Entry interviews, so thought I'd share my recent experience. DS11 and I did ours on Sunday afternoon. We had to pick up DH at SFO anyway, so we did a walk-in. We only waited about 30min until we got called in. They took both of us in together and never asked about previously getting fingerprinted. The agent asked DS11 simple questions like what school he goes to and what grade he's in. It was so easy and now we're set for the next 5 years! Yay! However, we are still waiting for DH's application to be approved. He's a permanent resident so I think that, along with the recent shutdown, might be why his is taking longer. Ours only took 4 days for the preliminary approval.

Wow! They are taking walk ins now? Good to know! They weren't when I had my appt a few years ago, and a man kept asking them to please let him interview and they got pretty stern and told him to go away, that they don't take walk ins. I also asked once inside since DH had his appt scheduled a couple days after mine and it would have been nice to save him the drive and the parking a second time, but they said no.

And it's probably totally fine...I'm sure thousands of people a day make their first charge a large one. Since we're all so in tune with churning we read all these DPs and we find the 1 person out of 10,000 who put a large charge on their card and got shutdown or something and then we're like "hmmm I shouldn't do that" LOL! I've done it too though, I try to avoid it where I can but sometimes I'm just waiting on a card to handle a large expense and I get too excited!

Wow. I haven't thought about this. I'm also going to add that we've probably started quite a few of our cards with those large purchases. DH was careful to use them before we took them overseas, but we haven't had any issue with our first purchases being on the larger side (likely because we were anxious to get that MSR finished).

Because they had a fee-free card for a year and didn't want to keep it? I'm planning to cancel DH's gold AmEx before we have to pay the AF, and am not positive on the best timing.

But 11 months isn't a year. If they kept it one more month it could be cancelled without incurring the AF and also without upsetting AMEX (hopefully). In any event, it's better to wait until the AF posts at least...

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Yeah I figured they might be too scary. If you don’t mind me asking, why is he so afraid of everything?

Mostly just his personality. Some people have anxiety. He does verbalize and acknowledge his early losses. Being adopted, he is well aware that his birth mom and dad abandoned him. He takes that loss to heart and is afraid of losing the family he has now. My dad died when DS was 4, they were very close. He spent months and months worried that DH and I would die and leave him. We had to make a pact that even though we all have to die, we will meet in heaven. It did give him some comfort. Even now, he worries, mostly about me. So the things he is scared of in books involve injury or death, which he directly applies to his family.
So the Fortnight commercials show guys with guns. Guns can kill Mom or Dad. Nightmare.
Same with the tsunami, volcanoes, sharks. “No mom, volcanoes can kill you. Do you want to die? I don’t want to lose you.” We just try to work through it and avoid obvious triggers. But irrational fears are..well, irrational.