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

[mamalovesdis]

Two questions - I think I’d like to apply for another card before our trip next week, but is it likely I would receive the card by 5/4? I was interested in the Barclay Aviator or Citi Biz. I was approved for CIP on 3/6 and Marriot Bonvoy Biz on 3/26. Too soon?

 

[DisneyMandC]

It wouldn't surprise me if there's a secret system out there that says your Titanium I still have no idea how hubby is magically Lifetime Gold. It showed properly as Silver after the merger and even after he got his Platinum status. Just one day I logged in and Congratulations! suddenly it says Gold instead. It's been months and hasn't changed. I'm not going to complain

If the bonus points don't work out, maybe you can point to the email and see if they'll give you some points to compensate your emotional suffering from having been led on like that.

I thought the same thing! We have another one night stay just at a Fairfield this weekend. I'll be interested to see what they say when they check me in/see how the points credit. I don't recall the girl checking me in at the recent stay saying anything specific like "thank you for being a gold member," but I may have just not been paying close attention.

 

[punkin]

Yes, although it's a 3:1.1 ratio (bonvoy:united). I think you go to use miles-->airline--> transfer but I haven't done it in a while.

I guess no way to transfer MRs?

 

[miztressuz]

Is there anyway to convert MR or bonvoy points into united miles?

Yes. Bonvoy goes to United with the 3:1.1 transfer rate (United gets a 10% bonus miles rate) and with a 5k bonus for every 60k transferred. So 60k Bonbleh points are 25k airline miles with the bonus for most airlines. I believe that would be 27k United miles with the 10% bonus they give(I suspect you don't get the bonus on top of the 5k bonus, but maybe someone knows for sure)

AFAIK AmEx MR points don't transfer directly to United but they have other transfer partners in the same alliance that you could possible use for United flights.

 

[a_ton_of_clay]

So I am planning a weeklong vacation for Jan 2020 and got very excited about all the ways to use my points! Point use is as follows:

Southwest points: ~42,000 points for roundtrip airfaire for 2
Chase UR: 26,000 points to get 1 day - 2 park tickets for 2 at Universal Orlando! Didn't know I could do this with the 1.5 travel multiplier, very exciting
Marriott points: 160k/200k for 5 nights at Dolphin (dependent on peak/offpeak for marriott in January, fingers crossed that mid-Jan is offpeak)

I'm wondering if there is anything I'm missing/tips and tricks all you experts have! I am titanium for marriott and would love to upgrade to a theme park view room with a balcony at the Dolphin... what's the best way to do that?

 

[Lain]

I guess no way to transfer MRs?

Not to United, as United is not a MR transfer partner. MR does transfer to a number of Star Alliance airlines, where you can transfer your points and then book United as a partner award. But you wouldn’t be able to combine the resultant miles from your MR to your existing United stash.

 

[Albort]

Amex shutdown story on today’s episode of As the World Churns: https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/bgf1xw/discussion_thread_april_23_2019/elkn2zz/

Looks to be MS-related. Claimed a “low” volume of $30k in 3 months at gas stations, drug stores, and GCM, and cycles his limits.

Accounts closed and 650k MR lost, with another 250k MR in the red.

10k isnt much MS at all... theres something he isnt telling us. The he was "flagged" for selling points is whats currently guessed as the shut down reason.
i do around 10k MS a month, sometimes more depending on the market and time.

How many miles is the AAnytime awards. Is like 120,000 miles a person enough round trip? Are you looking on the AA website?

im looking them up through Expertflyers. they will show availability, im not quite looking at how many miles haha.

 

[miztressuz]

I thought the same thing! We have another one night stay just at a Fairfield this weekend. I'll be interested to see what they say when they check me in/see how the points credit. I don't recall the girl checking me in at the recent stay saying anything specific like "thank you for being a gold member," but I may have just not been paying close attention.

Yeah, we didn't get that either. We stayed at the same place on points from my account and then came back after a couple nights for a one night on hubby's account. The only thing mentioned at checkin was on the last night because of his Platinum status we get to choose a welcome amenity, so they asked if we wanted the points or a soda from the marketplace Otherwise they don't seem to be as focused on recognizing status as other brands do and I doubt it would have been mentioned at all. Even if it's just offhand and perfunctory, IHG and Hilton properties have always mentioned it at checkin - it's just engrained that it's what you say at this point. Marriott has a waaaysss to go...

 

[striker1064]

Two questions - I think I’d like to apply for another card before our trip next week, but is it likely I would receive the card by 5/4? I was interested in the Barclay Aviator or Citi Biz. I was approved for CIP on 3/6 and Marriot Bonvoy Biz on 3/26. Too soon?

Barclays has the option of selecting rush shipping for a $15 charge on your new card. It's up to you if that's worth it or not. I would guess you'd receive the Barcalys card by 5/4, but you never know. The Citi Biz would be pushing it simply with how slowly they ship new cards. It's hard to say if those new accounts are too many - neither issuer will see the accounts since they're biz cards, but they will see the inquiries. All in all, as long as your report is fairly clean (TU especially for Barclays), you can probably get both.

 

[tink1970]

I guess no way to transfer MRs?

Yes. Bonvoy goes to United with the 3:1.1 transfer rate (United gets a 10% bonus miles rate) and with a 5k bonus for every 60k transferred. So 60k Bonbleh points are 25k airline miles with the bonus for most airlines. I believe that would be 27k United miles with the 10% bonus they give(I suspect you don't get the bonus on top of the 5k bonus, but maybe someone knows for sure)

AFAIK AmEx MR points don't transfer directly to United but they have other transfer partners in the same alliance that you could possible use for United flights.

@miztressuz and @Lain are correct-since United/Marriot/Chase are in a trifecta together, no way, really to transfer MRs directly to United.

 

[tink1970]

Marriott has a waaaysss to go...

A loooong way to go-SPG used to be great about it but Marriott, no. At least at gold/plat level. My DB is titanium (whatever that is) and occasionally he'll get an acknowledgement. Of course, he travels and stays around 80/night a year minimum so maybe it's because he's more important, lol.

 

[mamalovesdis]

Barclays has the option of selecting rush shipping for a $15 charge on your new card. It's up to you if that's worth it or not. I would guess you'd receive the Barcalys card by 5/4, but you never know. The Citi Biz would be pushing it simply with how slowly they ship new cards. It's hard to say if those new accounts are too many - neither issuer will see the accounts since they're biz cards, but they will see the inquiries. All in all, as long as your report is fairly clean (TU especially for Barclays), you can probably get both.

Thanks. I figured Citi might be too slow. What do you mean by “clean”? and “TU”? Sorry! I don’t think I have all the lingo down yet. Lol

 

[speedyfishy]

10k isnt much MS at all... theres something he isnt telling us. The he was "flagged" for selling points is whats currently guessed as the shut down reason.
i do around 10k MS a month, sometimes more depending on the market and time.


im looking them up through Expertflyers. they will show availability, im not quite looking at how many miles haha.

Thanks for looking. I do see the AA availability but it’s 220,000 miles a person round trip for Biz. I think I’d rather get a free Disney trip lol.

 

[wed100105]

I'm over 100 pages behind. Wah!

I just wanted to take a second to thank everyone for all the responses you have given me and others. We just returned home from a great trip to Orlando this weekend. It was even better because of some of the perks I've enjoyed through our credit card points/miles. Thank you!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

For the Southwest experts: should I pay for EBCI to guarantee that my kids don't end up with seats by themselves? My family of 4 (me, DH, DD5, and DD2) is flying Southwest from IND to MCO in a couple of weeks. My kids are young, so I want to make sure each kid has a parent sitting next to them. We are fine with being split up 2 and 2, and are fine with seats anywhere on the plane as long as we can find 2 sets of 2 together. 3 and 1 would also work fine. I will be checking in at the 24 hour mark, but in case I don't get group A, will family boarding get a parent next to each child? I have never flown Southwest with kids before.

We have never once paid for EBCI and always family board. We always have our pick of seats together, even when leaving MCO, which is family central. You'll be fine.

 

[StephPlum]

Between the Bonvoy Brilliant/Biz at 100k Marriott points (+20k Marriott support points) vs CIP2 at 80k UR (+20k UR support points), both with $5k MSRs/3 months, I would absolutely go for the CIP. UR points are much more versatile, and therefore more valuable to me. In addition, the CIPpy cup will eventually go empty. I have no doubt of that. However, like you said, the offers on the Bonvoy cards (and SPG cards before that) go up and down; they’ve both been at 100k Marriott before, and I firmly believe they will drop back down to 75k Marriott for $3k spend on Thursday and eventually go back up to 100k Marriott in a few months. Even if the Bonvoy cards never go back up to 100k Marriott, I look at this choice as a FOMO between 25k Marriott (the difference between the elevated 100k offer vs the usual 75k offer) and 100k UR (the lost opportunity at another referred CIP).

I was just looking at the benefits of the Brilliant (have the Biz and it is still the purple card!) after I typed this. I know it is just a 150 AF if you take out the $300 Marriott credit but I am not feeling it. Then you throw in these comments and it is a done deal. Next card is 2nd Citi Biz for DH and then almost immediately after will be CIP #2. Thanks.

 

[tink1970]

Thanks. I figured Citi might be too slow. What do you mean by “clean”? and “TU”? Sorry! I don’t think I have all the lingo down yet. Lol

I'm guessing "clean" means not too many inquiries and TU= transunion, which is the credit report Barclay's pulls. HTH!

 

[1st*toright]

I thought the same thing! We have another one night stay just at a Fairfield this weekend. I'll be interested to see what they say when they check me in/see how the points credit. I don't recall the girl checking me in at the recent stay saying anything specific like "thank you for being a gold member," but I may have just not been paying close attention.

Does seem like you're double secret Titanium at the moment - awesome! When is your Japan trip? There is a decent chance that even if you don't hit 50 nights this year you may wind up as platinum next year. Historically Marriott would often give you a "soft landing" and only drop you one status tier, even if you didn't have enough nights to get there. No one knows if this will continue to happen, but it's a possibility! Its one of the reasons I worked to hit titanium last year instead of regular platinum - I wasn't sure I'd make platinum this year and wanted to "soft land" to platinum for our Europe trip. Of course, now its looking like I may make platinum again this year (but probably not titanium).

Yeah, we didn't get that either. We stayed at the same place on points from my account and then came back after a couple nights for a one night on hubby's account. The only thing mentioned at checkin was on the last night because of his Platinum status we get to choose a welcome amenity, so they asked if we wanted the points or a soda from the marketplace Otherwise they don't seem to be as focused on recognizing status as other brands do and I doubt it would have been mentioned at all. Even if it's just offhand and perfunctory, IHG and Hilton properties have always mentioned it at checkin - it's just engrained that it's what you say at this point. Marriott has a waaaysss to go...

It is really variable. I usually get a "thank you for your loyalty", but generally not a recognition of a specific level, and sometimes not even that! I did have one Fairfield desk clerk who made a big deal about being impressed with the titanium (and then said, "you just want the points instead of an amenity, right?")

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Just went to Staples to pick up the fee free $200 MCGC. I almost didn’t do this offer, but then I realized the chase offer was actually on my Hyatt card, which I’m still working on MSR on. That plus the Dosh deal, plus SB is back to paying out for Best Buy AND it’s currently at 4% convinced me to go ahead and do it. Interestingly, I was checked out by a manager who asked to see my ID to match it to my credit card. No problem this time since I was using my card, but I’ve used DH’s Delta amex several times recently. Haven’t ever been asked for that before, not sure if it was because it was a manager or what.

There is one cashier at my staples that IDs every.single.time. I just know now to avoid checking out when he is working.

 

[StephPlum]

Uggh I don't have a good feeling about my flight in July to Seattle. It is showing as sold out across all the classes, not just for my day but for the entire week. No email or notification and it sounded like from the email from the president that all changes to flights through Aug 5 had been communicated. The other thing in my favor is that I looked at this last week and all 4 flights in the morning showed as sold out and now 2 of them are back on the board. Maybe they are still working on it?!?

I did call in but need to HUCA. My lovely CSR told me that only Max 8 planes had been affected and they were only on April changes right now. Wow, not sure if she believed that or just didn't want to look into my flights.

Unfortunately, there isn't a good replacement. My current flight has me getting in at 11:45am (Seattle time), the next best time is 5:45pm. So I lose a day. There is a flight leaving the same time but goes through Den with a 45 min layover. I am not worried about us making the connection through the airport but worry about checked luggage making it. The other earlier flights would have my kids very cranky.

I don't want to try to change my reservation for the first night at Paradise Inn in Mt Rainier. I'll either try to make the later one work or go the day before. Crossing fingers that it just stays with my original plans.

Quoting myself for an update. So my connecting flight from Chicago to Settle is gone, doesn't exist. The "computer" tried to fix my flights but since it could only pick something that would cause a 4 hour layover, it broke. Unfortunately, I didn't get an email, just found by continually checking these flights. Good news is the flight that connected through Denver was just changed with a 55 min layover. I have a one hour min but this is close enough. This flight will get us into Seattle at the same time as our first flight so not bad and no need to look at changing my hotel on the first day. So called in and got an amazing CSR this time that was able to get all 3 of us on the same flight and all is now good. So it actually worked out that I didn't move my flight the first time I called in as I would not have chosen the Den connection and I would have taken the later flight.

PSA to anyone with summer flights, check them yourself just in case you don't get an email from SW.