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

[chattadisser]

Just got an email for $99/night rooms on select nights at the Hilton Anaheim and 5% of DL admission. Just FYI in case anyone is planning a trip!

Did it mention a timeframe for the rooms?

 

[Calfan]

@Calfan @calypso726 and/or anyone else who is better at the airline redemption thing than I am - is it possible for me to purchase seat assignments for my award flights? The flights I booked with United points are on Austrian, Lufthansa and TAP Portugal, so I wasn't able to choose seats. I'd be willing to pay to pick seats so that we can all sit together (or at least sit 2 and 2) on the long haul flights.

I couldn’t say for certain on those airlines but I would guess that you should be able. I know that award flights on BA offer seat assignment choices for a fee. I have paid for my mom’s seat assignments on award flights. You migh have to get the record locator for each of the partner airline tickets and log in each to choose and pay for seats. Call United and ask if they can give you the record locator from each airline for each segment if they are unable to provide seat assignments. Then, see if you can do it online by logging into each airline. Worst case, you have to call each airline with the record locator number.

I’m nowhere near those posters league, but booking with UR, I’ve always been able to put the confirmation number on the airlines website and purchase tickets directly through them. Have you tried finding your flights on the United website?

Thank you - my united account actually listed a reservation code for TAP Portugal (but not for the other airlines). I went on the TAP website and was able to pull up our reservations and choose seats for all of our flights on that website (even for the other airlines). My United reservation now shows the seat assignments for all people/legs, but when I go back into the TAP Portugal site it doesn't show me that I've picked seats on the non-TAP flights (although the seats I picked are showing up as "taken" in the seat inventory). So, I think I've managed to choose our seats. Also, no charge for any of the seat assignments - all said "fee may apply", but the actual fee was showing up as $0. that it actually worked.

The agent misspelled my daughter's middle name so I've already called United to ask them to fix it. The agent said he sent notification to the other airlines, but its still wrong. Going to wait a few days to see if it gets fixed, but if I wind up having to call to get it corrected, I will also double check and make sure we really have seats.

@LuckyMamaInDE - hope this helps as you explore your NZ trip options - sounds awesome!

@1st*toright it sounds like you've got it figured out, but in my experience, whenever I have booked partner award flights with United miles, I usually have to call the partner airline directly to get seat assignments for those flights. I can't recall ever being charged for those seat assignments.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Found a price list for the Olympics!! Seeing some of the prices are crazy. There are some events I want to see going very cheaply for $35 pp. Then there's the table tennis gold medal match for $350 pp... Not interested in that one, but why does that event cost so much? I'm sad we won't be there in time for surfing because that's about $25 pp. I'm glad I found the list because I adjusted some of my requests based on the prices. I still put in for the equestrian jumping gold medal finals at the highest level though because I want great seats to that. Assuming I get them, those will be my most expensive tickets at $150 pp. I'm putting in for several gymnastics and swimming events too. Those are all expensive so I'm putting in for the lowest level and they're about $100 pp. So I will likely just pick one of those and go with that. The women's beach volleyball gold medal tickets start at $75 pp so I'm putting in for that as well because I'm sure that will be an awesome event.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Did it mention a timeframe for the rooms?

They vary a lot, but looks like it starts as early as next week and runs through September 30. Most nights are week nights, but I see an occasional Friday night. If you're interested in a particular date, let me know and I can check it for you!

 

[StephPlum]

might be posted already but :'(

https://viewfromthewing.boardingare...ill-no-longer-give-airport-restaurant-credit/

Yuck. I hope Chase doesn’t follow AMEX. I am using my CSR PP card. I’ve only been to the restaurant in Den but that was much better than my experience in the lounge in Atlanta.

 

[afan]

Found a price list for the Olympics!! Seeing some of the prices are crazy. There are some events I want to see going very cheaply for $35 pp. Then there's the table tennis gold medal match for $350 pp... Not interested in that one, but why does that event cost so much? I'm sad we won't be there in time for surfing because that's about $25 pp. I'm glad I found the list because I adjusted some of my requests based on the prices. I still put in for the equestrian jumping gold medal finals at the highest level though because I want great seats to that. Assuming I get them, those will be my most expensive tickets at $150 pp. I'm putting in for several gymnastics and swimming events too. Those are all expensive so I'm putting in for the lowest level and they're about $100 pp. So I will likely just pick one of those and go with that. The women's beach volleyball gold medal tickets start at $75 pp so I'm putting in for that as well because I'm sure that will be an awesome event.

Table tennis is a big thing in asia. China has the most medals. It's mostly them with some south korea and then a few japan, germany, france and sweden. Yes I looked it up to make sure it was still huge in asia. Would guess the stadium? will be filled with mostly chinese that are there for the games. I would also guess if there's somewhere that shows historic prices that the location of the games plays a big part in pricing for it.

Clearly this movie made more of an impression on me after 1 viewing than I thought

 

[WVMomof3]

Hello everyone!
I'm thankful for all the advice I've gotten on this thread. I'm back with another question.
I'm finishing up my MSR on my first CIP. Recently, I got the Amex Plat, Delta Gold Biz and both the personal and biz Alaska credit cards. Between the SUBs of those cards, I was able to get a direct flight to Tokyo on Delta One for 120K points (one way) and Biz class on Cathay Pacific for 50K miles (one way return). Not sure if those were the best redemptions since I'm new to this game. Any suggestions for next time?
My other question is what business card should I get next? Barclays Business AA? CIP #2? A hotel card? We are going to Alaska next summer so my main goal is to get points for flights for that trip and maybe some hotel stays.
Here's my stats:
05/19 CHASE CIP Business
04/19 BOA Alaska Airlines Business
03/19 AMEX Delta Gold Business
03/19 AMEX Platinum
02/19 BOA Alaska Airlines Personal
08/18 AMEX Gold
10/17 CHASE SPG
07/17 CHASE Sapphire Reserve
10/15 AMEX Delta Platinum Business

Thank you in advance.

Can I not count or were you already 5/24 when you got your CIP this month, or maybe the Amex Platinum had not posted yet? (CSR, CSPG (confused on what this actually is), Amex Gold, BOA, Amex Plat). I would definitely wait to get CIP #2 till August. I think you should be OK for the AA biz cards if you are sure you will use them, seems like Citi might be easier than the Barclay or maybe get both if you want to hop on the train. Do you know what Airline you will fly to get there?

 

[amalone1013]

Yuck. I hope Chase doesn’t follow AMEX. I am using my CSR PP card. I’ve only been to the restaurant in Den but that was much better than my experience in the lounge in Atlanta.

This would be huge in our CSR decisions I consider the value we've gotten from DHs this cardmember year to be $85, and in total over the 2.5 years we've had a CSR $235

 

[DisneyMandC]

Table tennis is a big thing in asia. China has the most medals. It's mostly them with some south korea and then a few japan, germany, france and sweden. Yes I looked it up to make sure it was still huge in asia. Would guess the stadium? will be filled with mostly chinese that are there for the games. I would also guess if there's somewhere that shows historic prices that the location of the games plays a big part in pricing for it.

Clearly this movie made more of an impression on me after 1 viewing than I thought

View attachment 403858

So interesting, thanks!! I had no idea. I see the judo and karate tickets are going pretty high too, which I expected. DH keeps joking that he wants to see table tennis or badminton, but he changed his mind after I just texted him the prices haha.

 

[nickle831]

At this point, I just put a card into DH's wallet and tell him to use whatever card is in the front slot Sometimes he's able to differentiate them. This morning he said "I have an American Airlines card in my wallet, should I use that?" Nope, give me that because I'm going to finish MSR on it today lol.

LOL the other day DH pulled out the wrong card. I said umm it's the other one. He huffed and said they all look the same. So I put a big colorful owl sticker on the one he is supposed to be using right now.

 

[amalone1013]

LOL the other day DH pulled out the wrong card. I said umm it's the other one. He huffed and said they all look the same. So I put a big colorful owl sticker on the one he is supposed to be using right now.

I think I will threaten DH with this next time he uses the wrong card!

 

[apollodi]

DH and I were both approved for CIP #2s! We spent the weekend fridge shopping, though, because our freezer died. Not ideal, but if our fridge is going to die, it's best for it to happen over Memorial Day weekend when we both have unused 10% Lowe's offers on our Amex cards.

DH has really come around the business card thing lately. When he applied for his first CIP last summer, he was reluctant because he didn't think he had a real business. He was planning to start a consulting business, though, and applied on his future business plan. He just finished his first consulting job, so his "business" has become a real business! Just in time to pay for the new fridge, lol.

 

[Mopedmom1]

This would be huge in our CSR decisions I consider the value we've gotten from DHs this cardmember year to be $85, and in total over the 2.5 years we've had a CSR $235

I agree. We don't get as much value as Zack does but at least twice a year we start our outbound flight at the PP restaurant at PDX. One trip we swiped both our cards for $112 in redemption that day. If Chase follows suit it will definitely be a big cut in the value of the $450 annual fee!

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Uggg DH won’t be happy that they are taking this away. This is how I justified his SPG Lux Card. We haven’t been using it much since I’ve had CIP spends to meet.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

Yuck. I hope Chase doesn’t follow AMEX. I am using my CSR PP card. I’ve only been to the restaurant in Den but that was much better than my experience in the lounge in Atlanta.

This would be huge in our CSR decisions I consider the value we've gotten from DHs this cardmember year to be $85, and in total over the 2.5 years we've had a CSR $235

I agree. We don't get as much value as Zack does but at least twice a year we start our outbound flight at the PP restaurant at PDX. One trip we swiped both our cards for $112 in redemption that day. If Chase follows suit it will definitely be a big cut in the value of the $450 annual fee!

Same! The ability to visit Timberline in DEN is such a plus when we visit family in Colorado. We were also able to use PP at MIA when we took that voluntary bump in March--that was nice, but Timberline's food was better.

We've used $168 in redemption value so far this cardmember year---Nov, March, and May visits.

 

[WVMomof3]

Has anyone heard of the BOA Travel Rewards for Students card? It looks like it is 1.5 earn rate, $250 (25,000 points) SUB for $1000 spend and no Foreign Transaction Fees. Is there any reason I should tell my DDs friend not to get this card? I have a feeling she will be a one and done with CCs so this seems like it should be a good option? Am I missing anything?

 

[punkin]

So, first BIG churning trip airline booking was a mixture of success and failure.

The good news- the 4 of us are going to Austria and Portugal for the dates I wanted next spring. We have nonstops for the long-hauls, and are flying in/out of the same airport stateside (which I didn't think was going to be possible originally, so that's a bonus). It cost 420k in United/UR points plus a little less than $500 in fees. I priced out our itinerary using $ instead of points, and it would be about $2k per ticket if I paid cash (all economy) and about $8k for the mix of economy and business that I actually got!

The not-so-good news is that I wasn't able to get business on the way over (flying right before Easter, not terribly surprising), so no lie-flat seats on the red-eye. The intra-Europe flights I was able to do business for all 4 of us, which is nice because I wasn't able to get direct flights, so it will be nice to be in business on those 2 flights. On the long-haul back, I was only able to get 2 business seats, the other 2 are in economy. It showed 4 business seats available, but I had to book on 2 separate itineraries (because I was using both my account and P2's account), and once one set was booked, the other 2 disappeared (even though I was booking simultaneously online with an agent on the phone). That was kind of a bummer. My sweet DH says he doesn't care at all about sitting in economy (like a peasant) with one of the kids while I ride in style up front. We will probably have the kids take turns sitting with each parent - its a loooooong flight. I will keep checking - maybe those 2 award seats will show up and I can make the change for a fee.

So it wasn't a total slam-dunk, but we are still going to 2 cities in Europe over spring break for $125 per person.

This is what I need to figure out for next summer. I'm hoarding United miles and ur points for this. I have no specific destination in mind. I just want 2-3 weeks traveling somewhere in Europe and lie flat seats at least on the way there. The way back would be nice too.

 

[afan]

Finally changed my Aviator red to the no fee Barclay's AA card. I just don't fly them enough and I imagine I can always swap it back if needed or get a different card from them or someone else. I've had Dude's insurance as a recurring payment on this card forever so while I will only earn half the miles for it now I'll leave it there just to have something keep the miles alive and them happy. It's my 2nd oldest open card though I liked ti so much more when it was US Air.

 

[Mopedmom1]

Same! The ability to visit Timberline in DEN is such a plus when we visit family in Colorado. We were also able to use PP at MIA when we took that voluntary bump in March--that was nice, but Timberline's food was better.

We've used $168 in redemption value so far this cardmember year---Nov, March, and May visits.

DH got his card a year ago and I got mine last August. We used his in July, mine in December, and both in March, for $224. I am pc'ing his card next month but renewing mine. We have trips planned September, October and at least one more next spring for an additional $168 in value. ($398 total in under two years!)

We have not yet been to Timberline but when flying SW I always look for a connection through Denver first!

 

[amalone1013]

We got our fancy design magicbands in the mail this weekend DH only saw news about them being sold out so he was pretty surprised.

Fun family moment of the weekend...
DHs aunt, who is coming on the cruise, has a son with a... difficult family situation. He is married with one kid (14), and things aren't going the best... kid and mom don't get along, kid is spoiled by dad and aunt to try and make up for that, dad pushes kid on sports things he's not interested in, kid is not headed down greatest path currently between choices and choice of friends... It's a hard situation all around.

They last went to Disney in 2016. They were supposed to go over the summer but ended up going over New Year's. It was not a good trip. Lots of tempers with the crowds, differing interests, and all of the issues above had already been going on (of course they are worse now). MIL went along and shared a room with aunt on this trip and it was not good for anyone.

Well... they've decided to go again! And 'invited' aunt along (more as a free baby sitter). She told them she couldn't afford it (because she is going on the cruise, but I don't think she gave them that reason) and they offered to chip in on hers. So now she is going as she can't say no, basically she doesn't know how to fix things with her grandson other than do more spoiling. Even though she is expecting it to not be a good trip.

So we'd already heard this from aunt, and then because we're friends I saw their hotel reservation on MDE. So Sunday we had a family BBQ and the wife was like, well... we booked our hotel and bought tickets and we're going to Disney World in August! And I was like, oh cool... thinking:

And then aunts other child, who lives with her, was like wow, mom never tells me she's going anywhere unless it's about two days out. She's going on that cruise with you guys, and now to Disney in August... Wife is like, oh you're going on a cruise? And I'm like yeah... that was our gift for ILs for Christmas. Which also kinda turned it over to MIL to answer, so she could decide how much she wanted to say. The wife asked where it goes and stuff, so found out it was a Disney cruise. And she was like, oh... and you could just see the wheels turning, because you guys all know we're not paying rack rate for the ILs cruise, but she doesn't, and just the fact that we did cover the whole thing (even among 3 kids + 3 spouses) as a gift and they're covering under $1k for aunt.

I agree. We don't get as much value as Zack does but at least twice a year we start our outbound flight at the PP restaurant at PDX. One trip we swiped both our cards for $112 in redemption that day. If Chase follows suit it will definitely be a big cut in the value of the $450 annual fee!

I've actually only gotten Zack to go once by himself when traveling for work Weirdo But we should definitely hit it at least twice more before his AF comes up again, plus ILs will get to use it once before I cancel their CSRs.