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

[hulagirl]

@Haley R - I keep losing your Japan trip thread. Can you link it here? I thought I bookmarked it but I guess I didn't do it right. I'm not on IG so that's out for me. I'm really interested in following your trip! Have a wonderful time!

 

[Haley R]

I'm not an expert in the least, and I haven't used MRs to get to Australia (but I'd like to) but I'm happy to share my experiences using them to go to Europe over the past 2 years.

I really like MRs since they can be transferred to quite a few airlines. Last summer we needed 2 one way tickets, one to Copenhagen, and one to London since we took a cruise that wasn't a round trip. We transferred MRs to Air France for the SFO>CPH part since they had business lie flat seats available (it's best to look a year in advance, but we were just short of that). Then we transferred MRs to BA's Avios program during a special AMEX had that gave us something like a 25-30% bump on the transfer which was fantastic. Our dates were non-negotiable for that trip, and we were just thankful to get lie flat seats both ways.

We found out a couple months ago that our DD was going to be spending a year in Norway, and quickly went to look for seats. Again, the MRs worked best for us (I have AA and URs as well). Because we could be somewhat flexible with the dates we found what we think is a pretty good deal - 55K Flying Blue Points (1:1 with Amex MRs) per person each way, so a total of 220k for business class seats (with about a 6 month notice).

Note that you don't have to book RT most of the time. Note that you can move your MRs to Flying Blue, Avios, etc. if you find a flight with available seats. Since you're not locked into any one airline, play around with each segment since you can sometimes save miles that way.

Hope this helps a little bit. Oh, and yeah that 100K AMEX Plat offer is a good one if you value MRs. It will give you quite a few considering it's just one card.



@Haley R - yay you made it to Japan? How are you doing? Last post I saw was the flight (nice seats, BTW) on Instagram.

We’re doing good! I’m a little tired because I was up at 4 am. I don’t drink coffee but I’ll probably take some excedrin and drink caffeine today. Our Airbnb host left us two bottles of coke: one is a cherry blossom one and another is a special shibuya themed one. It’s pretty cool!

I can’t wait to go to the Disney store today and eat a giant cotton candy cloud lol

 

[Lain]

@Haley R - I keep losing your Japan trip thread. Can you link it here? I thought I bookmarked it but I guess I didn't do it right. I'm not on IG so that's out for me. I'm really interested in following your trip! Have a wonderful time!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/japan-trip-update-report.3751378/
and
https://www.instagram.com/wuztravelin/
It's been added to the DISchurners news & discussion thread if anyone else wants it easily accessible.

 

[hulagirl]

You're the best @Lain

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thank you, @SouthFayetteFan ! This thread is the best. I've learned so much from everyone.

You're welcome! Also - FYI, I saw your DISchurners PM request. You're already a member haha! We added you a couple of months ago when you requested it

 

[hulagirl]

You too, @SouthFayetteFan

 

[nickle831]

DH keeps asking me what to use, but when I offer to put little labels on them like others here do he looks so sad, like I was threatening him with the cone of shame or something.



Boo. Really boo.



See my post above. I bet if I threatened him with a big animal sticker he'd feel even worse.

The cone of shame!

 

[Lain]

Boo. Really boo.

Having tried both Priority Pass restaurants at SFO -- SF Giants Clubhouse and Yankee Pier -- we were underwhelmed by the greasy airport food and much prefer the menu at the Centurion Lounge. My fear is the SFO Centurion Lounge is constantly getting complaints of crowding issues. The new restrictions that limit access to 3 hours before departure and no admittance for arrivals (excluding layovers) seems to have helped. But I'd bet Priority Pass restaurant options in the same terminal as the Centurion Lounge (Terminal 3) also draw away some of the travelers who'd otherwise make use of the Centurion Lounge. Conversely, I think that getting rid of the restaurant options will lead those crowds back to the Centurion Lounge, at least at SFO.

 

[mmmears]

Having tried both Priority Pass restaurants at SFO -- SF Giants Clubhouse and Yankee Pier -- we were underwhelmed by the greasy airport food and much prefer the menu at the Centurion Lounge. My fear is the SFO Centurion Lounge is constantly getting complaints of crowding issues. The new restrictions that limit access to 3 hours before departure and no admittance for arrivals (excluding layovers) seems to have helped. But I'd bet Priority Pass restaurant options in the same terminal as the Centurion Lounge (Terminal 3) also draw away some of the travelers who'd otherwise make use of the Centurion Lounge. Conversely, I think that getting rid of the restaurant options will lead those crowds back to the Centurion Lounge, at least at SFO.

We are the same. We usually just go to the lounge. Last flight out a couple of weeks ago was on Jet Blue at 5:45am so the lounge didn't work for us and I had to sit at the gate. Like a peasant. I think it's more a loss in places where there is no lounge. Oh, and the PHL Centurion lounge gets a big from my entire family. We were there again last week and really enjoyed our time (and the food and drink) over there.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

You too, @SouthFayetteFan

I see you noticed the "Wow"...Those new reactions are great at expressing my feelings HAHAHA!!!

 

[mmmears]

I apologize for asking this again, but the search (at least for me) is messed up and is listing everything out of order.

I got my CIP in early March. Can I apply for a CIP2 or a CSP today, or should I wait until sometime in June? Asking because some big bills are coming up and we don't have much of an MSR left. @SouthFayetteFan @Lain

 

[Alexle2007]

I kept looking for the notification that I had used the AmEx Marriott offer for our stay at Fairfield on Sun. Of course, I am not going to find in my Inbox since it was DH’s account and, thus, his email. Crisis averted!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I apologize for asking this again, but the search (at least for me) is messed up and is listing everything out of order.

I got my CIP in early March. Can I apply for a CIP2 or a CSP today, or should I wait until sometime in June? Asking because some big bills are coming up and we don't have much of an MSR left. @SouthFayetteFan @Lain

CSP...today is definitely fine.

CIP2...it's maybe ok today. You probably want to wait until the calendar turns to June 1st. I definitely would feel safe if you waited 3 months from the approval date on the CIP.

Hopefully that provides some "murky clarity" on your situation...

 

[hulagirl]

I see you noticed the "Wow"...Those new reactions are great at expressing my feelings HAHAHA!!!

Enjoying them immensely. ;-)

 

[Mopedmom1]

Thanks!

Did you get it to work?

 

[platamama]

Thanks, I did see that it was 1 cent per point redemption for travel. Did not see the other options. I will tell her only to redeem for travel. That should not be a problem for her. She actually travels a lot. She has been spending several weeks in Ireland every summer for the last 3 or 4 years and usually adds a side trip before and/or after. She is the one that went to visit my DD in South Africa. She gets around. She has been using her mom's Disney Visa (Oy, I can not get my friend to change that!) and they all travel a ton as a family overseas so have been paying foreign fees and not even batting an eye. Same with their ATM card. Ughhhhhh Anywayyyyy, I think I can actually get her to get another one if needed down the line. I think she will be better than her mom. This seemed like a good option because it said Student, so I figured would be easier for her to get. My DD is in Montreal right now and is discovering why the Discover has no Foreign transaction fee, because no one takes it! lol

lol yeah, that's what I mean about the Discover card.

What do you mean by linking account to pay bill? You can not link your bank account to pay online? That would be a pain.

ETA: Yes, with BoA you have to plan on doing billpay out of your primary checking account, or writing a check and sending it. There is no way to link your (non-BoA) checking account to your credit card account, like you can with Amex or Chase or Capital One or Citi or Barclays or USBank (i.e. pretty much every other bank out there). You can use a BoA checking account to pay off the credit card, but most of those checking accounts have fees (although students under 24 can get a fee waiver on the least pricey checking account which is otherwise $4.95/mo).

If she has excellent credit, maybe she can look at the Capital One Quicksilver MC. 1.5% everywhere, $0 AF, no FTFs, $150 SUB on $500 MSR.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

If anybody was expecting support points from Chase to go pending this week please share here if you see them go pending today or overnight. I've always wondered if a Monday holiday affected that "Tuesday afternoon/evening" timeline.

 

[bernina]

[.

 

[platamama]

Apparently I'm blind, I now see that I got the Serve shutdown on 5/21 like many others. No wonder I couldn't load my card today at Walmart!

Now, just waiting for the Bluebird account that I signed up for that day to arrive...

 

[mmmears]

CSP...today is definitely fine.

CIP2...it's maybe ok today. You probably want to wait until the calendar turns to June 1st. I definitely would feel safe if you waited 3 months from the approval date on the CIP.

Hopefully that provides some "murky clarity" on your situation...

Yes, this helps a ton. I thought that was the right thing, but had copied and emailed all the advice I got to myself but I think I missed one post regarding the date. Sounds like I'll be waiting since, as you know, I'm somewhat cautious and want to increase my odds of getting the card (whichever one I land on). IIRC some people weren't able to get a 2nd CIP and that's what giving me pause. Guess I have a few days to think about that one. I'd prefer the CSP, but would also prefer not to fill up my x/24 status.