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

[havaneselover]

BB&T posted for DW. I know they are once per household. I got this at our previous address, then we moved and I tried for DW and it worked.

03/15/19 - Opened
03/25/19 - DD
04/08/19 - DD
04/22/19 - DD
05/06/19 - DD
05/20/19 - DD
06/03/19 - DD
06/04/19 - $200 bonus posted.

This was way more DDs than necessary to trigger the bonus, I just set it up through work to keep the account fee-free. cc @DisneyMandC

Mine posted too!

 

[castoral]

How did you get Bellagio for $50 a night? That seems like a sweet deal!

I'm realizing now what a fluke it was. In March, the night before our cruise, I was just scrolling through FB trying to get to sleep, and low and behold this post comes up about a pricing error on rooms at Bellagio for all of Nov. So I thought, what the heck. Got on and sure enough, $50/night. So I booked it figuring later I'd cancel it. Hubby is deathly afraid of flying and we weren't about to drive from Ohio. I told him about it and he wasn't crazy about the idea. Who would watch the 4 kids, how long is that flight, etc? But then he started telling people "yeah, we've going to Vegas for our anniversary." Ohhh......are we? He's like....why not. SOOOO we're going haha. I REALLY want to go to somewhere "exotic" in the Caribbean for our 15 year anniversary next Nov so this will be a nice primer to see if the kids burn the house down without us.

 

[castoral]

Would love to hear about the Valley of Fire after you do it. I am thinking about a trip next spring to Valley of Fire, Death Valley and Joshua tree. We weren't able to get to Valley of Fire when we went to Vegas/Grand Canyon/Zion/Bryce 2 years ago. I loved the Hoover Dam tour, the one where you get to see more of the dam. You get to go back areas and peer out one of the holes in the side of the dam. It was really good.

I will report back on it but I'll admit I may not be the best source. I WANT to do all "those" vacations like Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but we get bored after 15 min hiking around our house. We did Colonial Williamsburg last summer and THANK GOD we did VA Beach with it or my kids would have died (ages 12-6). I start planning something like this every summer and then look at it and think they'll hate it. And yes, I was accused on the Williamsburg FB page of being "one of those Disney families" (hahaha) where we need in your face fun all the time, but whatever, maybe its true.

 

[Lain]

Is anyone able to help me try to figure out how to get 4 1st class tickets from Boston to Hawaii on points? We're looking to go next August, so flights aren't released yet, but I was looking on awardhacker and I'm super confused. We could fly into HNL or OGG. Thank you!

I've chatted with @MrPTato about first class lie-flat seats from BOS>HNL on Hawaiian previously:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...t-page-for-addl-details.3729982/post-60402220
https://www.disboards.com/threads/i...t-page-for-addl-details.3729982/post-60537814
Here are Hawaiian's award charts: http://hawaiianair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2218/~/hawaiianmiles-award-chart

It seems the going rate for one-way first class seats is 130k HawaiianMiles. I don't think I've ever seen saver award availability for first class on Hawaiian, but it might be worth setting up expertflyer. For 4 people, roundtrip, that's a lot of points! If you had to pick, it's 11 hours to Hawaii, and 9 hours back to BOS. The flight to Hawaii takes off from Boston in the morning and arrives in Hawaii in the afternoon. The return flight is a red-eye that departs in the afternoon and lands around 5 or 6 am ET.

TPG has some flight reviews:

Doing the 6-Time-Zone Shuffle: A Review of Hawaiian Airlines’ A330 in First Class From Boston to Honolulu - TPG

America’s Longest Red-Eye: Hawaiian Airlines’ A330 in Economy From Honolulu to Boston - TPG

The writer of both articles is the same, so you can read his perspective of flying BOS>HNL in first, and returning from HNL>BOS in economy.

There are some pretty good offers on the Barclays Hawaiian credit cards, which could buff up your HawaiianMiles, right now:

Barclays 60,000 Hawaiian Airlines Bonus – Annual Fee Waived First Year - DoC

Barclays 70,000 Mile Hawaiian Business Offer - DoC

But, as we know, Barclays has been randomly verifying people's "businesses," so there's a risk it might be a wasted pull.

I hope this helps get you started.

 

[kmc8826]

Closed out first CIP after a year middle of April. Last business card (Ink Cash) approved middle of March. Applied yesterday for CIP. AND today it is showing in my online account. Approved!

I will get on later and SM to expedite it. If I pull this off I will have paid for this DVC Riviera contract by helping to make spend on 6 different cards. The having 60 days to pay off the contract is what saved me for sure.

 

[havaneselover]

I will report back on it but I'll admit I may not be the best source. I WANT to do all "those" vacations like Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, but we get bored after 15 min hiking around our house. We did Colonial Williamsburg last summer and THANK GOD we did VA Beach with it or my kids would have died (ages 12-6). I start planning something like this every summer and then look at it and think they'll hate it. And yes, I was accused on the Williamsburg FB page of being "one of those Disney families" (hahaha) where we need in your face fun all the time, but whatever, maybe its true.

I live an hour from Williamsburg and have zero interest in ever going to Colonial Williamsburg. I grew up being dragged to Sturbridge Village in MA which for some reason my parents thought was interesting. I like BG and WC, not a fan of VA beach, but have no clue how people spend a week on vacation in that area. I'd lose my mind.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Hello, been reading but not posting much. Memorial Day trip to the world using our annual passes for the last time went great but there was one hitch. American Airlines canceled our flights to MCO from Philly the day of, so I had to scramble and buy 4 same day tickets on United leaving from Newark. Super expensive but we did it and I received a full refund from American so only an additional $400 out of pocket after all was said and done. Stayed at the Hyatt MCO which was super convenient for our late night arrival and Grand Floridian Resort and Spa at WDW. Enjoyed Flower and Garden immensely.

We are headed to Toronto and Niagara Falls Ont in two weeks. Staying at the Intercontinental Toronto Center and Hyatt Regency Toronto on points and free night certs. Staying at Sheraton on the Falls in Niagara.

In terms of points and miles, I have finished the spend on my Barclays JetBlue biz and looking forward to seeing those 60,000 true blue points posting.

I have booked flights and Airbnb’s for our Italy trip for spring break. I am now booking next years summer vacation in California. The plan is to hit Vegas for a night, then head to Anaheim, San Diego and finally San Francisco. I plan to use a mix of AA miles, gift cards, Hyatt points and Amtrak points. This should make the trip relatively inexpensive. I have the Hyatt Place Anaheim booked for our dates as soon as the window opened. I used 30,000 Hyatt points plus my free night. Rates are hovering at $800 a night so super good deal. I know they will come down eventually but nice to not have to worry about it.

Can anyone recommend a park ticket strategy? 3 park one day or 2 day park hopper? Maxpass essential or optional?

I'm a little bit of an outlier on the PH for DL, but we've gone twice and not gotten PH either time and been very happy with our trip. For first time visitors especially, I think there's plenty to see and do in each park that you really don't need to hop. That being said, the parks are so close together that it's very easy to hop back and forth if you want to.

I consider Maxpass essential. They didn't have it for our first trip but did for our second and I absolutely loved it. I actually wish WDW would get this, and I've always liked the FP+ system (yes, I'm weird). The price tag may sway you not to though, since I think you're a family of 4 if I remember correctly.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I live an hour from Williamsburg and have zero interest in ever going to Colonial Williamsburg. I grew up being dragged to Sturbridge Village in MA which for some reason my parents thought was interesting. I like BG and WC, not a fan of VA beach, but have no clue how people spend a week on vacation in that area. I'd lose my mind.

I don't know how people spend a week there either. I spend three days at oceanfront every August for work and that's plenty for me. We usually only sit on the beach for one afternoon during that time, and we always leave the strip to go eat somewhere else for dinner haha.

 

[DaveL]

I suppose I have been gone way too long, new looking site and who knows how many hundreds of pages behind! I just fast forwarded to the end just in time to see @SouthFayetteFan has moved up to the hot shots list... LOL.

 

[Judique]

I'm not caught up but thought I would post regarding Chase offers: This morning I see Chase offers for AT&T and ADT on my daughter's Disney card. I talked her into applying for the no fee card in March of 2018 and we put our cell phones on this card.
The proviso for her getting the card and me getting the referral was that I would manage the card, so I go in once a month and pay the cell bill. Daughter pays our Comcast cable and I pay the cells, which is $18 for the service for 2 phones from Xfinity as we both keep them on free wifi almost exclusively. One month out of the last 2 years we've had a bill for double when someone forgot to turn off mobile data. I keep wondering when Xfinity is going to pull the plug and make us pay more. Of course we bought our phones outright - Samsung S8 and S9.
But I digress - seems you can get offers on the Disney card with spend, no matter how small. I may have to start putting a few $$ per month on that one (my no fee Disney card) and the IHG, both of which are sock drawered. I would like to get more Lowes offers.

 

[Judique]

I don't know how people spend a week there either. I spend three days at oceanfront every August for work and that's plenty for me. We usually only sit on the beach for one afternoon during that time, and we always leave the strip to go eat somewhere else for dinner haha.

I agree with this based on past visits - been a long time, but my limit was 2 nights.

 

[DisneyMandC]

BB&T posted for DW. I know they are once per household. I got this at our previous address, then we moved and I tried for DW and it worked.

03/15/19 - Opened
03/25/19 - DD
04/08/19 - DD
04/22/19 - DD
05/06/19 - DD
05/20/19 - DD
06/03/19 - DD
06/04/19 - $200 bonus posted.

This was way more DDs than necessary to trigger the bonus, I just set it up through work to keep the account fee-free. cc @DisneyMandC

Hmm the bonus posted on DH's account but not mine. Honestly, I'm not even sure I realized it was one per household. I wonder if that's the problem. I confirmed on my account a while ago that the bonus is attached. Honestly I'll probably just let it go and be happy with DH's bonus. Wonder how soon I can transfer the money out of my account and close it.

 

[elgerber]

Instant approval on the Barclays Arrival +. Back to 3/24 LOL. Only until the end of July.

 

[calypso726]

@calypso726 - that's a PLANE???? Wow!!!!

So with your mention of transfer points... What order do you do things in when actually getting ready to book anything (hotel or flight)? I am worried for example that I'll think I'll have enough UR points or whatever and then when I get to the point when I am ready to transfer I will be short, or something.

Is the amount of points needed (for anything) highly variable or what has your experience been? I know I have so much to learn and I am so very grateful for all the tips and advice you all are willing to share!

I should say I don't have ANY points YET but I am working on it!

Yup! That’s a plane and one of my favorite flights to date. You’ll notice our lovely group here has a diverse number of goals for using points and miles. Mine and @PlanePrincess goals include flying first class and luxury redemptions. You will notice that a number of us currently have millions of points and miles. Never lose sight of the fact that we all started with zero points and miles. Everyone starts somewhere. You are in a good spot to start out with a friendly group that is happy to help and won’t be judgemental no matter what your goals or comfort level on this hobby.

Now to answer the question. That depends. Some airlines have fixed award pricing for standard/peak awards and saver/off peak awards. Some airlines price awards based on distance. Some airlines offer dynamic pricing. Some airlines won’t even publish an award chart *cough ... Delta Sky Pesos ... cough*

I always advocate doing dummy bookings to where you want to go to see what they might cost you on both the high and low end so you can plan accordingly. For example, we flew AA from Miami to Santiago Chile last year on our way to Antarctica. I knew beforehand that my flight could cost as few as 57,500 AA miles each way or 195,00 AA miles each way per person. So, I made sure to have over 800,000 AA miles available to cover those before I needed to book them which would be about one year before my departure date.

 

[elgerber]

Question, that I may have missed a discussion on. Has this wording always been on Amex Delta offers? I don't recall seeing this before, basically that you can't a new offer if you already have a Delta card? I was going to try to get DH out of pop up jail with the Delta Blue because the spend is small and we have had all the other cards LOL, but then I saw this...

"Welcome offer not available to applicants who have or have had this Card or the Delta SkyMiles® Options Credit Card. Welcome offer not available to applicants who currently have or have had one of the following cards in the last 90 days: Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, Gold Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, Platinum Delta SkyMiles Credit Card, or Delta Reserve® Credit Card. We may also consider the number of American Express Cards you have opened and closed as well as other factors in making a decision on your welcome offer eligibility."

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Closed out first CIP after a year middle of April. Last business card (Ink Cash) approved middle of March. Applied yesterday for CIP. AND today it is showing in my online account. Approved!

I will get on later and SM to expedite it. If I pull this off I will have paid for this DVC Riviera contract by helping to make spend on 6 different cards. The having 60 days to pay off the contract is what saved me for sure.

Congrats on the approval and purchasing Rivera

 

[miztressuz]

Sounds like fun! I am way behind and this has probably already been noted but you do not need to physically have your GE cards with you. The GE is tied to your passport. Once you go up to the kiosk and scan your passport, everything should work from there. I never carry the cards with me now.

Except for land and sea entry, you use your card for that apparently. Not sure if that's newish or I completely forgot, but I was just noticing that bit when we applied hubby for GE. I could have forgotten it because we don't really drive across borders and hubby doesn't have it (yet!) so it wouldn't have gotten us into the fast lane anyway.
At the airport completely unused (unless you're using it as a form of ID).
Since @CyndiLouWho took a cruise this might have been something with that? (I hope)

 

[MKTokyo]

I'm so nervous about Chase catching on & cutting us off that I applied for CIP #2 this morning, on vacation. Auto-approved! My first one took forever (6 days, I think? Maybe 8?) - I guess being here brought me some Mickey Luck.

 

[MKTokyo]

I live an hour from Williamsburg and have zero interest in ever going to Colonial Williamsburg. I grew up being dragged to Sturbridge Village in MA which for some reason my parents thought was interesting. I like BG and WC, not a fan of VA beach, but have no clue how people spend a week on vacation in that area. I'd lose my mind.

Worst field trip ever.

 

[hsmamato2]

I just keep getting the almost free kindle unlimited subscriptions.

whattttttttttt I'm an avid reader and I had NO idea I could get free books from IHG!!!!!! what else don't I know????? I'm so excited now (my library card needs renewing before I can get overdrive books again)