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

[Sarah_B]

Looking for Citi Business AA Mailers 75/5 -- the churning marketplace seems to suggest the market value is 70$. Is that really what people are paying? Is there a better source for these?

 

[Lain]

Looking for Citi Business AA Mailers 75/5 -- the churning marketplace seems to suggest the market value is 70$. Is that really what people are paying? Is there a better source for these?

Tagging @SouthFayetteFan.

 

[GlamMistress]

Been so busy and catching up on news and here - now reading the news about no more Cuba cruises. I've had Cuba on my must cruise list.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/travel/cuba-cruise-travel-ban.html

 

[CyndiLouWho]

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.

They wouldn’t even let us get in the short line without seeing the cards ( I found them once I got home)

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Hmmmm no Lowe's offers for me, so a "moo" or "mute" point I suppose.

Do the business cards also have "offers" or just the personal ones?

I have only seen them on my personal cards

 

[GZanta77]

We loved having a car and DH had a blast driving on the wrong side of the road. If you want to go for the bonus round, take a UK rental car across the Chunnel and drive on the right side of the road while sitting in the wrong side of the car

DH went to our local AAA office and applied for an international driving permit. No clue if they’re actually required but we were told it was a good idea to have. So might be something to verify if you go the rental route.

And Costco offers rental cars in Europe so definitely check out the prices there for comparison. I think we used them for our 2016 trip. We used Arnold Clark for our 2009 trip (flew in and out of Glasgow). Great experiences with both.

Now I really want to plan another trip to the UK!!!

@Haley R No need to get an international driving permit - your US license is just fine.

Just to note: most rental cars in UK/Europe will be manual/stick shift. If you are comfortable with that you will get a better price on the rental as the cars with the auto boxes tend to be priced quite a bit higher.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

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)

Just bad luck I guess. Because it was at the Vancouver airport (which BTW has some horrific customs lines) DH asked which line we could use with Precheck or GE and the guy waved us to the long line since we couldn’t produce our cards. This was on the way home YVR to ORD. On the way there, GE also useless as we were told only Nexus was accepted and we were made to wait in the hour plus line (not sure if that was correct or not)

 

[afan]

Just bad luck I guess. Because it was at the Vancouver airport (which BTW has some horrific customs lines) DH asked which line we could use with Precheck or GE and the guy waved us to the long line since we couldn’t produce our cards. This was on the way home YVR to ORD. On the way there, GE also useless as we were told only Nexus was accepted and we were made to wait in the hour plus line (not sure if that was correct or not)

GE only helps going through US customs, so the nexus on arrival in Vancouver was correct. A lot of Canadian airports have you go through US customs before you leave instead of at your destination. I think part of that allows them to fly to smaller airports that don't have customs. You shouldn't need your GE card though, as a PP said. It could be you got a bad agent or for some odd reason they do it differently there.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Looks like DS and I will be Universal this fall over his college break. It will be another use of the SW CP (that will 3 trips this year). I am looking to use my AA miles for onsite hotels (I am an EP snob and can't go without) and URs for tickets. So it should be almost free with just money for food and any souvenirs.

Question on Universal tickets on the Chase portal: Do I need to worry about anything before pulling the trigger? I haven't been to Universal for 2 years. Are there expiration dates? Do you get physical tickets through Chase or do you need to trade in the virtual tickets at will call?

Any tips on saving on food? I thought someone mentioned there is at least one Landry's restaurant and possibility to pick up discounted gift cards for that. I guess if I knew we would eat in the park or at one of the hotels, I could pick up a discounted Universal GC.

Thanks!

where are you getting discounted gc for universal?

Sooo.... what did you decide?




Oh gosh. I wonder if I should get Disney GC's there instead of at Kroger/Frys? Ugggghhhhh. Is it all Chase cards? Because Chase Freedom is 5% on grocery stores and home improvement stores right now....



I too am a BW person. Not that I don't appreciate nicer hotels but I rarely am willing to pay more for them. I wonder if that will change...

so far only on personal cards. check your offers frequently as some appear after others report they have the offer

 

[speedyfishy]

I seriously think the UK is gonna be our next trip because Dh has wanted to go to Ireland for awhile now and I have to go to the tour lol. I wanna plan now but I’m too busy

Wait didn’t you say you were going to stop traveling after Japan? See what churning does lol

 

[ten6mom]

I have only seen them on my personal cards

so far only on personal cards. check your offers frequently as some appear after others report they have the offer

Ok, will keep checking. It would be in the "offers" section, right? And you'd have to select specific ones? (I really hate that, BTW. Can't they just automatically give them to me???)

 

[DisneyMandC]

where are you getting discounted gc for universal?

The only place I’ve seen Universal GCs in my area are at Kroger. I bought some at 4x fuel points and you could combine with CF this quarter. You could always get a discounted VGC or MCGC and go that route to purchase them at Kroger too.

 

[ten6mom]

@Haley R would you mind sharing which airport you flew out of (in the US, assuming you did) and into/out of in Japan? I've only flown out of LAX to NRT and then from KIX to LAX. Just wondering if I will need to add Haneda to the mix if I fly ANA.

 

[speedyfishy]

Hopefully this is a fun one for the churners.

What’s your record for credit card applications in a single month (you can use calendar month or 30 days, doesn’t matter)?

How many players (P1, P2, etc)?

How many were you approved for?

My app o rama. CSP, Hyatt, Barclay Arrival, Barclay AA, and Citi AA personal we’re approved. Denied for BOA, and US Bank altitude reserve.

 

[PolyRob]

Hmmmm no Lowe's offers for me, so a "moo" or "mute" point I suppose.

Do the business cards also have "offers" or just the personal ones?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Ok, will keep checking. It would be in the "offers" section, right? And you'd have to select specific ones? (I really hate that, BTW. Can't they just automatically give them to me???)

Yes....on the offers section and yea unfortunately you have to activate the ones you want

 

[mmmears]

Wait didn’t you say you were going to stop traveling after Japan? See what churning does lol

Shhhh! Don't remind her. Our love for travel is starting to spread.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

What excursions did you book? Going on an Alaskan Cruise June 2020 and so lost on this as we normally do Caribbean. I have no clues on Alaska (besides it will be colder and rainier..)

Actually it was warm last week, and locals lamenting the lack of rain. The excursions we did were the Yukon bus trip with Dogcart experience direct with Chilkoot Charters (saw lots of recs for this company on cruise board). They have a bus up/train down or vice versa, but it is longer and I didn’t think DS would tolerate much more than a 5 hour trip. During the trip up, some of those taking the train back said they thought we got a better deal because they weren’t going to see anything extra from the train (but it costs more). On the way back, it was us and one other couple (24 people going up) so the driver said he would stop whenever we wanted. He made a few unscheduled stops to see waterfalls and a moose. Since I booked direct, I used URs for a credit.
I also booked a whale watching expedition thru the UR portal. It was thru Juneau Whale Watch and included 2 hrs whale watching then drop off near Mendenhall Glacier where you can hike about 2 miles to the closest viewing point. Then they have a shuttle you can take back to town.
I also booked a floatplane to Misty Fjords but chickened out. Sadly that was the only non refundable excursion I booked.

I was going to post a pic but why is it upside down?!?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Poking around for fun on the Orlando area activities on the UR portal. Did you know you can snorkel with manatees?????

I don't think I've ever told y'all how much I love manatees. I would straight up cry if I got to do this.

Me too! As a kid, I got to pet one that was at a museum in Bradenton FL . It was so cool. That same manatee died in 2017 at age 69. Amazing. Plus there was this total campy mermaid and manatee show at Weeki Wachee Springs that kid-me loved.
I kinda made DS do his animal research project for school this year on manateess. (Dragged him to the WDW exhibit and kept saying how cool they were)

 

[Mopedmom1]

Been so busy and catching up on news and here - now reading the news about no more Cuba cruises. I've had Cuba on my must cruise list.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/travel/cuba-cruise-travel-ban.html

Yep, I had been researching a Cuba cruise this spring, and then there were whisperings this might happen so I switched to a Mexican Riviera instead. So glad I did, because the cruise I would have booked will probably be stopping at lame ports now.