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

[Haley R]

VA definitely has the high fees, too, but as i said in our PM, for me it's a balancing act of convenience (no stopovers), availability (I can usually find awards), and fees. The thing with weather in London is you never know, but I personally LOVE the fall. I did get hit with some rain in early October this year, but that can happen any time. I think September is a great travel month because you'll be after a lot of the tourists.

I think with a baby, I'd lean to doing the short route on the way so start in London (MCO to LHR/LGW), take the train from London to Edinburgh, and then fly from Edinburgh home. That way you don't have to clear customs before catching your connecting flight, which keeps the time down. Since EDI to London is a domestic flight, you won't have to leave as much time between flights as if you were connecting the other way.


Great minds

I forgot to mention this--we've taken advantage and it's one of the reasons I always book award flights for DD.

We have tons of credit history so I doubt that's it, but maybe they were trying to see if there were any recent cards not showing up on both? Thanks for the DP though!

Ah, okay. Thanks. I haven't noticed this before, but I haven't applied for a card since I got my experian.

I’ll keep an open mind about September since you like it so much. That would almost be better because it would give us more time with the baby before booking flights. I looked and it isn’t much colder compared to July and August.

So I looked at round trip to/from London and then I looked at just one way from Edinburgh to MCO. The one way flight would cost the same as the entire round trip from London. I know we’d have to take the train back but if one way is that expensive would that be the better option?

 

[Lain]

Guys, I might be about to make my first eBags purchase... do we think the prices will go down anymore on Black Friday, or are the current sale prices usually as good as it gets? Also, how fast is shipping? DH said he'd like new luggage before he takes a business trip leaving next Wednesday.

I don’t recall eBags really getting into the whole Black Friday thing. Cash back portals may have higher % back later this week. eBags offers 2 day shipping via Shoprunner, which is a benefit included in most (all?) Amex cards.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I’ll keep an open mind about September since you like it so much. That would almost be better because it would give us more time with the baby before booking flights. I looked and it isn’t much colder compared to July and August.

So I looked at round trip to/from London and then I looked at just one way from Edinburgh to MCO. The one way flight would cost the same as the entire round trip from London. I know we’d have to take the train back but if one way is that expensive would that be the better option?

Are you looking at cash prices? I thought you were looking at award flights. Big difference. One ways in cash don't work internationally. But for award flights one ways will be half the price on BA and VS. For some reason, I'm not seeing any PE from EDI on British Air right now in the fall. I'm seeing tons of business though. The costs is 62500 avios plus $560 in fees for one way business from EDI to MCO via LGW.

 

[Lain]

I applied for the BA Chase card yesterday and got the "need more time" message. My identity monitoring showed that they'd pulled from Experian. I just got another notice (24 hours later) that they pulled a second report from Equifax. That seemed weird to me ... is that normal?

Chase always pulls EX and EQ for me and DW.

This was discussed on r/churning just a few days ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/dzziqq/_/f8djdhp

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Chase always pulls EX and EQ for me and DW.

This was discussed on r/churning just a few days ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/dzziqq/_/f8djdhp

How funny! Thanks for the link and for the DP. It seemed weird to me, but I guess it's all good. I'll check on the status tomorrow.

 

[ten6mom]

So, just to try to get an idea (I have about 3 weeks yet) about either business or first class availability for Japan, I logged into United's website following the directions I found here on Reddit.

There are NO flights on that site that are listed as being operated by ANA. I know that post is two years old but AFAIK that's still the procedure as you all understand it, correct? @calypso726 @Haley R ? I bookmarked that post on purpose so I would have it to refer back to but I see nothing for ANA at all.

Do you think I am doing something wrong, or am I just out of luck?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

So, just to try to get an idea (I have about 3 weeks yet) about either business or first class availability for Japan, I logged into United's website following the directions I found here on Reddit.

There are NO flights on that site that are listed as being operated by ANA. I know that post is two years old but AFAIK that's still the procedure as you all understand it, correct? @calypso726 @Haley R ? I bookmarked that post on purpose so I would have it to refer back to but I see nothing for ANA at all.

Do you think I am doing something wrong, or am I just out of luck?

The info in the post is still good. Not sure where you are trying to leave from, but you may have to do a positioning flight. I'm seeing decent availability at least on the way there from SFO to Tokyo in October. This was one day that happened to have a first seat available. But I clicked though a couple other days and saw availability as well.

 

[ten6mom]

The info in the post is still good. Not sure where you are trying to leave from, but you may have to do a positioning flight. I'm seeing decent availability at least on the way there from SFO to Tokyo in October. This was one day that happened to have a first seat available. But I clicked though a couple other days and saw availability as well.


View attachment 454887

Ahhhh forgot about the repositioning. I was only checking out of LAX... thank you!

Interesting that there is still nothing, even out of SFO, for later in the month (by ANA) that I could find. That October 16 that you show, I was able to duplicate.

Thank you.... I'll just have to keep a super close eye on it. December 13 is when I plan to book if possible.

Thanks again!

ETA: The ANA flight you're showing in your snip is gone! I don't see an ANA nonstop now. Gosh I wonder if it disappeared that fast? Yikes!

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Ahhhh forgot about the repositioning. I was only checking out of LAX... thank you!

Interesting that there is still nothing, even out of SFO, for later in the month (by ANA) that I could find. That October 16 that you show, I was able to duplicate.

Thank you.... I'll just have to keep a super close eye on it. December 13 is when I plan to book if possible.

Thanks again!

ETA: The ANA flight you're showing in your snip is gone! I don't see an ANA nonstop now. Gosh I wonder if it disappeared that fast? Yikes!

I’ve had things disappear fast so you never know. The issue is that the day the United calendar opens can be different from the day that Ana actually makes partner flights available. I’d start tracking the last day you are seeing them now and use that as a general guideline. In other words those oct 16th flights might have just dropped today even though United‘s calendar goes until the 24th.

 

[wanderlust7]

NCL is having a 30% off all cruises sale. Which stacks with the 20% past cruiser sale (if the sailing qualifies). Not *quite* as amazing as it sounds since they jack up the base price. But looks like we'll be saving $500 over 2 cabins. Sent off the refare e-mail to my TA, hope she gets back to me quickly.

 

[ten6mom]

I’ve had things disappear fast so you never know. The issue is that the day the United calendar opens can be different from the day that Ana actually makes partner flights available. I’d start tracking the last day you are seeing them now and use that as a general guideline. In other words those oct 16th flights might have just dropped today even though United‘s calendar goes until the 24th.

Plus the added stress of finding a return! Even if it's for the same day and I can change it later... yikes!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Well, I can totally see why a 19yo (and all those on the FB group with her) would be weirded out. They are all a bunch of kids looking to have the roommate experience that has become well-known in the DCP world. That doesn't include rooming with someone who is old enough to be your mother. This has nothing to do with judging anyone who chooses to go back to school later in life - I'm 100% in favor of that - but do those folks typically live in the dorms with the young students...?? I've never seen that happen and I've known quite a few go back to school in their 40's. Usually those folks aren't wanting to live among a bunch of college kids but instead have lived on their own and maybe even are married. And I'll just also say that the 51yo man who is hanging out on a FB group with a bunch of 19 and 20yo's trying to act cool is also odd.

I would agree that whoever would get paired with this person as a roommate would sort of be robbed of part of the experience. The whole thing definitely weirds me out. They do background checks on these people, right?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

It's not cheap to be in the dorms. I actually think cost would be less in a non-DCP housing situation. And there are plenty of FB pages for CM's looking for roomies - whether they are PT/FT CM's or CP's - If I were an older CP, I'd look for a CM to room with who wasn't in the CP. As a woman in my 40's, I would know, without any doubt, that none of those kids would want me for their roommate, yk??

Well, if they really knew you...maybe they would want you as a roommate. Kidding! The more I read about this potential situation the more odd it seems to me, that’s for sure. I just want to say:
Be an adult...you can’t live with teens in some dorm. Sorry!

 

[wendow]

They do background checks on these people, right?

Not that I know of! And yes, you hit the nail on the head, this robs someone out of part of the experience.

 

[wendow]

Well, if they really knew you...maybe they would want you as a roommate. Kidding! The more I read about this potential situation the more odd it seems to me, that’s for sure. I just want to say:
Be an adult...you can’t live with teens in some dorm. Sorry!

Okay, yeah, you’re right (as usual ). They would want me as a roommate cause I’m the cool mom, right?!? But since not everyone can be as cool as me, then they need to not try and be 19yo again and let them have roommates their age to go through this experience with!!

 

[ten6mom]

Okay, yeah, you’re right (as usual ). They would want me as a roommate cause I’m the cool mom, right?!? But since not everyone can be as cool as me, then they need to not try and be 19yo again and let them have roommates their age to go through this experience with!!

I'll room with you!

 

[havaneselover]

Well, I can totally see why a 19yo (and all those on the FB group with her) would be weirded out. They are all a bunch of kids looking to have the roommate experience that has become well-known in the DCP world. That doesn't include rooming with someone who is old enough to be your mother. This has nothing to do with judging anyone who chooses to go back to school later in life - I'm 100% in favor of that - but do those folks typically live in the dorms with the young students...?? I've never seen that happen and I've known quite a few go back to school in their 40's. Usually those folks aren't wanting to live among a bunch of college kids but instead have lived on their own and maybe even are married. And I'll just also say that the 51yo man who is hanging out on a FB group with a bunch of 19 and 20yo's trying to act cool is also odd.

We had a handful of non traditional age college students in our dorms at UVA and it was weird to me.

I don't blame your daughter or you for being a bit uncomfortable with this.

 

[amalone1013]

I can see it now, this will be the one time my work closes for snow where I'd benefit (the other times they've closed have always been at the end of 1st shift) and my day be cancelled... except I have to be there at 3am today so I will have still had to drive there and work. Of course I say all of this without looking out the window

 

[havaneselover]

I'm glad I'm only working two days this week. My job is about to do me in Too much drama and emotion. I'm too old for this!

 

[calypso726]

So, just to try to get an idea (I have about 3 weeks yet) about either business or first class availability for Japan, I logged into United's website following the directions I found here on Reddit.

There are NO flights on that site that are listed as being operated by ANA. I know that post is two years old but AFAIK that's still the procedure as you all understand it, correct? @calypso726 @Haley R ? I bookmarked that post on purpose so I would have it to refer back to but I see nothing for ANA at all.

Do you think I am doing something wrong, or am I just out of luck?

@CaliforniaGirl09 is spot on. The technique is the same. Another tip, make sure to click non stop flights when you enter your departure airport. All of the ANA flights will be non stop from their US gateway airports. I take it you already have your VS miles in place or you will be online to transfer them while on the phone with VS. UR transfer instantly but MR can take longer sometimes. Your departure and arrival do not need to be the same to create a RT. As long as it is 2 one ways. So you can book LAX-NRT-HND-IAH or something like that. When I was doing this last year I checked every single US gateway. I don't mind positioning for an awesome redemption.