How about we redirect to something completely on topic!
2 Questions:
1) If you were told you had to close ALL of your CCs and could only hold ONE card...which card would you hold, and why?
2) Tell me about your favorite trip that churning has enabled. Where did you go? How did churning make it possible? etc...
Let's flood the thread with fun on topic comments that can encourage everybody during these tough times!!
for both me and
@calypso726, we would both agree our CI+ is the one and only CC we would keep for the lifetime. haha.
i think churning enables me to fly J class a lot more often than i would. Lounges def spoil me and my family.
also being able to stay at Hyatt all over the country has been a big benefit in this churning world.
ONE card?
Only ONE card!
What do you mean
ONE card!
What type of dystopian, credit card, travel hacker, planning nightmare do you want us to envision?
All right,
@Albort is absolutely right and if I had to go all Hunger Games in my wallet, I'd choose District 13, which is the Ink Plus card. Can I just say that I love the fact
@Albort knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I'd pick the old Ink Plus card which PlanePrincess and I both still have and love dearly
So on to the why. The old Ink Plus earns 5x on phone, internet, cable and Office supply stores. Thanks to third party GCs at office supply stores and fee free offers from time to time on the cash equivalent GCs, I can get nearly 5x on almost all purchases up to $50,000 in spend per year. The UR points are variable so I can transfer direct to airlines and hotels. While I'd have to sacrifice the value of the CSR at 1.5 to the Ink+ at 1.25, the greater UR earning potential and lower fee with the Ink+ actually outweigh the CSR in a one card only scenario.
Now, favorite trip. WOW, that's tough. Churning has enabled aspects for all of our trips. I will say my favorite air travel PlanePrincess type experience is hands down, Singapore Suites for comfort and service. This was on the way to the China Adventures By Disney trip in 2018. We used SPG points to transfer to Singapore Airlines. We had to position at JFK to catch the flight from there and used AA gift cards for the flight over to NY if memory serves. The plane experience was so amazing it literally deserves a mention as far as things churning has allowed me to experience.
If I go with favorite overall trip where every aspect of it besides food and souvenirs was accomplished with credit card points from churning and travel hacking, then that is a different matter. I think I'd have to choose last year's Dubai/Maldives trip. The airfare and accommodations alone would have cost over $50,000. We managed it with $235, a combinations of SPG points converted to Marriott points, used those to get Marriott air and hotel travel packages with Alaska Air. Cancelled the hotel part on all but one of the travel packages to get more Marriott points. Used Alaska Air miles to get first class flights on Emirates to fly to Dubai with a free stop over. This was the plane with the shower. We had to position to IAH and used United miles to get there. Used Marriott points to book the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa for a few nights which is an all inclusive. Therefore, we did not need to budget for food and they also include two activities daily. Then, a few days later we flew to the Maldives for no additional miles. We stayed at the Conrad Rangali in over-water bungalows using Hilton points. We used the Hilton Aspire resort credits to pay for the sea plane. The Aspire gave us Diamond status so we had free breakfast and afternoon tea at the resort and only had to worry about dinner. I'll post some pics for the newer folks on the thread. A picture is worth 1,000 words as they say. So here are a few 1000 just to convey nearly anything is possible with travel hacking. There is no way we would have been able to do this trip without this hobby.
