I was supposed to go in Dec 2020 and decided against due to covid. DH agreed to come this time so I got tickets for Dec 3 & 4. Had to do a lot of refreshing after that to get the discounted rate for RPR. $165 is a great rate. I let my AP expire since I didn't use it enough last year.
We went last December and we were the first night of the meetup. There were some issues that night (no cut through between the parks, long lines for food, looong line for Hogwarts Express because of no cut through). To OI’s credit, they listened to the complaints and found ways to fix those issues for future nights.
I lost a whole bunch of cards I bought at Safeway. Freaked me out...I found them 2 months later.I'm over here sick to my stomach....I can't find $400 in VGC! I bought them during the OM/OD offer 2 weeks ago. I thought they were in my school bag, went to grab them today and I didn't see them. I can't find them anywhere in my house. My kids are both on alert if they come across them. I'm hoping MAYBE I took them out at school this week and MAYBE they are still there. They are still in the package. I've tried to replay all I can remember. But I bought 2 sets of $200 that week. One set is in my wallet. I can't remember the details of which was which at this point.
Does Ally ever offer SUB? I'm all about a good bank bonus!
The sucky thing is, my son was the best player and I think the only one they cut. I might hit up some of the parents after this week to see how tryouts ended up. I did see a post about his team on the hockey boards. Someone was trashing the team, which makes me think maybe another kid got cut, LOL. My DD has been on travel soccer since 6, so I've got 10 years in the hell that is tryouts. This is my son's 4th season trying out for travel. I know that you're never guaranteed a spot season to season. But to be told you're the best player, and then the last month to be told you've been playing your best hockey......
It appears your best bet will be to stick with Chase and UR points. You are looking for bargain international fares for a number of people. More often than not paying with URs via the Chase travel portal with a CSR account will be a better play than transferring the URs to an airline for seats in coach. The CSR will make your points more valuable in the portal at 1.5 vs 1.25. When the time comes to pull the trigger, if you find it would be less points for an award seat on United you can transfer the points 1;1 instantly. In your situation, I would not be getting the United card. My suggestion would be to go for an MDD on the CSP/CSR. Then have P2 go for an MDD on the CSP/CSR. I'd look at getting a CIC, CFF and CFU.
The Chase family of cards allows you to earn more URs at a faster rate via bonus categories. The Freedom Flex has rotating 5x categories for up to $1500 in spend each quarter. DH and I each have 3 Freedom cards for the express purpose of maxing out quarterly bonus categories. That amounts to 60k UR a year with no AF, no hard pull.
A CIC will give you 5x at office supply stores (up to $25K per year spend) which sell gift cards for 3rd party merchants which can get you close to 5x on most of your shopping. Staples and OD/OM often have sales that eliminate the activation fee on VGC and MCGCs which can get you even closer to 5x on all spend. When you are shopping online, you can find many merchants through the Chase UR shopping portal and beef up your URs by shopping through there. We each have the old Ink Plus which is like the CIC for 5x at office supply stores but lets you spend $50k a year in bonus categories. This is the work horse of our UR family of cards.
Hope this helps
If you ask to join the DISChurners Reddit forum you can find a detailed post on how to do it. Basically, you'll apply for the card you really want first, the day after you are approved you need to apply and be approved for the second card.
