I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[Madabouttravel]

Not with the card, it's with the app, specifically the McDonald's app. They always have deals, free fries on Friday! I rarely order without using the app now and if I do it for lunch as a work day break I do curbside pick up as it's way quicker than sitting through the drive thru to pick it up. I'd go inside to pu, but ours still don't have the inside open.

Thank You! So I need to order through the app and Pick it up curbside on-site? Thank you for the tip, I sure didn’t know this

 

[afan]

Since we’re on this topic, another tip:

You can use the McDonald’s app to Mobile Order and use their Deals at airport locations (at least MCO and ATL).

Don’t judge too much - I was in a rush both times and they were my only option. I just bypasses the line at ATL yesterday and skipped a 25+ person line!

Good to know! I think I tried to do that a few years ago or figure out if you could and just got yelled at by a cashier. I just remember getting super irritated by how someone responded or something and it was at MCO. Once you're in the terminal there's not a lot of quick options. I normally just get breakfast after my redeye at McD's on my way to ME. And I think I'll have lounge access on the way home this time. I think when I fly DL I do but when I fly AS I don't, hence that one stop at McD's that irritated me

 

[Angrose]

Hi all. Im wondering what everyone's take on the rental car shortage? It is putting serious
crimp in anything i plan. Trying to book disneyworld for Dec and car rates are crazy. Think
it will go down by then? or wait until 2022? * I wanted to if possible stay in Condo because
planning to go to Universal also.

Have you tried searching on Turo? It’s like Airbnb for cars. We’ve used them twice, once in Hawaii and once in SoCal. Both experiences where great, met the owners in the airport parking lot. So easy, great rates and no hidden fees that always increase the price of rental cars.

 

[Angrose]

I'm trying to figure out how to use our Aspire resort credits before they reset in November. Can I book a room using my Aspire to have the credit cover the room rate, then switch the card on file at check-in to DH's Aspire to cover any resort charges and restaurant charges? Seems like it should work, but I want to make sure I'm not overlooking any fine print.

Yes, that will work, but the resort credit only works at resorts on this list:
https://www3.hilton.com/en/resorts/...Display6MULTIBR7_227095686_21546233_425080152

 

[Laurawill]

I thought I would share a little of my SW card journey in hopes of helping others.

In 2019 my in-laws asked that we save for an extended family trip to Disney World. They were planning to pay for the lodging and we would be paying for our own food, tickets, and transportation. I have been a penny pincher for years and have scrimped and saved for our family's Disneyland vacations in the past and I knew I could cover the tickets and food portion but I wasn't so sure about the transportation. Enter my interest in learning about how credit card rewards could help get us there.

Previous to my new hobby of dabbling in churning, we had a Disney Visa and DH and I each had a CF (original), and we charged most everything to our Costco CITI card for the cash back rewards.

In spring of 2019, after getting advice here, I applied for my first business card, a SW Premier Business Card with a 60k RR SUB. After a couple of days I was approved for that card and after meeting the MS, I signed up for a SW Visa through a support link from my sister at 40k SUB, that Chase then matched to 60k from an offer that came out days after I applied. After meeting that minimum spend requirement I had enough RRs for the companion pass, which was initially supposed to last until the end of 2020. My goal was to pay for our family of four to Orlando in January 2020 and for an adult trip for my spouse and I to hopefully happen in fall of 2020.

We had more than enough points to cover our immediate family's tickets to Disney World in January 2020 for four people, myself, DH, DD (12) and DD (7). Pic at Epcot is our immediate family, pic at MK is the whole 2020 Disney World crew.



When each card's annual fee billed in 2020, I called explained that I wanted to close the card, and in each case I was offered an incentive of a $100 credit to keep the card open, which covered the entire annual fee, so I left them open for another year. Of course I also got the 6k annual bonus for each card.

Life happened and my spouse and I didn't get to go on our trip as planned using the companion pass in 2020, but my sister and I were able to take advantage of the CP and we flew to TN to visit our dad over a long weekend, using the companion pass and points. Plus we had a lap child, so it was kind of like 3 for the price of 1 for that trip . That was also during the wonderful age of leaving the middle seat open, so it was really like 3 for 1! Around this time I found out the companion pass that was supposed to expire on 12/31/2020 had been extended!

Then I saw a deal and I had enough points to cover another set of round trip tickets for the family to go to Orlando in January 2021, this time doing a split between Universal and Disney (sidenote: I was also able to cover three nights hotel and about five days worth of food with my reward from CSP SUB). I was a bit wishy-washy about this trip, booking it early and then cancelling about four weeks beforehand, only to change my mind and decide to go three days before our departure day and re-booking the flights for nearly the same number of RR that I had paid previously #travelduringCOVID .


In March 2021 I decided it was time to close the SW business credit card and I closed it right after the 6k annual RR bonus had posted and then I did the same thing when my personal card annual bonus 6k hit. With those points, plus some from the 5x on up to $1500 spend promo I was able to book tickets for Boston for DH and I for this fall!

So I thought I would break down the nitty-gritty details of how much we have spent on flights and annual fees etc. in the time that we had these cards.

Over the past two years we paid $198 in annual fees.
We accumulated: 120000 SUB RR ,
24000 annual RR (6k for each card's annual reward, 2x)
approx 12k in points from cc spending
approx 3k in bonus category spending RR
For a total of roughly 162,000 RR

With those RRs and the companion pass we were able to book:
California to Orlando-8 roundtrip tickets (6 purchased with points, 2 companion pass)
California to Nashville-2 roundtrip tickets (1 purchased, 1 companion pass-and one lap child, which I am not counting)
California to Boston-2 roundtrip tickets (1 purchased, 1 companion pass)

For a total of 12 round trip tickets.

We paid for EBCI for everyone on our first trip to Orlando which was $200 for the roundtrip, purchased EBCI for one person for TN which was $50, purchased EBCI for 3 out of four of us for Orlando in 2021-$150, and today I added EBCI for one person for our flight to Boston-$50 (another sidenote, I was able to use a friend's card and pay them back to get them the 50x bonus since I just closed my card and I couldn't take advantage). Taxes were another $11-ish per roundtrip.

So my overall costs (that were not my usual everyday spend of groceries, gas, and utilities that we put on the credit cards) was: $780 for 12 roundtrip-cross-country trips (8 were paid with RR's, 4 companion pass tickets). That makes each flight the equivalent of $32.50. We really did only spend about $12k total on these two cards in the time that we had them and those were on our everyday expenses like groceries, gas, and utility bills. I am amazed we were able to get so much out of so little spending. Before starting all this I thought that free flights for reward miles only happened for people who had tons of money and were big spenders, which we are obviously not, lol.

Anyway, thank you all for all of your help so our family could have these adventures!

 

[Judique]

Thank You! So I need to order through the app and Pick it up curbside on-site? Thank you for the tip, I sure didn’t know this

Thanks for asking! I go when I have the kids - they always want McD's, mostly for the Happy Meal box.

 

[pinkxray]

I am thinking about booking a hotel through the Amex fine hotel collection or whatever it is called. I probably won’t have the card anymore by the time we travel next year. Any issue with that?
I will have another Amex Plat., just not the one used to book.

 

[Haley R]

Well now I want McDonald’s at 6:50 am

 

[spacerangerqueen]

I was just checking over my charges on my Disney card and it appears I am double dipping the 5x offers somehow, but only on gas. I had registered for the first promo that was 5x everything and then awhile later the second promo that I thought was Disney and gas. My last charge was $20 in gas and the rewards were 0.20, 0.80, 0.80. I did not get an extra bonus at DAK on Tuesday, but I only bought food so maybe it coded restaurants and not Disney? At any rate I plan to spend a bunch more at gas stations soon!

 

[elgerber]

Since we’re on this topic, another tip:

You can use the McDonald’s app to Mobile Order and use their Deals at airport locations (at least MCO and ATL).

Don’t judge too much - I was in a rush both times and they were my only option. I just bypasses the line at ATL yesterday and skipped a 25+ person line!

I don't judge, I choose to eat there LOL

Well now I want McDonald’s at 6:50 am

Since they quit serving breakfast all day after the pandemic starting, I have been dying for an egg mcmuffin. We went out of town a few weeks ago, and I finally had one for the first time in at least a year and a half! It was so good!

 

[sinnika]

I applied for the United Quest on June 1st and have still not heard anything. What is the normal length of time for a decision? I had applied for a CIC in April which was denied. Reason was too many active accounts or too much available credit and new Chase businesses card opened Jan 2021 and I waited 3 months to apply for CIC). I decreased my CL by 50% and closed my SW Chase card. My score is over 800. I even went into our Chase branch where we have our business account but because I did not apply at the branch, they could not help me. They recommended I reapply after 3 months but to do it at the bank. On a side note, DH applied for a CIP and was approved. We asked at the bank if it could be changed to a CIC. The manager was able to assist in getting a CIC approved for DH. Since the CIP was just opened, a PC could not be done but we have enough biz expenses to hit both bonuses simultaneously. So I now have a P2 though I manage the biz cards. I moved all biz expenses from my CIP to the appropriate biz card.
We have a fair amount of spend that codes as office and shipping so hoping to maximize the 5% on the CIC.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I really hated drafting in high school. I hated the class, the teacher and most of all, I hated the t square that I had to lug in my backpack. Having said that... as an adult in really glad I was forced to take it (not so for metal shop, which was really horrendous).

I took "Industrial Arts" in junior high, which included wood working, metal and plastics, leather, and drafting. Hated the drafting teacher, not so much the subject. He was a tyrannical misogynist and clearly disliked the only 2 girls in class. Fast forward a bunch of years they now have Industrial Tech, mandatory for all kids (it's CAD and some similar stuff) and the current teacher named my niece his Student of the Quarter for "being really good at cleaning up after everyone at the end of class" and he mispronounced her name to boot.

 

[jujubiee4]

Since we’re on this topic, another tip:

You can use the McDonald’s app to Mobile Order and use their Deals at airport locations (at least MCO and ATL).

Don’t judge too much - I was in a rush both times and they were my only option. I just bypasses the line at ATL yesterday and skipped a 25+ person line!

Thank you so much for this. Im debating moving flight out of MCO to 6am but wondered where
to get food around 430 am FAST!

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

When you are gearing up for a SW release and you're not sure how many URs would be required for booking, what do you guys usually do to prepare? Transfer a certain amount you think would be enough the night before or look at the flights first then transfer? I'm a teacher so tend to go during vacation weeks and those prices jump up fast.

 

[Psychodisney]

When you are gearing up for a SW release and you're not sure how many URs would be required for booking, what do you guys usually do to prepare? Transfer a certain amount you think would be enough the night before or look at the flights first then transfer? I'm a teacher so tend to go during vacation weeks and those prices jump up fast.

That's a tough one. Good news is, if you transfer too many, they don't expire. As long as you don't mind having them stuck as RR points, I would transfer ahead of time.

 

[Psychodisney]

I have a question that is more Theme Park related but figured I'd ask the experts here. I haven't been paying attention to the changes to the time frames in making park reservations, dining etc. Can someone point me to that info? I've looked a little but haven't found simple answers. I have the old rules popping up in my brain but I don't think they still apply.

 

[calypso726]

Yikes! I have this booked for next May. Is it the same as the Waikaloa Village? Now I'm nervous it's be awful! Thank you for the honest review.

It is in Waikoloa Village. We stayed at Ocean Tower. We did visit another property during the timeshare tour that was lovely. However you'd need to take a shuttle to the beach and no ocean view room exists.

 

[calypso726]

Well I finally got a response from my feedback to Ocean Tower in Waikoloa Village:

Dear Calypso:
Aloha. Thank you for choosing Ocean Tower and for taking the time to share your recent experience, your opinions and comments are very valuable to us. We apologize for the issues you encountered during your stay. All Ocean Tower rooms are scheduled for a complete renovation soon, we hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back to a newly renovated in the future. Mahalo.
Sincerely,
TJ Hwang
Front Office Manager
Hilton Grand Vacation

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I have a question that is more Theme Park related but figured I'd ask the experts here. I haven't been paying attention to the changes to the time frames in making park reservations, dining etc. Can someone point me to that info? I've looked a little but haven't found simple answers. I have the old rules popping up in my brain but I don't think they still apply.

Park reservations as soon as you decide on dates. You can change them up but risk the park you want being sold out. Parts of July have at least one park full.

As for Dining res, it is 60 days out, at 6 am EST. No fast passes.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Hello! Coming here for advice. I have utilized credit cards for big rewards bonuses in the past, but don’t routinely utilize them like I should.

I have the following cards that I have had over 24 months: Disney Chase Premier Visa, Chase Sapphire Rewards, Chase Southwest Rewards, and Amex One. I pay my cards every month and have an excellent credit score. My questions are as follows:

1) Which of these cards is best for my routine monthly spending for gas, shopping, etc.?

2) Right now, we have be putting groceries and eating out on our debit card which I know is not ideal. But don’t want to use one of my current cards for that as we try to separate joint and personal spending. So would probably want to get a new card for this, possibly a joint credit card with my spouse. What is a good card for grocery, Walmart, eating out rewards?

3) I have a large purchase coming up (about 10K), which card would be best to put that on (or should I get a new one)?

As far as rewards, travel is the main thing we use rewards for. We do a lot of trips to WDW as well as Disney cruises, but we also do other cruise lines and other hotels. I am open to any and all suggestions. Thank you!