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

[Haley R]

I think the new thread gave me the confidence to jump in and ask for advice lol. I was so hyped after reading just a little bit that I couldn't nap when my 1 year old was down for a nap. I'm looking forward to learning how to work the travel game so I can maximize our travel budget.

We have an 8 month old! Welcome to the thread and I know for sure you will get some help to maximize your budget

 

[softballpooh]

Surely a trip to London for the weekend just to see a play isn’t unreasonable if it’s all on points

#goals

 

[Princess Michele]

Welcome! I wonder if we are neighbors. I live in rural MD also basically On the MD/PA line.

Where does your Alaska cruise depart from?

Thank you for the welcome. We are polar opposites. We are in Southern Maryland.

Our cruise will depart from Anchorage (Whittier) and go to Vancouver.

 

[calypso726]

#goals

Funny story. When I suggested doing that to see the Harry Potter play DH thought it was ridiculous. While we were watching the play he leaned over and said this was a great idea I informed him he lost the right to criticize any of my travel plans again. He said he was ok with that and has never questioned anything I’ve come up with since.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Trying to catch up, you’ve all been busy today! Lol.

This year we did a few domestic trips, but nothing that exciting. Disney in January before Covid hit, Key West trip in summer and Florida again just a few weeks back. Also a few weekend trips to Charleston.

We have no exciting travel planned for 2021, sigh. Already tried to reschedule our China trip that got Covid-cancelled this year, but they have no dates for 2021 available. So that’ll be moved to 2022. We thought about moving up our Europe plan from 2022 to 2021 instead, but now with the new Covid strain, we don’t feel comfortable traveling to Europe just yet. So now that’ll probably be pushed to 2023. This coming year we’ll just do some smaller domestic trips again. Possibly New Orleans or Texas, never been to either. Also want to try a new beach this year, maybe Wilmington NC? Open to suggestions! We’re in SC, so anywhere within a 9 hour driving range is pretty fair game to us. Of course we’ll need to do a weekend trip to Gatlinburg if cases go down at some point... it’s mandatory! Haha, it’s so grimy but we just love it! We just walk up and down the strip doing a million moonshine tastings and feeling like we’re in this pseudo jank Disney utopia, LOL.

In cc news, just finished up MSR on CSP. Probably going to try for CIC or CIU next.

 

[GusGus16]

Glad to see the new thread! Been a rough year, and unfortunately things acutely declined over the last day in my small circle. Hoping for a much better new year, peace and blessings!

 

[BrerRabbit66]

Hi, I've lurked on this thread for a long time and think its time to join in.

Current Cards:
1990 - AMEX Green Card
1998 - Capital One Rewards MasterCard
2005 - CHASE Slate
2010 - CHASE Disney Visa
2005 - Discover IT
12/20 - CHASE Sapphire Preferred - just opened thru Chase Private Client banker
12/20 - Hilton Honors AMEX Surpass

• What amount of spend would you put on a card monthly (i.e. groceries, gas, insurance, cable, cell phone, other expenses)? $3,000
• Do you currently payoff your CCs in full every month or do you carry any balances/pay any interest? Pay in full.
• What airport(s) do you typically fly out of? IND
• Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program? No; I do occasionally get to use a friends passes to fly free on AA.
• Does SOUTHWEST Airline service your airport? Yes
• Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? Hilton and/or Marriott
• Do you currently have travel points or miles in any program? (if so, which programs and how much)
  1. Amex MRs - 330,000
  2. Hilton - 59,000
• What at your specific goals for churning credit cards?
  1. Hawaii - probably 2022
  2. Disney - as soon as Covid restrictions / vaccine situation improves - its my DH's favorite place.
  3. Cash Back - I use my Discover IT card for this during 5% categories to by discounted Disney Gift Cards.
• Who does your travel party consist of? Myself, DH and sometimes our adult daughter.

I don't know what card I should do next but I think I want to focus on Hilton and/or Marriott points for Hawaii. The two latest cards are P1 only but may get P2 signed up if something looks advantageous.

 

[Princess Michele]

Not much to add other than I agree on the advice you’ve gotten on Southwest cards. One of the things I wish I would have done prior to even applying for cards was to really understand the “best” flight options from my home airport. I now use Google flights to see what the options are for flights to the destinations I’m interested in. From there I can get an idea of what kind of points or miles I need to start accumulating. For example, I live in Arizona so for most flights the best options are Southwest and American. Applying for a JetBlue card would be almost useless for me, and even Delta wouldn’t be the best option. For me Southwest Rapid Rewards are really the best value for our travel needs, and location. I would encourage you to see what the best available flights are between you and Alaska and start working from there.

ETA: Southwest flights don’t show up on Google flights. You’ll have to check those separately

Thank you for the Google flights tip. The only airlines I had checked so far from my airports were Southwest and Alaska Airlines and Southwest does not fly to Anchorage or Vancouver. American, United, Delta, and Alaska all fly between my airports and Anchorage or Vancouver. I will need to look closer at the flights to see what might be the best choice. Most of the flights stop in Seattle so it might pay to fly to Seattle on Southwest and then change airlines to Anchorage.

 

[jenmsmith]

Happy New Year, all! As many have said, this is the nicest corner of the DisBoards. Looking forward to a profitable, fulfilling 2021 together!

 

[afan]

Thank you for the Google flights tip. The only airlines I had checked so far from my airports were Southwest and Alaska Airlines and Southwest does not fly to Anchorage or Vancouver. American, United, Delta, and Alaska all fly between my airports and Anchorage or Vancouver. I will need to look closer at the flights to see what might be the best choice. Most of the flights stop in Seattle so it might pay to fly to Seattle on Southwest and then change airlines to Anchorage.

I would go through Seattle vs Vancouver so you don't have to clear customs twice, seems silly to me to connect there when going from the contiguous to Alaska. You'll find most flights out of Seattle are also on Alaska, so if time/cost wise it makes sense to fly SW to Seattle and then change, do but otherwise I'd look at just connecting in Seattle. It's an easy airport to navigate, and while it gets busy in the summer, most people are coming or leaving from the airport proper, not connecting. Which is also another reason why it isn't the best option to fly SW and then AS as you might encounter long lines to recheck your bags and get through security. We have a high cruise volume in the summer and if your Alaska cruise is going then ours will be back in full swing.

I'm all for positioning flights most of the time, especially when going to Europe, Asia etc, but I don't think it's the best of ideas for flights within the US unless you hare planning to spend the night in the connecting city.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

A few Quick Thoughts:

1) I do try to PM any new user with an invite to DISchurners, but don't be afraid to mention it to them in your responses and tag me if you want as a reminder. Sometimes they slip through the cracks!

2) If any of our regulars have a chance - give a read through the glossary and let me know if we're missing anything important there (or if any of the terms or definitions aren't relevant anymore due to changes in the game)

3) We'll continue to do our best to exercise discretion here on the boards and keep some of our more "precarious plays" on DISchurners. If you aren't sure if something belongs here or should be treated with care, just ask on a DISchurners thread (many of us monitor all comments there). 2020 has been a good year for CC plays but we've also seen some strategies dry up as they just got too big to fail.

BONUS) One Bonus thought - We are due for a complete DISchurners thread refresh so get ready to update your support links again! I might do it later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks guys!! I always love when we start the new thread as it sparks a ton of discussion!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Just want to share with those that care.

Total value of 2020 travel: $11840.11
(multiple trips to WDW, flights, hotels for softball, car rentals

Offset by:
Cash- $179.20
UR- 291137
SW- 291137
Hilton- 2x FNC
IHG- 40K + 1x FNC
DVC- 116pts
Airline Credit (ECBI)- $60

I think I did another $60 (ECBI) in airline credit and converted about $40 into SW RR when they allowed funds to be converted to points.

Time to start a new sheet for 2021 with no travel in mind lol Well, I have some softball tournaments to travel to I guess and I'm hoping to squeeze in a trip to Virginia.

ETA: Disney Gift Card Savings (thanks to Swagbucks, cash back sites and a few CC offers)
Total Gift Card value for 2020: $3474.24 with $670.27 remaining
Out of pocket: $1411.97

That should include upgrading park tickets to APs. The tickets would have been under 2019.

I love these types of posts!! I'll jump in on this topic too

This year we did 3 Trips:
Jan - WDW
Jun - Captiva (aka paradise)
Sept - Long weekend to Hershey Park

Total Value = $10,274.32

I completely offset these costs by a combination of using and cashing out CC points (SW, Marriott, URs) as well as taking advantage of some gift card and other discount opportunities.

Major trip losses included: July (Myrtle Beach); August (Busch Gardens/Williamsburg); November (Sea World Orlando) - so major bummer there!

PYB was also very very good to me this year, as I was able to cash out ~$20k in URs on top of our travel costs. These just basically padded my savings this year and put me further down the path to FIRE! (Oh yeah, and if you weren't aware, we have a thread for that too!!)

 

[IFlossU]

How 2020 was SUPPOSED to go:

May-Disneyland
July-Whistler BC
September-WDW
October-Kauai
December-Disneyland

How 2020 ACTUALLY went:

September-Hotel Del Coronado 3 day weekend
*FNC & $250 credit from Aspire
*RT Southwest flights
*PYB/DoorDash credit for dining

October-1 week cabin/house rental Greer, AZ.
*Used Disneyland ticket refund to pay for this ☹


Total ~ $3500-4000 includes RT airfare to San Diego all food, lodging, and misc.

We paid $2400 out of pocket at the most, which includes the price for the Disneyland tickets.

We had 2 fun trips, and my HYSA has never looked better. Still hoping for better travel days ahead.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

DP for the Amex Green-I called and received 12.5K MRs for keeping the card-not a great value but worth it to keep Amex happy. I also went through all of my charge cards and 6 (!) had Pay Over Time so I eliminated that since there's been concern POT looks like a credit card to Amex.

Can you provide more info on concerns about POT looking like a charge vs credit card? What is the potential impact?

I don’t use POT but see it’s an option on one of my Amex.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I kinda dislike this holiday... but happy new year eastern time zone friends

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Thank you for the welcome. We are polar opposites. We are in Southern Maryland.

Our cruise will depart from Anchorage (Whittier) and go to Vancouver.

In my area

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Happy new year! 2021 has to be better than 2020. Looking forward to traveling again

 

[WardFam]

I’m mostly a lurker, but I wanted to say thanks to everyone for being a bright corner of my world in 2020! I was actually able to visit 2 new countries this year! I celebrated my 40th in Guatemala in March right before everything shut down and also went to Costa Rica for thanksgiving. It’s been over 2 years now since I’ve been on a Disney vacation and I’m definitely hoping for some Disney magic in 2021. Happy New Year everyone!

 

[bernina]

Happy 2021!!

 

[Judique]

Happy New Year, All!!!!!

The year started out well for me - Disney and Hilton Head in January,
a longer Disney trip in February, a trip that got shortened to Hilton Head in March when the resort closed while I was there.

Then a few days at the beach in Summer.

That was it and 2020 is gone.

Here's to 2021 and hoping we return to travel as we want it to be!
🛩✈