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

[calypso726]

Travel hacking success and Merry Christmas to me! I have successfully found 5 consecutive nights at the Al Maha Desert Resort & Spa on BonBlah points and booked them before BonBlah points go dynamic and are worthless to me. I also got us flights in lie flat seats on Emirates there and back. On the way back there was only one flight available in first and I booked it for myself. PlanePrincess was speechless I told him I'd keep checking for availability for him though. No shower on this plane as I was going for convenience, didn't feel like positioning and besides, we've already done that.

If things go sideways and I need to cancel when the time comes, this falls into my, no more than 2 phone calls to do it and get fully refunded. None the less, for the first time in over two years, I feel like I've booked something that is more up my alley. A friend shared this gif with me and I thought it was spot on. Merry Christmas Eve DISchurner peeps!

 

[hsmamato2]

Amex offers! What is going on? I had a sams club offer, I go the membership using the proper card, I swear I saw the credit on my acct,and now it's gone! Add to this my Dosh ticket didn't go thru on it either and I"m cancelling it altogether.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Adventures in passports. I had to fight the kids hard this morning to get their photos. I used an app, got the photos, it wouldn't let you export...finally got the photos exported and saved on my phone, airdropped to my macbook. They were saved as pdfs so change to jpg, send to CVS. Pick up the photos and DS has a pixelated halo that isn't on the actual file, and DDs looks pixelated too. I'm sure all the crap I had to do to get them out of the app.

Then I get the call from USPS, they cancelled our appt as they close early today. UGH! So now I'm stuck paying $40 more to have all this fun next week. I'm going to try reshooting their photos. The app I used automatically cropped the background and put in white (I even dug out my white backdrop to do them). It's overcast here, so I was getting mad shadows anyways. I'll take it as a sign.

If you're a AAA member, you can go to a AAA center and they will take passport photos for you for free. I used it last year for my passport renewal and it was quick, easy, and you know it's going to be done correctly. A lot of people don't realize some of the side benefits AAA membership offers and that is one of them.

I'm assuming I have to go to a main office, right? I'm not even sure where one is these days. But I think I'll do that next week. Screw figuring it out, LOL. And they can yell at the AAA person vs me when they tell them chin up, shoulders back, etc. LOL.

Add Delta to the list. And Jet Blue. American seems to be just fine. Speculation is that they were operating on razor thin margins this weekend anyway, and then pilots started testing positive. Some DL pilots are saying there were never enough pilots scheduled for this weekend, and that it's been known issue for weeks.
As of 7am EST, cancellations on 12/24:
United 169
Delta 120
American 8

I counted last night, there were 20 Spirit captains on reserve for Detroit today below my BFs seniority, no clue how many more above him too. The BF was shocked there were so many. Christmas Eve/Day they can't drop, so they'll be covering sick calls. The BF got the call he's doing a flight to FL right now. He's hoping he can just deadhead back immediately. Thanksgiving he had to cover trips in MCO. They apparently messed up the reserve staffing there last month. But yeah, the BF suspects UA/DL it's more they understaffed than Covid. He's like they wouldn't even know it's officially Covid yet w/ the way they report sickness.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

UGH....life of a hockey mom. My son has a tournament and it's on "my weekend" in Indy president's weekend. I am looking at flights to Cancun for that week (hoping to talk the BF into it). The issue is, I don't know if his games will fall Fri-Sun or Sat-Mon. I'm looking at a flight leaving Mon and back on Friday. But if I'm still in Indy, I'd need to change that to Tues-Fri (as the flight back Sat is like 7x the miles).

So I'm thinking of booking a 1 way ticket there on Monday, and Tuesday and the return on Friday. I can then cancel the outgoing flight and get everything back, right? But the other issue is, travel protection, but I'll be downgrading my CSR card. So I'm guessing if I book w/ that, I don't get the travel protection. And none of my other cards have travel protection (I think). So now I'm trying to figure out what to use. UGH.

 

[Judique]

Amex offers! What is going on? I had a sams club offer, I go the membership using the proper card, I swear I saw the credit on my acct,and now it's gone! Add to this my Dosh ticket didn't go thru on it either and I"m cancelling it altogether.

I put that one aside for a January start. Are you speaking of the 25 off 45?

My plan was to double dip it with the one from Val Pak where you get a $45 egift card to Sam's.

 

[Limes96]

Re the AAA passport photos, I think it depends on where you are regionally if they are free with membership. Where I live, they’re free for premier level members, but $10+tax for classic and plus members. Non-members can get them for $12.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Thanks. I am excited and not excited.

@Alexle2007 just wondering how's your cruise going? I think I saw you post on here recently, so I'm thinking you have internet onboard.

 

[sinnika]

Capitol One X has me intrigued currently....but have I read here that a lot of you have difficulty using the portal? And their portal is the only way to book and get that $300 credit,right? It seems like a good deal....I'm just not sure it's valuable enough for me to hit 5/24 again for about a year..... or maybe p2 needs another cc....what do y'all think of this offer and how usable it is?

I find the portal extremely easy to use. When checking airfares, it shows pricing by month in green, orange, and red, red being the most expensive days to travel. It also tells you if the fare is good and to book now, or to wait for a better fare. Same for checking car rentals and hotels. I now have 2 Cap one cards counting towards my 24. The first was a biz card that earned me over 350,000 miles by meeting a hefty spend. If that one comes along again, either I or DH will apply. We have an actual business so meeting the spend was tight but doable.

 

[Alexle2007]

@Alexle2007 just wondering how's your cruise going? I think I saw you post on here recently, so I'm thinking you have internet onboard.

It has definitely had its ups and downs. St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. Marteen went well. Yesterday we went to dock in St. Lucia and they refused to let us dock due to the number of onboard COVID cases so we had a sea day. Today we got to Barbados and I think we had to do some serious begging but they let us dock and only those with RCCL excursions booked were allowed off the ship. St. Kitts has already been canceled for tomorrow. So we were 4 out of 6. Of course, those were the 2 stops we were most excited about.

They must have refunded us for what the suite would have gone for since I ended up with $1408 for the 2 ports missed. And we had added the unlimited specialty dining so the refunds have covered that cost plus some.

While we enjoy cruising, I think we are going to stick to hotel stays for a bit.

In the end, this cruise is working out to be very cheap and we are being treated very nice.

 

[happ]

Merry Christmas

 

[trenty]

Starting the savings/earning 5x on DVC dues early this year since I've maxed out the PayPal 5x already on my cards. I had the 10% off CVS Chase offer on 4 cards so I bought 4 Disney GCs with $40 on each. So I'm at $16 saved on next year's annual dues so far. The goal is to save over $1,000 out of pocket like I did this year and get 5x on the rest. One baby step at a time LOL

I plan to buy my first cards for next year's dues tomorrow - also CVS (three cards) so $12 saved. I also have 10% Target on one card so that's another $9. And that will take care of January's payment and February's too so I will have a little time to hope more offers appear. I have not kept track in the past to see how much I actually saved, but for next year's dues, I plan to - setting up a spreadsheet.

Merry Christmas!

 

[DaveL]

Merry Christmas!


.........and.... Happy Expired Certificate Day DIS!

 

[afan]

Merry Christmas!


.........and.... Happy Expired Certificate Day DIS!

The gift that never fails but is always forgotten until it happens

 

[Haley R]

Merry Christmas!!

 

[Judique]

I plan to buy my first cards for next year's dues tomorrow - also CVS (three cards) so $12 saved. I also have 10% Target on one card so that's another $9. And that will take care of January's payment and February's too so I will have a little time to hope more offers appear. I have not kept track in the past to see how much I actually saved, but for next year's dues, I plan to - setting up a spreadsheet.

Merry Christmas!

For some unknow reason I didn't get any CVS. But, I do have Target and our Giant grocery store so will enjoy those savings. I'm also keeping track.

Younger DD also gifted me a healthy sum on a Disney gift card. Son made me eat Harry and Davids, pears were yummy, and I love them. Will connect with older DD later.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Merry Christmas all!

 

[jenmsmith]

Merry Christmas! Thank you to all of you who share here and make for better, less expensive travel and fun!

 

[afan]

Something weird going on with uber. I got a notification about a $10 credit for something and when I clicked on it to see what it was it opened to a blank page in the app and looking around no credit.

Closed the app and a few min later I got a notification that I have a $10 credit for my amex gold and it expires the end of the month. I got my dec credit back on nov 30 like normal and spent it last weekend with my plat credit. I'm so confused and am waiting for them to figure it out and take it back. Otherwise I guess thanks for dinner on Thursday?!

 

[Alexle2007]

Something weird going on with uber. I got a notification about a $10 credit for something and when I clicked on it to see what it was it opened to a blank page in the app and looking around no credit.

Closed the app and a few min later I got a notification that I have a $10 credit for my amex gold and it expires the end of the month. I got my dec credit back on nov 30 like normal and spent it last weekend with my plat credit. I'm so confused and am waiting for them to figure it out and take it back. Otherwise I guess thanks for dinner on Thursday?!

Something weird going on with uber. I got a notification about a $10 credit for something and when I clicked on it to see what it was it opened to a blank page in the app and looking around no credit.

Closed the app and a few min later I got a notification that I have a $10 credit for my amex gold and it expires the end of the month. I got my dec credit back on nov 30 like normal and spent it last weekend with my plat credit. I'm so confused and am waiting for them to figure it out and take it back. Otherwise I guess thanks for dinner on Thursday?!

I received them also and just ignored them.

 

[afan]

I received them also and just ignored them.

I see I left out that the $10 is actually in my wallet with today's date and a 12/31 expiration. Have you checked your wallet?