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

[havaneselover]

I had no intention of signing up for Walmart+ until the AMEX Rep mentioned it last week during our chat to get a retention offer for the plat.
I signed up and have used it twice so far.
DD 4 is skinny and only certain leggings stay up on her. One of which is Walmarts toddler leggings, which of course they never have her size. Ordered 3 pairs which was nice to not have to spend $35 for free shipping.

LOL. The next was 2 bags of hot Cheetos. DD17 is obsessed with hot Cheetos so I buy her 2 bags a month. Our grocery store is twice as much and constantly out of stock. So I ordered them from Walmart. Dh was like why are you ordering hot Cheetos online? If Walmart and Amex want to bring me hot Cheetos with no shipping I’m not going to fight it

This is embarassing but I basically bought a Sam's Club Plus membership this year because I could get free shipping on the individual packs of doritos. My Sam's is always out of them and it's so much cheaper to buy them in the big box of 50 than in the package of 10 at the grocery store (if I can even find that).

 

[Arcades]

So can I double dip or not? I will have to pay the AF by 12/13. Can I cancel like 12/20 and get money back?

If your intention is to cancel the card, you would have to do it within 41 days of the annual fee posting to get a refund. That is December 12, 2021. If you downgrade to a no annual fee card after your credit posts, then you receive a prorated portion of your annual fee back. So, given your time frames, downgrading is the only/better option.

You can always reupgrade to a CSR in the future and it will reset the clock so you can churn the double dip. I haven't read any reports of a shutdown based on this behavior and I, myself, have done it 3 times (not always a year apart). I also alternate between two different accounts which one I upgrade (and shift my credit limit between them accordingly) to add a little more spacing between upgrades on a single card.

 

[EACarlson]

I have a question about business cards. I am on my HOA board and I get offers for business cards at my house for the HOA. Could I qualify based on that?

I absolutely would not do that unless you have a legitimate business need to have a card for HOA responsibilities. If you get a card based on the HOA and use it for personal spend, you could be opening yourself up to significant legal issues. You are essentially spending HOA funds for personal use, even if you make all the payments on it.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

If your intention is to cancel the card, you would have to do it within 41 days of the annual fee posting to get a refund. That is December 12, 2021. If you downgrade to a no annual fee card after your credit posts, then you receive a prorated portion of your annual fee back. So, given your time frames, downgrading is the only/better option.

You can always reupgrade to a CSR in the future and it will reset the clock so you can churn the double dip. I haven't read any reports of a shutdown based on this behavior and I, myself, have done it 3 times (not always a year apart). I also alternate between two different accounts which one I upgrade (and shift my credit limit between them accordingly) to add a little more spacing between upgrades on a single card.

Yes, sorry, I plan to PC to some Freedom. So I can wait for the travel credit to reset....then use it, on 12/16...wait for that credit to post and downgrade and get back some of the AF?

 

[Arcades]

Yes, sorry, I plan to PC to some Freedom. So I can wait for the travel credit to reset....then use it, on 12/16...wait for that credit to post and downgrade and get back some of the AF?

Yes, PC prorates the annual fee return regardless of days (obviously less the longer you have to wait).

 

[platamama]

Yes, sorry, I plan to PC to some Freedom. So I can wait for the travel credit to reset....then use it, on 12/16...wait for that credit to post and downgrade and get back some of the AF?

Yes. I think you'll get refunded 2 mo. worth (Nov and Dec) of the $550 fee, i.e. 2 x $45.83 = $92.67, and it will be backdated to Nov 1.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Thought I'd share in case anyone else is in this boat - P2 qualified (and essentially extended the one expiring at year end) for the promotional SW CP back in October. It worked out well as we have three long weekend trips in Jan and Feb planned and I don't have to rush to hit the spends on on my Personal (approved 10/20) and upcoming SW Biz. I've had P2 flights booked for a while now and as I was checking to see if prices may have changed I noticed that our MLK weekend return from MCO flight only had one seat left so I went to add companion and there was no button to do so. Couldn't figure it out. Went back and found the "congrats in earning promotional CP" email, and saw that you aren't able to add the companion until after the Jan 6th (when the promotion starts). I just assumed that since it was earned, we'd be able to go ahead and book. I have plenty of RR's so I secured a seat with them and will cancel and rebook as a companion on Jan 6th. I'm thinking even if flight remains sold out as it is now, canceling P1s flight will free up a spot and I can rebook P1 as a companion. Probably should call though saying what I want to do at the time - I don't want to cancel and somehow someone grabs the spot in the time between cancelling and rebooking. Anyway just be warned, I wasn't fully aware of the terms of the promotional CP and don't want anyone stuck on a full flight without being able to add companion.
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I am in an identical boat. We actually have a flight on January 6, the first eligible day. I too have space reserved with points and then will swap to CP once it loads on January 6. If all goes well, I am hoping to have earned full companion pass for 2022. If that comes to fruition, I guess my promotional CP won’t matter!

Are you certain there is only one seat left on your flight, or is there just one seat at that pricepoint?

This is embarassing but I basically bought a Sam's Club Plus membership this year because I could get free shipping on the individual packs of doritos. My Sam's is always out of them and it's so much cheaper to buy them in the big box of 50 than in the package of 10 at the grocery store (if I can even find that).

I have been doing drive up orders at Sam’s but they are almost always out of the 50 pk of chips. I might have to upgrade too!

 

[Judique]

Finally got an offer for 20k pt for pay over time on my plat. How long after the points post can I disable it and where in the settings do I do that?

Like that you got it! I've never disabled mine since I got my 20k. I did disable it after I first got the card because it came with pay over time already attached. I'm never going to use it. It doesn't bother me that it's hooked up since I got the 20k already. I have no idea what I did, but if I figure it out I'll post it.

 

[Pixiedustspreader]

Are you certain there is only one seat left on your flight, or is there just one seat at that pricepoint?

Yeah you're right there might have been 3 left. There was "1 left" under each pricepoint. Good to know. Thanks.

 

[afan]

Like that you got it! I've never disabled mine since I got my 20k. I did disable it after I first got the card because it came with pay over time already attached. I'm never going to use it. It doesn't bother me that it's hooked up since I got the 20k already. I have no idea what I did, but if I figure it out I'll post it.

I don't want to just leave it on should they decide to get weird about it like they did with the green card for awhile. I won't use it anyway. I've made a note to watch for the points to post and then will figure it out. I figure I should wait at least a few months.

 

[Arcades]

Yes. I think you'll get refunded 2 mo. worth (Nov and Dec) of the $550 fee, i.e. 2 x $45.83 = $92.67, and it will be backdated to Nov 1.

Pretty sure you have that math backwards. If the fee posted Nov 1st and she PCs in Dec or Jan, then she's getting 10-11 months refunded, not 2.

 

[platamama]

Pretty sure you have that math backwards. If the fee posted Nov 1st and she PCs in Dec or Jan, then she's getting 10-11 months refunded, not 2.

Oh yeah, oops. That should read she'll only pay two months worth of the $550 annual fee @LilSweetPeaPhoto. Thanks for catching that.

BTW, on the other subject of adding Amex Offers we were talking about, can you confirm that those are triggered on your account when your AU uses the AU card even though they don't have an Amex online account set up? I think your DP here was the only one that suggested that.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Hey cruise experts, is this upcoming NCL sale a better than average sale? Looks like 70% off the second guest. We don’t typically cruise but the 2023 Norwegian Prima cruise to Northern Europe (mentioned here) piqued our interest.

https://www.ncl.com/newsroom/norweg...for-sale-the-most-itineraries-in-its-history/

 

[iujen94]

Hey cruise experts, is this upcoming NCL sale a better than average sale? Looks like 70% off the second guest. We don’t typically cruise but the 2023 Norwegian Prima cruise to Northern Europe (mentioned here) piqued our interest.

https://www.ncl.com/newsroom/norweg...for-sale-the-most-itineraries-in-its-history/

For any cruise, I love using cruise compete - put in your cruise info and TAs bid on your cruise. We’ve saved a TON on multiple cruises this way!

 

[wanderlust7]

Hey cruise experts, is this upcoming NCL sale a better than average sale? Looks like 70% off the second guest. We don’t typically cruise but the 2023 Norwegian Prima cruise to Northern Europe (mentioned here) piqued our interest.

https://www.ncl.com/newsroom/norweg...for-sale-the-most-itineraries-in-its-history/

NCL "sales" are usually pretty meaningless. Current sale is 35% off first and second. Which equals 70% off second....

What I do is look at the prices, assume I can get at least 10% off either as a discount or OBC using Cruise Compete. If I'm happy with the price, I book it. Then I set an alert with Cruisewatch and ask for a refare if it drops.

 

[disfanforlife]

I still have not been able to find a Playstation 5 for my son, anytime I find out one is going to be available it is always sold out before I can get it. if anyone has any tips let I would appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[Alexle2007]

Our Christmas cruise stops in St. Kitts (and finally opened up that you don’t need to book tours with RCCL). I am debating between booking the Marriott or Park Hyatt for the day. Both I can use a FNC. Marriott is closer to the port. We are there 8 am- 6 pm. I would love to check out the PH but the Marriott seems the better option for convenience. Thoughts?

 

[jujubiee4]

Can anyone chime in on some airfare thoughts/opinions?. First do you
think Europe airfare will go down next summer or buy now/as early as you can?

2nd. Most important flights to Spain from Southern California are crazy
expensive now for the summer. I'm thinking of booking a flight to New York
and then a seperate booking for Spain. Reason being Europe flights are much
cheaper from New York and I can get cheap airfare/points flying to NY first.
Maybe fly in night before?

Has anyone done this? Is it crazy? The pain would be exiting going to baggage
then checking in again. That would be annoying but I could save 1500-2k.
Just doing some pondering while I wait for fares to drop which they haven't lol

 

[leeniewdw]

The risk of a split itinerary is that if flight#1 is delayed and you miss your connection, the airlines aren't accommodating like they are if you book the whole route as 1 reservation. There are whole threads at Flyertalk concerning this ("positioning flights"). Some folks are willing to do it with a 5 hour buffer between arrival/departure, others don't even risk doing it on the same day (or even taking the last flight the day before).

At this point, I'm planning to do this for a 2023 trip to Ireland. The award flights on Aer Lingus from big cities on the East Coast are VERY cheap, points wise. We'll either fly out of IAD, JFK, or BOS. But we'll fly into those cities the day before, do a quick city visit and dinner out and then fly out the next day.

 

[jujubiee4]

The risk of a split itinerary is that if flight#1 is delayed and you miss your connection, the airlines aren't accommodating like they are if you book the whole route as 1 reservation. There are whole threads at Flyertalk concerning this ("positioning flights"). Some folks are willing to do it with a 5 hour buffer between arrival/departure, others don't even risk doing it on the same day (or even taking the last flight the day before).

At this point, I'm planning to do this for a 2023 trip to Ireland. The award flights on Aer Lingus from big cities on the East Coast are VERY cheap, points wise. We'll either fly out of IAD, JFK, or BOS. But we'll fly into those cities the day before, do a quick city visit and dinner out and then fly out the next day.

Thank you for replying. Yeah i would definitely have some kind of buffer.
The flight im looking to for NY is overnight and gets in 6am. The Europe
flights Im eyeing leaves at 5pm. So much cheaper doing it this way. Boston is
an idea also as it may be easier flying in and out of and squeezing quick
sightseeing. Are you bothered that you have to get your bags and then
check back in?
Are you going through UR portal?