I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[MinnesoTristan]

IHG Credit Card appreciation post: Since they changed the earnings categories to 5X on dining, gas stations, and travel, this card has become my everyday credit card, beating out my Gold Delta American Express. I also never really order delivery since the fees are so expensive, but they included DashPass on this card which helps cut down on delivery fees. I was able to book four nights at the Hotel Indigo in Anaheim for my Disneyland trip in September, and three nights at the Holiday Inn across from Universal Orlando for this weekend - a total of seven nights from one sign-on bonus. I'm very happy with this card! Definitely appreciate all the advice from these boards when I was deciding on what hotel card to add to my wallet.

 

[Alexle2007]

We use WhatsApp over wifi for free. Text, pictures and videos, plus you can do group chats as well. We've used it while older DD travels and I have the granddaughters. It works very well.

I am using with my friend/Puggles sitter while we are cruising. Works at sea too

 

[becauseimnew]

My data is 2 years old (thanks, pandemic ) but DD was living in Europe in early 2020 and absolutely had issues using her Amex plat at a lot of places. She ended up getting a Visa with no FTF because so many places wouldn't accept Amex. Now, when we went to visit her as tourists we didn't notice it as much since the hotel and quite a few of the restaurants we went to accepted Amex, but as someone living there she felt it really wasn't adequate.

Do you know if MC is widely accepted like Visa? I’m going to give DD our Aviator which is chip & pin. Or do you think CSP will be just fine?

 

[Alexle2007]

Thanks to storms in Miami, we’ll have an extra sea day. We weren’t scheduled to fly home until Sun night so no flights to change. And I chatted with the JW Miami and they graciously canceled my reservation for tomorrow without penalty. And now we are enjoying dinner at Chops. We will definitely be steaked out when we get home.

 

[sinnika]

Question for those that have travelled internationally lately - ODD will be traveling to France and Switzerland later in the month as part of a school trip. She has an AmEx Gold as an auth user from my Platinum so she can use that for no foreign transaction fees. Will there be any issues with her using an AmEx in Europe? I know that there are some places that won't take AmEx here stateside mostly due to the fees but I'd hate to tell her to use it and then she have issues. She also has a card from Chase that could be used or we could make her an auth on another card if that would be better. Between DH and I we have most of the Chase cards out there.

Also, any recommendations on how to stay in touch with her while she's over there? Any apps to use? I don't need to speak to her that often but a text with pictures would be nice.

I’ve been to Germany twice in the last 7 months. I used my SW Visa on the first trip as I was working on the SUB. The 2nd trip this May, I had a new Amex Gold that I applied for in April. None of the restaurants I went to would take it. I was in smaller towns, so I don’t know if that made a difference. I have AT&T for my phone service. The international plan was $10 per day. I used google maps a lot while sightseeing and finding restaurant recommendations and getting directions to them.

 

[Judique]

I am using with my friend/Puggles sitter while we are cruising. Works at sea too

Yes! It does! I'd forgotten that we'd used it when they were on their Disney cruise in April.

 

[mmmears]

Also, any recommendations on how to stay in touch with her while she's over there? Any apps to use? I don't need to speak to her that often but a text with pictures would be nice.

I'm sorry I missed this part. For a short trip we pay the $10 which works well for calls and texts, but in my experience texting pics has been very hit-or-miss (even from large cities like Paris). Also, if you have iPhones, face time works really well over wifi (in hotels, etc.)

Do you know if MC is widely accepted like Visa? I’m going to give DD our Aviator which is chip & pin. Or do you think CSP will be just fine?

I don't know. I only have one MC and I didn't take it along with me. We don't have any chip & pin cards at all and we did fine without them (even DD when she was living abroad). It was only an issue one time - trying to buy a ticket for the Tube in London, but there's an easy-ish work-around for that one (apple pay on an iPhone). CSP should work well overseas. My DD used a CIP.

 

[GZanta77]

Do you know if MC is widely accepted like Visa? I’m going to give DD our Aviator which is chip & pin. Or do you think CSP will be just fine?

CSP (Visa) should be accepted almost everywhere - MC also widely accepted. Amex is very hit and miss, and probably more miss than hit especially at smaller retailers.

CSP/CSR tends to be my go to when traveling in Europe. Don't forget to complete the travel notification on chase.com prior to departure. (same for Barclays if using Aviator). Amex don't seem to care.

 

[kmc8826]

But you can chat with them after you get the card to find out what date you need to meet the spend by to get the welcome bonus. I almost always do this with chase or amex both to make sure the date is right and that it's there. If they say it's not and chatting with someone else gets the same answer then it can be decided from there to keep going or cancel. But I've yet to read someone say they didn't get the bonus when chat\phone said it wasn't attached. Plus if you don't get the popup there's no reason to think the bonus won't post.

But if they say bonus not attached what do you do then? Refuse to pay AF? Cancel?

There are cases where no pop up and no bonus. When you chat you are on the radar of multiple cards that are the same (multiple biz golds/plats).

(I am not trying to argue I just think the possibility of Amex coming back and saying “no we gave you the card but sorry we are not giving you the bonus” should be a consideration to keep in mind when making the calculation to go for an Amex card).

 

[hsmamato2]

I have never used this tool but saw it referenced on r/churning. Award Wallet has a lookup tool for merchants which gives you an idea of what category it will code as with different cc issuers. https://awardwallet.com/merchants/UNDERCOVERTOURIST+COM

thanks!

 

[reliev]

Question for those that have travelled internationally lately - ODD will be traveling to France and Switzerland later in the month as part of a school trip. She has an AmEx Gold as an auth user from my Platinum so she can use that for no foreign transaction fees. Will there be any issues with her using an AmEx in Europe? I know that there are some places that won't take AmEx here stateside mostly due to the fees but I'd hate to tell her to use it and then she have issues. She also has a card from Chase that could be used or we could make her an auth on another card if that would be better. Between DH and I we have most of the Chase cards out there.

Also, any recommendations on how to stay in touch with her while she's over there? Any apps to use? I don't need to speak to her that often but a text with pictures would be nice.

when I went to France in February id say 30% of the time they wouldn't take AMEX . here id say its 5-10%
I was in Paris/DLP for 4 days the other 4 were in small towns. Paris for the most part except for one place didn't take it but in other places, it was less. i would say 20% of the time they took it.

 

[havaneselover]

CSP (Visa) should be accepted almost everywhere - MC also widely accepted. Amex is very hit and miss, and probably more miss than hit especially at smaller retailers.

CSP/CSR tends to be my go to when traveling in Europe. Don't forget to complete the travel notification on chase.com prior to departure. (same for Barclays if using Aviator). Amex don't seem to care.

CSR didn't care either. Although definitely better to be safe. I used mine in Spain, Italy and UK with no issues.

 

[hsmamato2]

OK, I was panicking but I am seeing articles from this year that still say you can purchase tickets from UT and wipe the cost out. Here is one from March this year: https://upgradedpoints.com/travel/disney-world-for-cheap-with-points/

They are talking about Disney but should apply to other tickets.

So here's my idea...based on this DP (and hopefully others?) this should work.... use the UT a/2 price car rental deal (buy an AMC popcorn ticket) and it says you prepay for the car right away.... that should trigger the TC,right? It's also a decent deal, altho the rental isn't until August..... think this will create a timeline problem,as I need to use TC/cancel by June 30?

 

[calypso726]

Hello again!

I want to book one night at a Hyatt in Long Beach pre-cruise. I have Chase URs for it and while I technically have a Hyatt "membership," I've got no points or status with Hyatt.

I don't mind using the URs (the hotel is in the Chase portal) but before I book it through Chase Travel is there a better redemption option or no?

It would nice just not to have to spend cash for the night.

**EDITING TO ADD**

If the Hyatt site says a standard room on the night I am looking at is 12,000 points, could I just transfer 12,000 URs to my Hyatt account instead of the 27K URs it would take???

This post reminds me of my own “Aha!” moment regarding UR points transfer to Hyatt vs paying with UR points in the portal. For me it was the Park Hyatt Tokyo which was about $1200 a night, so 80k a night paying with points via the CSR UR portal and then seeing I could just transfer 30k points a night to Hyatt for the exact same room. I’ve since become a Hyatt fan girl and reluctant to blow as many UR points as I used to since I’d rather transfer them to Hyatt.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Anyone that flies/are familiar with American Airlines. Rarely fly them but wondering if
main cabin extra is worth it? Anyone use their Platinum travel credit to upgrade and got
reimbursed?

I swear some of these airlines slap on this fee for "extra room" and 10 years ago it was a standard
regular seat!

Why yes, legroom upgrades are just the old legroom amounts.

Check FT for DPs under the Amex forum. Look for the airline reimbursement fee AA thread to see latest DPs. Just remember to call it a seat selection fee if you need to contact Amex so they don’t deny the request due to it being an “upgrade”.

As for is it worth it? Only you can answer. I’m on the taller side & on flights over 2 hours I find it worth it on DL & UA. I get some extra legroom and it tends to be calmer as not many families are gonna pay to upgrade everyone’s seats. (My brother was pretty mad after flying AA about paying for the legroom upgrade because he just knew he’d been ripped off. I asked him what plane was he on? We found out it had been a Max 8. Lol. When I told him that was 3in more then economy had he became a UA flyer mainly to stay away from that AA Max 8 )

 

[Alexle2007]

Of course, the bathroom light fixtures are back in stock at Wayfair and there are no AmEx offers.

 

[babyready]

So here's my idea...based on this DP (and hopefully others?) this should work.... use the UT a/2 price car rental deal (buy an AMC popcorn ticket) and it says you prepay for the car right away.... that should trigger the TC,right? It's also a decent deal, altho the rental isn't until August..... think this will create a timeline problem,as I need to use TC/cancel by June 30?

I'm not familiar with the deal but it sounds like it should code fine, if it is billing through UT. If it says you prepay right away...then that should be ok. But I guess there is a risk that it doesn't come through on time. If it is a good deal that you would do anyway, I would probably go ahead and try it. You will know pretty quickly if it worked or not.

 

[babyready]

I have never used this tool but saw it referenced on r/churning. Award Wallet has a lookup tool for merchants which gives you an idea of what category it will code as with different cc issuers. https://awardwallet.com/merchants/UNDERCOVERTOURIST+COM

I have never seen this. What a great resource! I am always searching and trying to see how things will code. Thank you so much for sharing!

 

[mmmears]

But if they say bonus not attached what do you do then? Refuse to pay AF? Cancel?

There are cases where no pop up and no bonus. When you chat you are on the radar of multiple cards that are the same (multiple biz golds/plats).

(I am not trying to argue I just think the possibility of Amex coming back and saying “no we gave you the card but sorry we are not giving you the bonus” should be a consideration to keep in mind when making the calculation to go for an Amex card).

I agree. I feel like there is no way to know when/if Amex might pull the rug out from under us, whether by using the pop-up, denying a SUB, or deciding to shutdown an account because someone went through an agent that they suddenly decide is corrupt (even if the applicant did nothing wrong) so I tend to try to tread lightly and stay far away from the line with them. Of course that has to do with my not wanting a shutdown. The downside is that we don't have multiple personal and biz platinums and we don't have the many, many points that would come with those.

 

[Psychodisney]

I've been mulling over what to do with my Plat later this year when it comes time for renewal. DH gets better offers so I think we may keep his open and close mine. In preparation for that, I was approved for a new Rose gold with the 90K/$250 back deal offer this morning! Yay! No pop up (DP I rarely use my Amex cards...a little here and there and cancelled my Bonvoy earlier this year). Somewhere to transfer my MRs to!