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

[havaneselover]

I think my flights on Vueling may be the death of me. They are emailing me in Spanish about the trip and calling my Crystal. And I can't for the life of me figure out how to switch my seat assignment and it's an international call to call them. Luckily it's not a long flight!

 

[wanderlust7]

I checked reddit and dps seem to range from 2-20 days - the 20 day was from a post 14 days ago, with no follow up from that poster so I don't know how long that one actually is. I put in that part about completing the stay, because with cash back portals I only get the cash back after I've completed the stay, but then again I've never booked a prepaid stay through a portal so it's not a perfect comparison.

I've also done a purchase through the Cap1 offers page and haven't seen the statement credit from that either, but the fine print says it can take 2-3 billing cycles.

Amex is much better about posting credits in a timely manner compared to Chase, BoA, and Cap1 from what I've experienced so far.

I think the booking sites notify the cash back portals when the stay is complete. The Cap1 credit would just be based on the merchant category of the charge (DPs that even some non vacation rental charges sometimes work). So the way they track is rather different.

Hope you get your credit soon!

 

[Sheree]

I think my flights on Vueling may be the death of me. They are emailing me in Spanish about the trip and calling my Crystal. And I can't for the life of me figure out how to switch my seat assignment and it's an international call to call them. Luckily it's not a long flight!

Use Viber to call. super cheap. that's what I did for DLP

 

[tink1970]

What do we think is the easiest currency to accumulate fastest that I can use for flights to get from BWI to Athens spring break 2023. I have to do 4 people so economy is fine. Relevant information might be I have a P2, we do biz credit cards and we’re both under 5/24. Chase business and use UR?

I think United and other *Alliances are your best bet so believe you're on the correct track with Chase biz cards-->UR-->United (or Chase travel portal, depending on your preference). ETA-IAD is really the international *Alliance departure airport in that region so I'd definitely look at flights from there.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

When you add an AU to Chase is there any confirmation email or somewhere in you account you can see that it was requested? I added DS as AU but no card, no email, nothing. I don't see anywhere in my account to confirm that I even requested it.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

What do we think is the easiest currency to accumulate fastest that I can use for flights to get from BWI to Athens spring break 2023. I have to do 4 people so economy is fine. Relevant information might be I have a P2, we do biz credit cards and we’re both under 5/24. Chase business and use UR?

If you go to Flight Connections https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-from-baltimore-washington-bwi and input the airport pair, you can see which airlines fly that route, where the connections are, and how often the flights run. Obviously your days aren't available yet but it could give you a good idea of what airlines and alliances and thus what currency would work best.

I'm personally finding BWI tricky for UR, though that may because I've been having good success with United/Lufthansa/Austrian out of PHL.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

When you add an AU to Chase is there any confirmation email or somewhere in you account you can see that it was requested? I added DS as AU but no card, no email, nothing. I don't see anywhere in my account to confirm that I even requested it.

I didn't get anything from Chase and I don't know where I can see it on the account. I felt great relief when dd's AU CSR card arrived 2 days before she left for Vienna

 

[dez1978]

This doesn't completely answer your question but our internet is through our electric company and I use the VGC's at Staples to pay it. At least that way I get 5X UR's.

I know SW has been getting a lot of heat on here right now with the schedules changes but so far they have been good to us. This trip our flight Thursday night left over 3 hours late (most of that time being on the plane) due to maintenance issues and the pilot timing out. Luckily we still made it out and I woke up Friday morning with an email with $100 vouchers for each of us due to the issue. I've never had an airline proactively reach out like that. I was supervised, usually you have to complain.

I don’t have a card that gets that yet lol

 

[Babars_Wife]

If you go to Flight Connections https://www.flightconnections.com/flights-from-baltimore-washington-bwi and input the airport pair, you can see which airlines fly that route, where the connections are, and how often the flights run. Obviously your days aren't available yet but it could give you a good idea of what airlines and alliances and thus what currency would work best.

I'm personally finding BWI tricky for UR, though that may because I've been having good success with United/Lufthansa/Austrian out of PHL.

This is really cool -- did you pay for an account? It looks like I can pay to get the information easily, but wondering if I can save the money and still get the information if I'm willing to be annoyed and put in the researching time.

ETA: Well I realized I can check nonstop flights from Athens to see where United travels. ALso, I had no concept how much European flights were anymore. This is like $10k for our family of 4, huh... That's quite a lot of $750 CIC bonuses...

ETA2: Oh look on this day the total would only be $2k. (insert mind blown emoji) Glad I'm starting my research now...

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Why am I so obsessive about making sure I get value out of FNC? And why am I so scared to pull the trigger? These Marriott FNC expire in June. I have no good plans for them. I wanted to use them for Spring Break, but I can't find airfares. I've booked the family vaca to NC for August, so I don't see using them with my kids. The BF and I could maybe use them on 1-2 nights here and there.

I also really want to escape to the sunshine this week. Esp with the cold we've had and not knowing if the BF and I can pull off a trip to Mexico, and/or if I can figure out a Spring Break for the kids. But I'm having such a hard time picking where to go. And I'm trying to make this a cheap trip, but so many places near the beach have parking fees. UGH.....why do I have to be like this? Why do I have to triple overthink everything?

Schools in the NE have the entirety of President's Week off. When I had school aged kids, it was the one week I knew was guaranteed off. Airfare was always $$$ and DVC reservations had to be booked 11 months in advance for that week. Many times the Indy 500 was that week. I think the Princess Runs were at the weekend at the end of that week. It can also overlap Mardi Gras some years for that perfect expensive storm.

ETA: Nevermind -The Indy 500 is usually around Memorial day which was another time of year we would try to go to WDW.

Back in the day my mid-winter break was the week after presidents. And DIsney was dirt cheap and ran insane promos. So we always went then. Now nothing is cheap! And all my travel times are peak and $$$$$$$$. UGH.

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

This is really cool -- did you pay for an account? It looks like I can pay to get the information easily, but wondering if I can save the money and still get the information if I'm willing to be annoyed and put in the researching time.

ETA: Well I realized I can check nonstop flights from Athens to see where United travels. ALso, I had no concept how much European flights were anymore. This is like $10k for our family of 4, huh... That's quite a lot of $750 CIC bonuses...

ETA2: Oh look on this day the total would only be $2k. (insert mind blown emoji) Glad I'm starting my research now...

No, I haven't paid for an account. I've been using it to figure out how to best create a PHL-SMF-ITO/KOA-HNL-PHL itinerary for this October when we want lie-flat seats for the long trip home. It helps me figure out which airlines websites I need to search on!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

UGH.....why do I have to be like this? Why do I have to triple overthink everything?

SAME

 

[Albort]

Why am I so obsessive about making sure I get value out of FNC?

im like that too, but FNC were the only ways for me to stay at high end inspirational property that i would never book myself into. used 2 50k at a Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay and Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel. i still ended up paying a $100 for resort fee and parking fee but rooms being at $800+ a night, i would never ever book a night there on cash.

 

[EACarlson]

This is really cool -- did you pay for an account? It looks like I can pay to get the information easily, but wondering if I can save the money and still get the information if I'm willing to be annoyed and put in the researching time.

ETA: Well I realized I can check nonstop flights from Athens to see where United travels. ALso, I had no concept how much European flights were anymore. This is like $10k for our family of 4, huh... That's quite a lot of $750 CIC bonuses...

ETA2: Oh look on this day the total would only be $2k. (insert mind blown emoji) Glad I'm starting my research now...

I think you are misunderstanding what folks are trying to tell you with regards to the airlines. Don't think of the CIC bonuses as $750, think of them as 75,000 airline points. Transferring to airline partners will let you get business class seats for 115,000 points.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

This is really cool -- did you pay for an account? It looks like I can pay to get the information easily, but wondering if I can save the money and still get the information if I'm willing to be annoyed and put in the researching time.

ETA: Well I realized I can check nonstop flights from Athens to see where United travels. ALso, I had no concept how much European flights were anymore. This is like $10k for our family of 4, huh... That's quite a lot of $750 CIC bonuses...

ETA2: Oh look on this day the total would only be $2k. (insert mind blown emoji) Glad I'm starting my research now...

Try using awardhacker as well. It will give you an idea of starting miles/points for award tickets and on what airline programs. Once you have that info, you can start researching on the airline websites to see more about the routes, how much availability, etc.



If you have Amex, Amex.point.me is great as well and actually shows real-time award availability, though the taxes/surcharges are often off.

What I tend to find, though, however, is that for economy flights, the taxes/surcharges can be so much on many airline programs, that I almost feel like I am wasting my points and I'd rather pay cash. If you find a good cash rate (I often find rates for under $500 RT in economy to Europe), then you can also opt to book it through the Chase UR portal. You give up some control that way because they are a travel agent, but it's an option.

I'd search for a list of airlines that have low/no fuel surcharges to Europe and cross reference that with your award hacker findings to zero in on some programs/routes you'd want to research more.

That's a lot of info- feel free to ask more questions.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Just got an email from Qantas that said Australia is open to fully vaccinated international visitors. I didn't think I'd seen that reported on the points blogs.

 

[ski_mom]

SW routes haven’t come back to what they were like pre pandemic at my home airport (MEM) yet either. Currently only Sat n/s to MCO and zero to BWI for example. It is still hard for me to not love them though. Between P2 and myself we are starting our 9th year with a companion pass. We’ve been able to do so many trips over the years that we wouldn’t have thought about doing without the BOGO of the CP. I feel pretty lucky. Now the kids are off in college DW and I get away for long weekends quite a bit. On board now as a matter of fact and see that they have the drink menu back. And they are accepting expired (pandemic time frame) drink coupons. I’ll take a Lagunitas please…

Just curious what some of your long weekend trips have been? I keep saying DH and I are going to do the same, but we haven't really yet now that the kids are all gone (mostly). I need to start getting some laid out. We do definitely travel more now though. We're leaving this week for a cruise but I'd love to do some short trips too.

I really need a Visa gift card deal. I got spoiled doing $6200 in January.

I always forget to use mine. I have $800 from cards I've bought and just haven't used them. I am thinking of using them toward our medical deductibles for the year. At least they would be used and I wouldn't get any extra fees for using them.

 

[Babars_Wife]

I'm

Try using awardhacker as well. It will give you an idea of starting miles/points for award tickets and on what airline programs. Once you have that info, you can start researching on the airline websites to see more about the routes, how much availability, etc.

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If you have Amex, Amex.point.me is great as well and actually shows real-time award availability, though the taxes/surcharges are often off.

What I tend to find, though, however, is that for economy flights, the taxes/surcharges can be so much on many airline programs, that I almost feel like I am wasting my points and I'd rather pay cash. If you find a good cash rate (I often find rates for under $500 RT in economy to Europe), then you can also opt to book it through the Chase UR portal. You give up some control that way because they are a travel agent, but it's an option.

I'd search for a list of airlines that have low/no fuel surcharges to Europe and cross reference that with your award hacker findings to zero in on some programs/routes you'd want to research more.

That's a lot of info- feel free to ask more questions.

Thank you! We’ve been exclusively SW domestic since award traveling so this is a fun new world to learn about obsessively.

 

[Alexle2007]

Just got an email from Qantas that said Australia is open to fully vaccinated international visitors. I didn't think I'd seen that reported on the points blogs.

I keep checking for Christmas flights but they aren’t showing up yet. It will be a shorter visit since DS only has 2 weeks off of school but the weather will be nicer than August.

 

[becauseimnew]

You guys, my CSR portal changed to the CxLoyalty