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

[LynnTH]

It was a huge story of exactly that, people with reservations that didn't have a car, which led to a surge of people booking two or three reservations and the prices going out of sight. The issue is that there is no disincentive for the rental companies, and they really can't control when exactly people bring back the cars, if at all.

My son works for Enterprise. He was recently working at the Airport for 4 months. Normally they have about 6,000 cars to rent there - they have about half of that right now. He is currently at a branch location where they deal mostly with insurance claims. They constantly have the issue of not having cars. One issue is the people not returning the cars when they say they will. Another issue is that they are short handed. Their location currently does not have a detailer to clean the cars to rent again. So, they have to try and do this in between everything else (only 2 to 3 guys that work there at any given time). Another is we just had some major hailstorms and that took a bunch of cars out of commission. He said it is so frustrating - hopefully, it will get better soon.

 

[leeniewdw]

The rental car shortage has been around for about 18 months. And was much worse than it is now. With gas prices where they are many people are cancelling trips, especially to places like Yellowstone rather than deciding last minute to go and rent a car. You have two options if you find yourself in that scenario, wait until a car comes in and take whatever you can get, or try to rent elsewhere if anyone else has a vehicle to take.

Yellowstone has not seen a influx of cancelations (unless it's happened in the last 24-48 hours). I've been checking each week and prices are astronomical and Hertz (for example) only had a few car classes left for our dates and prices around 2k for a week.

We booked a large SUV from Denver for a week last June and it was cheaper than what we're paying out of BZN in a Sedan this year. Not that we thought it was cheap mind you, but easier and cheaper than this summer.

 

[becauseimnew]

Looks like Chase made some Travel portal changes.

I was looking at tours for Paris, last week I was seeing hundreds of options. There were options for Catacomb tours, Paris Museum Pass, family friendly food tours, now all those options gone, it is down to just 95 activities.

I wonder what contract they ended or what happened.

 

[afan]

Looks like Chase made some Travel portal changes.

I was looking at tours for Paris, last week I was seeing hundreds of options. There were options for Catacomb tours, Paris Museum Pass, family friendly food tours, now all those options gone, it is down to just 95 activities.

I wonder what contract they ended or what happened.

I saw something about this earlier but didn't read it since I don't book through the portal. Can't find it in a quick look, but it was DoC twitter so it must've been reddit and either a one off post or buried ina daily thread.

Most posts I see lately are complaints about chase and amex portals and trying to cancel or make changes.

 

[sinnika]

DH has a CIC, CIU and CIP with his biz that he owns. The AF just came due on the CIP for $95 and he paid it. However, there are no recurring charges on the card and most are on his CIU. Is it best to cancel this card, in case he wants to apply for future biz cards, or PC it? We have between $5-$7000 avg monthly in biz expenses to put on the cards.

 

[mom2febgirls]

You can book using Avíos, Aer Lingus releases 5 economy seats, no business from my research.
URs and MRs transfer to avíos.

Thanks! I looked on the Aer Lingus website but don't see anywhere to search by points. How do you book those?

Chase offers an Aer Lingus card. I got one last fall (I think) and the SUB was 100k aer club/avios points, I can't recall the MSR, $6k over 6 months maybe?

As far as reward seats, it really depends on the route. I've been checking once every other week or so because I'll be booking for a June 2023 trip this July. The BOS --> DUB has shown 9 business class seats each of the most recent dates I've checked. PHL --> DUB showed 2 BC seats. IAD --> DUB has consistently shown 1 (which is a bummer since that's our preference, but we'll do BOS most likely).

We'd actually like to fly into SNN (Shannon) but the amount of routes changed during the pandemic and I've found no business class seats on the few routes they offer to SNN.

Thanks! I'll look into the Aer Lingus card.

 

[MouseOfCards]

Looks like Chase made some Travel portal changes.

I was looking at tours for Paris, last week I was seeing hundreds of options. There were options for Catacomb tours, Paris Museum Pass, family friendly food tours, now all those options gone, it is down to just 95 activities.

I wonder what contract they ended or what happened.

On the DofC site yesterday, was surprised to see this:

"At Chase’s investor day they announced that they would be launching a dedicated travel booking platform called ‘ChaseTravel.com’ later this year. In 2018 Chase moved their travel portal from Connexions Loyalty (owned by cxLoyalty) to Expedia. Then in late 2020 Chase acquired the rewards division cxLoyalty and finally in late 2021 Chase moved back to cxLoyalty."

Wonder if this is related to the changes?

 

[georgina]

I don't book through the Chase portal anymore either. I have been using PYB a TON for dining and some for airbnb. I just want to know if those categories will continue after June 30.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I have a CSR that I PCed from a CSP in Feb 2021. I opened the CSP in July 2019. The $550 AF comes due Aug 1st. Can I PC back to a CSP in August? My first year, I used the $300 grocery credit that was allowed as travel credit. I’ve only used $80 this year so far from toll tags. Any ideas to use the travel credit before August if I’m not traveling? I’m also trying to justify the high AF. I redeemed 2 hotel nights last Fall in Europe using the Chase travel portal, used the GE, and redeemed my Away luggage in Feb when the $200 savings came out for CSR and paid the balance with PYB. I also have the PP with my Venture x and have been using my new AmEx Gold for dining, groceries and gas. Thanks

According to my calculations, the difference in annual fee between the CSP and the CSR is $205, when accounting for their respective travel credits. This assumes I value all other benefits at 0. I've made no allowance for different earning rates, as I typically don't spend on much on this card, as I am concentrating on other MSRs. In order for me to break even, I would have to spend 82k points annually through the travel portal OR through PYB in order for the higher redemption rate to justify the higher AF. The travel insurance is better with the CSR. I am in the same boat as you come renewal time, I am on the fence regarding keeping the card. It's nice to know I could likely PC back to the CSR if I got in a situation where it made sense. I used to use the portal a lot more, but it seems I mostly transfer to travel partners now.

	CSP	CSR
Annual Fee	$ 95	$ 550
Travel credit	$ 50	$ 300
Net AF	$ 45	$ 250
82,000 points value	$ 1,025	$ 1,230
Redemption	0.0125​	0.015​

​

​

 

[wanderlust7]

Thanks! I looked on the Aer Lingus website but don't see anywhere to search by points. How do you book those?


Thanks! I'll look into the Aer Lingus card.

You don't necessarily need an Aer Lingus card as Avios transfer from MR and UR, as well as between the airlines that use Avios (Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia, and Qatar).

I would argue that MRs are the easiest to acquire and sometimes have transfer bonuses. For example, it's possible to pull an offer for 150k MRs on the Amex personal Platinum card for $6000 spend. Annual fee is $695, but there are ways to recoup that. Recently, there was a 40% transfer bonus to British Airways Avios (now expired, but comes around every so often). So it would have been possible to get 210k Avios on one SUB.

To search for Avios awards through Aer Lingus, go to avios.com, you'll need to create an account.

 

[wanderlust7]

Tried out the Hyatt Family Plan rate for the first time to book a second room for kids at "up to" 50% off. You have to call and the second room rate doesn't earn points. More info here.

Have 2 rooms booked at the HR Seattle since my parents are coming. I booked one with FNCs and one with points. The Family Plan rate was 50% off the standard rate here, so I'm going to cancel the points booking. Compared to the discounted rate, I'd only be getting 1.25 cpp. I usually only use Hyatt points if I get at least 1.5 cpp (even then I have a hard time!).

They didn't have the rate for my dates at the HR Portland. Also checked some hotels in Europe for next year, those look to be about 20-35% off standard rate.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Thank you always for all of you that are always so generous with information. I booked a cruise last October on a whim and didn't think of trip insurance at the time. I just followed all your info here and it seems that cancel for any reason can only be purchased within a couple of days/weeks of initial payment. The deposit was paid at that time - am I correct in thinking that this is the initial payment even if I haven't paid anything else? Am I out of luck for the cancel any time at this point?

We've never done a cruise and we haven't gone overseas since the pandemic so I had just never considered what ifs.

Oftentimes policies have a variety of reasons that you can cancel and get refunded- so I would just take a look at those once you've narrowed down policies. For example, I've used the "cancel for work reasons" before- which required I have a letter from my employer stating they required me to work during previously approved time off. Definitely check the policy for covid related quarantine, etc. You DO want a policy to protect you from some of these what-ifs.

I want to cry. I cancelled DH's CIP in February and in the flurry of everything must've forgotten to transfer his points to another card. Almost 200K gone. I am so angry with myself!

Does anyone have a system/spreadsheet they can share that will work to help me avoid this in the future? I was doing so well before the pandemic started, and after taking a 2 year break I am starting to feel like maybe I can't handle this anymore.

If you haven't, I agree with a PP that you should reach out to them and explain the extenuating circumstances and see if you can reinstate the card/points or just transfer the points. I really feel for you- 200k points is huge. I would be crushed. I'm so sorry.

 

[KPK02090]

DH’s capital One Venture AF is expected to post tomorrow. What’s the drill for cancelling? Can I SM? Or does he need to call? And if done after the AF posts is it still refunded, like it is for Chase? Thanks all!

EDIT - All set. It was shockingly easy. I was able to do it online.

 

[becauseimnew]

On the DofC site yesterday, was surprised to see this:

"At Chase’s investor day they announced that they would be launching a dedicated travel booking platform called ‘ChaseTravel.com’ later this year. In 2018 Chase moved their travel portal from Connexions Loyalty (owned by cxLoyalty) to Expedia. Then in late 2020 Chase acquired the rewards division cxLoyalty and finally in late 2021 Chase moved back to cxLoyalty."

Wonder if this is related to the changes?

I’m not sure, I did notice that it was down earlier this morning, which is probably when the update happened.
I think they changed their contact with Viator, seem like all those tours are missing.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Hoping for some advice from the travel experts. Next year is our 25th anniversary, so looking for a destination for just DH and I for sometime Aug 2023-2024. Wants:
-Resort feel, preferably boutique size, high level of service
- Good dining scene
- Things to do outside the resort
- New destination for us
- About 5 days

We'd like to keep it to about 9 hours from Chicago O'hare, so no further than Europe.

I wouldn't say we are super well traveled, but here's where we've been or will have been by then:

Paris
London
Rome
Venice
Greek Islands
Iceland
Lots of Mexico
Maui and Honolulu, Hawaii
Cayman Islands
Bahamas
Costa Rica

I'll take any destination suggestions and specific accommodation suggestions as well. I know this is really open ended, purposefully, as I don't want to limit any great ideas.

 

[nhgirl]

Hoping for some advice from the travel experts. Next year is our 25th anniversary, so looking for a destination for just DH and I for sometime Aug 2023-2024. Wants:
-Resort feel, preferably boutique size, high level of service
- Good dining scene
- Things to do outside the resort
- New destination for us
- About 5 days

We'd like to keep it to about 9 hours from Chicago O'hare, so no further than Europe.

I wouldn't say we are super well traveled, but here's where we've been or will have been by then:

Paris
London
Rome
Venice
Greek Islands
Iceland
Lots of Mexico
Maui and Honolulu, Hawaii
Cayman Islands
Bahamas
Costa Rica

I'll take any destination suggestions and specific accommodation suggestions as well. I know this is really open ended, purposefully, as I don't want to limit any great ideas.

I don’t consider myself to be a travel expert. But I noticed Bermuda is not on the list of places you have been to. I’ve been there a few times. That would be my recommendation. I’m looking forward to seeing what others recommend.

 

[wanderlust7]

Hoping for some advice from the travel experts. Next year is our 25th anniversary, so looking for a destination for just DH and I for sometime Aug 2023-2024. Wants:
-Resort feel, preferably boutique size, high level of service
- Good dining scene
- Things to do outside the resort
- New destination for us
- About 5 days

We'd like to keep it to about 9 hours from Chicago O'hare, so no further than Europe.

I wouldn't say we are super well traveled, but here's where we've been or will have been by then:

Paris
London
Rome
Venice
Greek Islands
Iceland
Lots of Mexico
Maui and Honolulu, Hawaii
Cayman Islands
Bahamas
Costa Rica

I'll take any destination suggestions and specific accommodation suggestions as well. I know this is really open ended, purposefully, as I don't want to limit any great ideas.

Ever been to California? I would recommend the Alila Ventana Big Sur. 35-45k Hyatt points, food is included. 5 nights might be a little long, so maybe paired with the Alila Napa Valley or Ritz Half Moon Bay.

 

[ep1229]

CSP experts, I have a question... My DD who is 19 applied for the CSP and was approved. I forgot that she is an authorized user on my CSP. Is she still going to get the SUB?

 

[Alexle2007]

Symphony of the Seas is gorgeous and Sky Class is awesome! DS is super picky and DH suggested he get the brownie sundae for dessert the first night. Little did we know he has a tree nut allergy, or at least that is what we suspect as he never eats nuts, but he ended up at the medical facility that night needing a nebulizer treatment so he could breathe and meds. Thank goodness it was on the ship.

 

[Alexle2007]

CSP experts, I have a question... My DD who is 19 applied for the CSP and was approved. I forgot that she is an authorized user on my CSP. Is she still going to get the SUB?

Yes, she will get the bonus after you meet the MSR.