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

[Judique]

I called/emailed a ton of other Honda dealers. The market adjustments are so insane. One was $4,500. One had no adjustment but a $4,600 package which basically consisted of wheel locks. I ended up signing the quote and I'll pay the $500 non-refundable/refundable deposit and see what happens.

Hope you get something you want fairly soon. Good luck!

 

[catsinawindow]

I'm not on that account. I'm on his everyday account. I don't think I can take him off any accounts per the 5 year look back. But I did read about a "loop hole". The money came from an inheritance from my granny. She wanted it to go to her grandchildren/great grandchildren. I read sometimes you can "gift" an inheritance if you are able to prove you were financially stable when you got the money and didn't need it. My dad was. So fingers crossed on that!

I hope the "loophole" works out and you're able to protect that money for your daughter. The way we handle elder care in the USA is so very broken, it's hard to realize how broken until you're actually living it!

 

[Judique]

Wow $250 AF and no free night. No thanks.
Any word on what will happen to the 'plain' Amex Bonvoy?

No real idea but since they don't 'sell' it anymore, it will probably continue as is for a bit. I now have 2 of them.

DD actually got interested in the 85K cert. Then said she needs at least 2 and no way to continuously earn 85K points easily. I mentioned that product changing may result in a possible upgrade offer where she could get the points on applying plus the FNC.

I got an upgrade offer on my legacy Amex bonvoy just before I product changed the old Brilliant. Not interested, but I could care less about the higher end options right now. She's a lot more Gucci than me, lol.

 

[platamama]

I've been gone for the past 12 days and trying to catch up! Scanned through the posts and didn't see this mentioned, I have an offer on my Amex Plat that looks like it can be stacked with the $200 credit, taking $400 off of $850 or more. Anyone else get this?

Spend $850 or more, get $200 back
Prepaid Fine Hotels + Resorts® & The Hotel Collection

Of the four personal Plats between me and P2 (CS & vanilla), that offer only showed on one of the cards, a vanilla Plat on which I had to cancel a FHR stay that I booked with 2021 FHR credit (and the $200 FHR credit was clawed back). I think that offer will stack with the standard $200 FHR credit.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

For the Japan front.... DH really wants to revisit this trip for next year, now that he's heard about the October reopening news. So when looking on United for availability, then calling Virgin to see if available/book the ANA flight... is the first class/biz class the same amount of miles/points it shows on United? I have 90K written down for some reason, but can't remember where I got that from. First/biz class is showing 175K and upwards on United! It's been so long since I wrote down this whole procedure, that I am forgetting some of it I think.

 

[Haley R]

For the Japan front.... DH really wants to revisit this trip for next year, now that he's heard about the October reopening news. So when looking on United for availability, then calling Virgin to see if available/book the ANA flight... is the first class/biz class the same amount of miles/points it shows on United? I have 90K written down for some reason, but can't remember where I got that from. First/biz class is showing 175K and upwards on United! It's been so long since I wrote down this whole procedure, that I am forgetting some of it I think.

I believe it’s 90k for business and 110k for first class

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

I believe it’s 90k for business and 110k for first class

That's what I thought... but there's no way to see that anywhere, correct? Because that's 90K through Virgin? So in other words, it doesn't matter how many miles United shows... it'll be 90K when you book Ana via Virgin..? Trying to wrap my head around this and now go back to this idea of Japan in fall of 2023. It'll be our 15 year anniversary and DH is really wanting to do Japan more than anything else if possible.

ETA: disregard, I found it. ANA's super confusing mileage calculation page in which you need to check zones, season, class, and blood type (haha) and then you can see how many miles.

 

[afan]

For the Japan front.... DH really wants to revisit this trip for next year, now that he's heard about the October reopening news. So when looking on United for availability, then calling Virgin to see if available/book the ANA flight... is the first class/biz class the same amount of miles/points it shows on United? I have 90K written down for some reason, but can't remember where I got that from. First/biz class is showing 175K and upwards on United! It's been so long since I wrote down this whole procedure, that I am forgetting some of it I think.

You'll need at least a plan b for this or be super flexible with dates and cities. You'll want to book one way, since rt is no longer required.


But the number of people trying to book reward tix via ANA is going to make it even harder than normal to be able to book them through VS.

It needs to be saver awards on United and on ANA metal. Last year I gave up on using united and just looked to see how many seats were booked on ANA.

Not trying to dsicourage anyone, just being realistic. I plan to book DL, hopefully one way isn't crazy miles, and then see about booking ANA through VS when it opens. I'll mix and match if I need to but may not want to be as flexible with my dates. After booking twice I've realized I don't want to go earlier like I'd booked this year due to Halloween at usj and the sumo tournament, so I can do both.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

You'll need at least a plan b for this or be super flexible with dates and cities. You'll want to book one way, since rt is no longer required.


But the number of people trying to book reward tix via ANA is going to make it even harder than normal to be able to book them through VS.

It needs to be saver awards on United and on ANA metal. Last year I gave up on using united and just looked to see how many seats were booked on ANA.

Not trying to dsicourage anyone, just being realistic. I plan to book DL, hopefully one way isn't crazy miles, and then see about booking ANA through VS when it opens. I'll mix and match if I need to but may not want to be as flexible with my dates. After booking twice I've realized I don't want to go earlier like I'd booked this year due to Halloween at usj and the sumo tournament, so I can do both.

Thanks for the tips! We can be pretty flexible with dates and cities, but I did tell DH not to get his hopes up yet until it's all said and done with, lol. We aren't planning until late Fall 2023 (November probably), which doesn't look like high season, so hopefully it'll work out. If not, I have everything for Costa Rica fresh in my mind and all the points needed, so we can change to that. Did not know that you only need to do one way now, so that's good at least. I assume book one way as soon as your date opens up, and book the return as soon as that opens (and be flexible on it of course).

 

[leeniewdw]

DH and I are both retired (I am more than he is LOL) and we were doing fine with 1 car... then Dad got sick and we got back the 2006 Honda Accord I gave him years ago. I call it the Fred Flintstone car since it's so basic but I think that's what keeps it going, lol. For the past 2 summers I've lent it out to DD's BFF and a couple of other people when they have car trouble. A lot of words to say 1 car is pretty easy to manage if you don't have jobs or do a lot of running around. We really don't need it but it's nice to have as a back up as our other car (2015) ages not so gracefully. I think lending out/leasing out to your DS is a great solution while the current insanity with car buying runs its course.

That's what I'm thinking. I've said for awhile that if one of our cars goes (or has a large repair we know isn't worth doing -- they are both old) that we should just try with 1 for awhile. So while we're helping our son out, it's been a good experiment. I keep saying that if I had an ebike, it would take care of 90% of what I'd want to do if he was using "the" car. Ride up to our pool, ride to the library, ride to the closest grocery store -- all do-able without getting onto busy streets.

Yep, we're retired and have 2 older cars (2008 and 2011). We loaned one to DD and her DH after they had a baby and needed a 2nd car. They recently bought one, had to go for a new non-hybrid when they were looking for used and hybrid. Not much out there.

We would like to get rid of both our old cars and get a fully electric; with the way we drive now it would be fine most of the time with maybe a rental once or twice a year. I have been putting a lot of money into repairs this year. Hoping to hold out a few more years as newer electric models are coming.

We would likely not buy a brand new car, though we haven't even looked at how insane used cars are, so perhaps that's not true. I'm just hoping we don't need to buy one anytime soon. Our cars are old but I love them being long since paid off, low insurance, low taxes. I had some Hertz points (that I always find hard to use) and we decided to use them to go to an out of town wedding a few weeks ago, just for fun. It was a VW Touareg which was lovely. We were like "hmmm, this is nice". But after about 100 miles, my DH found a few things about it (just minor comfort stuff) so makes you realize that a test drive doesn't always shake all that out. We were impressed with the gas mileage on it!

 

[wanderlust7]

Have you tried to purchase Disney park tickets online? I've looked around the website and it seems like they have plenty of availability, I think they keep adding it. It is pretty simple on the Disney Tokyo website, of course I haven't purchased anything but have been able to add tickets to my cart. The only thing that I've read is that you needed a Japanese credit card to buy tickets, but that was pre-covid, I don't know if that's still the case.

I haven't tried since I'm not 2 months out yet. It might be a busy time, so I'd want tickets in advance or guaranteed ability to buy them. The cash rate for Hilton Tokyo Bay is low enough right now that I'm on the fence about using points, so guaranteed ability to buy the tickets plus everything being refundable is appealing to me. The rate for the package is same as the flexible rate though, so a little bit more than the cheapest (HH prepay with 3 day cancel).

Klook does have tickets with a 15 day before cancellation policy. I'll have to think about it. So much more to consider with travel these days.

 

[reliev]

No real idea but since they don't 'sell' it anymore, it will probably continue as is for a bit. I now have 2 of them.

DD actually got interested in the 85K cert. Then said she needs at least 2 and no way to continuously earn 85K points easily. I mentioned that product changing may result in a possible upgrade offer where she could get the points on applying plus the FNC.

I got an upgrade offer on my legacy Amex bonvoy just before I product changed the old Brilliant. Not interested, but I could care less about the higher end options right now. She's a lot more Gucci than me, lol.

And @CyndiLouWho i got a bad feeling these cards are going to be dropped next year I'd venture to say Hilton too. With this new card coming out that you can buy your way that high it makes the status less valuable imo. My guess is this comes out in the renewal period not this year.

You'll need at least a plan b for this or be super flexible with dates and cities. You'll want to book one way, since rt is no longer required.


But the number of people trying to book reward tix via ANA is going to make it even harder than normal to be able to book them through VS.

It needs to be saver awards on United and on ANA metal. Last year I gave up on using united and just looked to see how many seats were booked on ANA.

Not trying to dsicourage anyone, just being realistic. I plan to book DL, hopefully one way isn't crazy miles, and then see about booking ANA through VS when it opens. I'll mix and match if I need to but may not want to be as flexible with my dates. After booking twice I've realized I don't want to go earlier like I'd booked this year due to Halloween at usj and the sumo tournament, so I can do both.

I'm sitting on so many delta miles if a flash sale came up I'll hold off on my Ana dreams.

 

[EACarlson]

has anyone done the point.me concierge? im debating doing it for japan now that it's actually open, reddit talks it up but I trust this thread more than that basically for 200-400$ depending they do your points booking for you 100% start to finish you transfer they do the rest.

I've heard them on some points and miles podcasts and seems to be a really good idea. I have not heard anything bad about them. You should be able to do a base level trial and see if that might be enough for you.

 

[platamama]

DD actually got interested in the 85K cert. Then said she needs at least 2 and no way to continuously earn 85K points easily. I mentioned that product changing may result in a possible upgrade offer where she could get the points on applying plus the FNC.

I'm really contemplating these new Marriott offers and I feel a little crazy for even considering it. I could close my old (OG SPG ->SPG Lux->Brilliant->) Bonvoy, then apply for the Brilliant for not only the 150K SUB but 25 elite nights and platinum status and 85K FNC. For some reason I seem to have 7 years of Platinum status (I think I only actually earned it one year, so I don't understand how that is but that's what my counter shows) and I need 3 more in order to to eligible for lifetime platinum. I still need over 300 nights for lifetime plat [one needs 600 nights PLUS 10 years of being platinum for lifetime status], so if I can have cc elite nights boost that then it's possible that I could actually reach that in my lifetime lol. Especially if I eventually get a biz Bonvoy (my last being in 2018, so depends on lifetime language). And after getting the Brilliant, then upgrade my Chase to the Ritz Carlton which is also now going to come with an 85K FNC. Surely there will be a devaluation next year since Bonvoy never disappoints in that regard, but it's still worth pondering.

 

[elgerber]

Totally off topic but I am annoyed. I forgot my Loungefly pirate ears on Soarin last week. I figured they were gone forever. Miraculously they found them and I got them back today. But they mailed them in an envelope and they are damaged. Lost and found says sorry, once we send it it’s not our problem. Grrrr. It wouldn’t be a problem if you shipped it in a safe manner.

 

[afan]

I'm sitting on so many delta miles if a flash sale came up I'll hold off on my Ana dreams

Also not thrilled with the current cost of an ana reward flight so that's part of it. Those fuel surcharges vs like 5.60 one way on dl. Plus mine will always be biz on ANA out of SEA so while the lay flat has its appeal I'm ok with PS too. Really what I'd prefer, if the flight times are the same as previously booked flights is ob on dl and return on ANA because it gives me some time on arrival day vs it almost being bed time by the time I get to the hotel and the return gives me almost a full day vs having to go to the airport right after lunch.

 

[reliev]

Also not thrilled with the current cost of an ana reward flight so that's part of it. Those fuel surcharges vs like 5.60 one way on dl. Plus mine will always be biz on ANA out of SEA so while the lay flat has its appeal I'm ok with PS too. Really what I'd prefer, if the flight times are the same as previously booked flights is ob on dl and return on ANA because it gives me some time on arrival day vs it almost being bed time by the time I get to the hotel and the return gives me almost a full day vs having to go to the airport right after lunch.

When I went to France I think it was $22 what's Anas fuel surcharge now $300+?

 

[reliev]

I've heard them on some points and miles podcasts and seems to be a really good idea. I have not heard anything bad about them. You should be able to do a base level trial and see if that might be enough for you.

Yes it's $25 though to fill out the form i just tried. I gave up on this but I'm willing to look again now.
I never thought it would happen. But thrifty traveler had a deal recently (they have so many great deals)
Can't recommend it enough already bought 2 deals.

 

[havaneselover]

My parents have an offer on their house in Michigan. They had a contingent offer but the people were trying to sell a house half the size of my parents' house for 25% more on a much less desirable lot (my parents are on Little Traverse Bay). This offer is all cash and they need to be out by the end of next month. Of course I have to spend the second week of October in Ohio for work When I get back I'm going to rent a car for two weeks and take the dogs up and help out. They basically can take or leave whatever they want. They have a lot of gorgeous art that I have no place for at the moment, but someday I might. Of course my ex and his wife are expecting any day and my son is not going to want to stay with them and his step-grandparents for two weeks and I need to stay on top of my school work (doing really well, but it's so much work!). Then there's always my job which is a complete soap opera. Not sure how this will work out. My mom said my sister can come instead because she has no problem throwing stuff away, but she's a bit heartless and I'm not sure that's going to go well.

I'm really sad, but I know they are better off in Florida year round.

 

[afan]

When I went to France I think it was $22 what's Anas fuel surcharge now $300+?

Yeah. Just have to weigh all the options. Harder to swallow that fee vs what it was a year ago.