I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 & 2024 (see first page for add'l details)

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I decided to book 2 nights at the Hyatt Place Amsterdam airport location in April. Transferred points from Chase to Hyatt and a link popped up for 3000 bonus points for staying 2 consecutive nights. Don’t know if it applies to reservations made with points but you do have to register for the offer. Wanted to mention it in case anyone has Hyatt reservations booked during the promotion dates.
I recall someone mentioning a tool to keep all travel plans in one place. Would you mind sharing? I’m trying to keep track of bus schedules, train schedules, flights, reservations for museums etc and it’s getting overwhelming.

im still using google travel never tried trip it whats different about it?

That's cool, I never noticed that. I only have the free version, but I see that I can do 3 attachments per trip.

I love TripIt. Makes me happy just looking at the trips I have on it lol. Handy for past trips too when I forget when we went somewhere.

Another vote for TripIt. When I book something and get the email confirmation, I immediately forward it to plans@tripit.com and it adds it to my itinerary for me. There might be an option for it to search email and auto-import it, but I'm not a fan of giving that kind of access to my email. I have multiple email accts where I might receive a confirmation, all of which are added to TripIt, so it recognizes those confirmations as well.

For hotel stays, it will import and prominently show the check in and check out time if it's on the confirmation, which is something I love.

TripIt also has a widget. Before a trip, I put that on my homescreen, so then it will display my next upcoming event without me having to go into the app.

Notes- you can add general notes, so often times I find myself adding something like Lunch Ideas and listing some options.

You can share the itinerary and have others help plan, or just view the plans. My husband is getting better at referring to the app before asking me questions.

Like @becauseimnew I find the ability to add attachments really helpful for QR codes, though I haven't tried the paid version yet.

@wanderlust7 Good call on using it to look up prior trips. That's a really nice feature, because someone will ask where we stayed or a tour company and it's super easy to look up.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Question about the AMEX Gold Card.

I just checked my Dad's account. He has had a Gold Card since 1971 and me and my Mom are additional card holders.

His annual fee was $95 (why I logged into the account to pay it) and I think my Mom's additional card has an annual fee of $35. I am not sure if my card has an annual fee because I have no recollection of paying for one in recent years.

So, Dad's card is a TRADITIONAL Gold card, probably with grandfathered terms and conditions and benefits. In all these many, many years, he has used his MRs maybe once even when he had to pay $35/yr just to accumulate MRs.

I have just recently started playing the rewards points game and helped my parents combine their MRs and URs to book business class tickets on Emirates later on this year.

He is never going to give up his AMEX Gold card but I was wondering about either upgrading his Traditional Gold Card to a regular Gold Card or similar or perhaps applying for a new card for him and then canceling this card afterwards. I assume he will keep the member since 1971 on all his other AMEX cards even if he cancels his original card?

All my own AMEX cards have member since 1971 on them even though I was only an additional card member on my Dad's Traditional Gold Card.

I am thinking it is better to get a new SUB on a new Gold and then cancel this Traditional Gold? Anyone know if he keeps his member since 1971 date going forward?

Thanks.

Here is his current upgrade offer when we log into his account:

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points​

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $2,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.†​

​

Your account number won’t change. Any Additional Cards you already have will also be upgraded.​

Annual Membership Fee	$250¤†
Additional Cards	There is no annual fee for up to 5 Additional Cards. The annual fee for 6 or more Additional Cards is $35 for each Card.†

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Points stays count. But the really annoying thing about that offer is that it only starts counting on the second stay in the time period.

For the first time ever, one of these multi stay bonuses will work for me. I have 3 Hyatt stays booked for Spring Break. Night before flight in a near the airport Hyatt for park and fly, then 3 nights Andaz and 4 night at Los Alros in Costa Rica. Amazingly the number of stays and dates work out. Yay!

 

[georgina]

News to me that you need a letter from CSR about primary rental car insurance. We rented in the UK last summer without one. I did get a hard sell at the Europcar location in Oxford where we picked it up, but was able to decline. Th e car had a long list of documented scrapes, which was good because DH scraped a stone wall at one point but it just blended in with all the others.

 

[wanderlust7]

Question about the AMEX Gold Card.

I just checked my Dad's account. He has had a Gold Card since 1971 and me and my Mom are additional card holders.

His annual fee was $95 (why I logged into the account to pay it) and I think my Mom's additional card has an annual fee of $35. I am not sure if my card has an annual fee because I have no recollection of paying for one in recent years.

So, Dad's card is a TRADITIONAL Gold card, probably with grandfathered terms and conditions and benefits. In all these many, many years, he has used his MRs maybe once even when he had to pay $35/yr just to accumulate MRs.

I have just recently started playing the rewards points game and helped my parents combine their MRs and URs to book business class tickets on Emirates later on this year.

He is never going to give up his AMEX Gold card but I was wondering about either upgrading his Traditional Gold Card to a regular Gold Card or similar or perhaps applying for a new card for him and then canceling this card afterwards. I assume he will keep the member since 1971 on all his other AMEX cards even if he cancels his original card?

All my own AMEX cards have member since 1971 on them even though I was only an additional card member on my Dad's Traditional Gold Card.

I am thinking it is better to get a new SUB on a new Gold and then cancel this Traditional Gold? Anyone know if he keeps his member since 1971 date going forward?

Thanks.

Here is his current upgrade offer when we log into his account:

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® Points​

Earn 60,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $2,000 on purchases on your new Card in your first 6 months of Card Membership.†​

​

Your account number won’t change. Any Additional Cards you already have will also be upgraded.​

Annual Membership Fee	$250¤†
Additional Cards	There is no annual fee for up to 5 Additional Cards. The annual fee for 6 or more Additional Cards is $35 for each Card.†

He could do both if he wanted to. Apply for a new Gold, then take the upgrade quickly after approval (in case it disappears). After a year, cancel the new Gold and keep the upgraded one to keep the long history on his credit report.

He should keep his member date. DH still has his original member date even though that card is long gone. He's been a continuous Amex member though. I wonder if it would reset if someone had no Amex cards.

 

[mmmears]

Another vote for TripIt Pro, with forwarding emails to get it to update. It's really useful. I have been using it for years, but lately DH has become the TripIt person in our family.

 

[miztressuz]

Are these programs just under the offers section? So far I have not seen anything that offers any MRs back for spend, just cash back.

Both MR and cash offers will show in the same offers section. The cash offers are more prevalent IME. AmEx will put out different offers for the same company and you could see cash and MR with similar terms. If you have a different offer terms they are separate and you can add both. I think AmEx likes to think they know what will incentivize you for the least amount of expenditure and targets offers accordingly. But who knows, it could be a bunch of monkeys throwing darts given the rhyme or reason and I give AmEx too much credit. (I have on occasion gotten the MR offer and the cash offer on the same card and a single qualifying charge triggered both as expected. Not sure how that incentive worked for them but point to me I guess. shrug.)

Just want to confirm that when you cancel a web special fare on a domestic flight booked with points on AA, you get the fees back. I canceled and rebooked because the price went down. My points were returned, but not the fees. Does it just take time? The price has gone down a little again today, but I don't want to rebook if I'm eating the cost of the fees.

Just seconding, they take a few days but should refund on their own. If I recall correctly, there is a link on AA to look up an automatic refund and I believe I was able to see that the refund had processed. Then just had to wait for the refund to work through to the card.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Just seconding, they take a few days but should refund on their own. If I recall correctly, there is a link on AA to look up an automatic refund and I believe I was able to see that the refund had processed. Then just had to wait for the refund to work through to the card.

Yep, I know I've seen that place in my account online to look up the refund before too. I've cancelled several times, and almost all times it took a few days but credited back to my card automatically. The one time it didn't automatically refund to my card, I saw that it showed a "credit" of the fees amount on my AA account. I was able to call AA, and they saw the credit just hanging out there and were able to process that to refund with no issue.

 

[afan]

SEA centurion. It's nice, spacious and surprisingly quiet given some is open air to the below "food court".

It's made like which when trying to find a seat is annoying. You enter to the bar area and then the coffee thing, which I'm bummed doesn't have handcrafted hot chocolate. Then you wind around past the food and then to more seating. There's at least a couple quiet rooms.

Food is way bougier than before. I did find something to eat but not a full meal worth. They are seriously lacking in snacks, miss the goldfish they had before. There's room for more food but at 530 it didn't have any more food than it would have at the other one. There was tons of empty space.

Annoyed that with all this space you still have to go to the busy bar to get a glass of coke. And there was a line of at least 1 person the entire time I've been sitting here. Not accounting for those sitting at the bar. They do at least have 2 bartenders.

The food at the delta lounge is more my style though there are times I struggle to find something there but they normally at least have bread and snacks.

I'll come here again if I'm not flying delta but that's mostly because it's way closer than going to the club in a.

Will say in the open part it's cold but they can't control the temp of the airport.

The bathroom was nice though seemed like it could have had a other sink and stall. But there could be another bathroom I didn't go all the way to the back of the lounge because there wasn't empty seats.

Flying out of the North satellite for the 1st time since it's all done so I'll go over with enough time to wander around. My work worked on both the N update and this new lounge among some other places around the airport so it's fun to see it though we did the hvac and plumbing.

 

[IFlossU]

News to me that you need a letter from CSR about primary rental car insurance. We rented in the UK last summer without one. I did get a hard sell at the Europcar location in Oxford where we picked it up, but was able to decline. Th e car had a long list of documented scrapes, which was good because DH scraped a stone wall at one point but it just blended in with all the others.

This is my first experience using it. The company we’re renting from asks up front for written proof of coverage from the card issuer. Who knows if they will actually ask to see it when we pick up the car, but I’m not going to risk it.

 

[afan]

Finally get a room upgrade and the heat doesn't work. Not good when the rooms 58 and the building is old and the lows are in the 30s. Maintenance is trying to fix it. AC works now still working on the heat.

Eta Fan broken so on to another room. Also cold at 60, seeing if the heat will work. Oiy. Moved up a floor to a different corner room. Seems to be working, he's getting a new filter and my new keys.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

Looking for a new card. Just earned the 90k on my latest CIU, have a little left on my Plat retention offer, and almost met the spend on DH's Venture that I opened to pay taxes. Here's our stats:

P1:
7/21 - CIC
11/21 - SW priority
11/21 - SW plus
7/22 - CSP
10/22 - JetBlue biz
12/22 - CIU
I am 3/24

P2:
6/21 - BBP
5/22 - JetBlue plus
8/22 - CIU
10/22 - Citi Premier
2/22 - Cap 1 Venture
He's 3/24

I also have a Plat, a CSR, a Bonvoy card, Hyatt, Disney, Amazon.
DH has a Hilton Biz, CFU, and last I checked was in amex pop up jail because he doesn't spend on his cards, though did get a no spend retention offer on the Hilton in August.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Looking for a new card. Just earned the 90k on my latest CIU, have a little left on my Plat retention offer, and almost met the spend on DH's Venture that I opened to pay taxes. Here's our stats:

P1:
7/21 - CIC
11/21 - SW priority
11/21 - SW plus
7/22 - CSP
10/22 - JetBlue biz
12/22 - CIU
I am 3/24

P2:
6/21 - BBP
5/22 - JetBlue plus
8/22 - CIU
10/22 - Citi Premier
2/22 - Cap 1 Venture
He's 3/24

I also have a Plat, a CSR, a Bonvoy card, Hyatt, Disney, Amazon.
DH has a Hilton Biz, CFU, and last I checked was in amex pop up jail because he doesn't spend on his cards, though did get a no spend retention offer on the Hilton in August.

I would refer P2 to a CIC while there's still an elevated offer.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

I would refer P2 to a CIC while there's still an elevated offer.

Can I when he just opened the Venture on 2/12?

 

[Judique]

Anyone else subscribe to the Panera Sip Club that Amex offered for 6 months free maybe a year or more ago? I did as I have many Panera restaurants to choose from in the greater area that I live in plus a few along the way when I drive south to Disney World.

I started paying after 6 months and was ok with 8.99 plus tax as this basically paid for my drinks during visits. In January it jumped to 11.99 plus tax, which I paid but just now I decided to cancel.

The website offered 3 months at 3,33 a month so I kept it, at least for the next 3 months. In summer I like their agave lemonade and I will always get coffee in the morning when I'm out and about.

 

[Judique]

Finally get a room upgrade and the heat doesn't work. Not good when the rooms 58 and the building is old and the lows are in the 30s. Maintenance is trying to fix it. AC works now still working on the heat.

Eta Fan broken so on to another room. Also cold at 60, seeing if the heat will work. Oiy. Moved up a floor to a different corner room. Seems to be working, he's getting a new filter and my new keys.

Hope you finally got a comfortable night of sleep. I once had a non working thermostat and didn't figure it out until after I got cold in the night. Got the blanket/sheets from the second bed and cocooned until morning as I wasn't dealing with maintenance at that point. In the morning, a wash basin bath, no shower until I got back home. This was a Marriott and when I reported my problem during my very early checkout, they seemed less than interested. Wrote off that particular hotel.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

Anyone else subscribe to the Panera Sip Club that Amex offered for 6 months free maybe a year or more ago? I did as I have many Panera restaurants to choose from in the greater area that I live in plus a few along the way when I drive south to Disney World.

I started paying after 6 months and was ok with 8.99 plus tax as this basically paid for my drinks during visits. In January it jumped to 11.99 plus tax, which I paid but just now I decided to cancel.

The website offered 3 months at 3,33 a month so I kept it, at least for the next 3 months. In summer I like their agave lemonade and I will always get coffee in the morning when I'm out and about.

Check your Chase cards. Almost all of mine have offers for 50% off the sip club.

 

[Judique]

Check your Chase cards. Almost all of mine have offers for 50% off the sip club.

Yes, they do but it is to sign up for the club and amounts to 5.99. I was trying to figure out how to make it work for me but it doesn't. I'll ride the 3 months and then if no other type of offer, I'll quit and either sign up DD or wait for a new opportunity.

 

[EACarlson]

Help with AMEX Plat. I'm considering opening one as I'm going to be traveling on OPM quite a bit this year and my wife is taking her mother to Hawaii. Am I reading correctly that if I designate United as my airline I can use the airline credit to feed the travel bank? And that bank is good for five years? I'm seriously considering the 100k offer.

 

[spacerangerqueen]

Yes, they do but it is to sign up for the club and amounts to 5.99. I was trying to figure out how to make it work for me but it doesn't. I'll ride the 3 months and then if no other type of offer, I'll quit and either sign up DD or wait for a new opportunity.

Ah, I didn't see it was for new sign ups. I've had it a few times over the years when it has been free or very cheap. Never got much use out of it though.