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

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I either missed the window or I'm just not seeing any decently priced biz class award flights to Scotland for next September. To my credit, I did try to get my family to commit to some potential dates a few months back but they were dragging their feet.

What airlines offer the most comfy premium economy? We are 3 shorter females so we don't *need* a ton of space, but I would love 3 seat configuration and best bang for our buck.

What airlines did you try? Where are you flying from? Dates? What currencies (airline, UR or MR) do you have?

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

I just couldn’t get a trip to Seoul to work for my Japan trip so we’ll be spending the entire time in Japan. Starting in Hiroshima and working our way north. Right now 3 nights in Hiroshima, 4 in Osaka, 1 in Kinosaki Onsen, 4/5 in Kyoto and 10/9 in Tokyo. Feels like a lot of time in Tokyo, but more than half will be day trips out (Nikko, Kamakura, Fuji Five Lakes, Yokohama, Kawasaki, maybe Matsumoto). If we’re lucky on dates, we may get to check out the Oku Asakusa Bon Odori Festival and ****amachi Tanabata Matsuri.

​

 

[smallsy]

What airlines did you try? Where are you flying from? Dates? What airline currency(ies) do you have?

I tried United, AA, and BA so far

flying out of CLT

Dates are flexible within a few days but looking at mid Sept (15th-25th)

Have both UR and MR to transfer

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

My last stop of my amazing trip to Italy was Bologna. I don't want to oversell it, but I LOVED my time there and would go back in a heartbeat. It is just 40 mins from Firenze, 1 hour from Milan and 2 hours and change from Roma by high speed train, so very accessible. The food there was divine -- some of my favorite meals of the trip were eaten in Bologna.

My hotel there, the Corona D'Oro, though highly rated, didn't look too appealing in pictures. But there seems to be a lack of boutique hotels here and I had a great rate, so I decided to stick with it (the top-rated hotel, the Gran Majestic, was more than twice the price). I was shocked by how *nice* it was -- certainly a case where the pictures on their website don't do them any justice. The staff were AMAZING -- all friendly and incredibly helpful. My room, though compact, was *perfect* for me; I find myself very happy as a solo traveler in small hotel rooms, they give me a cozy feeling. I had a small balcony overlooking one of the main streets which I loved and when I closed the doors my room was silent (bliss after my suite in Firenze). I would definitely stay here again and hope to soon.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

In Bologna I did a food tour, which I booked on the train from Firenze (around noon). While I ended up enjoying the tour, it started out horribly. When I got to the meeting point the guide (rudely) told me her group was full and wouldn't even look at my ticket; she then left with the group. I contacted the tour operator and they told me they would reach out to her and gave me the name and address of the first stop. I hustled there and again spoke to her and showed her my ticket -- this time she very rudely said "my group is full, you are with another company, please don't follow us and leave us alone". Almost in tears, I turned the corner and texted the company once again. They told me to approach her again, I refused until they contacted her. They called her, then told me to approach her again. This was incredibly hard to do after she was *so* rude to me, but I did and she couldn't apologize enough. She told me that she thought my name was for a man (my name is as far from masculine as you can get -- not that it matters), which is why she turned me away. Suuuuure. It was hard to feel part of the group after this, but after the second stop I got to know some of the people and ended up enjoying it. The company gave me a 50% refund, which I felt was fair, but I would never book with them again. But I did learn of the places the locals eat, get their cheese, pasta, bread, sweets and gelato, which is what I was really after.

I also did my favorite tour ever from Bologna, a parmesan regiano cheese / balsamic tour. I had to take a 20 min high speed train to Emila Regiana -- the tour operator, Claudio, told me the train number and was very clear with his instructions, which was amazing. We started at an agritourissimo where we had cappuccino and freshly baked pastries. Then we headed to a factory owned by Claudio's family where we saw the entire process of how they make parmesian reggiano cheese (YUM) and went back to the agritourissimo for some 12, 24 and 36 month aged cheese with freshly baked breads and crackers. Everyone (8 people total, the max he can take) got 1lb of 24 month cheese to bring home. We then visited the farm where they get the milk for the cheese (also owned by Claudio's family).

Next we drove way up in the hills to his cousins farm, where his cousin produces balsamic vinegar. The small shed where the balsamic was stored smelled *heavenly*. The shed was not very big -- the amount of work that goes into producing balsamic is mind-boggling. The yield is tiny too -- 100 litres of grape juice produces just 1 litre of balsamic. The min. aging time is 8 years; aged 12 and 25 years are the only ones that can be DOC. This explains the dear price of balsamic -- a 3oz bottle was 95euros (I bought an 8 year and 25 year and I will have to *really* like someone to share the 25 year with them LOL).

I would do this tour again and would highly recommend to anyone with an interest in cheese / balsamic (I *love* both!).

A 'baby' -- named such because it requires about the same amount of work as a baby for the first 3 weeks after it's made (all work is by hand -- it's a labor-intensive process)


Each wheel is dated and numbered so they know when it was made and which batch it is from


The salt bath pool (the wheels spend 3 weeks here)


Climate-controlled storage area -- every inch of each wheel needs to brushed for mould weekly


Claudio's family owns the farm where they get the milk for the cheese; this calf was born the morning of our tour!




Aging balsamic vinegar


25 yr aged balsamic on vanilla gelato -- DELICIOUS. Of course the gelato was made from milk from the cows on Claudio's family
farm!

 

[leeniewdw]

RE: Alaska award booking

Sounds like phantom availability. You can search other partners to check if the availability is really there, though I don't know if that's always foolproof.

I'll check. It's super annoying though. There was probably a time that I didn't even know what "phantom" availability was and am at least glad that I'd heard of it -- and that I've got other flexible points to figure this out. I could see me completely freaking out if this had happened a few years ago (not that I'm happy, first time getting burned, lol). It's annoying to pay for seats.aero who also lists phantom availability.

It's so weird how far this gets before it's says "oops, sorry". I used my Amex Plat that's stored as a google whatever and I even got the temp $1 charge for each time I tried to book.

I may end up just booking with cash, I hated how many BA pts I originally used, but I'd booked on a month with a lot other expenses and just wanted to reduce the out of pocket costs of this trip.

Thanks again!

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

In Bologna I did a food tour, which I booked on the train from Firenze (around noon). While I ended up enjoying the tour, it started out horribly. When I got to the meeting point the guide (rudely) told me her group was full and wouldn't even look at my ticket; she then left with the group. I contacted the tour operator and they told me they would reach out to her and gave me the name and address of the first stop. I hustled there and again spoke to her and showed her my ticket -- this time she very rudely said "my group is full, you are with another company, please don't follow us and leave us alone". Almost in tears, I turned the corner and texted the company once again. They told me to approach her again, I refused until they contacted her. They called her, then told me to approach her again. This was incredibly hard to do after she was *so* rude to me, but I did and she couldn't apologize enough. She told me that she thought my name was for a man (my name is as far from masculine as you can get -- not that it matters), which is why she turned me away. Suuuuure. It was hard to feel part of the group after this, but after the second stop I got to know some of the people and ended up enjoying it. The company gave me a 50% refund, which I felt was fair, but I would never book with them again. But I did learn of the places the locals eat, get their cheese, pasta, bread, sweets and gelato, which is what I was really after.

I also did my favorite tour ever from Bologna, a parmesan regiano cheese / balsamic tour. I had to take a 20 min high speed train to Emila Regiana -- the tour operator, Claudio, told me the train number and was very clear with his instructions, which was amazing. We started at an agritourissimo where we had cappuccino and freshly baked pastries. Then we headed to a factory owned by Claudio's family where we saw the entire process of how they make parmesian reggiano cheese (YUM) and went back to the agritourissimo for some 12, 24 and 36 month aged cheese with freshly baked breads and crackers. Everyone (8 people total, the max he can take) got 1lb of 24 month cheese to bring home. We then visited the farm where they get the milk for the cheese (also owned by Claudio's family).

Next we drove way up in the hills to his cousins farm, where his cousin produces balsamic vinegar. The small shed where the balsamic was stored smelled *heavenly*. The shed was not very big -- the amount of work that goes into producing balsamic is mind-boggling. The yield is tiny too -- 100 litres of grape juice produces just 1 litre of balsamic. The min. aging time is 8 years; aged 12 and 25 years are the only ones that can be DOC. This explains the dear price of balsamic -- a 3oz bottle was 95euros (I bought an 8 year and 25 year and I will have to *really* like someone to share the 25 year with them LOL).

I would do this tour again and would highly recommend to anyone with an interest in cheese / balsamic (I *love* both!).

A 'baby' -- named such because it requires about the same amount of work as a baby for the first 3 weeks after it's made (all work is by hand -- it's a labor-intensive process)
View attachment 909396

Each wheel is dated and numbered so they know when it was made and which batch it is from
View attachment 909397

The salt bath pool (the wheels spend 3 weeks here)
View attachment 909398

Climate-controlled storage area -- every inch of each wheel needs to brushed for mould weekly
View attachment 909399

Claudio's family owns the farm where they get the milk for the cheese; this calf was born the morning of our tour!
View attachment 909400

View attachment 909401

Aging balsamic vinegar
View attachment 909402

25 yr aged balsamic on vanilla gelato -- DELICIOUS. Of course the gelato was made from milk from the cows on Claudio's family
farm!
View attachment 909404

Wow, I admire your perseverance with that rude tour guide. Glad you at least enjoyed the tour.

 

[djmeredith]

Will transfering 1,000 Hyatt points from Chase UR reset the 24 month clock to keep my Hyatt points from expiring?

I have a room in Chicago booked on Hyatt points which are probably close to expiring. I also have a Hilton FNC that is going to expire in December. So I'm thinking of switching my hotel for the Bears game to Hilton Chiago but I don't want my Hyatt points to expire.

Glad you asked this question because I got a notice my pts are expiring.

Here are a few ways to stop the Hyatt points from expiring.

Thanks! it says transferring UR will keep the pts alive, so I transferred 1K.

 

[havaneselover]

Glad you asked this question because I got a notice my pts are expiring.

Thanks! it says transferring UR will keep the pts alive, so I transferred 1K.

I realized I actually have until June before mine will expire so I made a note to transfer points in May. Glad we have the option to transfer from Chase.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Hi all! Long-time lurker, occasional poster here. Been playing the credit card game (mostly Chase) for about 3 years now and wondering what card to consider next since I need to cool it on Chase for a bit. I may be in Amex pop-up jail, so not sure that an Amex card will be possible (although open to trying). I value Capital One points since I hold the Venture X card and they seem to like me, if there are any Capital One cards I might consider. Otherwise, open to suggestions. I'd prefer cards with low or no annual fee, or where the annual fee is easy to offset with points. Thanks for reading!

Here's my stats:

I'm currently at 2/24 and open to personal or business cards. Here's my cards in last 24 months:
10/22 - CHASE Ink Cash
03/23 - CHASE Ink Unlimited
09/23 - AMEX Blue Business Plus
11/23 - CHASE Southwest Performance Business
12/23 - CHASE Southwest Premier
03/24 - US BANK Business Leverage
06/24 - CHASE Ink Unlimited
07/24 - CAPITAL ONE Venture
09/24 - CHASE Ink Cash

1) Organic CC spend could easily be $2000-3000 each month, plus we have a large purchase (~$3000) coming up in the next month or two that can go on a CC

2) CC Balances are paid off, except where it makes sense to float a balance with 0% interest (eg, I used an Ink SUB to pay ahead for daycare, got a discount for doing so and pay on that balance monthly).

3) What airport(s) do you typically fly out of? PHL or BWI are the largest major airports.

4) Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program? Southwest or American Airlines (would like to get some more American Airlines miles)!

5) Does SOUTHWEST Airline service your airport? Yes

6) Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? We use Hyatt a lot for the Chase UR redemption, but otherwise open.

7) Do you currently have travel points or miles in any program? Yes ~100,000 Chase UR, ~120,000 Amex MR, ~90,000 AA Miles

8) Our next planned trip that I'd be collecting points for is possibly an Alaskan cruise, so airline miles to travel to the port, points for hotel stay at port city, cash to help pay for the cruise, etc.

9) When do you plan to take these trips? Summer 2026

10) Who does your travel party consist of? Spouse and three kids.

P1 and P2 just both got the Citi® / AAdvantage BusinessTM World Elite Mastercard®. I would check out all of the AA cards, Citi and Barclays, and see what makes sense for you.
I've only ever had the Venture X so can't really advise on Cap1 cards.

I'd also look at DOC best card bonuses to see if any of the above intrigue you or if any Amex cards would make sense for you.

 

[TheDailyMoo]

Specific question but if anyone has the spend 30 at Amazon get 5 back on their AMEX...did that work with Amazon gift cards?

 

[havaneselover]

Some good new Amex offers this morning! There's a lego one--DD 21 wants some big Lego set for Christmas so perfect timing. Also had a Frontgate offer (nothing I'm planning on buying but you never know). And have spend $150 at Amazon get 1,200 MRs up to 3 times on my BBP.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

I tried United, AA, and BA so far

flying out of CLT

Dates are flexible within a few days but looking at mid Sept (15th-25th)

Have both UR and MR to transfer

I don't think you missed the flights on points, maybe more a case of departing from CLT doesn't provide good connections to Edinburgh.

If you are willing to do a positioning flight to JFK you have the option of KLM (JFK-->AMS-->EDI) for 90k points + $127 or BA (JFK-->LHR-->EDI) for 79.2k points + $400 (less desirable). As always check availability on both sites before transferring points. Both of these flights depart on September 15th and have at least 1 seat. If you position to Chicago you have similar options (100k points for KLM, same amount in taxes). HTH.

Another option would be perhaps flying to London for a few days and then taking the train (approx. 4.5 hours but it's a really nice way to travel) to Edinburgh.

 

[becauseimnew]

@FreeDiningFanatic
I'm thinking about transferring 250,000 MRs over to Flying Blue... in hopes of getting 6 J flights to Italy, Thanksgiving 2025. Good idea or bad idea?

Also, for those that missed the AA Barclays 70k offer, it’s back.

https://cards.barclaycardus.com/ban...of-home/d35e9a0c-7c9b-4509-a56a-f6801a1eff9e/

 

[Limes96]

Specific question but if anyone has the spend 30 at Amazon get 5 back on their AMEX...did that work with Amazon gift cards?

I used this offer to reload my account/gift card balance on the Amazon app and it worked

 

[LynnTH]

Hi all! Long-time lurker, occasional poster here. Been playing the credit card game (mostly Chase) for about 3 years now and wondering what card to consider next since I need to cool it on Chase for a bit. I may be in Amex pop-up jail, so not sure that an Amex card will be possible (although open to trying). I value Capital One points since I hold the Venture X card and they seem to like me, if there are any Capital One cards I might consider. Otherwise, open to suggestions. I'd prefer cards with low or no annual fee, or where the annual fee is easy to offset with points. Thanks for reading!

Here's my stats:

I'm currently at 2/24 and open to personal or business cards. Here's my cards in last 24 months:
10/22 - CHASE Ink Cash
03/23 - CHASE Ink Unlimited
09/23 - AMEX Blue Business Plus
11/23 - CHASE Southwest Performance Business
12/23 - CHASE Southwest Premier
03/24 - US BANK Business Leverage
06/24 - CHASE Ink Unlimited
07/24 - CAPITAL ONE Venture
09/24 - CHASE Ink Cash

1) Organic CC spend could easily be $2000-3000 each month, plus we have a large purchase (~$3000) coming up in the next month or two that can go on a CC

2) CC Balances are paid off, except where it makes sense to float a balance with 0% interest (eg, I used an Ink SUB to pay ahead for daycare, got a discount for doing so and pay on that balance monthly).

3) What airport(s) do you typically fly out of? PHL or BWI are the largest major airports.

4) Do you have a preference of Frequent Flyer program? Southwest or American Airlines (would like to get some more American Airlines miles)!

5) Does SOUTHWEST Airline service your airport? Yes

6) Do you have a Hotel Rewards program preference? We use Hyatt a lot for the Chase UR redemption, but otherwise open.

7) Do you currently have travel points or miles in any program? Yes ~100,000 Chase UR, ~120,000 Amex MR, ~90,000 AA Miles

8) Our next planned trip that I'd be collecting points for is possibly an Alaskan cruise, so airline miles to travel to the port, points for hotel stay at port city, cash to help pay for the cruise, etc.

9) When do you plan to take these trips? Summer 2026

10) Who does your travel party consist of? Spouse and three kids.

I too am laying low on Chase for a bit and am in AMEX Pop Up Jail. Been keeping busy with US Bank Cards. Recently go the US Bank Triple Cash Biz Cards for both DH and I. Right now $750 cash back with $6,000 Spend in 180 days. No annual Fee. This is actually me 2nd one of these this year - seems to be easy to get and still keeps you at 2/24.

 

[wanderlust7]

Any particular way they went about it? I just called and the person was very unimpressed with me, lol. I figured I would try again later and see if I get a friendlier agent

ETA: second time calling the agent transferred me to an account specialist and she waived my fee. Pretty cool, also got spend $300 per month Nov, Dec, Jan, and earn 2K AA miles, total 6K miles. Glad I called again!

ETA again: DH got AF refunded, did not have a spend/miles offer. But at least AF back

How did you get transferred? Just called and was told no offers. Asked to be transferred to retention department and was told it would show in offers. Do you actually have to act like you're canceling?

 

[becauseimnew]

How did you get transferred? Just called and was told no offers. Asked to be transferred to retention department and was told it would show in offers. Do you actually have to act like you're canceling?

yes, they called and said they wanted to cancel the card, would keep it if they waived the annual fee.

 

[mmbrad02]

I am a very long time lurker of this thread but too intimidated to jump in That said, we have done some credit card deals over the years to get the bonus points etc. I have what will be a very simple question for you experts

We opened the Capital One Venture cards last night, with the goal of using the initial bonus points for flights next June. However, we already use a CC for every.single.purchase in an effort to accrue points for traveling - it has been a Disney Visa Premier which I have known for years wasn't the best value, but was super easy to use and we love going. So we just kept it. Anyway, we will switch to the Venture card now going forward for all of our spending.

My question is - the reward was 75,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first three months. If I was to spend that much in, say, the first cycle, do I get my points awarded then or do they wait till the 3 billing cycles are over?

I've opened SW cards before and such but I cannot remember. I Called capital one on my lunch break but they were experiencing longer call volumes and were supposed to call me back - haven't. It's more curiosity than need though.

Thanks!

 

[elgerber]

I am a very long time lurker of this thread but too intimidated to jump in That said, we have done some credit card deals over the years to get the bonus points etc. I have what will be a very simple question for you experts

We opened the Capital One Venture cards last night, with the goal of using the initial bonus points for flights next June. However, we already use a CC for every.single.purchase in an effort to accrue points for traveling - it has been a Disney Visa Premier which I have known for years wasn't the best value, but was super easy to use and we love going. So we just kept it. Anyway, we will switch to the Venture card now going forward for all of our spending.

My question is - the reward was 75,000 points for spending $4,000 in the first three months. If I was to spend that much in, say, the first cycle, do I get my points awarded then or do they wait till the 3 billing cycles are over?

I've opened SW cards before and such but I cannot remember. I Called capital one on my lunch break but they were experiencing longer call volumes and were supposed to call me back - haven't. It's more curiosity than need though.

Thanks!

in my experience, which most recently was last month, Cap One gives the rewards as soon as the spend is done. They don't even wait for the statement to cut.