I love credit cards so much! v7.0 - 2025 (see first page for add'l details)

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

For those of you with a P2/3/4/etc who is an "adult" child, how often are you doing the spend for them? And are you giving them the perks? I had my 20yo sign up for the CSP (meaning I signed up). I'm hitting the spend. I figure since we are the same household, we can combine points. But I might let her keep them. We'll see. With the Marriott 5 FNC back, I told her we might be doing that card next. She really wants to do an All Inclusive this summer. So I told her we'll look and see and use those if we can (assuming she's approved). I'm locked out of the 5FNC until probably October. But I think the BF can do it. So I'll likely have him do it.

As for the Cap 1 fun....I'm in a few credit card/travel points groups on FB. I have 10x unfollowed, because I just couldn't with them in my feed daily, LOL. But I have a "mom" group that shows up. The amount of mom's complaining about the loss tells me why all these perks are getting taken away. I remember back when the CSR first launched and I came across this thread. It was like a secret club. But everything has gone "mainstream". Everyone is sharing everything. Don't get me wrong, I just shared the $100 Discover referral on my FB page. And I'll share the Hilton FNC when it's out, etc. But TSA precheck is a longer line now because of the masses have CCs that give the perk. Lounges are limiting access because every 4th video on my Tik Tok is someone telling everyone and their brother to go get this card or that card, etc. I get it, we all wouldn't be here if the knowledge wasn't shared. But I think there is something different sharing a 100k SUB for a CSP vs sharing all the "other perks" that in the end hurt us.

My friends and family have asked me time and time again how I do what I do, so I have a blog that I update VERY infrequently. So yes, I too am guilty. But I often glaze over the "perks" that might come with a card. Or I guess rather I try not to boast about the perks that hurt me in the end, LOL. The first rule about fight club, we don't talk about fight club. Since I started we've lost lounge access on cards (Surpass) or had it limited. We lost the PP restaurants. TSA precheck is a joke. Annual fees keep going up and we keep losing "perks". And I hear the bill is floating around again to limit/remove credit card rewards all together. I guess great for the Point Guy, and 10x travel and all the other "influencers" who have cashed in over the years where they are not generating enough from referrals and revenue they'll never have to worry about churning a card, or SUB again. But we've shot ourselves in the foot.

Okay off my soapbox, LOL. I know we all started somewhere.....but I wish it stayed more underground....kinda like peptides and GLP 1s. I feel like you've got to navigate to the dark web almost to get any information, LOL.

 

[mmmears]

I think you answered your own question. Every post on social media and every blog post that talks about how to play this game makes it harder for everyone to find a good flight on points, or enter a lounge with a partner, or book a hotel. I check myself and don't post about the game other than here. If someone I know IRL wants a little advice, I'll give it one on one and point them in the right direction, but it's getting impossible to book things so I think it's best not to share anything to the masses. I used to be able to find flights a year out, but with all the points finder apps (point me, roame, seats, etc.) now everyone and their brother's best friend's dog is looking for those same flights. And I'll get off my soapbox now.

 

[afan]

TSA precheck is a joke

I think this is airport dependent. Even with SEA as my home airport, I rarely wait more than 5 min for precheck. If the line is a little long I'll use clear with it but that doesn't really save time just steps.

MCO it's bad but the reg lines are way worse.

 

[StephPlum]

TSA precheck is a joke.

I'd wait in the same size or longer pre-check line, just so I don't have to take half my clothes off . More benefits than just a shorter line on pre-check.

 

[disneybirds]

I just spent my Amex Plat Dell credit for the first half of the year. This time I bought a ring camera for my Mom. Posting this in case someone else needs a ring camera and has the credit!

 

[becauseimnew]

I think you answered your own question. Every post on social media and every blog post that talks about how to play this game makes it harder for everyone to find a good flight on points, or enter a lounge with a partner, or book a hotel. I check myself and don't post about the game other than here. If someone I know IRL wants a little advice, I'll give it one on one and point them in the right direction, but it's getting impossible to book things so I think it's best not to share anything to the masses. I used to be able to find flights a year out, but with all the points finder apps (point me, roame, seats, etc.) now everyone and their brother's best friend's dog is looking for those same flights. And I'll get off my soapbox now.

As easy as it sounds, people still don't know how to book with miles and points. Even with all the hand-holding, so many posts of people having miles stuck in the wrong eco-system because they found these amazing deal on those finder apps but still managed to mess things up. It's really funny.

I'm looking at booking 4 J tickets flights to Oslo next summer, I can easily book them (2 different flights from the same airport on the same day), which I don't really want to do, but when I look at the flights in the next few months the airline has adjusted the itinerary and dropped one flight, which I'm sure means that we would end up on the same flight.

 

[becauseimnew]

I'd wait in the same size or longer pre-check line, just so I don't have to take half my clothes off . More benefits than just a shorter line on pre-check.

Same, our home airport is small but pre-check still wins just because I don't have to remove my clothes. What we won't do it Clear at our home airport, takes longer than pre-check.

 

[Twilghtsprkle]

TSA precheck is a joke.

I will not go without TSA precheck. Last year we didn’t have it and the body scan machine was definitely acting up - about a third of people were sent to get patted down. My 14 year old daughter had to get a pat down. She was traumatized.

 

[havaneselover]

Putting Q2 taxes on my Hilton card to get a FNC. Planning to use it at the Hilton Brooklyn pre-cruise in September.

 

[calypso726]

I am sure you have answered this before, but what do you take your photos with?

Honestly, 9 times out of 10 it’s my iPhone. I haven’t used a real camera since the Antarctica trip back in 2019. My next trip where I might use a real camera is the safari in Masai Mara this summer. The JW Masai Mara has real cameras available so I will likely use theirs.

 

[calypso726]

Aside from Piz Gloria, we were too scared to do ANY of the rest of your list, lol. Honestly, the gondola from Murren to Stechelberg was frightening for us! We did walk up to the launch point for the paragliding and loved watching the take offs and "woos" from the brave people doing it!

We were so shocked/impressed that they've been running a gondola of some sort up to Piz Gloria since the 60s! We still need to watch the Bond Movie now that we've been there.

It is pretty impressive that it’s been in service all that time.

I’m good with heights. Getting in the ocean is a whole other level of fear for me.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I am frustrated with SWA. A couple weeks ago one of our flights dropped 500 points. It kept showing up as a 0 point difference when I tried to modify for the same flight. Every other flight that day for the same amount of points showed the -500 price. So I called SWA and she said no, it's no difference in points than I paid. I told her it was, but she said it was nothing for her to do on her end so I let it go since it wasn't a huge amount of points. Well now today on a completely different flight, it's dropped 1,000 points and it's the exact same scenario. I went through the trouble to cancel the CP flight in order to modify and it shows a 0 point difference, while all of the other flights of the same price do show -1,000. How can this be? I feel like if I call, they'll tell me the same as last time. I don't want to cancel and rebook and lose our check-in place in line or be missing out on a 1,000 point refund either.

I had the same think happen when there was a SW change to a flight, so I just cancelled and rebooked. Unless you purchased early bird check in there isn’t a place in line for you to lose

 

[jenmsmith]

I am frustrated with SWA. A couple weeks ago one of our flights dropped 500 points. It kept showing up as a 0 point difference when I tried to modify for the same flight. Every other flight that day for the same amount of points showed the -500 price. So I called SWA and she said no, it's no difference in points than I paid. I told her it was, but she said it was nothing for her to do on her end so I let it go since it wasn't a huge amount of points. Well now today on a completely different flight, it's dropped 1,000 points and it's the exact same scenario. I went through the trouble to cancel the CP flight in order to modify and it shows a 0 point difference, while all of the other flights of the same price do show -1,000. How can this be? I feel like if I call, they'll tell me the same as last time. I don't want to cancel and rebook and lose our check-in place in line or be missing out on a 1,000 point refund either.

If you haven't already, it may be worth trying again. I had that happen this morning, but this afternoon, when I clicked on the "0 points difference" the next screen actually showed the lower points price. I was able to complete the modification and the points were returned.

 

[disneylover81]

are you looking at a fare drop,then trying to rebook for muliple tickets? Bc it could be showing you possibly 1 flight left at that price drop but you're trying to rebook ,say,3?

No. It's only 1 flight booked that I was changing. The second flight was booked with CP, which of course I had to cancel to even try and make the change to start with.

I had the same think happen when there was a SW change to a flight, so I just cancelled and rebooked. Unless you purchased early bird check in there isn’t a place in line for you to lose

Well for this particular flight, we did the WGA+ with EBCI, which was reimbursed by our SWA Visa. We ALWAYS do Anytime fares, but I just booked this last week for a flight on 7/3 so it was very last minute and the Anytimes were a little higher than I liked. We fly from MEM, so going to MCO shouldn't be too bad. I only worry about the return flight. MCO and pre-boarding and all that mess is always a nightmare, plus our flight is at 8:45 pm - if it isn't delayed like it tends to be in the summer time. I booked the WGA+ at 21k RR points. Today it's showing 20k, but wouldn't let me make the change. I am going to call and see what happens. It just makes no sense. My sister has a trip to SEA booked and last month it dropped in price and wouldn't modify correctly for her either, but she refused to call. Bad thing is she paid cash for Anytime on that trip so she could have gotten refunded the actual money.

 

[wisconsinmom]

I'm so annoyed by the Cap one change, both my adult kids are AUs and enjoy the lounge benefit. Also not even one guest is beyond silly. When DH's card renews we will likely cancel, I need to check what the date is on that!

 

[sinnika]

Hi, I haven’t posted in awhile. Mostly doing US travel. I’m going on a last minute trip to Helsinki. I’m in Houston but can reposition. I want to arrive on June 26. I’m returning from Helsinki and going to Baltimore on July 9th. I have Chase UR points, cap1 points and AmEx MR’s. Looks like any biz seats are out of reach unless I can find one for under 100,000. Is it worth upgrading from my free points.yeah to the higher level to help in my search? I may move Amex points to Hawaiian for my return to Baltimore on Alaska Airlines. Would love any suggestions or advice. Thanks

 

[palhockeymomof2]

No. It's only 1 flight booked that I was changing. The second flight was booked with CP, which of course I had to cancel to even try and make the change to start with.


Well for this particular flight, we did the WGA+ with EBCI, which was reimbursed by our SWA Visa. We ALWAYS do Anytime fares, but I just booked this last week for a flight on 7/3 so it was very last minute and the Anytimes were a little higher than I liked. We fly from MEM, so going to MCO shouldn't be too bad. I only worry about the return flight. MCO and pre-boarding and all that mess is always a nightmare, plus our flight is at 8:45 pm - if it isn't delayed like it tends to be in the summer time. I booked the WGA+ at 21k RR points. Today it's showing 20k, but wouldn't let me make the change. I am going to call and see what happens. It just makes no sense. My sister has a trip to SEA booked and last month it dropped in price and wouldn't modify correctly for her either, but she refused to call. Bad thing is she paid cash for Anytime on that trip so she could have gotten refunded the actual money.

Ugh that is annoying definitely don’t want to cancel since you bought the EBCI

 

[disneylover81]

If you haven't already, it may be worth trying again. I had that happen this morning, but this afternoon, when I clicked on the "0 points difference" the next screen actually showed the lower points price. I was able to complete the modification and the points were returned.

That's good to know if it happens again. I have already called and the SWA rep manually refunded me the points.

 

[hsmamato2]

Hi pals I'm back with another "wwyd" question So Booking a hotel on points- I can spend 80k Hyatt (transferred UR's,I already have 65k in there,just need another 14k to top off) or 145k IHG.... I tend to hold onto my IHG b/c they're super useful to my travel style (really big footprint,easy to use) Hyatt ,I love the redemption but such a small footprint..... wwyd-?

 

[hsmamato2]

For those of you with a P2/3/4/etc who is an "adult" child, how often are you doing the spend for them? And are you giving them the perks? I had my 20yo sign up for the CSP (meaning I signed up). I'm hitting the spend. I figure since we are the same household, we can combine points. But I might let her keep them. We'll see.

This I can answer from my own perspective.... I had one adult child who loves the game along with me- we would hammer out terms ahead of time,so I would tell him that in fairness, he's p2, he apps, I spend x amount,he spends x amount, we split the points fairly along those lines. (I always gave him more than myself as a boost to his beginner attempts. It always worked well, now he's old enough that he does it on his own,and we 'support' each other as needed.