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

[mrandmrsthomas0618]

Curious if it's your 7th active Amex credit card. Charge cards like the green, gold, plat don't count towards the 5 cc limit.

That is my mistake then. I have 2 business platinums. I didn't realize those didn't count. Sorry for the mis info!

 

[Judique]

That is my mistake then. I have 2 business platinums. I didn't realize those didn't count. Sorry for the mis info!

Not really a mistake! You can hold up to 10 of their charge cards and 5 credit cards. Amex will also do what works for them. My DD was able to get 7 credit cards and then app'ed for number 8. She called in or they called her - I was there but don't remember - anyway they offered to cancel a card so that she could get the one she applied for. That left her still with 7 credit and at least one charge because she has always kept a Plat. I'm not sure what she's got now as she's always doing something.

 

[djmeredith]

For people who are looking for a new biz card and who have been in AmEx pop-up jail, you might want to look at DoC's post from a day or two ago--there are NLL offers for the three Delta cards that actually worked for me (got approved for the Delta Gold Biz after a year or so of getting the pop-up jail language).

Thanks! Count me in the club that jumped on this deal. Instant approval with a very high credit limit. I had received the pop-up a few months ago when I applied for a Delta personal card.

 

[elgerber]

I was looking at the Delta offers yesterday. I need delta miles badly. Of course I just got an ink. Not sure if I can swing both spends. Although this ink has a 6 month window.

 

[*pixie*]

Quick question, I have Disney Chase, Southwest Personal, and Southwest Business cards. I’ve had them all for several years. I’m thinking of getting the American Express Platinum within the next couple of months to replace the Southwest Personal. Would it be better to close it before or after applying for the American Express?

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Quick question, I have Disney Chase, Southwest Personal, and Southwest Business cards. I’ve had them all for several years. I’m thinking of getting the American Express Platinum within the next couple of months to replace the Southwest Personal. Would it be better to close it before or after applying for the American Express?

It doesn’t matter if you close before or after applying for the Amex. I would wait until your anniversary RR points are added to your SW account and close after that.

 

[hsmamato2]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

 

[hsmamato2]

is there a schedule of staples 5x visa gc?

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

is there a schedule of staples 5x visa gc?

You mean the fee-free $200s, right? They've been running it every 4 weeks for quite a while now. It's generally the week after the fee free MasterCard. Based on last run, I'd expect week starting 7/20 to be next

 

[EACarlson]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

I use them for family trips at off peak times. I've also used them for business trips if the value is there. I'm incredibly lucky as the organization I do 1099 work for will reimburse me cash prices for trips I book using points as long as it's not unreasonable. I've gotten 3.7 cpp on a trip to Orlando, 2.5 cpp to San Diego, 2.3cpp to Hawaii in Delta One and 1.9cpp to NYC. I do occasionally have to drive from my small airport to either a larger city or a hub, anywhere from 1 to 4 hours drive. I've got a family trip booked for January that was 1.4 which seems about average for my searches. I'm connecting from my small local, but I think I'm going to be changing it to a much more expensive flight since there was a schedule change. That flight would end up being 2.2 cpp

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

I'm in a similar boat. My husband has to use Delta for some very expensive work travel, so he's loading up on miles and status (tracking to hit diamond for the second year running) but every time I look at flying them from our local airport I'm shocked by how many miles everything costs, and always with connections.

We're planning on opening the AmEx for the miles and the 15% points savings in order to use what he's got banked so far for our 2026 European travel. Stinks that Delta isn't great from our local airport.

 

[Best Aunt]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

Depends on your local airport. We don't have a lot of options out of our airport. But we do have two Delta nonstop flights a day to/from ATL. So to get to a lot of places, we use Delta and connect through ATL. The number of frequent flyer miles required for Delta flights is a lot, but if we were to pay cash for those flights it would be a lot also. Lack of competition here means high airfares. It's never a question of, "Do I want to fly Delta or would it be cheaper to fly on a different airline?" It's always, "I refuse to make more than one stop, so what are my options?"

 

[mrandmrsthomas0618]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

I just booked with delta for the first time this week to book flights to tokyo for next year so we can do to Disney there.

Not a lot of great options for us either but these flights were reasonable so glad to have had the Miles. Getting the new cards was great because we were getting close to having to pay annual fees but now we don't because we'll cancel our first ones and keep new ones since fee is waived for the first year. But needed the card because it gives free bags for flight.

 

[djmeredith]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

I will likely use mine for domestic trips or repositioning flights for intl travel. They do have good deals sometimes, but they are fewer and farther between than other airlines. You just have to stalk the routes you need, even after you book. I view my flts on pts as "free" because I try to max the benefits of each card. I also view it as using the Delta pts for domestic travel allows me to have more UR and MR for intl travel.

I am someone who has been loyal to SW for domestic travel for about 20 yrs until this past year. Over the past year, I have started to strategize accumulating pts on other airlines for domestic travel. I got 2 AA cards and have flown them once for a quick trip. It was just a regional jet, but it was fine. Now I'm getting these Delta pts and will likely do a United card soon.

I just booked with delta for the first time this week to book flights to tokyo for next year so we can do to Disney there.

Not a lot of great options for us either but these flights were reasonable so glad to have had the Miles. Getting the new cards was great because we were getting close to having to pay annual fees but now we don't because we'll cancel our first ones and keep new ones since fee is waived for the first year. But needed the card because it gives free bags for flight.

Continue to stalk the flts you already booked, especially as your travel dates approach. I saved a TON of pts on Delta Comfort class last year about 2 wks before our trip from HI to Tokyo.

 

[elgerber]

what do y'all find Delta miles valuable for? They don't seem to have much I'm interested in from my local airport (nothing nonstop)

I’m in a Delta hub so they run more non stops than any airline from here. To many places we go they are the only non stop option.

 

[platamama]

No that helps actually, thanks! We are taking the train from the airport to Edinburgh on arrival and then train again up to Inverness before renting our car. So I guess I should just look at the transportation situation to and from the train stations. Everywhere else we're staying we should be able to park on site.

You'll be fine with a roller. The airports and train stations have paved sidewalks, as do Edinburgh and Inverness.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I was waiting for a trip report! YEAH! Glad to hear you enjoyed your trip. Sometimes I think I over hype Yellowstone and worry others won't like it. When someone asks me which is my favorite park, I say Grand Tetons. Stunningly beautiful. Glad you were able to make it down there for a day.

Sorry about Snow Lodge cabins. There must be a few types. When I stayed there the cabin we (me and my daughter) got was just as large as the one at canyon area. But as you said, no view or nice area to see right at the cabin. I didn't have Internet in any of our cabins. Just the VCs and maybe the lodge/restaurant area in Canyon. It was almost 10 years ago. I'm sure things have changed.

The cabin we had at Canyon was huge compared to Snow Lodge. I figured the cabins at each location were pretty much all the same.
Grand Tetons was absolutely breathtaking! I hadn’t planned it because I thought it was farther and we wouldn’t have time. I’m so glad I didn’t micromanage our trip and we just spontaneously took the drive there.

 

[NewbieMom]

We just came back from our trip to London and Paris and had a fantastic time! Thank you everyone for all the tips and advice. @*WDW*Groupie* Thanks for the London Hilton Park Lane hotel recommendations. It's a nice hotel and definitely super convenient with the tube and bus stops right outside. My kids loved stopping in the lounge to get a (non-alcoholic) drink like soda or hot chocolate and a slice of cake after a day of sightseeing. But I did feel a little out of place, especially as a family with young children. There was also a room issue at check-in that delayed us getting into our room until 5pm. After a long flight and jet lagged, it was a bit unpleasant. If we're back in London, we'll probably stay somewhere different.

@GZanta77 Paulton's park was beautiful! My kids loved it so much. We got there shortly after opening and left at closing. There's so much to see; we could definitely use another day.

We took the Eurostar from London to Paris and stayed at the Courtyard Gare de Lyon using the 5 free night certificates from the Marriott SUB last year. At the time I booked (6 months out?), prices per night were under 65K. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I was able to use the FNC + top up with points. The location was very convenient, right outside a train station. While the hotel was only ok (small basic rooms, had some housekeeping/toilet issues), I can't complain too much since the stay was pretty much free. There was about 30 EUR / night charge for some taxes using the FNC. With Paris hotels charging $200-300/night for the most basic hotels and rooms, this was a fantastic use of the SUB.

I don't have the energy to do a full trip report, but if anyone has questions feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer while everything is fresh in my mind.

On the topic of cc's, I also just got approved for a Delta card using the Doc link! I've never had the card before but still got PUJ. Instant card number, which is super handy as we came home to a broken dishwasher.

 

[HooperSnag]

We recently purchased 150 DVC points direct and charged to our CSR. The expense counted as travel (3pts per dollar) for UR points. Very nice.
We're considering ditching (actually downgrading CSR to a no fee Chase card to save our credit scores) and moving onto AMEX Platinum. We'll wait to see what AMEX makes for changes beforehand however.

 

[Haley R]

We just came back from our trip to London and Paris and had a fantastic time! Thank you everyone for all the tips and advice. @*WDW*Groupie* Thanks for the London Hilton Park Lane hotel recommendations. It's a nice hotel and definitely super convenient with the tube and bus stops right outside. My kids loved stopping in the lounge to get a (non-alcoholic) drink like soda or hot chocolate and a slice of cake after a day of sightseeing. But I did feel a little out of place, especially as a family with young children. There was also a room issue at check-in that delayed us getting into our room until 5pm. After a long flight and jet lagged, it was a bit unpleasant. If we're back in London, we'll probably stay somewhere different.

@GZanta77 Paulton's park was beautiful! My kids loved it so much. We got there shortly after opening and left at closing. There's so much to see; we could definitely use another day.

We took the Eurostar from London to Paris and stayed at the Courtyard Gare de Lyon using the 5 free night certificates from the Marriott SUB last year. At the time I booked (6 months out?), prices per night were under 65K. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I was able to use the FNC + top up with points. The location was very convenient, right outside a train station. While the hotel was only ok (small basic rooms, had some housekeeping/toilet issues), I can't complain too much since the stay was pretty much free. There was about 30 EUR / night charge for some taxes using the FNC. With Paris hotels charging $200-300/night for the most basic hotels and rooms, this was a fantastic use of the SUB.

I don't have the energy to do a full trip report, but if anyone has questions feel free to ask and I'll try my best to answer while everything is fresh in my mind.

On the topic of cc's, I also just got approved for a Delta card using the Doc link! I've never had the card before but still got PUJ. Instant card number, which is super handy as we came home to a broken dishwasher.

What were your kids’ favorite things in London? We’re going next week for the first time