I love credit cards so much!

[Calfan]

You can almost certainly get in to the United Club as long as you are flying out that day. I have used United Club day passes (that I got through my MilesPlus Explorer card) on days when we were flying ANA and Delta. They checked our boarding passes and didn't seem to care which airline we were flying.

Awesome! Thanks for the info.

 

[calypso726]

I'm new to this thread, but I have the CSR with Priority Pass, so this is interesting (in an unpleasant way!) to hear. Apologies if this question has already been discussed in this thread, but I have a somewhat related question. I have United lounge access because I have a MileagePlus Club credit card. Does anyone know if I can use my membership to access a United lounge even if I'm not flying United? I know they ask you to show your boarding pass when you check in to the club, but I'm not sure if this is to make sure you are flying United or just to check your identity. I'm thinking there could be a situation where I'm not flying United but get shut out of Priority Pass due to these "space limitations" and there is a United club nearby...

Hi Calfan! Yes, we have done that. The answer would also be yes for anyone who has an American Airlines Executive card and wants to use the AA lounge but is flying on a different airline. If you have an Amex Plat and want to use the Delta lounge but not flying Delta that is ok and of course if you happen to be at an airport with a Centurion lounge you will be able to enter with your Amex Plat.

 

[aprilchem]

Wow! Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice on our Hawaii trip. I'm still sorting it all out but you have given me LOADS of good information!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

So I posted a couple days ago that I messed up DHs SPG Amex application. He was told they would send an email asking for info. Never got one. Should I make DH call, or is all hope lost?

 

[AmyAnne]

First, if anyone is looking for Hamilton Chicago tickets, a new set of dates just went on sale this morning through Ticketmaster. I was able to snag six tickets for Saturday, December 30! Not sure which of the kids will be able to come, but at least I have tickets for everyone.

So now I get to be calypso and fly off for a theater weekend!

For those of you that are familiar with using the free nights from Fairmont, can you let me know how I should go about using our two free nights (which I assume I will be getting shortly - I just met the minimum spend by prepaying our electric bill)? Is this something I can do on-line or will I need to call someone? I did look at the rooms available at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park and there seems to be good availability even though its New Years weekend. If we can use the two free nights here, I will end up booking at least one other room - should I just go ahead and do that now, or is there an advantage to booking two rooms at the same time? Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

First, if anyone is looking for Hamilton Chicago tickets, a new set of dates just went on sale this morning through Ticketmaster. I was able to snag six tickets for Saturday, December 30! Not sure which of the kids will be able to come, but at least I have tickets for everyone.

So now I get to be calypso and fly off for a theater weekend!

For those of you that are familiar with using the free nights from Fairmont, can you let me know how I should go about using our two free nights (which I assume I will be getting shortly - I just met the minimum spend by prepaying our electric bill)? Is this something I can do on-line or will I need to call someone? I did look at the rooms available at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park and there seems to be good availability even though its New Years weekend. If we can use the two free nights here, I will end up booking at least one other room - should I just go ahead and do that now, or is there an advantage to booking two rooms at the same time? Any other thoughts or suggestions?

If you're looking for a restaurant during your visit I can highly recommended Girl & the Goat. Some of the best food I've ever had. Publican would be second. Both need ressies months in advance

 

[Ngwira]

First, if anyone is looking for Hamilton Chicago tickets, a new set of dates just went on sale this morning through Ticketmaster. I was able to snag six tickets for Saturday, December 30! Not sure which of the kids will be able to come, but at least I have tickets for everyone.

So now I get to be calypso and fly off for a theater weekend!

For those of you that are familiar with using the free nights from Fairmont, can you let me know how I should go about using our two free nights (which I assume I will be getting shortly - I just met the minimum spend by prepaying our electric bill)? Is this something I can do on-line or will I need to call someone? I did look at the rooms available at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park and there seems to be good availability even though its New Years weekend. If we can use the two free nights here, I will end up booking at least one other room - should I just go ahead and do that now, or is there an advantage to booking two rooms at the same time? Any other thoughts or suggestions?

I would book now as the free night certificates can only be used on the "fairmont" or base rooms.

 

[Ngwira]

Met the minimum spend on my new AMEX green card today ($1,000). I think this is my last AMEX card..I plan to cancel all but the free BCE. My points are still frozen despite them being earned on DEC 30th!! When I called to ask when they would be released, I wasn't given a date. I have transferred all of my savings from my AMEX HYS account and opened up a new Ally bank account. I don't do business with a company that treats their customers this way. I also filed a CPFB complaint against them. I don't manufacture spend and always pay my bill promptly. No funny stuff, but AMEX chooses to play games with my points. I will continue to use my CHASE card as the CSR is a keeper card for me. Not a fan of AMEX today despite having the spg, prg, platinum and green.

 

[AmyAnne]

If you're looking for a restaurant during your visit I can highly recommended Girl & the Goat. Some of the best food I've ever had. Publican would be second. Both need ressies months in advance

Thanks - these sound like great suggestions. DH has become a fan of Anthony Bourdain so I know he will be pleased.

 

[AmyAnne]

I would book now as the free night certificates can only be used on the "fairmont" or base rooms.

Thanks - that's super helpful to know. I actually don't have the certificate for the free nights yet - can I book the Fairmont room now and then apply the certificate to the reservation later? Or do I need to wait until I get the certificate?

 

[AmyAnne]

Met the minimum spend on my new AMEX green card today ($1,000). I think this is my last AMEX card..I plan to cancel all but the free BCE. My points are still frozen despite them being earned on DEC 30th!! When I called to ask when they would be released, I wasn't given a date. I have transferred all of my savings from my AMEX HYS account and opened up a new Ally bank account. I don't do business with a company that treats their customers this way. I also filed a CPFB complaint against them. I don't manufacture spend and always pay my bill promptly. No funny stuff, but AMEX chooses to play games with my points. I will continue to use my CHASE card as the CSR is a keeper card for me. Not a fan of AMEX today despite having the spg, prg, platinum and green.

That's terrible that your points are still frozen.

I've acquired several new AmEx accounts in the last year and am not sure which would be worthwhile to keep. Around the holidays, there seemed to be a lot of good offers (like one at Sam's that I didn't get on any of the cards I have) but I'm not sure it's worth holding on to a card with an AF based in part on the possibility of special discounts.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Met the minimum spend on my new AMEX green card today ($1,000). I think this is my last AMEX card..I plan to cancel all but the free BCE. My points are still frozen despite them being earned on DEC 30th!! When I called to ask when they would be released, I wasn't given a date. I have transferred all of my savings from my AMEX HYS account and opened up a new Ally bank account. I don't do business with a company that treats their customers this way. I also filed a CPFB complaint against them. I don't manufacture spend and always pay my bill promptly. No funny stuff, but AMEX chooses to play games with my points. I will continue to use my CHASE card as the CSR is a keeper card for me. Not a fan of AMEX today despite having the spg, prg, platinum and green.

Why are they frozen? Do they even tell you? That stinks when you play by the rules & they don't.

 

[Ngwira]

Thanks - that's super helpful to know. I actually don't have the certificate for the free nights yet - can I book the Fairmont room now and then apply the certificate to the reservation later? Or do I need to wait until I get the certificate?

Book now, then call to apply when you get them. They only have to be valid during your stay.

 

[Ngwira]

Why are they frozen? Do they even tell you? That stinks when you play by the rules & they don't.

I applied through a non public link on a website frequented by churners.. i.e. Reddit so they are reviewing my account for manufactured spend.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I applied through a non public link on a website frequented by churners.. i.e. Reddit so they are reviewing my account for manufactured spend.

Tying it up that long is ridiculous. 30 days should be more than sufficient

 

[amalone1013]

Would anyone like to help me evaluate a 'retention offer' from Barclay? Plus I've got a few other questions floating around.

DF's Barclay Arrival Elite annual fee is due in March, and he got an email today offering an additional 5,000 points ($50) for spending $1500 each month in March, April, and May.

This is DF's main card right now, so I didn't have plans to look into closing it. Also he is at 5/24 (due to the AMEX saga detailed below, it should be 4/24*). His oldest card was opened Nov 2015 (curse you bank person who talked him into your useless credit card )

I am at 4/24, should be 3/24 except for the AMEX situation* (all were opened summer/fall 2016).

In my mind, overall this promotion is worth $140 after his regular 2x points on that spending, but we'd be moving all spending to the card to make it (so we'd lose my CSR points, and our 5% Discover categories,). We have pretty low monthly expenses right now, as we live with DF's parents and are paying down our student loans. Adding up all our budget areas, maxing them out for the month puts us just over $1200. To make up the difference, we could pay ahead on car insurance, maybe the phone bill (which is already paid through April), or we'd have to use something like Plastiq to make a car or loan payment with a 2.5% fee. We also might be able to make a payment to a wedding vendor early.

We weren't planning on doing too much more with new cards, because we might be house hunting at the end of the year or early next year. On the other hand, I'm tempted to get maybe one more card or so to help my grandpa out with traveling for our wedding - we've helped DF's parents meet their SPG spends for free nights already, and I'd like to help my grandpa with some costs also, but I don't know that I can get him to open a card in his name... Delta and United fly out of our small hometown airport, and then about an hour away is a slightly larger airport with all the major airlines going through it. I saw the Gold Delta AMEX sign up is enough points for a round trip ticket from our hometown with only $1000 spend, or a Southwest sign up bonus would cover two round trip tickets from the larger airport (and my grandpa will probably cover my uncle's ticket). Or perhaps I could drag DF into a Chase bank just to see about a CSR for him (he gets their bank/savings account bonus offers in the mail often, is that a good sign? His only relationship with them is his Disney Visa of 6 months)... That's also tempting because I know we'll be making a trip to California next spring for his brother's wedding now, but that $4000 spend will be a bit of a stretch...

The way I'm seeing it, if we do something to help my grandpa we can forget the Barclay offer, or we'll just be spending unnecessarily. But if we aren't opening any more cards, we might as well try for the Barclay, but not something to stress over too much...

Would anyone like to offer any suggestions/advice? I'm all ears



*More details in the quotes, but we had a big mix up with AMEX trying to add each other as AUs for bonus starpoints, and the cards that were denied have now shown up on our credit reports as closed accounts that were opened 12/24/16. They don't seem to have affected our overall credit history age, but they look like they add to X accounts/24 months, so is it something I could try to have removed if possible/would it be worth it?

I spent around 3 hours working with AMEX customer service last night... What a headache. DF and I each have an SPG card, and we decided to add each other as AUs for the bonus point offer that ended Dec 31st (add additional card and spend $1000, get 2500 starpoints), especially since I don't get to do any churning for awhile. We added each other through the email links on the same night, Dec 23rd, and the cards came on the same day. Neither of us have ever added a user, so I was confused as to why I got an envelope with my name which had a card with my name on it, and same situation for DF. So I chatted with customer service (Dec 29th) and they checked the last 5 digits of the cards and told me that those cards were sent by mistake, that they were tied to the account who's name was on the card (ie, they were just additional cards with the account holder's name, not additional user's), and we could either keep them or cancel them. They said they showed the additional user cards had been shipped on Dec 27th. So we decided to cancel those cards (at this time, we didn't want them).

I went through chat last night because we never received any other cards, and I was suspecting something was wrong. First I was told that I didn't correctly complete the form to add someone (then why did I get a confirmation email?). Finally we figured out (me and the rep) that the rep I chatted with on Dec 29th was wrong, and that the AU cards came in envelopes addressed to the AU (though I couldn't find anything in the paperwork tying them to a certain account - but then again, I'm new to this), and so cancelling them really cancelled the AU cards... So they added DF for me (this was through my account), and got supervisor approval to add the bonus starpoints (and they added them instantly instead of waiting to meet spend ). At the end, I asked how we could fix this on DF's account, and they said to login and chat. Chatting through DF's account just got us several rounds of reps who kept telling us, "you don't have that offer on your account" even when we mentioned it had just been fixed on my account. Finally he called, and got someone who did almost the same thing they did with my account, except we do have to do the spend. 3 hours of my life I won't get back.

My AMEX saga continues... I've quoted myself with the original details, but DF and I were trying to add each other as AUs for the bonus SPG points. Well, yesterday we got letters in the mail that we had been denied because we had too recent of a request for cards My bonus points already are showing in my AMEX account, and if they show up in my SPG account when my statement closes this weekend, I'll take it and wash my hands of the whole thing. Maybe wait until they do that promotion again... I would really like to keep one card with the other person as an AU, but I'm not sure I want both of our cards with the fees... thought they've easily made up for it this year with the offers (even though the fee is waived the first year). Decisions, decisions...

 

[calypso726]

First, if anyone is looking for Hamilton Chicago tickets, a new set of dates just went on sale this morning through Ticketmaster. I was able to snag six tickets for Saturday, December 30! Not sure which of the kids will be able to come, but at least I have tickets for everyone.

So now I get to be calypso and fly off for a theater weekend!

WOO HOO!!!! Congratulations! I finally got DH to start listening to the soundtrack (free with Amazon Prime music) and he's afflicted with the same problem I have now. We've been "Mirandized"

I've acquired several new AmEx accounts in the last year and am not sure which would be worthwhile to keep. Around the holidays, there seemed to be a lot of good offers (like one at Sam's that I didn't get on any of the cards I have) but I'm not sure it's worth holding on to a card with an AF based in part on the possibility of special discounts.

We only keep AF card if they offer significant benefits that we utilize or if they are strategic for our points/miles earning. I had 6 Amex cards during that Sam's offer and only got it on one of my cards. Our keeper Amex cards are SPG for the ability to transfer point to over 30 airlines, the Amex Platinum business card for all of the benefits which we do take advantage of regularly. Anything else we may have at a given moment with Amex is purely for the bonus and gets cancelled at a year. See if you can downgrade to a no fee card. I keep an Amex Everyday no fee card and often get some nice offers with it.

Would anyone like to help me evaluate a 'retention offer' from Barclay? Plus I've got a few other questions floating around.

DF's Barclay Arrival Elite annual fee is due in March, and he got an email today offering an additional 5,000 points ($50) for spending $1500 each month in March, April, and May.

This is DF's main card right now, so I didn't have plans to look into closing it. Also he is at 5/24 (due to the AMEX saga detailed below, it should be 4/24*). His oldest card was opened Nov 2015 (curse you bank person who talked him into your useless credit card )

I am at 4/24, should be 3/24 except for the AMEX situation* (all were opened summer/fall 2016).

In my mind, overall this promotion is worth $140 after his regular 2x points on that spending, but we'd be moving all spending to the card to make it (so we'd lose my CSR points, and our 5% Discover categories,). We have pretty low monthly expenses right now, as we live with DF's parents and are paying down our student loans. Adding up all our budget areas, maxing them out for the month puts us just over $1200. To make up the difference, we could pay ahead on car insurance, maybe the phone bill (which is already paid through April), or we'd have to use something like Plastiq to make a car or loan payment with a 2.5% fee. We also might be able to make a payment to a wedding vendor early.

We weren't planning on doing too much more with new cards, because we might be house hunting at the end of the year or early next year. On the other hand, I'm tempted to get maybe one more card or so to help my grandpa out with traveling for our wedding - we've helped DF's parents meet their SPG spends for free nights already, and I'd like to help my grandpa with some costs also, but I don't know that I can get him to open a card in his name... Delta and United fly out of our small hometown airport, and then about an hour away is a slightly larger airport with all the major airlines going through it. I saw the Gold Delta AMEX sign up is enough points for a round trip ticket from our hometown with only $1000 spend, or a Southwest sign up bonus would cover two round trip tickets from the larger airport (and my grandpa will probably cover my uncle's ticket). Or perhaps I could drag DF into a Chase bank just to see about a CSR for him (he gets their bank/savings account bonus offers in the mail often, is that a good sign? His only relationship with them is his Disney Visa of 6 months)... That's also tempting because I know we'll be making a trip to California next spring for his brother's wedding now, but that $4000 spend will be a bit of a stretch...

The way I'm seeing it, if we do something to help my grandpa we can forget the Barclay offer, or we'll just be spending unnecessarily. But if we aren't opening any more cards, we might as well try for the Barclay, but not something to stress over too much...

Would anyone like to offer any suggestions/advice? I'm all ears



*More details in the quotes, but we had a big mix up with AMEX trying to add each other as AUs for bonus starpoints, and the cards that were denied have now shown up on our credit reports as closed accounts that were opened 12/24/16. They don't seem to have affected our overall credit history age, but they look like they add to X accounts/24 months, so is it something I could try to have removed if possible/would it be worth it?

That isn't a retention offer I'd go for. I had a similar retention offer for my Arrival+ card and turned it down. I downgraded the card and kept the no fee version just to have a true chip and pin card should I need it overseas.

 

[elgerber]

That isn't a retention offer I'd go for. I had a similar retention offer for my Arrival+ card and turned it down. I downgraded the card and kept the no fee version just to have a true chip and pin card should I need it overseas.

Do they still have a no fee version? I have been looking to see if I could downgrade ours but I haven't seen that there is still a no fee version?

 

[calypso726]

Do they still have a no fee version? I have been looking to see if I could downgrade ours but I haven't seen that there is still a no fee version?

Not sure since it been a long time. Doesn't hurt to ask though.

 

[Albort]

Do they still have a no fee version? I have been looking to see if I could downgrade ours but I haven't seen that there is still a no fee version?

later DP shows its still possible. but its YMMV.
01/02/2017 - No waiver offered, only downgrade, card open since 2013, minimal recent spend
02/23/2017 - No offers. Open 2 years. Spend $7600 last year.