I love credit cards so much!

[amalone1013]

Soooo if Marriott has no points availability, but they do have rooms available, can I still call and use points? Like SPG? Or am I just out of luck?

 

[Albort]

Interesting. Maybe they think the purchases I’ve put on this card are personal in nature, which they are, but gosh, I wouldn’t think they would get that granular.

I’ll let you know once I have more info. Thanks for all the input.

i just asked reddit... they dont have a clue... lol

 

[DisneyMandC]

mine says business right on the card,so it's good I assume?

Should be, mine also says business. I think these people were receiving the personal card.

 

[miztressuz]

I don't care which airline. SW is fine for us. I like the baggage included!

So I see @speedyfishy hit all the most pertinent points of the SW CP. Since you're traveling with 4, if you can do the spend, you and DH could each try for companion passes by opening new cards for each of you. Then you'd have a bank of 220k+ SW points to pay for 2 tickets and then 2 would use the companion pass + a few dollars for the fees for each trip.

If you time it right and earn the pass beginning of 2019 it'll be good until end of 2020. But that does cut it a little close for a May 2019 trip, unless you have some SW points already banked that can hold seats. The good thing is you have some time to come up with a strategy if you want to go that route. I think for the last year or two SW was increasing the bonus points offer in the fall so it'd be good to wait until later to apply anyway, even if not going for the CP.

Since you haven't applied for any new cards in the last 2 years, I assume you haven't earned a bonus on a SW card either Chase limits to earning a bonus on a new card signup to one every 24 months. So for an example if you earned a sign up bonus (not applied for the card, when the bonus posted) in Mar 2019, you should be ok to earn the bonus again starting Apr 2021.

If that works for you, great, but if you're considering other airlines you could throw them out too. There's many folks on here with AA, United, Delta, etc cards that can help decide the best way to work flights for those airlines.

You'll also hear us a lot suggesting the Chase Sapphire travel cards for general travel They're pretty easy to earn points with but, more important for me, they are generally just as easy to spend those points. There's lots of options including transferring to travel partners like airlines or hotels, so that's another way for discounted airfare. Since you're looking at Disney trips there's many that use those points to pay for that too.

 

[Haley R]

Don't foreclose your options so far in advance. See where you are in about six months. There's more award availability in economy than in business or first and you may still be able to book saver awards then.

Okay great. Thank you so much!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

People do this. I've read about it on r/churning but yes, it is against their policy. How they would really know...idk...Wouldn't want to do it too often but once or twice, maybe? Is the coupon site wide or limited categories? I bought some stamps this morning with it but didn't really pay much attention to the rules of the coupon.

It looks like 20% off everything. I'm probably not going to do the "sell myself an item plan" because it seems like a lot of hassle for limited savings. I'm also not looking to break any policies, lol.

 

[1st*toright]

EBAY 20% Off today....I'm not sure I'd actually do this...but wondering if my wife could list something on Ebay for $500...I buy it for $400 (after the 20% off) and pay with my Freedom to earn the 5x URs. Seems like this would be some sort of abuse of their T&Cs lol, but still a strange thought I had...

Oooo, what a rebel...

It looks like 20% off everything. I'm probably not going to do the "sell myself an item plan" because it seems like a lot of hassle for limited savings. I'm also not looking to break any policies, lol.

Oh, never mind. Thought we were going in a r/churners type direction here, but apparently you don't have enough time on your hands to chase every possible $.

 

[pillow]

@pillow Did you change your avatar? It looks the same, yet different

Yep! Same race 3 years later (just a 5k - no marathon lol). One of the few times all 4 of us are together since DS pretty much lives at college even during the summer.

 

[wendow]

It looks like 20% off everything. I'm probably not going to do the "sell myself an item plan" because it seems like a lot of hassle for limited savings. I'm also not looking to break any policies, lol.

It could be useful if desperate to meet a MSR but yeah, not sure the savings are really there.

 

[pillow]

(@pillow,what a great color on you, btw!!).

Thank you! Note to self . . . wear more green!!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

EBAY 20% Off today....I'm not sure I'd actually do this...but wondering if my wife could list something on Ebay for $500...I buy it for $400 (after the 20% off) and pay with my Freedom to earn the 5x URs. Seems like this would be some sort of abuse of their T&Cs lol, but still a strange thought I had...

I’m not sure if it would work either....with auctions they can tell if it’s the same household to prevent people from entering a fake bidding war....may work with BIN....just take into account the 10%eBay fee she will pay.

 

[snugglebug]

I booked a car for Cleveland in May with UR and added my Emerald Club number to the reservation. I booked a midsize, which is the equivalent of the Emerald Aisle level car (I think it shows an Elantra or similar). In a normal booking, if you're in the Executive Club you would book an Emerald Aisle option and then get an automatic upgrade to Executive. The reservation didn't show up in my National account, but I brought my Executive card from the CSR with me. I didn't go to a counter, we walked right out to the Executive Aisle and picked a car. When we drove to the checkout station I gave them both licenses (free additional driver with Executive Status), a printout of my reservation, and my Executive card. No questions or issues and we were out in a minute or two. Maybe it was a case of not asking questions and looking like I knew what I was doing, but I was going on the assumption that if I have Executive status it shouldn't matter who I booked through as long as my Emerald Club account number was attached.

Either I never received an actual Executive card or I've lost it because I can't find it. I just kind of played dumb like "I'm not sure why this isn't showing on my National account". I have very little experience renting cars and it's usually only been through USAA when we've had cars being repaired due to accidents so I've never had to do anything other than pick up the car.

 

[pillow]

So looking for Spring Break places. Was mostly looking at Marriott/Sheraton as I have over 400,000 points. But I just started looking at the Hyatt All Inclusive at Cancun, Cabo, Montego Bay. Anyone stayed at any of these? They vary from 20,000 per night to 25,000 per night. 4 of us in the room is double that so would go with 2 rooms instead. When done with spend on CIP I will have about 215,000 UR points. So could get 4-5 nights here and maybe stay at a Marriott the other nights. But just thinking of using all my UR's kind of makes me want to hyperventilate... Wish I would have had the Hyatt Cards when you got 2 free nights. Now the bonus is at 40,000 points. From my understanding you can be over 5/24 to get this card but it will still count in the total. Not sure if it is worth it then to get. Waiting for me to get CIP maybe in July and then both DH and I will be able to get CSR/CSP again in January 2019.

Never stayed at an All Inclusive before so this would be awesome. Any feedback on any of these properties and if there is other things to do nearby on any of these?

I know this sounds obvious, but just double check that the normal points price does indeed get you all inclusive benefits. I seem to recall reading about a hotel that did not, although my memory is very very fuzzy. Think it may have been a Marriott . . .

If Hyatt, can you book using points/cash? That may be a way to still go cheaply but perhaps not use up all your points.

 

[Lain]

I’m not sure if it would work either....with auctions they can tell if it’s the same household to prevent people from entering a fake bidding war....may work with BIN....just take into account the 10%eBay fee she will pay.

Yes, but eBay seller fees earn 3x UR on the CIP.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Does anyone have the promo code and details for the Petco gift cards on Amazon? The DoC link won't work for me and I'd like to purchase one.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

Yes, but eBay seller fees earn 3x UR on the CIP.

Lol...that’s right.

 

[Lain]

Does anyone have the promo code and details for the Petco gift cards on Amazon? The DoC link won't work for me and I'd like to purchase one.

Don’t know the answer to your question.

But relatedly, Amazon gift card balance can be used to purchase third-party gift cards on Amazon, so you could potentially stack your savings by first buying Amazon gift cards from a grocery store this quarter (5x UR with Freedom) or an office supply store (5x UR with CIC, or 10% statement credit at Staples with the Amex Offer), then using that credit to pay for these gift card deals when they come around.

ETA: I see I was preaching to the choir. Really slow and behind this morning. Yes, Lowe’s sells Amazon GCs too. Hope this tip helps others anyway.

 

[pillow]

Even without the ebay shenanigans, 20% off up to $100 is terrific! Plus a little from topcashback and a few ebay bucks. Then pay with Freedom via Paypal. I feel like I've really accomplished something today!

 

[Albort]

Does anyone have the promo code and details for the Petco gift cards on Amazon? The DoC link won't work for me and I'd like to purchase one.

make your purchase quick. its almost gone.

here is a link to all the current amazon gc sales.

 

[DrFacilier]

Another newbie question. I was able to look up Disney resorts on through the UR portal the other day but can't find anything except for the Swan and Dolphin now. Am I missing something? Not sure if it's the week I'm looking for that is the issue (March 17th-23rd) or something else.