I love credit cards so much!

[trstno1]

I'm looking for help from anyone who has experience using Virgin Atlantic miles to purchase domestic Delta awards flights.

My home airport is pretty small. Until 1-2 years ago, we had great flights available on Southwest, but they changed their route schedule, and now our best flight options are usually on Delta. My best option seems to be purchasing with MR points with 35% point refund for carrying AmEx Business Platinum, but I have read about great domestic redemptions from Virgin America, and AmEx is currently offering a 30% bonus when transferring points to Virgin.

When I check the Virgin website, though, I can't find many award flights, even when I select a common flight like New York to Orlando, and even when I know award flights are available on Delta's website. Is there some trick to reserving Delta flights on Virgin?

 

[speedyfishy]

I am going to write a quick trip report in the next couple days but...

We got a lot done. Went in around 5:45. Rode a few things with FP 4 and 5 of the day in Adventureland.
Couldn’t find anything we wanted for dinner so left and took monorail to last minute adr at kona. Back to park for fireworks.
....
It was a challenge to wade through the masses to start the party hours but we did it and started at splash. Did a ton of stuff working clockwise around the park.
PP line was quite long so skipped that. 7dmt was crazy long. Skipped that. Did many other things. Got in line for 7dmt at 12:52. It was still long but not as bad as earlier.
I think they could address the 7dmt line....or is there only one place to load at a time? I ask because space and btm were both loading both sides and had no wait.

My biggest complaint was the snack lines. Dd19 rode space for a 2nd time and I felt like seeing the chiro after ride #1 so I waited on a bench for her. I watched the snack line. Consistently 13-16 groups (x1-4 ish people/group) in line. Never got shorter than 13 groups. It was a time sucker. We went to snack carts 3x. So if we waited 10 mins each time...that’s 30 mins or 10% of the event time. The prob is they only have 1 person working a booth. Scooping popcorn, making more popcorn, grabbing drinks, etc. if they’d add a 2nd person the problem would disappear.

Overall it was good. Lines were short except those at PP and 7dmt. There were quite a lot of people around but much better than the holiday parties.

I’d definitely do it again over a normal park day at MK. No sun and much less crowded.

That said, they need to improve the snack cart situation, and if mine train isn’t running at full capacity it needs to be.

ETA: oh and our bus didn’t come til 2am! We were waiting at the stop for 30 mins. Every resort had a completely full stall when we got out there. By the time we left the other stalls were empty (multiple bus loads) and we were still sitting there waiting. That was super frustrating.

Speaking of busses we are on the tragical depress now. So sad.

Etaa: oh about the early morning/sleep...

Day 1 we were up at 4am for our flight and took a short mid day rest. DHS upon arrival, then to DS, rest, and Epcot til close.
Day 2 we were up at 6:30 and at ak at 7:30 for emh to ride fop. I did the pool midday while dd napped, and we left at 5pm for MK returning around 2:30am.
Slept in this morning til 10:15 to make up for it.
We walked 19 miles in 2 days. Very tiring but so worth it. You can do it. Just take that midafternoon rest before the party.
Next time I will make sure not to plan a park in the morning of the even though. Will just do a resort day and go to the event.

Thanks for the review. I would not be happy about the snack lines. And the bus thing is annoying. Maybe I’ll take a Minnie van. I have no desire to do PP or 7DMT but those are major rides and it stinks they had longs lines. I’m still so conflicted. We are only there for Saturday and Sunday. My plan was to arrive Saturday our flight lands at 9 so hoping to be at Epcot at 11. I was then hoping to get to AK by 5. We only want to really do Everest maybe the safari if there is time and then I was thinking of heading to MK. I guess we could skip the party tho and spend the whole night at AK and get on FOP right before closing. The next day Hollywood has EMH from 7-8 so I wanted to do that. Our flight is at 9pm so we have a lot of time at Hollywood and we could hop to MK if we don’t do the party. Ughh idk. We are not going to have time to rest. My sister doesn’t get to go to Disney a lot. (We had one family trip as kids) I wish I had more time with her in the parks. I’m going to be exhausted if we do the party. I guess we don’t have to stay until 1AM.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Thanks for the review. I would not be happy about the snack lines. And the bus thing is annoying. Maybe I’ll take a Minnie van. I have no desire to do PP or 7DMT but those are major rides and it stinks they had longs lines. I’m still so conflicted. We are only there for Saturday and Sunday. My plan was to arrive Saturday our flight lands at 9 so hoping to be at Epcot at 11. I was then hoping to get to AK by 5. We only want to really do Everest maybe the safari if there is time and then I was thinking of heading to MK. I guess we could skip the party tho and spend the whole night at AK and get on FOP right before closing. The next day Hollywood has EMH from 7-8 so I wanted to do that. Our flight is at 9pm so we have a lot of time at Hollywood and we could hop to MK if we don’t do the party. Ughh idk. We are not going to have time to rest. My sister doesn’t get to go to Disney a lot. (We had one family trip as kids) I wish I had more time with her in the parks. I’m going to be exhausted if we do the party. I guess we don’t have to stay until 1AM.

I think in your case I would either skip Epcot or skip the DAH. Epcot is so huge as you know we put in a ton of steps there. I couldn’t have gone from 2 parks to the the dah, even with a rest. My other thought on your plan is that Epcot is all sunshine and concrete....best in the evening.
I don’t really know what would be best b/c you also need ak on your evening to do FOP so you have no evening free for Epcot. Unless...can you hop to ak at Epcot close (9pm), just to ride fop? So basically do ak on arrival in the heat, hop to Epcot til close, hop back to fop? Ak closed at 10pm for us, so this plan assumes the same.

 

[PolyRob]

I've outlined our Disney expenses for this year somewhere on this thread before for a comparison of UR earning and cash back before and am happy to post it here for you. I'm well aware that our Disney expenses are not the norm but I do believe seeing an extreme example can help others formulate the options and possibilities for their own needs.

If I purchase Disney gift cards with the Ink at Staples and Office Max/Depot for 5x UR this would be what I'm looking at.

1300 DVC points will equal $8,000 in dues - 40,000 UR
Adventures by Disney Japan and post add on to parks trip is $25,516 - 127,580 UR
Platinum Annual passes w/DVC discount for 2 are $1318 - 6590 UR
Disney cruise $3388 - 16940 UR
Dining at WDW, tix for family members and the Dooney addiction etc. over the rest of this year for the next 13 currently planned trips for 2018 etc. will likely run $4,000 at the least. - 20,000 UR
It is also likely I will find a flimsy excuse to go to DLR again next year, quite possibly for Dapper Days again but nothing planned yet.

Our current Disney vacation plans if paid with Disney gift cards purchased with the Ink at Office Supply stores for 5x will bring in over 211,000 UR points.

If I decide to go for the Target 5% off the gift cards route over 5x UR, I would have saved a little over $2100. That is nothing to sneeze at. But $2100, for our travel hacking goals, which run along the lines of international first class flights, would not come close to the purchase power that the points will. I just priced out flights that we have booked on points with BA from JFK to Scotland and back in first class on BA. One ticket in first class is over $4,500. The 211,000 UR points I will have in my CSR account are worth $3165. I tend to transfer them to miles and get way more value than 1.5 value. The same flight cost me 168,000 British Airway miles. Granted the taxes and fees are a killer on BA but we were using a companion pass so Plane Princess get his seat for zero miles. We went to China with Adventures by Disney with a post trip to Japan a couple of months ago and used a mix of points from a few programs, SPG, MR, TYP to transfer to Singapore airlines. We booked the two of us in their Suites class and were able to experience a flight that was listed for over $18,000 per person one way. It was 250,000 miles per person. I would need 1.2 million UR to purchase just one seat. Uhm, no thanks.

We are going back to Japan next year but with ABD. If we decide to fly ANA the RT price for the flight would be over $25,000 for one person in first class. If I play my cards right I can transfer UR to United and book the first class flights for 220K UR round trip with a saver award. Keep in mind, we would never opt to purchase these flights, even if we had the spare cash to do so.

We are all about the points/miles in order to travel in a more luxurious style. We also like to have lots of points/miles to give us the flexibility to do something crazy just because we can. Our highlights of crazy include flying to London for a weekend just to see the Harry Potter play when it came out. Flying to San Francisco from Miami just to see Hamilton because we were able to get face value tickets thanks to Amex concierge service with the Platinum card. Future crazy includes flying to Puerto Rico to see Hamilton if I manage to get tickets to the show and currently playing Hamilton lottery every time I don't have to work on the weekend. I've decided if we win tickets for $10 there is no reason we can't fly out last minute to go see the show and come back the same or next day. I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Sigh ...

There is no wrong or right way to use your points and formulate strategies for your travel goals as far as everyone on this thread is concerned. So, please understand when you (or the newbies and lurkers on the thread that may not be aware) see posts with a counter point it isn't a "my way is better than your way" type of post. It's a "here is what I do and why just in case the idea might work for you." While my own goals are for the lie flat international first class seats, I have learned much from others in the group who are all about the "get where they'd like to go for free or as close to it as they can." I have employed their strategies and advice from time to time for a specific need in my own travel plans.


Hope this helps.

Definitely helps, thank you! The outline shows how much the points are really worth. You have booked some really awesome flights.

Getting all the different perspectives is very beneficial being new to this concept! It is nice to have so many helpful people lay out all the options. For example, the personal Platinum Amex has a ton of benefits, but the credits for air add-ons and Uber would not make back the fee for me as fast as the $300 travel credit on the CSR. I am more on the side of people trying to get the biggest savings on Disney trips when staying on property and booking airfare.

I am not trying to rush into a decision, but it seems like the CSR is a must do for my future travel plans. I am leaning towards the double dip for the single hard pull and extra 50,000 UR points. I do not really need the second Sapphire, but the intro benefits are slightly better than the other cards. If denied for the second card on the same day, I will probably hold off for the 31 days and go a with a freedom card. I currently think this plan works well for me, but I am definitely still open to other suggestions if something out there may work better.

 

[babyready]

Sams isn’t showing up on mine. Is it a cash back in store offer?

I had a $10 off a $30 in store offer but it expired the 31st, I think. Still not Pending.

 

[afan]

The prob is they only have 1 person working a booth. Scooping popcorn, making more popcorn, grabbing drinks, etc. if they’d add a 2nd person the problem would disappear.

I think that's just how they staff them. It was the same way at DL Paris before their fireworks. I was in line forever because there was only one person working it and half the people had questions about the popcorn bucket or special drink cup. I was maybe the 7th or 8th in line too, it was bad. Then the popcorn was so salty I couldn't even eat half.

I'm looking for help from anyone who has experience using Virgin Atlantic miles to purchase domestic Delta awards flights.

My home airport is pretty small. Until 1-2 years ago, we had great flights available on Southwest, but they changed their route schedule, and now our best flight options are usually on Delta. My best option seems to be purchasing with MR points with 35% point refund for carrying AmEx Business Platinum, but I have read about great domestic redemptions from Virgin America, and AmEx is currently offering a 30% bonus when transferring points to Virgin.

When I check the Virgin website, though, I can't find many award flights, even when I select a common flight like New York to Orlando, and even when I know award flights are available on Delta's website. Is there some trick to reserving Delta flights on Virgin?

The only thing I can say is Virgin America no longer exists, they were bought by Alaska last year. Also, VA and regular Virgin were never the same company. As far as I know, Virgin Atlantic only flies international and doesn't have any domestic routes. I don't know if Alaska and Delta renewed their partnership either, you used to be able to use miles from either to book the other but they stopped that at one point.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Ahh that makes sense. I really have to look if the CIP will be beneficial for me besides the 80,000 UR points. I am still on the fence about the business card. I think I am leaning towards the sapphire double dip first. I have an $8,000 plan in excel over the next 3 months. I figured plan for the highest and I can always hold off on some charges if I do CIP.



Wow, great use of those UR points! Glad to hear you can call and inquire about the price difference if one exists.

I am hesitant on the CIP since I am not sure if I would maximize value from it besides the 80,000 UR points. Switching it to the CIC for 5x on office supply and 2x on gas sounds tempting. You really do maximize those rewards! I have been using my Target RedCard to purchase Disney gift cards with a 5% savings. I guess I have to calculate the difference between the immediate 5%, and the 3x CSR UR points and 1.5 max redemption rate to see if charging Disney expenses would get me more than Target. I know it will definitely help with airfare. Right now I am only getting 1%.

The CIP is good to use it with plastiq. But you have to be open to a business card. Remember when you go for your double dip I used incognito click on a dischurnner link and apply for the csr. Then once approved. Close your window and open a new incognito window. Click on a dischurnners link and apply for the csp. Good luck applying.

 

[Lain]

@SBWB48 and other Maryland MSers: https://www.theartoftravelhacking.com/500000-and-2-million-points-later-its-over/

Some comments about it here: https://frequentmiler.boardingarea....pace-award-hack-90k-avios-wiped-out-and-more/

 

[ericf70]

I had a $10 off a $30 in store offer but it expired the 31st, I think. Still not Pending.

Same here. Coincidently, my Walgreens and Home Depot from the same day are already paid and cashed out.

 

[Budzooka]

I’m having trouble making sense of the Marriott situation. I know you have to apply before 8/26 for the Marriott business card and that is what I am considering. I have the SPG business, so my understanding is I will not be eligible for the Marriott business after that date. But if I get the Marriott business, I won’t be eligible for the new Marriott Premeire card.

I believe the Marriott business card is 75,000 points for $3,000 of spend. Is the new card the same signup bonus? If so, is there a benefit to one over the other?

I am only looking at business cards, as I don’t want to use a 5/24 spot.

 

[Albort]

I'm looking for help from anyone who has experience using Virgin Atlantic miles to purchase domestic Delta awards flights.

My home airport is pretty small. Until 1-2 years ago, we had great flights available on Southwest, but they changed their route schedule, and now our best flight options are usually on Delta. My best option seems to be purchasing with MR points with 35% point refund for carrying AmEx Business Platinum, but I have read about great domestic redemptions from Virgin America, and AmEx is currently offering a 30% bonus when transferring points to Virgin.

When I check the Virgin website, though, I can't find many award flights, even when I select a common flight like New York to Orlando, and even when I know award flights are available on Delta's website. Is there some trick to reserving Delta flights on Virgin?

you need to call them and ask.
another option u can try is searching on KE. but KE's site is also no good. calling is still the best option to find tickets for both KE and VS

 

[mmmears]

We finally went to Staples today, on our way to Whole Foods. They didn't have the $25 Disney gift cards, though, only $50. But above that they had $25 cards for Whole Foods, so I thought why not? And we were able to spend them all about 30 mins later! Hoping we get the $15 credit from AMEX and that we didn't do something wrong somehow.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Since we’ve been discussing moving Chase statement close dates, is there a way to easily move an amex date? Would prefer to move mine up but didn’t know if it took a whole billing cycle or not to change.

ETA: I messaged Amex. It does take a whole billing cycle to change. Oh well. Only $296 left to spend and I have 19 more days!

 

[Haley R]

So it looks like we might just have to tour Japan in late May/early June. We aren't too upset because we know we will still have a great time and we will get to fly in business class!

 

[ctinct]

Hard to say. What are your travel goals? How do you plan to spend the points/miles? Are you considering the SW CP? Do you want an airline card, a hotel card -- any brand preference?, or flexible points? Are you comfortable applying for business cards?

Looks like you're 4/24 with Chase. The most obvious recommendation would be to probably apply for a business card to extend the use of that last slot until another slot opens up around December 2018. If you're open to applying for a business card, the CIC has solid 5x UR categories and a 50k UR signup bonus, with only a $3k/3 months MSR.

That’s my problem. I really don’t have any firm travel goals at the moment. Business cards are a no go for me right now. I don’t really need a companion pass, but I wouldn’t really be against it if I could manage it without the business card. Or, maybe by December, when I plan to apply for SW again, I’ll have gotten over my fear of business cards.

I think I saw mention of a 100000 Marriott card I might be eligible for before the changes happen. I’m not brand loyal to any particular hotel chain or airline.I'm small potatoes compared to you guys, but anything free is ok in my book.

Oh, and here comes a really dumb question. I’ve not joined the Dis reddit group, mostly because I can barely keep up HERE. However, I think it’s time so I can at least use a support link for whatever I do decide to apply for, if one is available. I’ve seen posts that mention pm ing with your user name. That means I need to sign up on the regular reddit site first, right?

 

[Albort]

Oh, and here comes a really dumb question. I’ve not joined the Dis reddit group, mostly because I can barely keep up HERE. However, I think it’s time so I can at least use a support link for whatever I do decide to apply for, if one is available. I’ve seen posts that mention pm ing with your user name. That means I need to sign up on the regular reddit site first, right?

correct, u need to sign up for a reddit account first. then message either me, @SouthFayetteFan or @Lain to accept you into the group.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

So if I cancel my CIP but there’s pending UR do I just lose them? Undecided on applying for the CIC again. Need to figure out if we can meet the spend for DH double dip and that or just the double dip.

 

[trstno1]

you need to call them and ask.
another option u can try is searching on KE. but KE's site is also no good. calling is still the best option to find tickets for both KE and VS

Thank you. It seems that you are right and that the only find out is to call.

 

[speedyfishy]

@SBWB48 and other Maryland MSers: https://www.theartoftravelhacking.com/500000-and-2-million-points-later-its-over/

Some comments about it here: https://frequentmiler.boardingarea....pace-award-hack-90k-avios-wiped-out-and-more/

Scary times... I’ve been sticking with one swipe for MOs but how long before that dies?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I was looking at those. Hoping maybe we could use pools at all 3 if we stayed at one. There’s a Hilton that has a great looking pool, but it would use all my Hilton points and I’ve got this Marriott cert to use. We’re staying 5 nights as Swan for the parks part, then I thought 2 nights at another hotel for pool days, eat/shop at Disney Springs (which we never do as we are parks, parks, parks when we go. Only been to DS once when Morimoto’s opened)

Quoting myself as I posted a question on Trip Advisor re: pool hopping. Multiple answers seem to say yes, you can go to all pools at Marriott Village if you stay at any of the 3 hotels there. Sounds like a great option

I have one free night cert posted already, another free night from SPG Card should post in February. Think they will let me apply that to a reservation I make now?