I love credit cards so much!

[Lain]

I hope you aren't stuck on Harbor!

We were two families behind at the turnstiles, right up front at rope drop, and walked (ran) on to Peter Pan! It’s been a good morning so far!

 

[magickingdomprincess]

I was hoping to get some help picking my next card! I am very close to finishing my current MSR on my Citi AA Biz card (a lot earlier than planned). I am sticking with biz cards only as I am hoping to go for the CIP in Nov. when I drop under 5/24, then going for CSR/CSP double-dip in Feb/Mar 2019. I don’t really want any annual fees and would rather have a lower MSR if possible. Have been exploring Amex MR cards, specifically Amex Blue Business Plus card, but not sure if 10k MR’s is very much or if they would be very useful for me at this point?

Business cards I have:
Citi Biz AA – July 2018
Barclay Aviator AA Biz – July 2018
Marriott Biz – June 2018
Hilton Biz - 2018
SPG Biz –
SW Biz – Jan 2018

Personal cards:
SW Plus – Oct 2016
SW Premier – Jan 2018
Discover IT – May 2017
Dillards (still kicking myself over this one) – May 2017
BoA Cash – May 2017


Other info:
My DH is a very reluctant P2. I would love it if he would agree to get a CIP and then refer me, but he has said no to any biz cards. He got a CSP in May 2018, and because of his reluctance and the fact that we don’t have a huge immediate need for any points, I’d rather not ask him to get any personal cards either. Currently have a CP through 2019. Would love more Marriott/SPG points but not really willing to prolong my 5/24 status to do it.

Travel goals:

• Toying around with the idea of a spring break trip to DL using my Marriott N/F Cat 1-5 cert, or if not in spring then summer. Really wanted this to convert to points to use at Swolphin but doesn’t sound likely this will happen.
• June trip to Universal/Disney/Vero Beach – have AP’s to Universal we’d like to use once more, have DVC for Disney portion, and would hopefully use UR for 2 nights at Vero Beach.
• Short (3-4) night trip to F&W in Oct. Not sure how to pay for these nights yet. If we went to DL in June instead or spring break I’d have DVC points I could use.
• If SW Hawaii flights are reasonable there’s a small possibility I could convince DH we should go there next year before it expires (and skip one or two of the other trips).

Sorry for this being so long! I’d appreciate any input you can provide

 

[1st*toright]

My dates are not finalized and the hotel I would be picking is going from 5 to 4. Am I right that the 1-5 cert will probably map to 1-4 categories? If so I might just wait until I have more final dates.

Yeah, I was away when I got the email about N&F certs and the "dead zone" between 8/18 and 9/18, so I've missed any chatter about the changes. At this point I'm considering a couple of uses of my cert, but one hotel is showing no point booking availability at all for the time we are going to be there, and the other is a current Cat 6 that will be dropping to a Cat 4 post-merge, so I think I'm better off sitting on it until September 18.

 

[miztressuz]

Who are our people knowledgeable in booking flights with airlines other than SW? @danjoealexis3006 - I only know SW so I don't want to give bad advice here. @calypso726 - not sure if you know Delta. Any others??

My initial thought here is that it makes sense for you to get a Delta Platinum BUSINESS card. The reason I advise a biz card is because you want to keep your personal card count down. Personal cards affect certain rules with other issuers (primarily Chase). If you're interested, you could join our private reddit group (DISchurners) and even support another DISer when signing up for that card. I'm sure somebody would really appreciate that!

The offer is the 70k Delta SkyMiles you previously mentioned (plus you'd get 3,000 points from hitting the MSR - Minimum Spend Requirement) so total 73,000 Delta SkyMiles. It sounds like it gets you priority boarding and a free checked bag too.

Hopefully somebody with more Delta expertise will come along and assist here. My specialties are Southwest, Marriott & Chase mostly.

Paging DeltaHostage @kmc8826

(I know there's others but I'm not as good as @Lain 's spreadsheet at keeping track and I hate guessing wrong)

 

[kmc8826]

Thank YOU!!

We are planning to travel the end of March next year.
Yes, DH is willing to sign up for cards.
Tickets will be about $1300. I will already have an AP by then (purchasing one in October).
Not sure about room expenses. We usually rent from a DVC owner. I know that cost would not be covered by a credit card. I am guessing about $2000. If I can get a great rate from a AP I will book through Disney.
We have not applied for a credit card in 12 months. It was a capital one business card.
My dh has a small business.
I tutor on the side but I do not market it like a business. Just a few kids.

Who are our people knowledgeable in booking flights with airlines other than SW? @danjoealexis3006 - I only know SW so I don't want to give bad advice here. @calypso726 - not sure if you know Delta. Any others??

My initial thought here is that it makes sense for you to get a Delta Platinum BUSINESS card. The reason I advise a biz card is because you want to keep your personal card count down. Personal cards affect certain rules with other issuers (primarily Chase). If you're interested, you could join our private reddit group (DISchurners) and even support another DISer when signing up for that card. I'm sure somebody would really appreciate that!

The offer is the 70k Delta SkyMiles you previously mentioned (plus you'd get 3,000 points from hitting the MSR - Minimum Spend Requirement) so total 73,000 Delta SkyMiles. It sounds like it gets you priority boarding and a free checked bag too.

Hopefully somebody with more Delta expertise will come along and assist here. My specialties are Southwest, Marriott & Chase mostly.

I know Delta so does @tink1970 so she can chime in when she gets a chance.

Delta does not have an award chart but it is super easy to just run possible flights to get an idea of how many miles it would take to reach your goals. The increased 70k bonus is as high as I have seen it on the Platinum cards, although previously it did have a statement credit attached. My family of 5 has AP's but sadly MCO is 4 hours away by plane so we are complete Delta hostages with their non stop flights since we are in a hub city. For Delta you can get the Platinum or Gold Amex cards, and then the personal and business. My husband and I each have a personal and a business platinum (so 4 between us) since we fly so much in the states (and mostly to FL). The platinum cards have the edge for me since they include every year on the card anniversary the companion certificate. You buy one ticket and basically get the other one free (still have to pay taxes). For me that easily offsets the annual fee.

If the Platinum is the route you decide to take I would get the business one now (sounds like you wouldn't have a problem with that) and then maybe refer your husband right before the increased offer deal ends. The referral bonus on the increased mile offer is increased too so that would give you another 10k miles.

The Platinum gets you one free bag for everyone in your travelling party and Zone 1 boarding (just below Sky Priority). Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

 

[kmc8826]

Paging DeltaHostage @kmc8826

(I know there's others but I'm not as good as @Lain 's spreadsheet at keeping track and I hate guessing wrong)

I was typing my response even as you sent that! Work on a Monday...who wants to do that right?!? Yes absolute #Deltahostage. So sad and so true.

 

[jhoannam]

I want to confirm that I too got 10,000 MRs for one transaction on my new Green Biz card and 10K from the self referral. I've earned 100K MRs this year, will have 120K in the next couple of months. I have no what we are going to do with those points, but glad to know they are there.

 

[miztressuz]

I was typing my response even as you sent that! Work on a Monday...who wants to do that right?!? Yes absolute #Deltahostage. So sad and so true.

Exactly, actual work, jeez. Don't they know there are deals to be had and people to share them with?

 

[tink1970]

Right now it looks like the cost would be $1174.00=84000 points. Flights are really high right now for that time frame so I am going to say that they will most likely drop between now and then

Is the 84000 miles in UR? If so, I'd definitely consider getting UR earning card(s) as previously outlined by @SouthFayetteFan . Is that $1174 for all of you or just one ticket (don't laugh...cross country can be expensive on Delta!)?

Delta does occasionally have fare sales but those are impossible to predict and hoping for fares to go down is quite optimistic.

Who are our people knowledgeable in booking flights with airlines other than SW? @danjoealexis3006 - I only know SW so I don't want to give bad advice here. @calypso726 - not sure if you know Delta. Any others??

My initial thought here is that it makes sense for you to get a Delta Platinum BUSINESS card. The reason I advise a biz card is because you want to keep your personal card count down. Personal cards affect certain rules with other issuers (primarily Chase). If you're interested, you could join our private reddit group (DISchurners) and even support another DISer when signing up for that card. I'm sure somebody would really appreciate that!

The offer is the 70k Delta SkyMiles you previously mentioned (plus you'd get 3,000 points from hitting the MSR - Minimum Spend Requirement) so total 73,000 Delta SkyMiles. It sounds like it gets you priority boarding and a free checked bag too.

Hopefully somebody with more Delta expertise will come along and assist here. My specialties are Southwest, Marriott & Chase mostly.

I agree with considering an American Express Delta Platinum Biz card if you can juggle the MSR ($3,000 in first 3 months earns 70,000) of that between CIPs (those will be the most helpful, imho). Going to Delta's website and playing with the dates you'll be able to figure out how many miles versus cost of tickets. Sometimes paying with skymiles is cheaper, sometimes not. While 70,000 sounds like a lot, sometimes all it will get you is an economy comfort seat during high priced times (spring break to MCO being one of those times). If you have a Delta American express co branded card, you are given the option of "paying with points" whereas the skymiles are valued a $0.01. So if you earned the bonus by spending $3,000 you could subtract $700 off of a ticket (or tickets) price (Delta does increments of 5,000 UNLESS it benefits them...say a ticket cost $710.76...you would have the option of paying 73,000 [value of $730] to pay $710.76). Sometimes this is helpful, often not. That's why maybe getting a delta co-branded card would be helpful for you current situation.


That said, going forward, the Delta Skymiles Platinum does have a $195 annual fee (NOT waived the first year). If you obtained this card and kept it for a year, on your anniversary date you would earn a companion certificate. This certificate is good for a companion to fly with the card holder on a round trip itinerary on certain fare buckets. So this could be very helpful for future flights. In my situation I have a daughter who is in her senior year of high school, so hopefully we'll be able to visit using our certificate. Also, DH's parents are quite elderly and live in California and it's nice to know I have a couple of companion tickets in reserve in case of emergencies. That's why I pay the Annual Fees for both business and personal American Express Delta Platinum cards. If you and your husband enter two player mode, both of you could apply for the delta plat biz (tutoring IS a business!) and these wouldn't count against your -/24 for Chase.

Of the many co-branded Amex Delta cards, I have held or hold almost all so please feel free to ask any questions

 

[tink1970]

I was typing my response even as you sent that! Work on a Monday...who wants to do that right?!? Yes absolute #Deltahostage. So sad and so true.

LOL, we were typing at the same time! You were much more succinct than I...guess who is not (ever) at work?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Is the 84000 miles in UR? If so, I'd definitely consider getting UR earning card(s) as previously outlined by @SouthFayetteFan . Is that $1174 for all of you or just one ticket (don't laugh...cross country can be expensive on Delta!)?

Delta does occasionally have fare sales but those are impossible to predict and hoping for fares to go down is quite optimistic.

I think the 84k is Delta SkyMiles. The $1,174 would be approx. 78k URs IF you have a CSR. I'm not sure the OP is even aware of what URs are yet and how they work...but we're certainly going to educate them

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I know Delta so does @tink1970 so she can chime in when she gets a chance.

Delta does not have an award chart but it is super easy to just run possible flights to get an idea of how many miles it would take to reach your goals. The increased 70k bonus is as high as I have seen it on the Platinum cards, although previously it did have a statement credit attached. My family of 5 has AP's but sadly MCO is 4 hours away by plane so we are complete Delta hostages with their non stop flights since we are in a hub city. For Delta you can get the Platinum or Gold Amex cards, and then the personal and business. My husband and I each have a personal and a business platinum (so 4 between us) since we fly so much in the states (and mostly to FL). The platinum cards have the edge for me since they include every year on the card anniversary the companion certificate. You buy one ticket and basically get the other one free (still have to pay taxes). For me that easily offsets the annual fee.

If the Platinum is the route you decide to take I would get the business one now (sounds like you wouldn't have a problem with that) and then maybe refer your husband right before the increased offer deal ends. The referral bonus on the increased mile offer is increased too so that would give you another 10k miles.

The Platinum gets you one free bag for everyone in your travelling party and Zone 1 boarding (just below Sky Priority). Let me know if you have any other specific questions.

@danjoealexis3006 - I think this is a great comment on the Delta Plat. With your trip approaching so soon (and it pains me to say this) - I'd almost just focus on getting these cards and covering your flights. I'd probably go forward with renting points and locking in a desirable on-site room and just pay for that. We could still try to get your free tickets through Chase URs but you probably want to lock down flights and room in the next 2-3 months.

With late March travel, you could then buy tickets in January and still be ahead of your 60day FP window. A CSR/CSP double dip would cover your tickets fully (that requires $8,000 in MSR - minimum spend requirement - in 3 months).

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Good question...I’m not sure since I’ve always closed mine right after the statement closed and,the points were in my RR account. Are you going to apply for the new SW Priority card ? If you wait for the statement to close does it give you enough time to apply for the new card..if there is an end date the promo ?

My plan is close the sw prem to open up some avail CL. App for the sw biz. Then app for the new sw card if it is still the highest bonus. I need to do all this ASAP so I can get the CP ASAP. I will use it in nov and dec so I figured I’d abort the plan to wait until 2019/2020.

 

[Sarah_B]

If Plsatiq has billed my CIP and mailed my check... is it safe to say that they didn't catch I'm using a VISA for my Wells mortgage? (is this a fight club situation where I shouldn't even post it about it on the internet without using pig latin?)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I was hoping to get some help picking my next card! I am very close to finishing my current MSR on my Citi AA Biz card (a lot earlier than planned). I am sticking with biz cards only as I am hoping to go for the CIP in Nov. when I drop under 5/24, then going for CSR/CSP double-dip in Feb/Mar 2019. I don’t really want any annual fees and would rather have a lower MSR if possible. Have been exploring Amex MR cards, specifically Amex Blue Business Plus card, but not sure if 10k MR’s is very much or if they would be very useful for me at this point?

Business cards I have:
Citi Biz AA – July 2018
Barclay Aviator AA Biz – July 2018
Marriott Biz – June 2018
Hilton Biz - 2018
SPG Biz –
SW Biz – Jan 2018

Personal cards:
SW Plus – Oct 2016
SW Premier – Jan 2018
Discover IT – May 2017
Dillards (still kicking myself over this one) – May 2017
BoA Cash – May 2017


Other info:
My DH is a very reluctant P2. I would love it if he would agree to get a CIP and then refer me, but he has said no to any biz cards. He got a CSP in May 2018, and because of his reluctance and the fact that we don’t have a huge immediate need for any points, I’d rather not ask him to get any personal cards either. Currently have a CP through 2019. Would love more Marriott/SPG points but not really willing to prolong my 5/24 status to do it.

Travel goals:

• Toying around with the idea of a spring break trip to DL using my Marriott N/F Cat 1-5 cert, or if not in spring then summer. Really wanted this to convert to points to use at Swolphin but doesn’t sound likely this will happen.
• June trip to Universal/Disney/Vero Beach – have AP’s to Universal we’d like to use once more, have DVC for Disney portion, and would hopefully use UR for 2 nights at Vero Beach.
• Short (3-4) night trip to F&W in Oct. Not sure how to pay for these nights yet. If we went to DL in June instead or spring break I’d have DVC points I could use.
• If SW Hawaii flights are reasonable there’s a small possibility I could convince DH we should go there next year before it expires (and skip one or two of the other trips).

Sorry for this being so long! I’d appreciate any input you can provide

I'd be kicking myself over that Dillards card too, lol! BUT you seem to have found a great path of biz cards to keep you busy. If you're trying to stick with biz cards your options are starting to get lighter. You could consider doing something weird and get a Delta Biz card and then redeem the points for a Target gift card (I did that one). The BB+ is a nice intro-MR card. It doesn't offer the greatest return, but gets you in the game.

I would not delay your < 5/24 timeline for a Marriott or SPG card at this point. I really like your plan to get under 5/24 in October and then May 2019 will be super exciting when 3 cards drop off!

I LOVE your CIP in November, CSP/CSR double dip in Feb/Mar. You could then do a CIC in May/Jun once those cards drop off. Maybe a CIU in Aug/Sept...you're still 4/24 Get a personal card in late 2019 and then in January 2020 your SW card drops off and you're back to 4/24 again.

You just gotta get that P2 to come around to help out here, LOL!

 

[Albort]

If Plsatiq has billed my CIP and mailed my check... is it safe to say that they didn't catch I'm using a VISA for my Wells mortgage? (is this a fight club situation where I shouldn't even post it about it on the internet without using pig latin?)

As long as Wells Fargo accepts it, u should be good. They do seem to do random checks though, there might be that one month where Plastiq will catch you and reject it. I know a few ppl here had that happen.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

My plan is close the sw prem to open up some avail CL. App for the sw biz. Then app for the new sw card if it is still the highest bonus. I need to do all this ASAP so I can get the CP ASAP. I will use it in nov and dec so I figured I’d abort the plan to wait until 2019/2020.

Sounds like you have a good plan to meet your needs with flights this year.

You may already know this but Chase will not move CL from personal to business... if you have other Chase business cards with high limits I’d suggest lowering those as well.

 

[mom2elal]

Ha- just had some churning (well, sort of) interjected into my reading! I'm currently reading Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan and the main character, Rachel Chu, and her boyfriend are flying to Singapore in an A380 in Suites! I suspect they based it on @calypso726's flight.

I read that book recently and just finished the second (didn't like the second as much as the first)! They're not the kind of books I normally read, but they're undeniably fun.

 

[tink1970]

You could consider doing something weird and get a Delta Biz card and then redeem the points for a Target gift card (I did that one

Not judging...but...

 

[miztressuz]

My plan is close the sw prem to open up some avail CL. App for the sw biz. Then app for the new sw card if it is still the highest bonus. I need to do all this ASAP so I can get the CP ASAP. I will use it in nov and dec so I figured I’d abort the plan to wait until 2019/2020.

​

Figured out where I saw the link to the program agreement before. It's at the bottom of the Rewards detail page of the card. It says "If your account is closed for any other reason, we’ll automatically transfer any points or TQP earned to Southwest Airlines, as long as you don’t lose them for any of the reasons described in this agreement." so basically as long as you're in good standing they should just transfer without having to wait for the statement close - is how I'm reading that. Of course I'd verify with the rep when I cancelled it too.