I love credit cards so much!

[mmmears]

ExpertFlyer is a website that allows you to search for awardspaces and the # of spaces available. This applies to upgrade seats and award seats. it also lets u set a alert to see if the seat u wanted is available to. Its expensive for people who dont travel though. $10 a month or $100 a year.

Thanks for explaining. Sounds like something worth considering.

 

[Haley R]

i bug my friend here and there for flight searches, turns out he hasnt used it for awhile so now we decided to split the cost of it. I think its time one of us DISers need a subscription to it.



ExpertFlyer is a website that allows you to search for awardspaces and the # of spaces available. This applies to upgrade seats and award seats. it also lets u set a alert to see if the seat u wanted is available to. Its expensive for people who dont travel though. $10 a month or $100 a year.

@Haley R Congrats! sorry it took me so long to get the details to u. U could also still try to get those ORD--NRT tickets since its better to do 1 direct flight than a reposition...

Thank you for all the work you put into that. I'm not sure we have the patience or mental stability to go through that process again lol. We'll just keep what we have and deal with it lol. We just have to find flights to LAX for cheap and probably will need hotels on each end of the trip, but I just am happy I don't have to look at plane tickets anymore. I will say that when we called Virgin they looked at a large span of dates for ORD-NRT and weren't seeing anything so maybe there weren't any partner tickets for them to book? It was kind of a process because I would sometimes see it available on United, but it would be a United flight and not ANA. Then other times I would see it available on ANA's site, but it wasn't available as a partner flight and only directly through ANA. That's why I had so much trouble finding dates that worked. If United wasn't so much more than Virgin I could've easily booked through them but we would've spent 300,000+ miles to go with United.

 

[Albort]

Thank you for all the work you put into that. I'm not sure we have the patience or mental stability to go through that process again lol. We'll just keep what we have and deal with it lol. We just have to find flights to LAX for cheap and probably will need hotels on each end of the trip, but I just am happy I don't have to look at plane tickets anymore. I will say that when we called Virgin they looked at a large span of dates for ORD-NRT and weren't seeing anything so maybe there weren't any partner tickets for them to book? It was kind of a process because I would sometimes see it available on United, but it would be a United flight and not ANA. Then other times I would see it available on ANA's site, but it wasn't available as a partner flight and only directly through ANA. That's why I had so much trouble finding dates that worked. If United wasn't so much more than Virgin I could've easily booked through them but we would've spent 300,000+ miles to go with United.

spoke with my friend about this when he was looking it up. he said there is no difference. Says ExpertFlyer will warn you if that is the case. I know it warns me the last time i played with it when i searched delta flights.

 

[Haley R]

spoke with my friend about this when he was looking it up. he said there is no difference. Says ExpertFlyer will warn you if that is the case. I know it warns me the last time i played with it when i searched delta flights.

Huh that's weird. All I know is the Virgin people kept telling me they weren't seeing any availability so I just had to go off of what they had. It's okay we are fine with what we got. Thanks though!

 

[wendow]

I went with just plat for the reasons you and @SFF stated about pulling PRG later. Feeling good about it.

That is great about all the credits. We don't really uber except at disney, but I can use them at disney in Dec. Can I buy uber gift cards or reload DD19's uber app or something to get the credits?

Congrats!! Pulling up the same 100k offer through cardmatch, and considering...I was hoping to triple dip the airline credit if I ever got this card but I'm not sure I'll still be targeted come December so maybe I should pull the trigger now.

 

[Lain]

Congrats!! Pulling up the same 100k offer through cardmatch, and considering...I was hoping to triple dip the airline credit if I ever got this card but I'm not sure I'll still be targeted come December so maybe I should pull the trigger now.

Tough call for you, because I know you’ve been trying to get back under 5/24 for at least the CIU; then there’s the less than ideal timing because you’d like to triple dip the airline credit, and the DEN Centurion Lounge won’t open until sometime in 2019. But on the other hand, this offer is as good as it gets. Can you handle the $5k spend? Have you figured out what you might do with all the MR you’re accumulating? You might not see this offer again, and if not are you ok settling for a 75k MR incognito offer later on?

 

[Haley R]

Okay I need to go to bed, but Dh and I briefly talked about going to WDW in December since we've never done MVMCP and they announced DAH dates. I priced out a vacation from December 1-5 with DAH tickets, plane tickets from Frontier, 2 MVMCP tickets each, and ASMovies and it came out to roughly $1,655. How can I pass that up?

 

[wendow]

Tough call for you, because I know you’ve been trying to get back under 5/24 for at least the CIU; then there’s the less than ideal timing because you’d like to triple dip the airline credit, and the DEN Centurion Lounge won’t open until sometime in 2019. But on the other hand, this offer is as good as it gets. Can you handle the $5k spend? Have you figured out what you might do with all the MR you’re accumulating? You might not see this offer again, and if not are you ok settling for a 75k MR incognito offer later on?

I do want to get back under 5/24 for the CIU but I was holding spots to DD the sapphires next spring when I fall to 3/24. I can’t do that now so I think I am ok filling a */24 spot.

The MSR is a lot. I don’t have any upcoming big expenses like I used to meet the spg biz spend- almost done, $400’ish left. I still have $1500 on the Marriott biz. I’m going to try my mortgage again on that one. But yeah, 5k is hard and even harder with Amex!

No clue what to do with my MRs lol. Leaning towards Schwab and cash out unless something better presents itself.

I really want to be able to triple dip the airline credit do mayne waiting is better. The Uber isn’t real useful to me.

 

[Haley R]

i have been a bad boy and doing research for u while in class. i have found a flight for you.
https://m.imgur.com/gallery/8qnyApn

From friend with ExpertFlyer
5/10/19 - Space available in F and J for ORD-HND on NH 111
5/11/19 - Space available in F for ORD-NRT on NH 11
5/12/19 - Space available in J for ORD-HND on NH 111
5/13/19 - Space available in F for ORD-HND on NH 111
5/14/19 - Space available in J for ORD-NRT on NH 11
5/14/19 - Space available in F and J for ORD-HND on NH 111
5/15/19 - Space available in F and J for ORD-NRT on NH 11
5/15/19 - Space available in J for ORD-HND on NH 111

5/23/19 - Space available in F and J for HND - ORD on NH 112
5/23/19 - Space available in F and J for NRT - ORD on NH 12
5/24/19 - Space available in F for HND - ORD on NH 112
5/26/19 - Space available in F for HND - ORD on NH 112
5/27/19 - Space available in F and J for HND - ORD on NH 112
5/27/19 - Space available in J for NRT - ORD on NH 12
5/28/19 - Space available in F for HND - ORD on NH 112
5/28/19 - Space available in J for NRT - ORD on NH 12
5/29/19 - Space available in J for NRT - ORD on NH 12

unsure of how many ppl ur looking which could be a program. suggest u call virgin again and ask with flight #

hope that helps.

Okay I can’t stop thinking about this post even though I should be asleep. I went back and looked at united’s website and I’m not seeing that availability for May 28.

 

[calypso726]

I can gladly say that I FINALLY booked tickets with Virgin!! We are flying in/out of LAX instead of Chicago and I won't be able to see my DISer friend that I was supposed to meet up with, but we got tickets and that's all that matters. We are going May 27-June 15 in business class. I was able to pick the seats out for both Dh and I (he wanted to sit behind me so we both are by a window but not next to each other). We were able to get the lying flat seats that ANA provides and I am super excited! The taxes and fees were mighty expensive and I didn't expect that, but we used our CSR to pay for those.

Thank you to everyone that helped!! I know I was kind of a downer lately waiting for points and then all of the issues actually booking the flights themselves. It was an experience and now I know if I ever do it again we will be planning much further ahead. I think we started this whole credit card "game" in April or May and were able to book business class seats in September so not too shabby.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had a REALLY hard time understanding the Virgin staff members. It turns out they spelled Dh's name wrong by switching his first letter to an F instead of an S lol. So I'll have to call and have them change that.

Woo Hoo!!! So glad you got your flights. It’s usually a lot easier if you give yourself two years on the planning. One year to get the points in place so they are available one year before you travel and there when the flights are released. I will likely be following your footsteps to book ANA with Virgin miles. I know I will be dealing with a change fee too since the return would not be open when I book the departure and my dates won’t be flexible. But I don’t mind so much since it is do-able on far less miles than every other option and it gives me an excuse to take advantage of the current Amex MR to Virgin bonus.

As for the need to book hotels on each end of your trip, well that’s easy. There are a gazillion ways to stay and not pay. You also have a huge community here that is happy to help you with that!

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I can gladly say that I FINALLY booked tickets with Virgin!! We are flying in/out of LAX instead of Chicago and I won't be able to see my DISer friend that I was supposed to meet up with, but we got tickets and that's all that matters. We are going May 27-June 15 in business class. I was able to pick the seats out for both Dh and I (he wanted to sit behind me so we both are by a window but not next to each other). We were able to get the lying flat seats that ANA provides and I am super excited! The taxes and fees were mighty expensive and I didn't expect that, but we used our CSR to pay for those.

Thank you to everyone that helped!! I know I was kind of a downer lately waiting for points and then all of the issues actually booking the flights themselves. It was an experience and now I know if I ever do it again we will be planning much further ahead. I think we started this whole credit card "game" in April or May and were able to book business class seats in September so not too shabby.

Like I mentioned earlier, I had a REALLY hard time understanding the Virgin staff members. It turns out they spelled Dh's name wrong by switching his first letter to an F instead of an S lol. So I'll have to call and have them change that.

Yaa!! So glad you have your flights booked

 

[miztressuz]

Not online. But you can call into Amex Travel and have an agent book Southwest for you. However, I’ve read that Amex Travel agents may not be able to see all the fares. Alternatively, you can book directly with Southwest, then get reimbursed by redeeming MR after the charge posts at 1 cpp.

ETA some links about how to do this:

https://faq.amextravel.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/20272/~/are-all-airlines-available-on-the-american-express-travel-online-site?

https://millionmilesecrets.com/guides/american-express-points-for-southwest-flights/

How do you get the 1cpp value on the statement credit? Is it a certain card or are travel charges reimbursed at a higher rate? Every time I look at redeeming for a charge it's .6 cpp. Despite having MRs for 17 years, I still really don't know how to use them - I never see all this awesomeness people speak of. ( Hence why we cash out for the 1cpp giftcards...)

 

[GlamMistress]

How do you get the 1cpp value on the statement credit? Is it a certain card or are travel charges reimbursed at a higher rate? Every time I look at redeeming for a charge it's .6 cpp. Despite having MRs for 17 years, I still really don't know how to use them - I never see all this awesomeness people speak of. ( Hence why we cash out for the 1cpp giftcards...)

You can just log on to Amex Travel and book whatever - a flight, car, hotel - and use your MR to pay. It's 1c a point that way. You get a lot more value from transferring but this is an option if you need to get somewhere and don't have the right transferrable currency, you don't feel like fighting for award space (because these are revenue tickets) or you've got a huge stash of MR and you just don't care how you spend them.

 

[1st*toright]

You can just log on to Amex Travel and book whatever - a flight, car, hotel - and use your MR to pay. It's 1c a point that way. You get a lot more value from transferring but this is an option if you need to get somewhere and don't have the right transferrable currency, you don't feel like fighting for award space (because these are revenue tickets) or you've got a huge stash of MR and you just don't care how you spend them.

Another good use of MRs instead can be to book a non-chain hotel. You only get 1c per point, but depending on how your trip is coming together, it may be a good option. For example, I'm in love with a particular hotel for our prospective (and totally hypothetical at this point) trip to Europe. It isn't affiliated with any major chains, so no award stay option. Yes, using my URs from my CSR would also be an option (and the redemption would be better at 1.5c) but all my URs are earmarked for transfer to United to try to get us business class flights. So I think my hotel stays (both for the swanky hotel and maybe renting a small flat for a few days) will come out of my MR stash.

 

[havaneselover]

I can't figure out how to send money to my Chase savings account. I thought I could transfer it from Capital One to my Chase checking and then transfer it to savings, but then it's not new money. I can't link my Capital One account to the Chase savings account. I can only mobile deposit $5,000 per month into Chase and there are no ATMs close enough. My only option seems to be to spend $30 and wire it--I'm not sure it's worth it.

 

[nhgirl]

We are having our roof done in October. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can churn this? The contractor took a $500 deposit on a CC but he told us he won’t let us charge the whole thing.

 

[DisneyMandC]

SPG points technically don't exist anymore; everything's been rolled into Marriott points. Starriott still transfers to ANA and VS, but now at a 3:1 ratio, and you still get the 5,000 miles bonus for every 60,000 Marriott points transferred.

I don’t know that Marriott points are easier to earn than MR, short of lots of stays at Starriott hotels, because of the new post-8/26 restrictions on the SPG and Marriott card signups. Whereas, there are A LOT of MR-earning cards, many with fat bonuses.

Ugh, I guess I need to look into it more. I haven't done any MR earning cards yet, and I can't stomach the fees for the Platinum cards. Plus all the additional stuff like Uber and Sak's are utterly useless to me. DH doesn't have any Starriott cards yet though. I guess I need to reevaluate after we double dip.

 

[MrPTato]

We are having our roof done in October. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can churn this? The contractor took a $500 deposit on a CC but he told us he won’t let us charge the whole thing.

Find a new roofer!

Plastiq? Buy GCs and cash them out?

 

[1st*toright]

We are having our roof done in October. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can churn this? The contractor took a $500 deposit on a CC but he told us he won’t let us charge the whole thing.

You can generally pay contractor's using Visa or Mastercard via Plastiq, but there is a fee. If you use a fellow Dischurner's link, you get $500 fee free dollars (but only after your first payment clears - might be useful if you can break the payment into a few payments). There is also a mastercard promo, but I don't know much about it.

Whatever you do DON'T expect to be able to pay a contractor via Plastiq using Amex - I was planning to meet a big MSR that way, but that did not work at all.

 

[Lain]

How do you get the 1cpp value on the statement credit? Is it a certain card or are travel charges reimbursed at a higher rate? Every time I look at redeeming for a charge it's .6 cpp. Despite having MRs for 17 years, I still really don't know how to use them - I never see all this awesomeness people speak of. ( Hence why we cash out for the 1cpp giftcards...)

It has to be a flight charge.