I love credit cards so much!

[Lain]

I think it depends where you are - we just scheduled DD's for January. You might just need to fly somewhere nice to do the interview sooner

DW did hers at HNL when we were vacationing there last Christmas. I think the earliest date SFO had open was the following March.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

they say that but i dont think they charge you. I never got charged for adding my dad in a few months before my AF. did get charged the full $75 for the coming year though.

Interesting! So are you thinking they don't charge it for the first year?

EDIT: still doesn't explain why her screen showed $0 and mine says $75 LOL! Seems as though Chase is being a little like Citi on this one, haha!

 

[Albort]

Interesting! So are you thinking they don't charge it for the first year?

EDIT: still doesn't explain why her screen showed $0 and mine says $75 LOL! Seems as though Chase is being a little like Citi on this one, haha!

i think it dpeends on how close you are to your AF date. They warned me that i would be charged $75 the day i added him. i waited 2 months for that charge, it never showed up. :\ lol

 

[ktate82]

Who is “they”? Also - have you considered just applying for a different flavor of SW personal card? There are 3 of them so just don’t get the plus card, problem solved

The Southwest Case rep that I spoke to when canceling my Plus card. I already have the premium card. So my plan was to apply for the business and plus card again to get a companion pass. We did it a few years ago, and it worked out very well.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

i think it dpeends on how close you are to your AF date. They warned me that i would be charged $75 the day i added him. i waited 2 months for that charge, it never showed up. :\ lol

You ever sit here and wonder what non-churners would think of us in some of these situations. Here we are analyzing when you have to pay a $75 AU Fee on a premium credit card. Wondering why Chase's website showed $0 for one of us but $75 for another. I love how we over-analyze things! This is my hobby and I love it!!! HAHA!

 

[miztressuz]

View attachment 355417
I’ll go back and check the open date on that card later. No time now.
But about the AU fee, see #4...

Now THAT'S a screenshot to save. If it doesn't affect 5/24 maybe it's worth hanging onto for now

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

The Southwest Case rep that I spoke to when canceling my Plus card. I already have the premium card. So my plan was to apply for the business and plus card again to get a companion pass. We did it a few years ago, and it worked out very well.

Woah you may have a problem here. I hate to be the bearer of bad news on this one BUT Chase added a One Southwest Personal Card Rule in April of 2018.

It states that: This product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapids Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.

THUS: If you currently hold a Chase Personal card...you will not be approved for a Plus card now. Even if you cancel that card IF you earned a bonus on that other Southwest card in the last 24 months you also cannot get a Plus card now.

Also - there is not a "premium" card. There is a Plus Card, A Premier Card and a Priority card. The Priority card is the new card I was referencing that came out earlier this year. Do you know exactly which cards you applied for and WHEN you earned the bonus?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

You ever sit here and wonder what non-churners would think of us in some of these situations. Here we are analyzing when you have to pay a $75 AU Fee on a premium credit card. Wondering why Chase's website showed $0 for one of us but $75 for another. I love how we over-analyze things! This is my hobby and I love it!!! HAHA!

Yes, but I do this to save money (though explaining the $450 fee to a non churner might be hard) so spending another $75 is a no go. OTOH if they’re giving it to me for free... The CSR does not have an AF posted yet, so maybe the AU fee will post when the AF does. Although it doesn’t explain why is says $0 because if I added an AU and later got charged I’d be ticked.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Now THAT'S a screenshot to save. If it doesn't affect 5/24 maybe it's worth hanging onto for now

My thoughts exactly. Going to soccer now but will have to look into it later.

 

[speedyfishy]

line like a noob.

Like a peasant...

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Yes, but I do this to save money (though explaining the $450 fee to a non churner might be hard) so spending another $75 is a no go. OTOH if they’re giving it to me for free... The CSR does not have an AF posted yet, so maybe the AU fee will post when the AF does. Although it doesn’t explain why is says $0 because if I added an AU and later got charged I’d be ticked.

Haha, I was just saying how I love this hobby - even though to an outsider it would seem so odd. I spend hours a day analyzing other people's churning goals and discussing strategies. I moderate 2 reddit subs designed solely to help people use each other's support links. I analyze loopholes and examine words in T&Cs to see what might be possible. And I find all of this enjoyable, lol!

 

[StephPlum]

If you want Precheck, you can enroll at some Staples. https://www.identogo.com/staples We did Global Entry, but others may want precheck.

Yeah!! There is one by DS's campus so it should be easy to get this organized. Have to do this for him before we fly in 2019. I signed up in 2018 and paid for DD as well. I didn't have a card to cover but it was well worth it. Even in my smallish airport (CMH), I love not having to take off jackets/shoes and pull out liquids/laptops.

Now that I have the CSR, will get DS signed up and it will be covered. No plans for overseas so do not need GE. Plus the closest GE office is in Cincinnati (2+hours away). Pre-check is right in town.

 

[WVMomof3]

The United Explorer card, and its predecessor the MileagePlus Explorer, varies so widely in its signup bonus. It's ranged from 40k-70k United miles, with or without statement credit. The public offer on the Explorer card is 40k, but recently had targeted offers of 50k and 60k. I don't follow the statement credit offers as closely, but sometimes you can trigger it by doing a dummy booking.

I think the higher targeted offers are done with for now. A few months ago, my wife got mailers for both the 50k and 60k offers and a banner for the 50k offer in her United MileagePlus accounts, but her account is only showing the 40k offer now. (Last year, when United was going through its PR nightmare after bloodying up and dragging one of their passengers off the plane, United extended their 50k public and 70k targeted offers several times.)

There's a link for the Explorer card's 50k in-flight offer here. I shared this with @trenty when it first popped up, and I believe her DH applied for it successfully using the link.

For those who might be interested in the Explorer card, log into your United MileagePlus account to see if you’ve been targeted for a higher than public offer. If not, don’t settle for the public 40k miles offer just yet; there are some tricks that have worked to get you targeted for higher offers on the Explorer/MPE:

• Fly on United. After you’ve flown on United, many people report getting targeted with higher than public signup offers for the United cards via mailers and on their United account in the following weeks.
• Make a dummy booking on United. Log into your United account and go through the motions of making a flight booking, and you may see a pop up offer for the Explorer with a higher mileage offer (and possibly statement credit).
• Make a purchase through the United MileagePlus Shopping portal. People have reported receiving targeted mailers a few weeks after their portal purchase. The MileagePlus Shopping portal includes iTunes, so you could possibly trigger a higher credit card offer by buying a cheap song.
• Make a purchase on the United MileagePlus X (“MPX”) gift card app. The MPX app is available for iOS and Android devices and sells e-gift cards at face value, often in the exact amount you need, but earns 0.5-5x UA miles/$1 depending on merchant (up to 10x UA miles/$1 during promos) and passes the coding of the purchase on to the merchant’s category allowing you to trigger category bonuses on your Chase Visa credit cards.

These tricks may trigger a higher offer immediately or could take several weeks to work, if at all. Keep playing around with the above tricks, as there seemed to be a lot of success with them last year.

It really helps if you don’t already have a United credit card. I've had a United credit card for years, even downgraded it to the no fee card, and I've never been targeted for anything higher than the public offer. Whereas my wife flies United a lot for work, does not have a United card, and gets targeted for the highest offers all the time.

So I have never flown United nor do I have an account with them. Should I just go ahead and sign up for one and maybe I will get a better offer soon? Looking for international travel within the next year or 2 and I thought this would be a good time to start building the bank.

 

[Lain]

Guys, 5% cash back at CVS via the Dosh app - one week only.

I see a lot of folks on r/churning using this for $500 VGCs. Apparently there's no limit on cash back. I think Dosh's minimum cash out amount is $25. I believe CVS sells Vanillas with a $5.95 activation fee. 5% of $505.95 is $25.30, which > $5.95 fee. CVS has a $2k daily limit on GCs. If you have a way to liquidate Vanillas, it's a moneymaker.

 

[Keira1387]

I signed up myself for a chase checking account and received a bonus. I am wondering if my husband would be able to sign up separately and get a bonus as well. TIA!

 

[MrPTato]

I see a lot of folks on r/churning using this for $500 VGCs. Apparently there's no limit on cash back. I think Dosh's minimum cash out amount is $25. I believe CVS sells Vanillas with a $5.95 activation fee. 5% of $505.95 is $25.30, which > $5.95 fee. CVS has a $2k daily limit on GCs. If you have a way to liquidate Vanillas, it's a moneymaker.

I didn't think you could buy the VGCs with a CC at CVS. hmmm....May be a busy couple days for me.

 

[Lain]

So I have never flown United nor do I have an account with them. Should I just go ahead and sign up for one and maybe I will get a better offer soon? Looking for international travel within the next year or 2 and I thought this would be a good time to start building the bank.

I think signing up for a United account is a good idea, and start using their portal and gift card app! It gets you on their radar as a new customer they might want to target with a better than public offer when it comes around again. Just keep in mind the Explorer card is subject to 5/24, so you may need to be always saving a spot for the Explorer card while waiting for a better offer.

 

[Lain]

I didn't think you could buy the VGCs with a CC at CVS. hmmm....May be a busy couple days for me.

I have, but it's definitely YMMV.

 

[ktate82]

Woah you may have a problem here. I hate to be the bearer of bad news on this one BUT Chase added a One Southwest Personal Card Rule in April of 2018.

It states that: This product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapids Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products.

THUS: If you currently hold a Chase Personal card...you will not be approved for a Plus card now. Even if you cancel that card IF you earned a bonus on that other Southwest card in the last 24 months you also cannot get a Plus card now.

Also - there is not a "premium" card. There is a Plus Card, A Premier Card and a Priority card. The Priority card is the new card I was referencing that came out earlier this year. Do you know exactly which cards you applied for and WHEN you earned the bonus?

I did not know that. I have the Premier card and have had it for several years (more than 24 months). So do I cancel it as well in order to reapply for the bonus points and apply for the Priority card? Do they have an inflight bonus for getting the Priority card? I hate to get rid of the Premier card since it has a high limit and has helped my credit score, but I was wondering if it may be worth it for the points.

 

[StephPlum]

I'm pretty tempted to do Portofino - just looks like a nice property, and relaxing. It is slightly more expensive for our dates, but not a huge difference. Looking forward to the Hogwarts Express - definitely going to do the p2p tix.

I also need to figure out where to eat. I think on the day we are in the parks I'm going to try to do both the Leaky Cauldron and the Three Broomsticks (one for bfast, the other for a late lunch, probably). I'm guessing the food there won't be all that great, so I'm hoping for a really good (but still kid friendly) meal on Friday night.

I've said before on here that I am a bigger US fan than WDW fan now. Shunning can commence. I do loooooove Harry Potter. I second the P2P tix. You have to ride the Hogwarts Express - very cool. Be sure to ride both ways as it is different in each direction. I love all the HP rides but Escape from Gringotts is my absolute favorite (may have ridden 10 times during my first visit). The way they have designed Diagon Alley, you just feel immersed. On the Hogwart's side, I did see the Christmas light show on the castle. I hear they now have a non-holiday show. I assume it is just as great so don't miss it.

On hotels, I've stayed at RPR 3 times and SF once. I am partial to RPR. The pool is great, easy boat ride to the park, I like the themeing. I really liked SF too but there is no FOTL passes there. I now realize I will not do US without the FOTL (I am spoiled) again. FOTL is so worth it. Depending on how long you are going, look into an AP. I've found it usually isn't that much more than the tickets I was going to buy and there can be AP discounts on rooms. The difference in price in the tickets was more than offset by the room discount. You only need one AP for the room discounts.

We did eat at 3 Broomsticks (Fish and CHips and Shepards Pie). My DD didn't think the Shepards Pie was great. Fish and Chips were good. But you go for the atmosphere! City Walk is great for food as well. It is so easy to leave the park for lunch and then return. Lots of choices. I love the BreadBox. Great sandwiches and Tater Tots! We also really liked the NBC place.

Have a great time!