I love credit cards so much!

[Haley R]

It's precheck for both domestic and international flights.
It also means that you don't have to fill out the customs form they hand you on the airplane before returning to the US.
And that you do a quick scan of your passport when returning to the US instead of standing in the sometimes very long line.
My family has had it for a few years now and we are glad we do (esp. after an 11 hour flight when the line at customs looks like a line for a popular Disney ride during peak season).

Does global entry cost a lot? I’m wondering if we should get it for our Japan trip.

 

[Haley R]

So here I was thinking we would cash out our URs for Airbnb but I totally forgot we need them for our hotel in LA and possibly plane tickets to/from LAX.

 

[Teal03]

How much are 1000 American Airlines miles points worth? I keep seeing such good deals for them but I get so confused on the calculations. Trying to start saving for my Asia Disney parks/Olympics trip.

 

[Albort]

Can someone explain Global Entry in simple terms?

I know nothing about international travel (literally nothing), but I’m looking to do the ABD Japan trip in the summer of 2021 with a friend! It’s a long time from now, but it’s a time that works for both of us. I’m just curious if GE is something I/we should be looking into before the trip. It sounds like precheck for international flights. I haven’t applied for precheck because I don’t fly very often and sometimes I luck out and get precheck anyway. If not, I haven’t really had too long of waits in the regular security lines anyway. I’m sure international travel is a whole different story though.

GE is basically a speedy pass through customs. They do their background check on you beforehand(the app process) and they u become a known traveler to them. At busy airports such as LAX or JFK, its likely that you would be processed through in half the time than a regular US citizen. i came out once in 30 mins while it took my mom over 2 hours to get out. GE comes with Pre-Check, which is also a light version security lane. U do not need to take off your shoes or belt. Not all airlines participate in it and you are not always guaranteed it. Its good to have if your credit card has it. might as well right?

I totally get keeping that stuff quiet and while it's part of churning, I don't really considering it part of churning which is why I was intrigued. I thought it had more to do with getting cards or something, not ways to meet spend/generate points "organically" rather than through sign ups.

the point of the goal of churning is to make more points. It was never about how to apply for cards... the end game is always getting more points... :] i think the whole sign up bonus is great for new players, but once you hit LOL/24, ur stuck... Ive started to MS and also completing my line of cards... im 4/5 on Amex cards, hoping to close that out and MS even more afterwards. Its hard for me to spend organically since im still a poor college student so my income is minimal for now. MS helps me really blast off my points haha.

Do you know how any of these compare to just using URs at the 1.50x through CSR? Is transferring to a partner the better way to go here?

(look at me actually trying to learn about international flights for once...hahaha!)

International flights, Domestic flights, we just look at the CPP to see if its a good deal or not.

Chase - 1.5 CPP. RT trip cost $582 or 38,822 pts.
Ibera Route - RT trip cost $1242 or 40k Avios = 3.1 CPP. TOTAL Miles = 160,000
United - RT trip $1300 or 60k UA miles = 2.2 CPP. TOTAL miles = 240,000

now Chase looks like the winner here, but we now compare the stopover + long travel time on TAP Portugal vs a direct flight with Iberia. Its up to @DrFacilier to decide where if he wants to save that 1200 points or not.

Now other factors come into play such as availability. Going through the Chase route, ur basically guarenteed tickets on your select day.
award tickets may not be available for 4 people via Iberia or United, but going through those would get your most value from.

 

[mmmears]

Does global entry cost a lot? I’m wondering if we should get it for our Japan trip.

I don't know because we got it through our AMEX card. I think it's around $100 but I honestly don't remember.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Does global entry cost a lot? I’m wondering if we should get it for our Japan trip.

You have a CSR, right? If you didn’t use your credit for TSA PRE then you could get GE for free thru the card for one of you.

 

[Albort]

Does global entry cost a lot? I’m wondering if we should get it for our Japan trip.

depends what time u come in at LAX. u will get processed at lax. Highly suggestive to have it, although u can probably get away with mobile Passport.
Make sure u leave plenty of time between your arrival time and your flight back home. LAX sometimes may take 3 hours to process out and pick up your luggage depending on timing and blah blah stuff happening.

edit: i totally quoted the wrong post.

 

[Haley R]

You have a CSR, right? If you didn’t use your credit for TSA PRE then you could get GE for free thru the card for one of you.

Yes one of us has the CSR. We didn’t use the credit for TSA PRE. I didn’t even know that was an option lol. So many things to remember when traveling internationally and this is our first time. How do we get it for free?

depends what time u come in at LAX. u will get processed at lax. Highly suggestive to have it, although u can probably get away with mobile Passport.
Make sure u leave plenty of time between your arrival time and your flight back home. LAX sometimes may take 3 hours to process out and pick up your luggage depending on timing and blah blah stuff happening.

edit: i totally quoted the wrong post.

We plan on adding a day on each end of our trip depending on what flights we can get. We will most likely stay the night before going to Japan and stay the night when we land from Japan. I didn’t know anything about all of this processing before flying since I’ve never really done this before. Good thing you guys are helping me out now.

We leave LAX for Japan at 11:45 am and we land from Japan at LAX at 10 am. Do they only process us when we get back from Japan or before the trip too? How early should we get to LAX before our flight?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Yes one of us has the CSR. We didn’t use the credit for TSA PRE. I didn’t even know that was an option lol. So many things to remember when traveling internationally and this is our first time. How do we get it for free?

We plan on adding a day on each end of our trip depending on what flights we can get. We will most likely stay the night before going to Japan and stay the night when we land from Japan. I didn’t know anything about all of this processing before flying since I’ve never really done this before. Good thing you guys are helping me out now.

We leave LAX for Japan at 11:45 am and we land from Japan at LAX at 10 am. Do they only process us when we get back from Japan or before the trip too? How early should we get to LAX before our flight?

Apply for Global Entry, pay with the CSR and it gets reimbursed. If your Player 2 gets a CSR before your trip they could get it too for free. Otherwise it’s only $100
I think so it’s not super expensive.

 

[Albort]

We plan on adding a day on each end of our trip depending on what flights we can get. We will most likely stay the night before going to Japan and stay the night when we land from Japan. I didn’t know anything about all of this processing before flying since I’ve never really done this before. Good thing you guys are helping me out now.

We leave LAX for Japan at 11:45 am and we land from Japan at LAX at 10 am. Do they only process us when we get back from Japan or before the trip too? How early should we get to LAX before our flight?

mornings arent that bad. I forgot your flyin J class, at nights, they have a special lane for ppl who fly J. mornings though, not so much... :\
you just have to go through security, no customs to leave the country. You will get processed on the way back. 10am isnt too bad. i flew in around that time, was about 15 mins out before a normal person
Get there as early as possible... why? LOOOOOUUUUUNNNNGGGGEEEE... if thats not required, id still get there 2 hours ahead just incase. The traffic into the airport can get pretty hectic :\ once your there, its pretty smooth.

 

[wendow]

Remind me...do I get credit for staying at Starriott on UR points, or No? I'm thinking a big, fat no but just want to confirm...

 

[Haley R]

Apply for Global Entry, pay with the CSR and it gets reimbursed. If your Player 2 gets a CSR before your trip they could get it too for free. Otherwise it’s only $100
I think so it’s not super expensive.

I don’t think we are planning on getting another CSR since we are doing Hilton cards now but $100 isn’t too bad. Does the reimbursement just come into our chase account like a refund?

 

[Haley R]

mornings arent that bad. I forgot your flyin J class, at nights, they have a special lane for ppl who fly J. mornings though, not so much... :\
you just have to go through security, no customs to leave the country. You will get processed on the way back. 10am isnt too bad. i flew in around that time, was about 15 mins out before a normal person
Get there as early as possible... why? LOOOOOUUUUUNNNNGGGGEEEE... if thats not required, id still get there 2 hours ahead just incase. The traffic into the airport can get pretty hectic :\ once your there, its pretty smooth.

Darn on the J class lol. That’s okay, though. So if we get GE (and I’m thinking we will) we get processed on the plane on the way back? Or did I misunderstand what a PP said?

We will definitely get there at least 2 hours early. I do want to use the lounge! I’m hoping to stay at a hotel with an airport shuttle so we can get there easily when we fly into LAX and leave the next morning.

 

[miztressuz]

Does global entry cost a lot? I’m wondering if we should get it for our Japan trip.

Global Entry is 100, only 15 more than TSA PreCheck. The CSR will reimburse only one or the other every 4 years; GE is valid for 5 years IIRC. Personally, if you have your passport it makes sense to go GE since you still get PreCheck with it. There are other cards that reimburse it too so you could each get it covered if you're willing to look into that. I wouldn't pick up a card just for it but I'd put it on the list to consider.

 

[platamama]

How much are 1000 American Airlines miles points worth? I keep seeing such good deals for them but I get so confused on the calculations. Trying to start saving for my Asia Disney parks/Olympics trip.

It will be a range depending on how you use them, but generally anywhere between $10 and $40 for 1000 AA miles. The best value is if you can use them for first or business class saver tickets for international flights. AA sells miles too, and when they go on sale AA prices them between 1.5 to 2.0 cents per mile.

What deals are you talking about? If it's something where you get bonus AA miles for a hotel or car rental or flowers or something, you should always check the regular price on those because those deals are often inflated to cover the cost of the miles. If it's shopping through the AA portal and you earn 20miles/$1 then those are good deals. Credit card signup bonuses are always the best way to pick up thousands of miles.

 

[platamama]

Remind me...do I get credit for staying at Starriott on UR points, or No? I'm thinking a big, fat no but just want to confirm...

I've read you don't get credit at Starriott if you book with URs. Strangely, for airlines you get loyalty credit even if you pay with URs, but hotels no.

 

[JKalai]

I don’t think we are planning on getting another CSR since we are doing Hilton cards now but $100 isn’t too bad. Does the reimbursement just come into our chase account like a refund?

It shows up just like the travel credit does.

Me and my SO just went through the process and the wait time on the background check varies from 5 days to 8 weeks, so I would apply ASAP.

 

[mmmears]

Darn on the J class lol. That’s okay, though. So if we get GE (and I’m thinking we will) we get processed on the plane on the way back? Or did I misunderstand what a PP said?

We will definitely get there at least 2 hours early. I do want to use the lounge! I’m hoping to stay at a hotel with an airport shuttle so we can get there easily when we fly into LAX and leave the next morning.

If you have GE you don't do anything on the plane (you don't even have to fill out the customs forms, or at least we didn't). When you land and go through customs there is an expedited process (ours was basically scanning our passports and walking through).

ETA - we were J class and were able to use the priority security lines both in and out of the US.

 

[Albort]

Darn on the J class lol. That’s okay, though. So if we get GE (and I’m thinking we will) we get processed on the plane on the way back? Or did I misunderstand what a PP said?

We will definitely get there at least 2 hours early. I do want to use the lounge! I’m hoping to stay at a hotel with an airport shuttle so we can get there easily when we fly into LAX and leave the next morning.

u get processed when u land, not on the plane. For GE, there is a dedicated line for those who have it. usually no one is there(in my experience).
probably get GE for Precheck, having 1 person with GE and one person without is kinda lame haha. or do a mobile passport for the GEless person.

LAX *A lounge is really nice. u will get some yummy breakfast to eat! and if u wanna do some alcohol, u can!

 

[miztressuz]

I don’t think we are planning on getting another CSR since we are doing Hilton cards now but $100 isn’t too bad. Does the reimbursement just come into our chase account like a refund?

You'll get a statement credit like how the travel credit works.

As for logistics on how it works, you don't have to fill out the paper customs form like usual, you'll deplane and go through the customs lines but they'll be a separate kiosk area for you to scan your passport and make your declarations. Should be much faster than waiting in line for an agent. The kiosk should spit out your receipt and as long as it's not marked for special processing (like you had something to declare) then you're free to go.