I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

@SouthFayetteFan color me impressed!

Oh @calypso726 you're the one that impresses me haha. I'm just the king of not leaving the Eastern time zone LOL!

 

[calypso726]

Oh @calypso726 you're the one that impresses me haha. I'm just the king of not leaving the Eastern time zone LOL!

Ha! I didn't even notice "your time zone kingdom" I was thinking that's a nice haul of totally free vacations!

 

[Albort]

Plans for this year.

1) hoard points.
2) hoard more points.
3) hoard even more points.

gosh, i suck at this game... :\ lol

 

[Psychodisney]

It’s fun to see everyone’s plans! Gives me inspiration.
Our first getaway will be to visit our DD at school and take in a college hockey game. Flights on SW points and CP. Hotel on Marriott points.
We’ve got a WDW( 2 nights pre cruise, 1 night post at BCV in a 2BR on our DVC points) and 4 night DCL paid for through renting out some points. Used UR points transferred to SW for 5 RT airfares. Also used points to fly our DD18 home from school prior to the trip and a flight back. Used UR for a minivan rental.
Paid most of our DVC dues with gift cards purchased through the 5 x points categories and Walmart and Best Buy chase pay promos.
We have 2 round trips to SW FL planned using SW SP and points for flights. Rental cars will be covered on points from our Cap One card or BOA card. We have a condo so no costs for lodging.
We’ll use our Marriott free nights and points for hotel stays for trips to pick our DD up from school and/or football games (Go Blue).
We have a Food and wine weekend planned in a BCV 2BR which we’ll fly on points and also have free rental car. We’ve got plenty of days left on non-expiry tickets so just food and wine costs.
Hopefully will plan a few more long weekend trips to our condo and Ann Arbor for football. TBD.
Our goals are mostly free airfare, free hotel rooms, and rental cars. Nothing too glamorous but plenty of fun. We just need more vacation time!

 

[jhoannam]

Hoarding point to go to Hawaii in 2019 or maybe Costa Rica. Family of 4 for 2 weeks.

Will take a couple weekend trips.
St. Louis for Memorial Day weekend.
Sept to Kansas City for Taylor Swift concert.
If we have enough points Disneyland over fall break 4-day weekend.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

DISchurners Survey Reminder
For those of you that are DISchurners members - quick reminder about the survey we have running right now. If you didn't get a chance please answer 4 questions which shouldn't take more than 3 minutes. If you aren't a DISchurners member then this wouldn't apply to you - but it's easy to join with a quick PM to me and @Albort.

https://surveyhero.com/c/5d877f3a

Thanks - I'll leave it open until Friday lunchtime and then post results.

 

[wendow]

Frontier has been good to me but I know they get bad reviews compared to the other airlines. I am now switching coasts so am looking at ways to fly and/or stay there for free or at a discount with rewards. I have sold on ebay before and thought of selling a few things this coming year so will look into business cards. I didn't know that business cards wouldn't count towards the 5/24 - thanks!

edit to add: I was getting 80 dollar RT tickets through Frontier to SNA. Only once was a flight delayed significantly and they gave everyone $200 flight vouchers. The seats are less comfy than other airlines but flights to California are short so I didn't mind and probably wouldn't mind too much going to Florida even though a longer flight.

I'm glad to hear that Frontier has been good to you. I used to fly Frontier all the time and loved them. I've been in Denver for 20 years, long before Frontier switched their pricing model. Last year, they lost me as a customer for good. We were delayed for 9+ hours. Got to the airport 2 hours before flight and while in security line, got a text that flight was delayed 5 hours. Then another text and another text with continued delays. No one at the gate at all until we finally boarded 9 hours after the original time. The CS desk had no answers. No apologies. Nothing. Just a shrug like "meh, this happens all the time...". Once we finally did get on the plane...again, 9+ hours after we had been supposed to leave, the flight attendants said nothing about the delay and just went about their business of trying to nickel and dime us for the snacks. Couldn't even give a free soda. I was just amazed. One the way home on that same trip, we had a 3 hour delay. Felt like nothing after what we had experienced flying out. Flight attendants once again made no mention of the delay or inconvenience. In fact, they didn't even try to sell their wares. And never said anything as to why there was no snack and beverage service. It was CRAZY.

I've been flying SW since I was 7yo and have never had anything like that kind of experience with them. Yes, their fares may be higher, but as a family of 6, I just cannot place my family's vacation plans in the hands of Frontier and by the time we buy seats and pay for luggage, the pricing isn't that far off from SW. And with churning of the SW cards, we rarely pay for the flights anyways.

Anyways, I know lots of people have never had a bad Frontier experience...my best friend thinks they are great...but oh man, once you have a bad one, it leaves such a bad taste that is hard to get rid of

 

[Albort]

to anyone who were wondering...

 

[kayteekt]

Hello all! Catching up on this thread. Very busy holiday seaon with a trip to the world the week before Christmas. Things are starting to slow down and get back to normal.

We ended the year incorporating DH's business. Lawyer suggested we need to use cc's that have his official business name with the inc on the end.

So far DH just has CIP. Ideas for another good business card? I know the sign on for the chase bus cash back isn't that great, but we could prob optimize those 5x categories. Had thought about the amex bus spg, but bonus doesn't seem to be that hot right now...but wondering if it will get better if they're phasing it out. Maybe mariott?

I'm pretty much looking towards a next move for the both of us. He got the CIP and I did the CSP/CSR combo in late nov i think it was. I may have a tiny bit more spend on the CSP but all else is done.

I'm 4/24 (one of which is an au on my mom's spg which should fall off in april). Maybe mariott for me?? Unfortunately Southwest isn't a huge draw here....we fly out of CLT and can't hardly get a direct flight anywhere except thru american.

 

[havaneselover]

I saw this thread on the BB asking everyone what their vacation plans and costs were for this year. I thought it would be a good one to post here but with a spin that fits our thread. Where is everyone planning to go on vacation this year and how or what are your plans to use points and miles for said vacation? Here is my list:

Feb - 3 day Disney cruise - $1400 (paid with discounted Disney gift cards and/or earned 5x points and miles on the GCs)

March - weekend in DC - Willard Washington hotel - free with IHG card holder anniversary night, flights paid with Amex MR points. Out of pocket costs will be food and sightseeing.

May/June - Adventures by Disney trip to China ($15,798 opening day discounted price and paid with discounted Disney gift cards and/or earned 5x points and miles on the GCs), with a pre day in Hong Kong DL using DVC points, a post day at Shanghai DL and a post trip to Tokyo DL and Tokyo Disney Sea (planning to wipe off hotel charges with credit card points). Flights are all in first class and were all booked with miles and points and we paid under $200 in taxes and fees.

Sep - Hawaii 6 nights at Westin Maui $600 and have to attend the 90 minute timeshare presentation. Flights paid with points and miles.

Sep/Oct/Nov - will be at F&W every weekend using our DVC points with Beach Club Villas, we drive and are AP holders, so just gas and food. Will use CSR and charge everything to the hotel for the 3x.

Nov - 4 nights over Thanksgiving in WDW at Villas at Grand Floridian - booked 2 of the two bedroom rooms and a studio using our DVC points to bring the whole family. Will use CSR and charge everything to the hotel for the 3x.

Dec/Jan - Antarctica with Linblad on the National Geographic Orion for my 50th birthday. $36,000 and we are in steerage This of course is a once in a lifetime trip and will be the most expensive trip we've ever taken. We will be paying it with a British Airways credit card so we can earn a companion pass out of it at least. The flights will be booked with points and miles and everything else is included, thank goodness.

Only one trip—August we’re doing a 7 day Disney cruise in Alaska. Three plane tickets from Richmond, VA to Vancouver were 72,000 ur points (mainly csp sign on). Two rooms at delta suites for two nights (covering my mom’s room) was 140,000 Marriott points (Amex spg and chase Marriott sign on bonus). The cruise fare was $9,000 for one verandah stateroom and one inside stateroom. That’s with an onboard booking. Getting $700 back from Costco and paying for it in Disney gift cards. Used csr to pay $100 to get insurance.

 

[amalone1013]

I like the what are you doing/what did you save games, so I'll play with what I have so far.

For Sure:

End of Jan (18 days!) copied from that other thread:

Hotel: 5 nights at the Dolphin on points, ~$158 for resort fees; retail is $2000 but without points we would have stayed at Pop for around $650
Tickets: APs, we budgeted for them over our two planned trips in 2017, and this is our 4th trip with them, so no cost applied; otherwise 5 day PHs are $948
Flights: Using SW points and Companion Pass, so $22 for taxes/fees; retail is $376
Food/Souvenirs: $650/$150 estimated as we haven't decided where all we want to eat, so this could go up; I earn some free/discounted gift cards via survey sites and credit card deals, so we will pay these costs via gift card. My current stash is around $1000 and I paid about $450 OOP for that. I also used credit card points to get a $50 Landry's GC for Yak n Yeti.

Total OOP - $540 assuming $800 in food/souv at 45% of face value
Retail - $4124
Would have spent without points/discounted GCs - $1826 (staying at Pop)

April
SoCal for BILs wedding. SW points + CP for flights, DEN-SAN and SNA-DEN.
Points for one night in San Diego to see USS Midway, will probably share this room with my in-laws (along with feed them at the PP restaurant at DIA ), haven't decided where yet.
Hotels.com GCs purchased at a discount for 2 nights at Econolodge that is next door to wedding venue (in Fallbrook, for those SoCal people )
Then 3-4 days at DLR. Maybe UR portal for hotel, maybe Sheraton - doesn't that have a lounge? Maybe pay OOP at the hotel we've stayed at on other trips if it's cheap. Will see what I can pick up in discounted GCs for food/tickets and pay rest OOP with best card
Need a rental car still, and to book flights to SAN.


Trip Ideas Still Up in the Air

WDW in September for our 1st anniversary
Weekends in Nashville, New Orleans, maybe Albuquerque for the Hot Air Balloon Festival
Kansas City, Cedar Point, or Magic Mtn for DH (coaster junkie).

2109 we want to do a big family cruise and split the in-laws cruise cost with the BILs. My goal today is to get a cost estimate for this to see what they think.
I also want to start working towards a Europe trip with points but need to see how limited we are with DH's current PTO time

 

[amalone1013]

@SouthFayetteFan I will give you the crown for King of the Spreadsheets if I can keep the Queen's crown.

 

[tink1970]

I saw this thread on the BB asking everyone what their vacation plans and costs were for this year. I thought it would be a good one to post here but with a spin that fits our thread. Where is everyone planning to go on vacation this year and how or what are your plans to use points and miles for said vacation? Here is my list:

Reviewing my list, I realize I'm not the best at this game

Mar-flying to Edinburgh and staying at Grand Sheraton Hotel and Spa. Totally cash, although I jumped on the Amex offer of spend $1000 with KLM and earn 20,000 MR so there's that. Also used some promotion with Sheraton so will earn 3x the SPG points (we're in a castle view club room so lots of SPG points). I'll also use my R-C card to pay for it so there will be another point multiplying opportunity. I tried to use my citi for the 4th night free and they (gasp! horror!) didn't have a castle view club room available I have stayed at this hotel for 4 or 5 years in a row so I'm a little picky at this point about the room (silly, I know).

June-Ireland with Tauck. Totally OOP. This was to have been our only trip next year and somehow Mar and July got added on. Tauck is good for meeting MS on a new card and/or spending on my Skymiles card for MQM earn but really wish I could play a version of disney gift card savings with it!

July-flying to Barcelona in First on BA (AA miles), out of Newark, free hotel in Newark via Marriott credit card anniversary night. DCL paid for with discounted Disney gift cards (ranging from 5%-20% off), flying back from BCN on Delta on skypesos. This is really our only "points and miles" trip come to think of it!

**I did have an awesome trip to Kracow in July on points & miles, but was a total idiot and didn't realize I'd be flying back from Kracow Friday and then to Newark for our Barcelona trip Saturday. I didn't think that would be smart, circadian wise and also didn't want to leave the dogs for 3 weeks. So now to re-do that in the future. Darnit.

***hoping there will be a great ABD or cruise for 2019 because just with the Freedom's 5% offer and Discover's 5% for the year I'll have at least $8,000 in Disney Gift Cards with nowhere to go!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I second @Albort.

This is the year of hoarding points for me. We are firming up plans for a September 2019 trip to WDW with 6 adults. DH and I plan to cover rooms (2 at a moderate), tickets, and as much as the dining as possible (dependent on whether or not there's free dining, but we still want to pay for as much of it as possible). We will likely have everyone pay for their own flights. It's hard for us to come up with a solid flight plan for Disney until much closer to the date. Our airport offers direct flights to Orlando, but over the last three years it has varied between Southwest (no longer direct), JetBlue (operating only certain days), Spirit (coming May 2018), and Allegiant (to Sanford).

So far I have 91,000 UR points to my name and $400 in Disney gift cards I've earned free through Swagbucks!

 

[WVMomof3]

I have been dying to know Calypso's vacation costs, but thought it was rude to ask. haha Your DVC dues alone are about 2 years worth of vacations for us. It is fun to live vicariously through you.

Our only trip planned so far is the one I mentioned a couple days ago. Husband and I alone (just celebrated 23 years and this will only be 2nd time alone since kids!!) 3 nights in Ft. Meyers area at end of February. Picked this by seeing what is the cheapest flights I can get nonstop from Pittsburgh on SW. Flights $177.96 for me, $11.20 for DH on CP. Paying cash because of travel credits on CSR. Hotel transferring 15,000 UR to Hyatt for 3 nights.

Really hoping to get to WDW this year. We haven't been as a family since 2011!! Our last 3 Florida trips have been Universal only. Very hard to plan with different schedules of the kids. One in college, 2 in high school with one of them being at a yet unknown college in the fall. Was hoping to go first week in June but DH already knows he will be on travel that week, so need to pick a different week. He is pretty sure he will be at a conference in Germany and thinks we should tag along, but hate to make plans like that because his could be cancelled at a moments notice and then we will be going to Germany without him. lol

 

[amalone1013]

So is the general consensus for saving on cruises here still:

• Can book through Chase with UR points, but can only apply them at time of booking
• Going through Costco or other TAs for the cashback cards, on board credits, etc
• Cashback or Travel "eraser" cards like Barclay Arrival or Capital One travel card to use towards cost or excursions
• Paying with Disney GCs you picked up at a discount or earned extra UR points, that sort of thing

Am I missing anything?

 

[havaneselover]

So is the general consensus for saving on cruises here still:

• Can book through Chase with UR points, but can only apply them at time of booking
• Going through Costco or other TAs for the cashback cards, on board credits, etc
• Cashback or Travel "eraser" cards like Barclay Arrival or Capital One travel card to use towards cost or excursions
• Paying with Disney GCs you picked up at a discount or earned extra UR points, that sort of thing

Am I missing anything?

The other perk for Costco besides the cash card after traveling is the 2% back on travel if you are an executive member at the time of the cruise.

Also I think sometimes Ebates runs specials for some of the travel portals and people get decent cash back but that makes me nervous. I want to see in writing before hand exactly what I'm getting back and when.

 

[Lain]

Hello all! Catching up on this thread. Very busy holiday seaon with a trip to the world the week before Christmas. Things are starting to slow down and get back to normal.

We ended the year incorporating DH's business. Lawyer suggested we need to use cc's that have his official business name with the inc on the end.

So far DH just has CIP. Ideas for another good business card? I know the sign on for the chase bus cash back isn't that great, but we could prob optimize those 5x categories. Had thought about the amex bus spg, but bonus doesn't seem to be that hot right now...but wondering if it will get better if they're phasing it out. Maybe mariott?

I'm pretty much looking towards a next move for the both of us. He got the CIP and I did the CSP/CSR combo in late nov i think it was. I may have a tiny bit more spend on the CSP but all else is done.

I'm 4/24 (one of which is an au on my mom's spg which should fall off in april). Maybe mariott for me?? Unfortunately Southwest isn't a huge draw here....we fly out of CLT and can't hardly get a direct flight anywhere except thru american.

Congratulations on the big step in your husband's business!

You mentioned the Chase Ink Business Cash ("CIC"). As you know it's good for 5% cash back (really, 5x UR) on the first $25,000 spent at office supply stores (think "gift cards") and on internet, cable, and phone services (which may be what the gift card apps like Gyft and Swych code under). It's supposed to come with a $300 (actually 30,000 UR) signup bonus after $3000 spend in 3 months, but last year you could get a higher $500 (50,000 UR) bonus if you applied through a Business Relationship Manager ("BRM") at a Chase branch. This higher offer for the CIC (as well as a higher in-branch 100,000 UR offer for the CIP) was supposed to end on 12/31/17, but I've seen a few reports that seem like people are still able to get the 100k UR offer when applying for the CIP through a BRM. Since your husband formalized his business, you may want to reach out to a Chase BRM to inquire about in-branch offers for the CIC.

You could also look at Amex's business cards, but only apply for them if you can get the best or near best offer due to the once per lifetime rule. Unfortunately, as you said, the SPG Biz is back down to 25,000 SPG and we don't know if or when it might go back up to 30k or 35k. The Amex Business Rewards Gold ("BRG") is a good card, but the current public offer is only 50,000 MR points; it looks like the link for a higher offer of 75,000 MR points ended a few weeks ago. Amex's Business Platinum also comes with highest offers of 100,000 MR, 125,000 MR, or 150,000 MR, the latter two are highly targeted and come with large minimum spends; but the current public offer is only 75,000 MR.

People tend to get targeted for high offers on Amex's business cards through mailers, which come with a rsvp code. (It used to be that you could transfer or share the mailers for Amex's business cards -- especially on /r/churning's code sharing threads, apply using someone else's rsvp code, and just change the pre-populated info on the application. I'm not sure what the current status of that is, but it looks like people are still trading these mailers.) Keep an eye out for these in your mailbox.

Alternatively, you can have your husband call Amex and just ask for the BRG 75k or Business Platinum 100k offers directly:
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/amer...5000-signup-bonus-10000-spend-via-phone-ymmv/ (Scan through the comments too.)
I've seen recent DPs that say calling Amex for the BRG with a 75k MR/$10k spend is pretty easy, but you could also try to ask for a 75k MR/$5k spend offer.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[laceltris3]

So we recently got back from our Christmas cruise on the Wonder, which was the last trip I paid for with my beloved Disney Vacation Account. For next year we have a few trips planned, but since we do mostly cruises or guided tours with little hotel spend, I mainly accumulate to use opportunistically. I'm not a big time churner, as a pretty bad case of identity theft a couple years back makes me pretty cautious, but I do the best with what I have.

1. Spring break: A few days at Great Wolf Lodge. Not a great price, but we are a family of 5 and they have good rooms to accommodate us and we can bring food. If you take into account entry/ticket fees for 5 anywhere, it's actually a pretty good deal.

2. Tauck Bridges Ireland: The whole family is going, including my parents, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. I'm putting it on my CSR, got Saver awards for 4 of the 5 of us on United, with my miles and a few transferred URs, and a great deal on a suite at the Sofitel in London on our way home.

3. Our annual Disney Christmas Cruise: Local, so we drive less than an hour, and pay with discounted Disney GCs (I have an old Amex Blue Cash that gives unlimited 5% on gas and groceries, so I buy $500 Disney GCs when they are doing 4X fuel points at Kroger. I'm not hard core on the discounts though. It's not worth it to me to do it $25 or $50 at the time.

 

[Louie7080]

You are welcome! Now...when you say "move on" keep in mind that any new cards from ANY issuer will be put on the list unless they are certain cards (namely AMEX Business cards). IF getting Chase cards (especially UR cards as @calypso726 mentioned) is important to you then you should a) have only your husband get cards for now OR b) focus on only AMEX business cards until October of this year OR Best yet - a combination of those two ideas for the next 9 months.

I appreciate you driving home the message that personal cards could jeopardize me being issued more Chase cards in the fall! I do need things to be repeated to get them in my brain.
Unfortunately my husband is not willing to apply for any more credit cards, so I will probably try for some business credit cards - is there a favorite one folks here like for travel perks, etc.. I see the there is a business version of the SPG card so I will probably apply for that one but just thought I'd check if there is any others worth considering.