I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

On AMEX, I think I was thinking wrong. You only get the sign-up bonus once for each card, right? Not that is only one sign up per person. For some reason every time I read lifetime I got it in my head it was only one sign-up ever. That sounded terrible. Off to do research on business AMEX cards. I do think I will want one in my portfolio.

AMEX is once per lifetime PER card, so much better than your initial concern! I have gotten 15 AMEX bonuses myself and my wife has gotten 5 so there's PLENTY of those to go around

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Just a quick PSA, try to avoid the dreaded ref***al word in the thread. Mods can quickly see that they're being discussed, and take action. (Trust me.) It's against policy to solicit or request them, both in the forum and in PMs. Even when no actual link is being shared, they may monitor the discussion looking for transgressions. We don't want anything to happen to the wonderful thing we have going here.

This is a great point @peel! When we initially set things up a couple of months ago we were avoiding that word and since we've started to get more lax with our use of it. I'd say we should use terminology such as "Supporting other DISers" OR "Using a DISers Link" but definitely avoid the dangerous R-word per-say.

 

[peel]

Sorry I knew better and completely had a brain fart! I have edited my post.

No worries! The group is growing quickly now, it's good for everyone to have a reminder every once in a while.

 

[LynnTH]

So, I changed my card strategy (again...). DH was 4/24 in December so waited until January to apply to be safe. Was originally going to go for CIP but we were getting low on SW Points (we basically only fly SW) So, I applied DH for the SW Biz on Monday. Just checked the status line and was approved. So, now I just applied DH for the SW Plus Card using a link on DisChurners and was instantly approved for that. So, that will be 115,000 more points. I have the CP for the rest of this year and have DD as my companion right now. So, when DH gets his we will put DS down as his companion. Hoping to be able to make the spends soon as DH and DS are going to Florida during DS's spring break in March to visit his dad and I could get DS's points back for the flights if he has companion status by then.

Then we have a trip to Aruba planned in August. So, both kids flights will be free. Nice. Will have to wait on for the CIP later this year. I think 2 more slots fall off for DH in March/April. We have tuition due of $2500 that I will pay as soon as one of the cards gets here - so that will be take care of a lot of the spend...

 

[peel]

Did I miss this posted previously?
http://www.hustlermoneyblog.com/shoprite-chase-pay-promotion/

I missed this post...thank you for the heads up! I haven't seen this promotion mentioned anywhere else. Off to grab some gift cards tonight!

The smart thing to do is to use something other than the Freedom for this, right? I don't want to trigger the 5x Chase Pay for the quarterly bonus category if I can max that out PLUS get 10x from Shop Rite on a different card.

EDIT: Never mind, it all evens out whether I use the Freedom here or somewhere else.

But it doesn't look like you need to use your Shop Rite card to trigger the 10x, so you could put $400 on all eligible Chase cards since it isn't linked to your Shop Rite account.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So, I changed my card strategy (again...). DH was 4/24 in December so waited until January to apply to be safe. Was originally going to go for CIP but we were getting low on SW Points (we basically only fly SW) So, I applied DH for the SW Biz on Monday. Just checked the status line and was approved. So, now I just applied DH for the SW Plus Card using a link on DisChurners and was instantly approved for that. So, that will be 115,000 more points. I have the CP for the rest of this year and have DD as my companion right now. So, when DH gets his we will put DS down as his companion. Hoping to be able to make the spends soon as DH and DS are going to Florida during DS's spring break in March to visit his dad and I could get DS's points back for the flights if he has companion status by then.

Then we have a trip to Aruba planned in August. So, both kids flights will be free. Nice. Will have to wait on for the CIP later this year. I think 2 more slots fall off for DH in March/April. We have tuition due of $2500 that I will pay as soon as one of the cards gets here - so that will be take care of a lot of the spend...

Seems like you called a good audible

With slots opening up in April you're still in a great place!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I could use some advice from the experts please! I finished my spend on my SW Biz card and am now ready to apply for the SW Premier card to get the CP. My question is, do you think I should wait until my payments come though to Chase for the biz card before applying? Will that make any difference? I also have a personal SW plus card with a $21k credit line with $0 balance, and my SW biz card has a $5k credit line with a $3k balance, and $2k in payments scheduled. I applied for the biz card on 12/1. I'd really like to go ahead and apply while there are referrals for 50k bonus points, but don't want to jeopardize getting approved. Thoughts?

I'd be surprised if that affected your approval status. I also don't think the 50k links are going anywhere BUT I completely understand wanting to jump on it quickly and not risk missing out. Good Luck in getting your sweet sweet companion pass!

 

[thevalley]

Hi ALL,

I could use some help please. i am ready to book for Disney world going 11-5/11-12. i am going to call chase and speak to Leon (thank you southfayettefan) and was wondering if i can book other options then what i see on the chase portal. Can Leon book the poly/contemporary or others but not the rooms showing up in the portal?? also, lets say that once everything is booked, Disney then does discount the rooms or does free dining or something who would i call and see if it can apply it to my situation.

Any and all help would be very much appreciated. This is the first time my family of 5 will be going to Disney. we all are supper excited.

THANK YOU all for all of your help and knowledge.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Hi ALL,

I could use some help please. i am ready to book for Disney world going 11-5/11-12. i am going to call chase and speak to Leon (thank you southfayettefan) and was wondering if i can book other options then what i see on the chase portal. Can Leon book the poly/contemporary or others but not the rooms showing up in the portal?? also, lets say that once everything is booked, Disney then does discount the rooms or does free dining or something who would i call and see if it can apply it to my situation.

Any and all help would be very much appreciated. This is the first time my family of 5 will be going to Disney. we all are supper excited.

THANK YOU all for all of your help and knowledge.

The general answer on this is IF you can see it on Disney's site...then the folks on the phone can book it for you. So I'd check to see if what you want is available on the WDW site first. Good Luck!

 

[thevalley]

The general answer on this is IF you can see it on Disney's site...then the folks on the phone can book it for you. So I'd check to see if what you want is available on the WDW site first. Good Luck!

awesom thanks will report back

 

[Albort]

I was able to find a flight on Alaska's website from SEA-JNB in business on Emirates in a non mixed cabin. Either way, I don't think you have enough miles for 2 people in business RT. The lowest redemption possibility is Cathay Pacific and that is 62,500 each way so you'd need at least 250,000 AS miles and as high as 480k AS. The other thing to keep in mind is the further out you book the better your odds are of finding a non mixed cabin. If you are searching for September and October now, your odds are more limited since those flights were released 2 to 3 months ago respectively. My suggestion would be to pick up a couple of more Alaska cards, personal and business (124,000 AS) and a couple of SPG cards, personal and business. The SPG cards will get you 30K SPG after spend points each which equates to 120,000 SPG points. When transferred to AS you'd get an additional 5K points bonus so that would be 145K AS miles. This would give you 410,000 AS miles which is a lot closer to what you might need.

That is good to know you're seeing SOMETHING - they've been having issues with Cathay showing up properly (the message on the site says to call as they are not booking though they show as available). My husband has his own points that he has been working on, the 140K I have is just for one ticket.

I do see some availability on BA and Emirates. I did check seats as well and i do see what you see, but some do show economy class on the longer flights but there some that are both in business class. Im not sure of your dates though, perhaps you are flying during a holiday time so you dont see the seats? if your working with 140k AS points, it should just be enough for 1 person RT. If this doesnt work, maybe its time to sign up for another card and earn points? :]

i see most on BA. BA does have the worst lie flats seats in the industry though. But hey, a lie flat is a lie flat right?

Also, yikes on the fuel charge... :\ Maybe you should try a different card.

If you provide dates, we can see what options you have.

awardhacker suggests KE partner booking. 120k miles. you would fly DL domestically, and then your choice of DL or KL. KL(591) flies a B772 with lie flat seats but not all seats have direct access to the aisle, its a bit of a downgraded J class. DL(200) flies also a B772 with Reverse Herringbone seats which is probably your best bet. its Delta one seats which may be hard to find availability. This is def a hard one to figure out. :\ Perhaps we should look into other gulf partners ie Eithad, Emirates, and Qatar.

I could use some advice from the experts please! I finished my spend on my SW Biz card and am now ready to apply for the SW Premier card to get the CP. My question is, do you think I should wait until my payments come though to Chase for the biz card before applying? Will that make any difference? I also have a personal SW plus card with a $21k credit line with $0 balance, and my SW biz card has a $5k credit line with a $3k balance, and $2k in payments scheduled. I applied for the biz card on 12/1. I'd really like to go ahead and apply while there are referrals for 50k bonus points, but don't want to jeopardize getting approved. Thoughts?

pay it off. If you carry a 3k balance on your 5k card, you utilization on that card is over 50%, thus will drop your credit score by at least 10-20. Do you have credit karma? you should see it happen on there. you want to keep all cards below 30%. then it wont reflect your report at all.

edit: nvm, its a business card that you have balance to. id still pay it off though.

 

[Ngwira]

Have done part of that trip. On SW, found John Wayne (ANA) to be best for proximity to DLR and $. LMTClub did have best price on DLR tickets. We stayed at a good neighbor hotel across the street (a bit closer than the bigger chains, booked with UR points) called Camelot Inn.
Have not stayed at Hotel Coronado, but honeymooned in San Diego almost 30 years ago & remember how lovely it was.

Thanks will look into that hotel.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

I don't think your SW biz balance will affect you getting approved for the SW Premier. Good luck! Sounds like you are on your way to a CP!

I'd be surprised if that affected your approval status. I also don't think the 50k links are going anywhere BUT I completely understand wanting to jump on it quickly and not risk missing out. Good Luck in getting your sweet sweet companion pass!

I just applied and was instantly approved! So relieved! Not sure why but I was really nervous. I guess because the last two apps I completed I was not instantly approved (one was denied because over 5/24, other was approved but not instantly). I did give some love to a fellow diser, off to send a PM now. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

[Ngwira]

Where are you planning to go in LA? I've been out there twice, both hitting multiple places in LA, and once we drove to San Diego. I'd price compare (more important if you're using variable points like UR, SW) but remember the value of your time too, and avoid backtracking because that time adds up!

Red is 2015, Green is 2016.

2015 we backtracked all over the place! My excuse is it was the first vacation I planned, and also not the most optimal as I didn't know DH was planning on proposing in DLR, and had arranged for family to fly out there.

But 2015 (red):

• Day 1: Flew into LAX, drive to Upland to stay with DH's brother for the night
• Day 2: Universal, drive to hotel by DLR that night
• Days 3-5: DLR, same hotel for 3 more nights
• Day 6: Warner Bros Studio Tour (can see the lot from US), then drive to San Diego - what the heck were we thinking??
• Day 7: Sea World
• Day 8: San Diego Zoo,
• Day 9: USS Midway, drive back to Upland to stay last night with DH's brother
• Day 10: Fly out of LAX early afternoon

2016 (green):

• Day 1: Fly into LAX, Santa Monica Pier, head to hotel in Glendale
• Day 2: Pick up rest of family at Burbank Airport, go to La Brea Tar Pits and Griffith Park
• Day 3: Universal Studios, last night at Glendale hotel
• Day 4: Long Beach, USS Iowa and Queen Mary, stay the night on QM
• Day 5: Ferry to Catalina Island, drive to DLR hotel
• Days 6-7: DLR with everyone
• Days 8-10: DLR just us, last morning spent time in Downtown Disney before flying out of SNA; others went to San Diego for a day then flew out of SNA or ONT

I planned 2106 to minimize driving time, plus it put our park time at DLR from Tues - Sat. I wanted to minimize weekend time because it was July, even though that's a busy time anyways.

Thanks for such a detailed post. I'm thinking your 2016 route is best for my family. I have Jetblue points (120,000 based on 2 player mode) so can fly out of LAX, Long Beach or San diego.

 

[pinkxray]

Thanks for posting about the Shoprite deal! I do all my grocery shopping there anyway and usually use Chase pay. I'll have to remember to switch cards after the $400 max.

 

[Ngwira]

I have not done that exact trip, but before you book anything, I would check one way rental rates. We had planned to fly into San Francisco, drive to LA and fly out of there. Turns out one way rentals were more than double going that direction, than if we had started out in LA and flew home from San Francisco. We ended up flying from SF because it was cheaper than that one way rental car. Just something to check on to see if you are better off flipping your trip. It might not make any difference, but it was huge for us.

Thank you!

 

[pinkxray]

And thanks to everyone posting about the 50,000 SW bonus if using a link. I supported another Diser and got approved for the SW Plus. We don't travel much so I'm not going to bother going for a second card to get the companion pass.

After I meet the spend for this card I'm moving away from applying from anymore cards for awhile and trying to earn cash to pay for Disney tickets and food. Need to maximum 5% categories and so happy to see the 10% at Shoprite!

 

[peel]

I’m at the same place as a few of you…trying to decide on the next card. I mentioned in December that we’re going to be buying a new iMac. In the end, there was too much going on with the holidays to focus on, so we still haven’t bought one. I might use the purchase to meet a minimum spend, however with the Freedom Q1 categories including mobile payment options, I don’t know. Here are my options:


Apple Store Online: Use the Freedom to buy online with Apple Pay and max out the Q1 bonus for 5x, after clicking through the Chase Shopping Portal for another 2x


Best Buy Online: Use the Freedom with Chase Pay to max out Q1, using the Chase portal for an additional 1x (I’d only do this if there was a substantial sale price at BB)


Open a New Card to meet a min spend: I’m at 5/24, so Chase is out for a while. I would only use Chase or Amex for this large electronic purchase because of the extended warranty, so Amex would be the line to look at. I think I should focus on business cards to keep Chase happy. We don't have any MR earning cards yet.

 

[AquaDame]

I do see some availability on BA and Emirates. I did check seats as well and i do see what you see, but some do show economy class on the longer flights but there some that are both in business class. Im not sure of your dates though, perhaps you are flying during a holiday time so you dont see the seats? if your working with 140k AS points, it should just be enough for 1 person RT. If this doesnt work, maybe its time to sign up for another card and earn points? :]

i see most on BA. BA does have the worst lie flats seats in the industry though. But hey, a lie flat is a lie flat right?



Also, yikes on the fuel charge... :\ Maybe you should try a different card.



If you provide dates, we can see what options you have.

awardhacker suggests KE partner booking. 120k miles. you would fly DL domestically, and then your choice of DL or KL. KL(591) flies a B772 with lie flat seats but not all seats have direct access to the aisle, its a bit of a downgraded J class. DL(200) flies also a B772 with Reverse Herringbone seats which is probably your best bet. its Delta one seats which may be hard to find availability. This is def a hard one to figure out. :\ Perhaps we should look into other gulf partners ie Eithad, Emirates, and Qatar.



pay it off. If you carry a 3k balance on your 5k card, you utilization on that card is over 50%, thus will drop your credit score by at least 10-20. Do you have credit karma? you should see it happen on there. you want to keep all cards below 30%. then it wont reflect your report at all.

edit: nvm, its a business card that you have balance to. id still pay it off though.

Lay flat is indeed lay flat.. we were happy with the seats on Condor and New Zealand Air that we have had before for 10 hour flights - I don't *think* either of those are nice ones at least. They were older jets. Emirates seems REALLY high comparatively - they wanted 120K each way (and were also showing mixed cabins). It sounds like clicking through each option is the only way to find flights really which is a darn shame. You'd think if you chose Business class it would only show business class... (except for planes that don't have that as an option). We have no firm dates as I'm assuming we'll have better luck if we keep it to a range. Ideally we are looking at mid to late September or into very early October if need be, but this isn't until 2019 so I am very premature here. Just trying to get my ducks in a row before our dates release with a plan.

Maybe that plan needs to be get other miles... :/

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

...Open a New Card to meet a min spend: I’m at 5/24, so Chase is out for a while. I would only use Chase or Amex for this large electronic purchase because of the extended warranty, so Amex would be the line to look at. I think I should focus on business cards to keep Chase happy. We don't have any MR earning cards yet.

When would you come back under 5/24? Do you know when your next card falls off?

MRs is definitely worth looking into. If the airline partners work for you they can be great for transfers. Obviously I'm huge on the Schwab Plat 1.25x cashout method which also has it's merits. And lastly, they can be redeemed for gift cards at decent rate (although definitely not as lucrative as the transfers or Schwab routes)!

The big hit around here recently too is that SPG Biz which it seems we're all discussing. Mainly because it may go away soon - not sure if you have a use for SPG Points or Marriott points but that's a nice offer too.