I love credit cards so much!

[Lain]

tempted again...

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/02/01/buy-starpoints-promotion-2018/

haha. anyone else want to pad their spg account?

So tempted! I actually took advantage of the last sale in December. No regrets. Maxing out this deal would about finish the MSR on my SPG Biz and earn me double Starpoints on the purchase!

Just using the rates I pulled for over New Years at the Royal Hawaiian, $727 or 21,250 Starpoints/night, for example, that redemption values each Starpoint at 3.4¢.

 

[wendow]

So tempted! I actually took advantage of the last sale in December. No regrets. Maxing out this deal would about finish the MSR on my SPG Biz and earn me double Starpoints on the purchase!

Just using the rates I pulled for over New Years at the Royal Hawaiian, $727 or 21,250 Starpoints/night, for example, that redemption values each Starpoint at 3.4¢.

It seems like this is really only a good deal if you are using the points at high redemption hotels?? Not sure how this works. Seems like a super expensive way to buy points to stay at the Swolphin, for example.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I swear, this thread has given me the travel bug so bad...

Tell me why I'm sitting here at work pricing out a weekend in NYC for DECEMBER!!

 

[Albort]

It seems like this is really only a good deal if you are using the points at high redemption hotels?? Not sure how this works. Seems like a super expensive way to buy points to stay at the Swolphin, for example.

it could be. Dolphin is currently $306 or 10k. which is around 3 cents per points. ur buying 2.1 cents. which makes it worth it.

swan is $288 or 16k. which comes out 1.8 cents. which is no good.

 

[Ngwira]

A public service announcement brought to you by Calypso’s warped sense of humor ...

Warning signs that travel hacking is taking over your life:

While listening to your current favorite movie soundtrack (The Greatest Showman) you discover that lyrics relate more to travel hacking than the movie.

“When the world becomes a fantasy
And you're more than you could ever be
'Cause you're dreaming with your eyes wide open
And you know you can't go back again
To the world that you were living in
'Cause you're dreaming with your eyes wide open”

This is clearly referencing flights on Singapore Suites, Etihad, and Emirates


“... but it'll
Never be enough
Never be enough
For me
Never, never
Never, never
Never, for me
For me”

This is obviously about UR, MR and SPG points ... duh


“They can say, they can say it all sounds crazy
They can say, they can say I've lost my mind
I don't care, I don't care, so call me crazy
We can live in a world that we design
'Cause every night I lie in bed
The brightest colors fill my head
A million dreams are keeping me awake
I think of what the world could be
A vision of the one I see
A million dreams is all it's gonna take”

This is when you are trying to explain the how and why on your travel hacking hobby to someone. Dreams is a euphemism for points of course.


“Right here, right now
I put the offer out
I don't want to chase you down
I know you see it
You run with me
And I can cut you free
Out of the drudgery and walls you keep in
So trade that typical for something colorful
And if it's crazy, live a little crazy
You can play it sensible, a king of conventional
Or you can risk it all and see

Don't you wanna get away from the same old part you gotta play
'Cause I got what you need
So come with me and take the ride
It'll take you to the other side
'Cause you can do like you do
Or you can do like me
Stay in the cage, or you'll finally take the key
Oh, damn! Suddenly you're free to fly
It'll take you to the other side”

This is when you are trying to convince someone to get into travel hacking and to use your referral link.

Ok back to our regularly scheduled program. Had to share since no one else would get why I am amused by these lyrics in this context.

I LOVE THIS..I've seen the movie twice and have the soundtrack too... this is great!

 

[platamama]

tempted again...

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/02/01/buy-starpoints-promotion-2018/

haha. anyone else want to pad their spg account?

So tempted! I actually took advantage of the last sale in December. No regrets. Maxing out this deal would about finish the MSR on my SPG Biz and earn me double Starpoints on the purchase!

Just using the rates I pulled for over New Years at the Royal Hawaiian, $727 or 21,250 Starpoints/night, for example, that redemption values each Starpoint at 3.4¢.

Yep, I just got my SPG Bus card, looking to meet MSR! I'd be well on my way to getting those 240,000 Marriott points for the reward stay I booked over Thanksgiving in Costa Rica! (I just love that Marriott doesn't require you to have the points on hand!)

Thanks for the heads up @Albort!

 

[Calfan]

i have a friend who also got 1x, where do u see the adjustment at? in UR award site or it shows 9x on the transaction...

Mine showed up in the UR site as an adjustment.

What calypso said. I went to the UR site for my CSR and went to earning activity, and the top line item was an adjustment of 2,700 UR.

 

[peel]

Suddenly, we are considering a trip to Belfast to see some bands in August. Aer Lingus is now a direct Chase partner. 80K Avios would get me direct RT economy flights for two from BDL to Dublin where we have a friend to visit for a day, and then a 2 hour train ride to Belfast. This is an interesting development!

 

[elgerber]

I LOVE THIS..I've seen the movie twice and have the soundtrack too... this is great!

Me too, it's my new non credit card obsession!

 

[WVMomof3]

@Judique Congrats on the retirement. I have been dreaming about it since we had the FIRE talks last week. I have read a lot of the blogs and forums and I told my husband he needs to move up his date. lol He thinks I am crazy, since I haven't worked in almost 15 years so I guess I am retired at the moment. His min retirement age is 57 for pension, but if they offer another early retirement I think he should take it. The FIRE forums are interesting! All the extremes from, I am stopping when I have enough for $20K a year to I have 3+ million banked and still not enough.

@calypso726 That is my favorite soundtrack at the moment too! I am driving my kids crazy with it on repeat. I actually have not seen the movie, but I love the music.

 

[Judique]

It seems like this is really only a good deal if you are using the points at high redemption hotels?? Not sure how this works. Seems like a super expensive way to buy points to stay at the Swolphin, for example.

I used to use star points at the Swan and once or twice at Dolphin. But not any more.

For me I see diminished value and extra costs.

Too much out of pocket for parking and resort fees. When they started the resort fee I would just ask them to remove it and it was gone. Of course there was also a class action back in the day on that issue.

All that said I was considering doing a 5 night stay for 48K at Swan, but haven't been able to force myself to pull the trigger. Instead I'm looking at Fort Lauderdale and the Westin across from the beach for end of February.

I would definitely not buy points for a Swolphin stay. Others may see more value because everyone has other options.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I tried an Office Depot purchase for $15 today to test the Visa Savings 10% deal. Will keep an eye out for a statement credit from Visa. Someone on Reddit said previous offers showed a credit in 3-4 days.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Alright, helping my fam member who downgraded their CSR to a CFU get their points for the Best Buy promo. Their missing 2,700 has not showed up and Customer Service via SM has dug in saying 1-2 billing statements. We're trying one more SM, citing the fine print and being more insistent (while balancing politeness of course), hope it works. I'm worried we're gonna forget about it if we have to wait 2+ months, and a computer won't fix it because the fix missed them since they downgraded. Grrr....

No go. They say they researched it out and the 2,700 points will be automatically applied to the fam member's account in 1-2 months.

 

[Alexle2007]

Decided to finally pull the trigger on the AmEx SPG Business and was auto approved! My first AmEx card. DH has the Marriott personal coming but once it arrives and I go to the orthodontist the spend will be met. So I decided I needed to be working towards another spend

 

[Judique]

@Judique Congrats on the retirement. I have been dreaming about it since we had the FIRE talks last week. I have read a lot of the blogs and forums and I told my husband he needs to move up his date. lol He thinks I am crazy, since I haven't worked in almost 15 years so I guess I am retired at the moment. His min retirement age is 57 for pension, but if they offer another early retirement I think he should take it. The FIRE forums are interesting! All the extremes from, I am stopping when I have enough for $20K a year to I have 3 million banked and still not enough.

@calypso726 That is my favorite soundtrack at the moment too! I am driving my kids crazy with it on repeat. I actually have not seen the movie, but I love the music.

Thanks to you and all who've wished me congrats on retirement!

It's strange to wake up and not have to go to work, but I'm getting used to it.

 

[calypso726]

I LOVE THIS..I've seen the movie twice and have the soundtrack too... this is great!

Me too, it's my new non credit card obsession!

@calypso726 That is my favorite soundtrack at the moment too! I am driving my kids crazy with it on repeat. I actually have not seen the movie, but I love the music.

Same here! I’ve seen the movie twice so far and have been obsessed with the soundtrack. So now I have two soundtracks I’m obsessed with and each causes a different problem. Random phrases people say make me think of Hamilton songs if the same phrase is in the lyrics. The lyrics of the Greatest Showman soundtrack have me thinking about this hobby which is a whole different obsession all together. Sigh ...

 

[havaneselover]

Wow! I think it took 2 calendar weeks the last time I purchased some. Please post back once they credit. I'm waiting on a recent transaction as well.

I wrote to them and was told they told me VA 529 will receive it tomorrow (14th business day) then it can take a day or two to post. I feel better but still think that's a really long time.

 

[havaneselover]

tempted again...

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2018/02/01/buy-starpoints-promotion-2018/

haha. anyone else want to pad their spg account?

Ugh. Me. I need points for Marriott for next summer (London). Will hopefully use these to supplement points from a sign on bonus (SPG Biz probably).

 

[calypso726]

Thanks to you and all who've wished me congrats on retirement!

It's strange to wake up and not have to go to work, but I'm getting used to it.

Congratulations! Color me jelly as I still have about 3,528 days to go.

 

[miztressuz]

Wow you guys go so fast around here. I went on vacation and there's been 1093 messages since the last page I read... oops notification that messages have been posted as I type this, so 1093+....This is going to take a while to catch up, took a while just to figure out what page I left off at

So hubby thinking he was helping me out made two goofs this week (and people wonder why I don't want him to 'help' me with things, hehe), the relevant one for here is he just applied for a new AmEx credit card that will eventually replace his Green charge card. [cringe #1] As he tells me this on the phone in my super -busy-catch-up-from-vaca work day, my first coherent thought was actually "no <ahem> support link! no love for the DIS folks, doh" [cringe #2] My next thought was quick and easy as he asks me if I have a AmEx cash card yet (No), do you want me to get you a card (i.e. AU) "NO!" [cringe #3]

So to my actual question, he tells me it's one of the Blue Cash cards but he says it's 5% at grocery stores. I'm not aware of a AmEx that does that, I recall 6% for a preferred and 3% for a regular. Does anyone know what the heck it is he might have applied for? Or he is misremembering as I think he is? I suspect he did all this over the phone because he called to see if he could PC his Green to something without a fee, to which the answer is no , and I wonder if the rep sold him on applying for the new card instead. [cringe #4, 5, 6? I'm out of cringes at this point]