I love credit cards so much!

[amalone1013]

Been procrastinatin on excursions in Nassau, Atlantis is so darn expensive tI'll this morning.

Taking advantage of the Comfort Inn hack, I decided to check if Comfort Inn was listed on Southwest Air's hotel booking site Bingo! A one day room for our party of 4 was 300 bucks. Oh, it came with points as well. I paid via my Sapphire Reserve for 3x UR points. Figuring that's up to 150 bucks toward Southwest fareally in points, the total for us all will but about 50 bucks each

Cool! When's your trip? I'd love to hear how what you think. I looked into doing that on our Nassau stop but since it was our first cruise/first time down there period and DH is a nervous nelly, we ended up doing a different excursion through Disney...

 

[DisneyMandC]

Also don't forget to check cab/Uber fare from each airport and factor that in. I think LGA was the closest/cheapest when I looked.

I was actually just checking that. LGA is the closest and cheapest. EWR isn't terrible. You can get the train from there for cheap, but it drops you at Penn Station which is almost a mile from our hotel.

 

[1st*toright]

Meanwhile, I'm still waiting on my 300 Stars from the Chase Pay Starbucks deal. Made a purchase with Chase Pay on 3/13, terms say it can take 5 days for the Stars to post. Did the deal yesterday for DW's account. Starbucks deal ends 3/19/18.

Is this a targeted deal? I was trying to find info on it in Chase Pay, but I'm not seeing anything. Sorry- I missed like 30 pages of the thread 'cause I was traveling earlier in the week...

 

[Psychodisney]

Can someone point me toward a Gyft primer? I signed up last night and downloaded the app to my iPhone. I have many questions.

I made a test purchase for a $5 Dunkin Donuts GC. I payed with my Freedom using Apple Pay. I should get 5x for that, since Apple Pay is a 5x category until the end of the month, right? Then on April 1, I should use my Freedom with PayPal to get 5x? And when PayPal and Apple Pay are no longer 5x earners I should use my CIP with PayPal for 3x?

And what are my options for using the GCs once I purchase them? With the Dunkin GC, can I add it to my existing balance within my DD app as well as paying within the Gyft app by having the DD clerk scan the QR code that Gyft generates? How do you use other GCs? I know some of you buy them when you're already in a store...do all stores have the ability to scan the QR code in the Gyft app?

I don't know why I'm having such a hard time deciphering this. I need to be totally comfortable with it before I ask DH to participate. Thanks in advance!

I just did my first Gyft purchase the other day with my CIP. I purchased a Chipotle GC. The remaining balance is still in the Gyft app and in my Apple wallet. I can confirm that it showed up as 3x UR, but it took 3 days to show up on my CIP. Never showed as pending.
I keep watching for my Plastiq charge. Submitted it on Tuesday 3/13, still nothing on pending.

 

[pillow]

Been procrastinatin on excursions in Nassau, Atlantis is so darn expensive tI'll this morning.

Taking advantage of the Comfort Inn hack, I decided to check if Comfort Inn was listed on Southwest Air's hotel booking site Bingo! A one day room for our party of 4 was 300 bucks. Oh, it came with points as well. I paid via my Sapphire Reserve for 3x UR points. Figuring that's up to 150 bucks toward Southwest fareally in points, the total for us all will but about 50 bucks each plus 9,000 points earned in total.

I recall looking into the Comfort Inn thing years ago (less the Southwest component), and it was very very confusing. The listed hotel room prices at Comfort Inn didn't include all the fees they charge. It might be worth calling the hotel just to double check that the rate you paid includes everything. I'm not up to date on this at all, but just wanted to pass along what I remember. Would hate for you to arrive and then get hit with unexpected fees. Good luck! Sweet 9,000 SW points!!

 

[amalone1013]

I got my name changed on Monday on my SW RR account to my new name. I called/sent them the stuff in the afternoon, and received an email by 6am my time saying it had been changed. So I got on and looked at all of my currently booked flights, which included this weekend, the wedding trip, and Vegas at the end of April. I figured if the prices were the same it would be easier to cancel and rebook with the correct name vs trying to get them to change them over the phone. I was able to change the wedding flights for the same costs, and that was when I saw tonight's flight had dropped in price. My return flight on Sunday night was higher though, and I was thinking of just taking my passport for that because I haven't changed that yet.

Well, DH's work trip is now hanging by a thread due to permit problems... he'll find out today if it's still on or not. But our hotels are now non-refundable, so last night we were talking and decided we'd still do Long Beach and I can add him as a companion to my tickets! So I added him to tonight's flight... go to add him to the return flight, and it won't because it's in my old name! DH asks, can't you just book another flight even if it's expensive, just in case? I can... I just hate to use points for him too when we have CP, right? So I search the flights... and that flight dropped $20/1250ish points! So I got it rebooked in my married name, no passport needed, and got DH added as my companion just in case.

 

[1st*toright]

Told my husband about getting the CIP. Apparently he has a purchase of about $800 he wants to make: “between that and Costco we will have that $5000 knocked out in no time.” I don’t think he wants to admit it but I have a sneaking suspicion he is getting into this credit card churner game.

I'm still working on mine... I'm in charge of our money, so he defers to my judgement, but he isn't fully on board. We have a trip planned in a couple of weeks, and DH insisted that we book a tour last night (a little less than $400 for the family) even though I tried to convince him to wait a few days until I could put it on my new SPG Biz (which should be here any day now)!!! I get it, and I would seriously kick myself if the tour was sold out by the time we tried to book it, but it killed me to see it go on an old card when there is new spend to meet. Maybe it will code as travel so I at least get some extra URs out of the deal...

 

[amalone1013]

I feel like I need to write myself a handbook for trip planning

I usually just check kayak and costco for car rentals... and usually kayak for hotels if paying OOP, but typically end up booking through hotels.com, because it's either the same price or if it is a teeny bit higher, it's still worth it between stacking discounted gift cards, shopping portals, and their free night rewards (which is like 10% alone). I always forget that SW has certain bookings where you earn RR now... I never check the UR portal even for cash prices, unless I'm thinking of using points in the first place...

Maybe I should make myself a spreadsheet template to fill in so I remember to price compare everything

 

[1st*toright]

Is this a targeted deal? I was trying to find info on it in Chase Pay, but I'm not seeing anything. Sorry- I missed like 30 pages of the thread 'cause I was traveling earlier in the week...

Never mind - needed to update my Chase Pay app - excited to go get 2 free drinks for the price of 1

 

[afan]

The struggle is real this morning. 20 min in to work and I've got everything opened on my computer but have been on my phone the whole time. I have to hand sort 1k + statements and I just don't want to. This is why I'm on here a lot, sanity and boredom at work. Oh and too many spreadsheets that make me go cross eyed if I stare too long ☺ TGIF

 

[Eeyore2142]

Been procrastinatin on excursions in Nassau, Atlantis is so darn expensive tI'll this morning.

Taking advantage of the Comfort Inn hack, I decided to check if Comfort Inn was listed on Southwest Air's hotel booking site Bingo! A one day room for our party of 4 was 300 bucks. Oh, it came with points as well. I paid via my Sapphire Reserve for 3x UR points. Figuring that's up to 150 bucks toward Southwest fare in points, the total for us all will but about 50 bucks each plus 9,000 (8,000 Southwest, 1,000 chase) points earned in total.

I have a cruise in a month and we are also stopping in Nassau. I think we are just going to walk to the beach and wander.

 

[hsmamato2]

@hsmamato2 - Try searching for the award on the AS (Alaska Air) site and make sure the flight numbers and times are all the same. Then call back. If it shows up as a saver award on AS it is bookable on BA. Make sure the agent you speak to also understands you are giving them an AS flight number and not an AA flight number. It's possible they are getting confused if you tell them you are looking at award availability on AA. Alaska award space will never show up on BA but if it is on AA as a saver award it is bookable with BA. I'd call again. I helped some friends get to Hawaii on AA using Avios and it took 4 phone calls before I got an agent to see the saver space and book it.

thanks..... altho I'm past the 24 hr mark now so I don't think I can change anything without a fee attached...(I got busy doing other things)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Bummer - no retention for me on my SPG personal. $95 fee just posted...I was really hoping they'd give me a retention that made it easier to justify keeping open. I know that just 1 "support click" would pay for that fee - but unless they do an increased 35k offer I won't be advising anybody (online, friends, etc.) to apply using a link since the incognito offer is 5k better for the same spend. Why can't SPG give some sort of free night or something, lol.

I have a couple more weeks to decide whether to cancel or not...and I do plan to HUCA on the retention but with $0 spend since I met my MSR, I'd be shocked they give me anything.

If they don't give you a retention offer, is there any reason to keep? It stinks that the incognito offer is higher than using a link. It pained me not to use a link from DISchurners when applying for my dh the spg personal.

I wish you luck! A free night would be nice haha, right now the two SPG hotels in paying for oop started at $94 and $110 for rates... they're each 10k starpoints so I couldn't being myself to do that. I judge all SPG redemptions by the Dolphin

Last yeear I never called for a retention on either of ours bc we were busy, and amex offers had saved us $300ish on each card, all on gift cards, cell phone bill, and suitcases bc we had zero luggage when we started wedding/honeymoon planning. This year, I've saved $35 on my card (all on the biz tho, no personal) and I don't think anything on his.... though we did get the Lowe's offer. And now we both have biz cards.

Exactly I went for the biz because I can actually meet that spend at the moment that I might not be able to later. But it's not normally something I'd grab right now because I don't have an immediate use for something the card gives me, other than the bonus. I'd really like something in the next year to wow me into keeping it because without that tangible (free night, anniversary points) or an exact plan I can tie that $95 to it's hard to justify. When I was explaining to hubby what we'd get with it for why I got it, it was basically "points?" Good points, since we have the Marriott I was planning to do it just to increase those, but there's nothing immediate like with the Marriott or IHG getting increased status in the program. There's access to the Sheraton Club Lounge and the premium internet.... both of which I don't think we'd ever use. And we're just not in the league to put 30k on a card in a year to get Gold status... I can barely max out quarterly categories

Just to clarify - I didn't expect a free night as a retention offer, I was more bemoaning the fact that IHG and Marriott give you something tangible along with your annual fee (a free night). I was hoping for something like 7k SPG points for spending $1,000 or something along those lines. Other than the sign-up bonus there just isn't much about this card that gets me excited (basically what @miztressuz said )

Of course I'm super AF averse...I avoid them like the plague. I will probably be cancelling both of our SPG biz cards and our Marriott Biz later this year too when those AFs pop up. The odds of me putting a single $ on any of these 4 cards in the next year is less than 1%, haha! Min. Spends all the way my friends!!

 

[hsmamato2]

I agree. Having been to both the Caribbean and Hawaii, I prefer the Caribbean. My dh & kids haven’t been to either. I trying to sway them away from Hawaii. I’m pushing for Grand Cayman

I've only been to PR once (it was great) and no other caribbean.... we actually went to PR instead of HI that year....so I guess now we'll check out a bit of Hawaii.... it seemed to just work out so I'm rolling with it!

 

[peel]

I just did my first Gyft purchase the other day with my CIP. I purchased a Chipotle GC. The remaining balance is still in the Gyft app and in my Apple wallet. I can confirm that it showed up as 3x UR, but it took 3 days to show up on my CIP. Never showed as pending.
I keep watching for my Plastiq charge. Submitted it on Tuesday 3/13, still nothing on pending.

Have you used a portion of the GC yet? Do you pay from within Gyft?

That's a little strange that you don't have anything pending for Plastiq. If this was on your CIP, try looking at your Ultimate Rewards page. Sometimes charges appear and then disappear when they go from pending to approved, but you'll see them listed as transactions in the UR portal.

 

[hsmamato2]

You can either transfer them out to your southwest account, or call chase travel and they will book them for you. If chase books them you earn rr points on your ticket because it's like paying cash.

good point.... but are they flexible for change if booking thru UR travel?

 

[Lain]

Is this a targeted deal? I was trying to find info on it in Chase Pay, but I'm not seeing anything. Sorry- I missed like 30 pages of the thread 'cause I was traveling earlier in the week...

My earlier post:

I can’t believe this deal hasn’t been posted in this thread! Finally, another use for Chase Pay: https://slickdeals.net/f/11367499-starbucks-rewards-members-make-a-purchase-w-chase-pay-get-300-stars-valid-in-store-only

Make a purchase at Starbucks with Chase Pay, get 300 Stars. That’s good enough for 2 free drinks or food items. Offer expires 3/19/18.

Log into Chase Pay, and you should see a banner with the Starbucks offer. Click on it, and it’ll prompt you to link your Starbucks account with Chase Pay. Log into your Starbucks account to complete the link. You’ll be taken back to Chase Pay where you can select the card you want to use and click “Pay.” Preferably you pick CSR for 3x on dining or Freedom for 5x on mobile payments. Chase Pay will generate a QR code that you point up to the scanners next to the registers. Done!

 

[Ngwira]

I was actually just checking that. LGA is the closest and cheapest. EWR isn't terrible. You can get the train from there for cheap, but it drops you at Penn Station which is almost a mile from our hotel.

If you are staying at the Marriott Marquis then Penn station is not that far. We actually took Amtrak into NYC when we went last July and stayed at the MM. The walk wasn't too bad. Then again, you are going in wintertime so ymmv.

 

[amalone1013]

good point.... but are they flexible for change if booking thru UR travel?

From what I've read, it works like a cash ticket so if you did cancel you would get the fare voucher, just as if you paid cash on the SW site yourself. But I've never done it, and we're still using our RR points from when I earned the CP so I haven't actually transferred URs to SW.

I was hoping for something like 7k SPG points for spending $1,000 or something along those lines.

Oh yes, I hope for something similar this time around. The personals are going away no matter what this time around, unless that happens. And most likely the biz cards too, if they don't go before our 1 year anniversaries come around... At least that's the plan for now.

 

[GlamMistress]

Is there a tutorial on Dis Churners about how to post referral links? My Amex links don't look like the Reddit format. If someone could point me in the right direction, I'd be grateful.