I love credit cards so much!

[amalone1013]

Are there any DVC rental point websites that code as travel? It would be nice to be able to use Cap One Venture's erase travel feature (maybe some other cards have that as well), for the transaction. I thought the points stretched a little bit further than the cash back option, but maybe I'm mistaken.

dvc-rental.com coded as travel for me on CSR and Barclay Arrival. I'm not familiar with Capital One cards.

 

[wendow]

I think that is the one Disney recommends. I had to go 2 years ago when I was staying at the Polynesian. You go out Hotel Plaza Blvd and take a left and it's right there. I'm not sure what Pharmacy they use. I'm kind of locked into CVS because of my prescription plan. I can get a first script anywhere but the second one has to be CVS. So, I just went to CVS, which is pretty close also.

That seems right. It wasn't far at all. I think they were just busy and that is why it took so long. The pharmacy Disney recommended was not a chain. Our insurance is Kaiser which fills 'in house' for meds so nothing outside of Kaiser is covered for us. I had to walk to a Walgreens, pushing my dd in a wheelchair, about a mile down Apopka-Vineland in the early Sept heat. What an experience! We laugh about it now...kind of...

 

[wendow]

My Disney style is not the norm though, we stay in values and get deluxe dining lol

Yup, total opposite from us! We stay deluxe and eat CS mainly. I'm all about bed comfort though. I have bad sleep problems so my bed has to be perfect or I will lay there all night feeling every lump and bump.

 

[linzjane88]

Yup, total opposite from us! We stay deluxe and eat CS mainly. I'm all about bed comfort though. I have bad sleep problems so my bed has to be perfect or I will lay there all night feeling every lump and bump.

Have you ever been to Aulani? Those beds are ATROCIOUS. It is truly like sleeping on plywood. The only thing that saves you is that you get so exhausted from being in the sun and swimming all day. We are going back Saturday so it wasn't bad enough to keep us away though I guess

 

[DisneyMandC]

Pretty sure @Albort is referencing this:

https://viewfromthewing.boardingare...first-class-just-120000-miles-roundtrip-tips/

https://viewfromthewing.boardingare...t-class-us-japan-just-120000-miles-roundtrip/

The sweet spot for for US-->Japan is Virgin Atlantic with 95k RT J class ANA metal pr 120k F class ANA metal.

RT=Round Trip
J class = Business class
F class = First class
Metal = what airline your flying

The current plan is to use AA or AS miles and book Cathay Pacific. I will have to get a positioning flight to one of their North American gateway cities. If I find interesting award space on something with a shower on the plane (Etihad or Emirates) then I will go that route. I plan to fly JAL on the way back home also using AA miles.

As for collecting AA miles - Citi Platinum Aadvantage card, Barclay Aviator (business and may pick up personal again later this year). I use AA shopping portals nearly exclusively.
AS miles via BoA Alaska card and currently hammering SPG-Marriott- hotels/flights packages to pick up extra AS miles.

Hope this helps.



Flying to HKG this month via SQ but coming back home from NRT via JAL. I think @DisneyMandC wants to know about my plans for Japan next year since I was posting about the Japan ABD trip over on that thread.

Thanks all!! I've been trying to look on Google Flights just to get an idea of what flights to Japan would look like from somewhere like Dulles or BWI, which are a couple hours from me but convenient enough for international travel.

Oddly, Virgin must have discontinued the flights to Japan from Dulles that are shown in that article because it tells me no flights are available or won't even let me search for airports in Japan on Virgin's website.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok I had this dilemma last week.... I saw marriott waileabforv160k for my 5 night stay, and @SouthFayetteFan laid out the numbers nicely for my cat. 8 hotel plus air options. I think I decided to hedge my bets the other way,and see what happens with the announcement by booking hotel alone using spg-Marriott points now,and saving the other chunk in spg for a hotel booking at swan before the big change. Is this foolish? I have no idea what will happen next month,and I don't need the rr points as much I would like an extra stay at swolphin next spring.... in my case,with my 5 night timeline it made more sense to do this( I think)
@platamama can you give more detail as to bumping up the cert.?iwas unclear on that part,since if I did this now I know I want a cat 8 cert. I'm still tempted to do nights plus flights and hang the swolphin idea...... I wish I knew what the changes would be.

You may have already gotten some feedback on this...It's really a tough call. The Airline points are nice and are a great deal. Your problem is you have a 5 night stay (not 7 nights) so you're forced to "spend" extra points to get your air points. I don't think there's a right or wrong answer on this one. I will say your statement of "I don't need the rr points as much I would like an extra stay at swolphin next spring" makes me feel like NOT doing nights and flights is your answer...but I don't feel strongly enough to say that without hesitation, LOL!

EDIT: @hsmamato2 See my next post on this as I was playing catchup

 

[Albort]

Hey, I have a BCP through Amex. I don't have any MR earners. If I did would I be able to transfer my accumulated cash back and turn it into MRs like you can with the Chase trifecta? I am unfamiliar with MR's and they seem confusing but evaluating my options. Chase has provided for all my points needs thus far.

All hail the UR

theres an writeout on our reddit page on how to maximize MR for cashback. U basically go through the cycle of collecting MR and the last card being the Charles Schwab Amex plat that redeems MR at a 1:1.25 ratio. im not sure if thats your intended goal, but MR line is also a good one, the only problem is that it being an amex card so u have a lot of restrictions on where you can use them.

Thanks all!! I've been trying to look on Google Flights just to get an idea of what flights to Japan would look like from somewhere like Dulles or BWI, which are a couple hours from me but convenient enough for international travel.

Oddly, Virgin must have discontinued the flights to Japan from Dulles that are shown in that article because it tells me no flights are available or won't even let me search for airports in Japan on Virgin's website.

U need to call it in. You also need to see what airport ANA flies to in Texas.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok @SouthFayetteFan here's where I tax your infinite patience with more questions. Last week I was so sure that redeeming Marriott at just 160k was right for me,and saving those extra spg50k was a good idea. My big problem is just not knowing what to do with the current info I have,both family wise and merger wise. So in my scenario, I have the 5 nites Maui, was gonna do either 80k Sheraton,or 160k Marriott. Or I could do 310k Marriott,and get those nights plus 70kswa to top up my sagging points there. NOW I'm thinking this thru. My HI trip is 3 of us right now,as ds1 NEVER tells me if he can come till much closer to date. So 3 of us flying from Bos- LAX on JetBlue points. That 4th (ds1) I was rethinking,and gonna book on swa from Bdl-Lax the same day,simply bc I can easily cancel his flight for no penalty if needed. See what I mean...I had thought I wasn't gonna use the swa right away,but now find myself in need of some points. (I only have about 17k left right now) so........ to sum it up, is it smarter $ wise to take some ur- swa for the flights I'll need,or use the nightsqndflighs option,(which uses up my last spg points too) ? I was 'saving' the spg for a future swolphin trip which isn't even planned yet.... I know you're not me,and don the have a crystal ball, but wwyd? You have the math down way better than I do
********* big question here..... if I got a cat 5 cert now, and called in 10 minutes wanting to book cat 8 hotel do I need to pay on phone using cash,or do I need extra points to do this? This has a big bearing on what to choose..... since they allow you to book on points before you have full amount, how does this apply to the nights cert.? Or should I only buy the pacakage at the cat level I know I need?

Ok - you have a very complex situation here haha. Regarding the cat 5 vs cat 8 cert...the weird problem you have is you aren't using all 7 nights. In theory it should cost you 90k to upgrade from a cat5 to a cat8 (15k x 6 nights + 1 night free). I don't think it matters that you aren't using all 7 nights...you'll probably still have to pay the 90k since it would be through a nights and flights.

I guess the real question here is would I trade 150k Marriott points for 70k SW RR points (310k-160k)...I would not... And actually now that I think about it...with the new transfer rates coming - you aren't really getting much by doing nights and flights (other than additional hassle).

The new Marriott=>Air program will be 60k Marriott = 25k Air Miles/Points. And when you aren't transferring in increments of 60k it will be 3:1. So you could turn 120k Marriott into 50k Southwest without a nights and flights later OR you could turn 150k Marriott into 60k Southwest. Yes you lose 10k vs. what you could do now...but you retain the flexibility now of leaving it in Marriott/SPG where you could use it for Swan, etc. - once you go to Southwest...you can't bring them back to Marriott. So I guess in summary - I wouldn't do the nights and flights if I were you...but I don't think it would be totally wrong if you decided the opposite

 

[wendow]

Have you ever been to Aulani? Those beds are ATROCIOUS. It is truly like sleeping on plywood. The only thing that saves you is that you get so exhausted from being in the sun and swimming all day. We are going back Saturday so it wasn't bad enough to keep us away though I guess

No, I haven't been there! And you saying the beds are atrocious makes me scared to ever go there!! I'm so picky. I love the beds at BLT, Poly and BC. Even when dh & I stayed at POFQ last month for a night, I couldn't sleep. I didn't like the bed at all. Too lumpy.

 

[DisneyMandC]

U need to call it in. You also need to see what airport ANA flies to in Texas.

Dulles (Washington DC), not Dallas

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

More than likely my SW card, but also curious what people do with the other Chase cards frequently mentioned here, i.e CIP and CSP.

Depending on how you redeem your URs you will want to have at least one of CIP, CSP or CSR open. I would always try to get a retention offer (bonus points or waived annual fee) and then if none offered I'd downgrade a CSP or CSR to Freedom and downgrade a CIP to CIC. In two player mode this decision can be even easier because if my spouse still has a CSR or CIP I can just downgrade man with no worries. Then downgrade theirs in a year and I reapply for one for me again...lol!

 

[Albort]

Dulles (Washington DC), not Dallas

i was close... Dulles looks like Dallas without coffee... :]
good news is that i do see the flight. might be worth a call to Virgin Atlantic and see how many points is needed.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Another random question. Eventually I’ll know all the answers and can stop pestering everyone! When you aren’t trying to get to your MSR, are there any cards in particular that give you the most bang for your buck? I have a CITI card that earns me total 2% and I always thought I was doing pretty good with that.

I don't know what it's like to not have an MSR hahaha! For me it would be a combination of cards that earn kickers at grocery and gas. And then I'd just buy Visa Gift Cards at the grocery store to pay for things like cable lol.

 

[DisneyMandC]

i was close... Dulles looks like Dallas without coffee... :]
good news is that i do see the flight. might be worth a call to Virgin Atlantic and see how many points is needed.

It took me a minute to figure out why you would want me to fly to Texas to then fly to Japan hahaha.

Thanks for the help! I'm looking at ANA now too. There are actually pretty decent Delta flights from Dulles for us too. I think we're the only people on this board who actually have access to really quality Delta flights.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Hey, I have a BCP through Amex. I don't have any MR earners. If I did would I be able to transfer my accumulated cash back and turn it into MRs like you can with the Chase trifecta? I am unfamiliar with MR's and they seem confusing but evaluating my options. Chase has provided for all my points needs thus far.

All hail the UR

You can't trade between cash and MRs with AMEX. As a matter of fact they wouldn't even let me PC my Everyday card to a Blue Cash card. Which was a bummer...

 

[linzjane88]

You can't trade between cash and MRs with AMEX. As a matter of fact they wouldn't even let me PC my Everyday card to a Blue Cash card. Which was a bummer...

Good to know. I still don't think I want to jump on the Amex train. Their reward system bugs me. Centurion lounges don't win me over (not worth the extra hour driving through Hades to get an airport with one), their rewards seem to confusing, and they take forever and a day to post. I haven't used my BCP since March 15th and my rewards just posted. Plus for my BCP the grocery store I use for 4x fuel points (Fred Meyer, a Kroger chain) doesn't count as grocery so I don't earn 6%.

I keep feeling like I am missing out on something big then I think "NOPE!"

 

[DisneyMandC]

Tangentially related to my Japan questions...

Do we think co-branded cards like the Chase United cards put us into Chase shutdown territory, or are they focusing more on UR earning cards? Should DH and I go for United cards when I'm already holding 4 Chase cards (but could easily lie low on them until the first of next year if necessary)?

 

[Lain]

Have you ever been to Aulani? Those beds are ATROCIOUS. It is truly like sleeping on plywood. The only thing that saves you is that you get so exhausted from being in the sun and swimming all day. We are going back Saturday so it wasn't bad enough to keep us away though I guess

I agree the beds at Aulani are stiff and terrible!

 

[Albort]

Tangentially related to my Japan questions...

Do we think co-branded cards like the Chase United cards put us into Chase shutdown territory, or are they focusing more on UR earning cards? Should DH and I go for United cards when I'm already holding 4 Chase cards (but could easily lie low on them until the first of next year if necessary)?

in theory, its co-brands that are getting people into shutdown mode. but its mostly those with lol/24. United cards are under 5/24 rules so i dont see much DP on shutdowns with that.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We’ve done Christmastime at both WDW and DL. WDW has the Christmas party, Illuminations holiday, Candlelight Processional, and all the hotel lobbies decked out in holiday decorations, but DL has Haunted Mansion Nightmare Before Christmas and Small World Holiday overlays!

How would the crowds be mid-dec?