I love credit cards so much!

[wendow]

Did you get Kaiser to refund you? I had to take DS to the doctor for strep once while we were in AZ with no Kaiser around and I submitted the bills and Kaiser refunded by cost minus any deductible.

Yes, they did! I sent in the prescription and $350 (or whatever the urgent care charged). They refunded me everything except the copays I would normally have paid. And they were surprisingly quick! I was prepared for a fight (I have to fight with them over everything) but they were great in this case.

 

[Albort]

I have officially earned my Southwest Companion Pass! I would never even have know about it if it weren't for all the helpful people on this board.

thats awesome! i cant wait to hear where u will travel to with it!

 

[DisneyMandC]

I see Kroger is running their 4x fuel points on gift cards again this weekend in case anyone else is working on maxing their CF category.

 

[Texans_loyal]

Some people like to buy Walmart Gift cards through Gyft (earning 5 or 3 times) then use the gift cards at Sam's to buy discounted Disney Cards. I think the discount is a little under 5%. I don't have a Sam's membership so I haven't actually done this, but I have used Gyft to buy gift cards. It's a great way to get 3 or 5 times UR at lots of stores.

I think I have a solid plan. Let me know if anything sounds fishy: I'm going to book ASM through Orbitz that way I can get 15% off, 5% Orbitz Bucks and 3X UR. For the tickets I'll either go through UT or purchase Walmart gcs from Gyft and use them at Sam's. I think I will get 3X either way but Sam's will save me an additional $80. Thanks for the advice!

 

[jhoannam]

1. Does your DH have a Marriott account? If he has one, he can transfer Marriott points to your Marriott account, saving you the SPG to SPG transfer step. Marriott makes an exception to their 50K cap on calendar year transfers for travel packages (and the $10 transfer fee is waived for Gold and higher). [For example, you can have 1000 Marriott points and have DH transfer 299,000 Marriott points to you in order for you to redeem a travel package.] But if you're not in a hurry, then you can proceed with your plan as is since a couple of days isn't going to make a difference.

2. The transfer process online is instant. And you can always transfer back if you want.

3. Right.

4. The certificate should show up instantly, and you can attach it to your reservation at that time if you want. You should be able to do it anytime before 8/1 to avoid a negative re-categorization.

This is great information, if I book the package under my account (I’ll need to transfer the UA miles to my account) can I use the hotel certificate to book a room under DH’s Marriott account?

 

[Albort]

I think I have a solid plan. Let me know if anything sounds fishy: I'm going to book ASM through Orbitz that way I can get 15% off, 5% Orbitz Bucks and 3X UR. For the tickets I'll either go through UT or purchase Walmart gcs from Gyft and use them at Sam's. I think I will get 3X either way but Sam's will save me an additional $80. Thanks for the advice!

i dont suggest CIP for travel, use CSR if u have it. All insurance backing on the CIP will have to be "business" related for them to work.
Orbitz do have some other portal earns if u want to check those out. the list is here.
Make sure you test out the Sams club method before buying a lot at once. Should work though. but its worth testing it before you buy a lot of walmart gc.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

This is exactly why I’m hesitant to try the Swolphin. I love the DME and not getting my luggage. Getting a Uber is easy, but it’s not as magical. we are pretty crazy that we would rather stay at an All Star than at the Swolphin. Along with no DME you don’t get magic bands, no room charging, no dining plan and we really love those benefits. I may try it though because I am running low on URs and have a lot of SPG points.

Stay at All Star the first night, get DME, get magic bands, transfer to Swolphin (they’ll transfer your luggage) and uber back to MCO

 

[Texans_loyal]

i dont suggest CIP for travel, use CSR if u have it. All insurance backing on the CIP will have to be "business" related for them to work.
Orbitz do have some other portal earns if u want to check those out. the list is here.
Make sure you test out the Sams club method before buying a lot at once. Should work though. but its worth testing it before you buy a lot of walmart gc.

I don't have a CSR ...yet I hope we won't need to submit a claim.

Unfortunately, the 15% off code only works on the Orbitz App. Even if I went through a cash back portal, I end up saving more on the app.

Sam's is a go in my area, I cash my SB out for Walmart all the time and never had a problem. (knock on wood)

 

[platamama]

This is great information, if I book the package under my account (I’ll need to transfer the UA miles to my account) can I use the hotel certificate to book a room under DH’s Marriott account?

I don't think so, because the hotel certificate will be issued under your Marriott account. But you can probably make a reservation under your account and then put DH's name as an additional guest on the reservation if it's a situation where he's staying there without you. But if the situation is that he's the one with the extra Marriott points for a category upgrade, I'd have him transfer his Marriott points to your Marriott account subject to the 50K annual cap (unless it's done at the time you redeem for a travel package - then there's no 50K limit).

 

[afan]

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.

ANA should have a non stop from Dulles, the race team used to fly from there when they raced in Japan. If you're looking to connect consider Seattle, we have a lot of flights going to/from Asia on several airlines and it would help break the trip up if you don't want as long of a flight. Here's the airlines they have that do international https://www.portseattle.org/sea-tac/airlines-destinations I know Delta does as well, it's one of the things they advertise here.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

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.

^^^this is us too. Queen is the min bed size and I prefer deluxe resort and counter service meals too.

 

[hsmamato2]

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

Thank you! I'm impressed with how much you seem to know about the upcoming values.... is there something I can read on this topic to educate myself? How FEW points can you make a current Marriott res. With, since they seem to allow a booking with partial points?

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Thank you! it was only 1X, I need to get my info straight.

I actually made a list of cards and their corresponding bonus categories and perks to help. It gets confusing!

 

[Albort]

I actually made a list of cards and their corresponding bonus categories and perks to help. It gets confusing!

wallaby app might be a good tool to use.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Thank you! I'm impressed with how much you seem to know about the upcoming values.... is there something I can read on this topic to educate myself? How FEW points can you make a current Marriott res. With, since they seem to allow a booking with partial points?

Others are equally “impressed” with my infinite amount of “useless” knowledge too (especially my wife)

The flight transfer ratios was part of the big press release a couple weeks ago. They are embracing the SPG model of awarding 5k extra points if you transfer 60k Marriott.

I think you can book with 0 points...but I’m now sure.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

We’ve never gone in “mid”-December. About 3 years ago, we did go in early December and it was fine since we have a game plan. We always open up the park to get in 2-3 hours of short or no lines in the morning while mixing in Fast Passes (which are more or less still on the legacy system at DLR). We open up the park that does not have Magic Morning/Extra Magic Hour that day, since MM/EMH alternates days between the two parks, and he one that has it that day will have hotel and multi-day ticketed guests already in lines for an hour. We’ve yet to try Max Pass, but for $10 more it’s supposed to make grabbing FPs across the two parks super easy. Have your dining reservations made 60 days in advance if you want a sit down meal, and especially if you want to do a Fantasmic or World of Color dinner package. Generally, I’d look at the AP Blockout Calendar as a general gauge of how crowded it’ll be. I see SoCal APs are blocked out starting 12/12/18, so that should thin out the local crowds. Both parks are fully decorated by December, and looking beautiful!

OK, thank you! I am fine to pull the little ones out of school, but dd18 has to wait until college exams end.

I have officially earned my Southwest Companion Pass! I would never even have know about it if it weren't for all the helpful people on this board.

Jealous! Enjoy it!!



@wendow, did you end up sending that mortgage through plastiq for the spg min spend? If so, did it work fine? RATs make me nervous.

 

[Calfan]

Whew! Back from our whirlwind trip to Disneyland, and I've finally caught back up on this thread...

To respond to a few topics that were raised in the interim:
--I plan to have DH apply for the CIC before May 20. Right now I've got May 18 calendared for the app. I'm trying to get as much space between his CIP (late March) and the CIC app (can't apply myself due to being in 5/24 doghouse). I want the 50k bonus on the CIC, but I really want the 5x categories, because my churning style is to apply for new cards for UR bonuses as often as I can, but I like the UR earning on cards like the CSR, CFU, CIP (Plastiq!) and I want the 5x categories in the CIC plus the 2x on gas. UR are king to me due to our travel style. So I want to be grandfathered in to having a CIC in case that card goes away. Once I have DH refer me to the CIP in Oct., then we can cancel or product change his CIP and have him apply for the new biz CFU to get that 50k bonus.
--We did end up using the Escape lounge in OAK with our Amex Platinum lounge benefit. Our flights were right on time going from BOI to OAK to SNA, but after about 20 minutes of sitting at the gate in OAK, we decided we were all a little hungry. We only had about 25 minutes til boarding of our SNA flight, but OAK is so small and manageable, that we were able to get over to the Escape lounge, have some snacks, grab some bottles of water and get back to the gate in time to board. We will definitely be using that lounge in a similar fashion in future!
--Highly recommend MaxPass for the additional $10 per person per day at DL. The ease of getting FP via the app instead of having to walk to the designated FP dispensing location for each ride is worth the price of entry alone (e.g., you can get a FP for a ride at DCA while you are still physically at DL). And the return windows are much sooner via the app with MaxPass than they are at the dispenser locations. And it also seems like the ability to get the next FP is also sooner via MaxPass than if you go the paper route. We did MaxPass both our days and it was totally worth it.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

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.

I didn’t much like Poly. Love heavenly beds at Dolphin (& Swan I assume)

 

[hsmamato2]

I wanted to circle back on this now that I've had a chance to get to my desktop computer.

I went to look at the Marriott Category 6 hotel that I stay at when I visit my daughter at University in England. The week I am planning to go it is 180,000 Marriott points (standard rate) and 967GBP for members or roughly $1311. WOW!!!! Not a bad return on those 5,000 "lost" Alaska miles!!! I will definitely be going for the Marriott hotel/air package with my Starpoints at least once if not twice before August. I/we go visit DD a lot

I was able to book the room for the week on points without having any in my account. So once I get the certificate, I will call and see if they can apply it.

Can someone confirm the steps for my plan so I don't trip up on anything?

1. Pool our household points by transferring DH's Starpoints to my Starwood account. This will take a couple days.
2. Transfer 100,000 Starpoints to my Marriott account. I assume this can be done online. Anything to be cautious of here? This will give me 300,000 Marriott points.
3. Call Marriott and have those 300,000 points converted into a Hotel & Air package. Which will yield me 120,000k Alaska miles (or 132,000 United miles) plus my Category 6 hotel voucher (worth $1311 to me for my Sept. stay).
4. As soon as the hotel certificate appears in my account (instantly?) call back to have the certificate applied to my reservation that is being held on points. Maybe I could do it at the same time as I book the hotel & air package? My thought in doing this right away would be to avoid a negative re-categorization in August, and as I already have my flights, I know when I'll be there.

I now have my booked hotel ($1311) and 120,000/132,000 miles for the original 100,000 Starpoints.

Rinse & Repeat as many times as I can before they change this, LOL.

Do you think the new categories will mean the same scenario would be much less lucrative? Anyone think there's a chance things could get better for cats. 6-9?

 

[wendow]

@wendow, did you end up sending that mortgage through plastiq for the spg min spend? If so, did it work fine? RATs make me nervous.

Yes, worked fine!!