I love credit cards so much!

[Judique]

Passed through Winslow AZ yesterday and had song lyrics running through my head...
Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

Never knew where Winslow was.

Eagles fan here - Take it easy!

 

[Mopedmom1]

I was wondering if I was the only one who thought the same....

No you weren't! I really DID LOL when I read the original post. Good thing I wasn't drinking my tea at the same time. (Yet again, I prove that I am twelve. )

 

[StephPlum]

Passed through Winslow AZ yesterday and had song lyrics running through my head...
Well, I'm a standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona

OOOH are you headed for the Petrified Forest National Park? I've been to AZ a few times but have never gotten there or Canyon de Chelly NP. Love to hear your trip report when you return (or as you go).

 

[amalone1013]

Hmm, wonder if I can talk DH into 5 guys some night we need a free dinner. It's not his favorite, but it would be so cheap.

 

[kmc8826]

This is why I love you guys so much! Does it have to be 20k or 20k+ . Just curious!

Just 20k.

And just for future reference @Lain is absolutely right. The best way to get Delta skymiles is one of the Delta Amex cards, SPG card, or an Amex card that earns membership reward points. I love the UR points for other stuff but for all my flights (Delta hostage) I use other points.

 

[Lain]

Okay I have a question for everybody. We are going to Japan next May and I have started to look at hotels/apartments to stay in. Will we be able to use our Chase points on AirBnB? Can we only book with points through the Chase website?

Reposting these tips with some updates:

You can redeem UR points for AirBnB gift cards at a 1:1 ratio (1 point = 1¢), starting at 2,500 UR for $25. This is a really bad deal because you can use a CSP or CIP/CSR and earn, respectively, 2x UR or 3x UR when booking with AirBnB directly (travel category bonus), then "cash out" your UR points at 1¢ per point as a statement credit or bank deposit to cover the cost of your AirBnB booking. This is still a bad value, since you can redeem UR points at 1.5¢ per point via the UR travel portal.

For AirBnB, you have two options that I can think of offhand to save some more money or earn additional points:

1. PayPal Digital Gifts (PPDG) often runs sales on eBay for AirBnB e-gift cards.

• The most recent sale was for a $220 AirBnB gift card for $200 (9% savings), limit 5, which ended 3/22 (See https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ebay-save-on-itunes-airbnb-southwest-lowes-gift-cards-and-more/).
• The sale before that was on 3/15 for a $100 AirBnB gift card for $90 (10% savings) (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ebay-save-gift-cards-best-buy-babies-r-us-hotels-com/).
• The sale before that was on 3/5 for a $100 AirBnB gift card for $92 (8% savings) (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ebay-save-gift-cards-best-buy-babies-r-us-hotels-com/).
• The sale before that was on 2/27 for a $100 AirBnB gift card for $92 (8% savings) (https://www.doctorofcredit.com/ebay-save-southwest-airbnb-overstock/)

You get the point that these 8-10% sales happen quite frequently, and tend to ramp up at the end of the quarter when PPDG and eBay are trying to juice up their sales numbers. Check Doctor of Credit regularly, because he's really good about posting gift card deals, or we can tag you here if you're interested.

or

2. The MileagePlus X (MPX) gift card app sells AirBnB e-gift cards.

• You can earn 2 United MileagePlus (UA) miles/$1 on AirBnB gift cards.
• AirBnB gift cards max out at $500 on MPX, but you can buy several. (I would not recommend buying several $500 gift cards all in one day because you’ll likely trigger a fraud alert and could get your account frozen!)
• If you have a United MileagePlus Visa credit card attached to your MPX account, you get a cardmember bonus of 25% more miles on your gift card purchases.
• You don't have to actually use a MileagePlus Visa credit card to pay for your gift card purchase on MPX to earn the cardmember bonus; use another card which will offer you the rewards/points/miles that you value or a new card you're trying to meet a minimum required spend on for the signup bonus.

So for example, if I buy a $500 AirBnB gift card on MPX, I'll earn 1,000 UA miles + 250 UA miles (because I have a MileagePlus Visa attached to my account) + 1,500 UR (if you pay with your CIP for 3x UR in travel).

Because MPX "pass through" coding is back, when you purchase an eGift card on the MPX app, MPX passes through how that purchase codes to the category of the merchant for which you were buying the gift card. So if you purchase an AirBnB gift card, MPX would pass the coding on that transaction to AirBnB's "travel" category, which would earn you 3x UR if you paid with the CIP or CSR. For more info about MPX is now Carrying Over the Merchant Category.

then

3. Once you've bought your AirBnB gift cards, go to the Delta/AirBnB portal at https://www.deltaairbnb.com, click through and make the booking on AirBnB to earn 1x Delta SkyMiles/$1 on stays. I see this program is also offering 1,000 bonus SkyMiles for new guests and a $25 coupon for first bookings.

And from @pillow: https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-1231#post-59137293

From @linzjane88: https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-1233#post-59137957

From @CyndiLouWho: https://www.disboards.com/threads/i-love-credit-cards-so-much.3528202/page-1234#post-59139037

 

[jhoannam]

Okay I have a question for everybody. We are going to Japan next May and I have started to look at hotels/apartments to stay in. Will we be able to use our Chase points on AirBnB? Can we only book with points through the Chase website?

I was just reading up on the new AirBnB laws going into affect later this month. There is a use thread on the other lands forum.

 

[mefordis]

That's one way to do it. I don't know the cost of your Delta fares, but transferring from SPG>Delta and UR>Marriott>SPG>Delta seems like it might be an inefficient use of points. I hope you transferred in 20,000 SPG increments because for every 20,000 SPG points you transfer to any partner airline in a single transaction, you’ll receive a 5,000 extra miles bonus. But if the goal is free and you're happy with your redemption, then don't let anyone tell you otherwise!

Roundtrip ticket is 35k skymiles.

The thing I've been trying to get you to think about is to have an idea of your trips one to two years in advance, find out what miles and points you'll need to make those vacation plans free or as nearly free as possible, be strategic about credit card signups, and have enough time to get those miles and points in place in order to book award availability before those sell out or go up. At the very least, take stock of what airlines you think you'll fly and hotel chains you think you'll stay at so you can jump on their co-branded credit cards when a bonus increases for a limited time.

I didn't know I was taking my sister to WDW until about a two months ago. Then I decided I wanted to take advantage of my rewards programs and try to offset the cost. I checked out flights from DTW and determined Delta is the best option for her. Typically I never ever fly Delta. For me, United or Jetblue. I fell short on the miles for both, so I looked to my Hotel rewards and URs. I already had 40k United miles, so just transferred 10k URs that bought one oneway ticket. Then looked at Delta and saw SPG points would work there. So, I try to plan in advance but sometimes it doesn't work out. That's why I look a bit reckless in strategy. I admit, I am.

If we had known you needed Delta SkyMiles for a trip in November, we probably would have steered you to sign up for an Amex Delta business card when the bonus offers on the Delta Platinum Biz were at their highest as recently as April 2018. As you know, Amex business cards don't show up on your personal credit reports and don't count against Chase's 5/24 rule. The current YMMV offers are not historic highs, and bonuses on Amex cards tend to be once per product per lifetime, so if you go for a lower than best offer now you likely won't be eligible for another offer on the same card if it goes up later (and don't count on Amex "matching" a higher offer):

(YMMV) American Express Delta Gold 60,000 Miles + $50 Statement Credit, No Lifetime Language (Personal & Business)
(YMMV) American Express Delta Platinum 45,000 Miles + $100 Statement Credit & 15,000 MQM, No Lifetime Language (Personal & Business)
American Express Delta Platinum – 70,000 Miles + $100 Statement Credit + 10,000 MQM (Personal & Business) (Expired 4/11/18)
American Express Delta Gold 60,000 Mile Offer + $50 Statement Credit (Personal & Business Offers) (Expired 4/11/18)
American Express Delta Platinum – 70,000 Miles + $100 Statement Credit + 10,000 MQM (Personal & Business) (Expired 1/31/18)

And if you need help figuring any of this out, just post here and tell us your plans and ask for advice how to get there.

Thanks so much! You have given me such good advice.

Edit: Wow, I done goofed. I could have bought my sister's ticket by combining my UR points (9k) with my husband's (29k) = 38k for a 30,752 UR ticket, one way round trip on Delta. Boy, did I waste some points!

My MO is to learn everything the hard way!!

At least I can salvage dignity by doing the 20k at a time transfers to earn 10k more Delta miles, thanks to this thread informing me of this!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

OOOH are you headed for the Petrified Forest National Park? I've been to AZ a few times but have never gotten there or Canyon de Chelly NP. Love to hear your trip report when you return (or as you go).

No just Williams AZ and Grand Canyon

ETA We were outside Winslow yesterday at the Meteor Crater. Petrified Forest would probably have been cool but someone else was driving

 

[Disneyonmymind]

Question about trip cancellation/interruption insurance. I booked a WDW package online and am planning to transfer it to Chase where I will eventually pay it off with my yet-to-be-accumulated UR points on my new CSR, plus some Disney GC.

I have been looking over my trip details to make any changes before the transfer to Chase and I just realized I got the Disney travel insurance (oof). I have 14 days to cancel it. I have heard Disney’s insurance is a bad deal and I remember reading somewhere that I would be covered by the CSR trip insurance if I paid for the trip with UR points from a CSR card, even if I didn’t charge the trip directly on the CSR. However, I paid the deposit with a CIP card because I didn’t have the CSR yet.

Do you think the deposit card (CIP) would drive the trip insurance coverage or the UR card (CSR) used for payoff? Or am I wrong in my recall and I still need to purchase a policy to cover this trip? Does anyone have experience or advice with this?

 

[mefordis]

So, a 28k Marriott rewards transfer to SPG will give me 84,000 spg points, correct? And I can transfer them 1:1 to Delta? In 20k increments I'll get 5k bonus for each transfer?

Thanks!

 

[jhoannam]

So, a 28k Marriott rewards transfer to SPG will give me 84,000 spg points, correct? And I can transfer them 1:1 to Delta? In 20k increments I'll get 5k bonus for each transfer?

Thanks!

No, backwards. 28k Marriott/3 = 9,333 SPG.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Hmm, wonder if I can talk DH into 5 guys some night we need a free dinner. It's not his favorite, but it would be so cheap.

My DH doesn't love it either. For a $18 discount he can deal.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Soooo, just placing my weekly grocery order online and got to wondering if any of the amex rebate places, Lowes etc, might sell Walmart gift cards. Anyone know?

ETA: I am going to just run over to Lowes and take a pic of the display to clear up all my future questions.

 

[peel]

No you weren't! I really DID LOL when I read the original post. Good thing I wasn't drinking my tea at the same time. (Yet again, I prove that I am twelve. )

I didn't say anything because I just assumed it was meant to be a double entendre on purpose! I liked the post as a way to say "WELL DONE!"

 

[Disneyonmymind]

Does anyone know about the Amex Biz 'rules' for meeting MSR (no MS) as far as gift cards go? I'm trying to get a clear picture before I mess this up, and according to @Albort screenshots, my acct page doesn't show me enough detail for what 'level' of purchase so I can see what they're looking at....wondering if it's safe to mix a costco cash card purchase in with some spend at a grocery ,mix regular purchases with gc there? if I stay away from the visa gc,and just go for branded gc at grocery,will I be ok?

I bought a MC GC at my local supermarket using my SPG. I checked the statement and there is not enough detail to show what I bought. However, it’s rather a lot to pay for groceries lol. I gave the GC for a graduation gift so it really wasn’t MS but AMEX might not agree, lol. I would think it would be better to buy them at Lowe’s if they sell them since people can easily spend a lot more money at Lowe’s without GCs.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I just called to PC my CSP to a CF and she said I had to go to CS/no fee...whatever that is. So now how long do I wait to turn it into a CF and will it be an issue?

 

[jhoannam]

Soooo, just placing my weekly grocery order online and got to wondering if any of the amex rebate places, Lowes etc, might sell Walmart gift cards. Anyone know?

ETA: I am going to just run over to Lowes and take a pic of the display to clear up all my future questions.

Let us know what you find.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I just called to PC my CSP to a CF and she said I had to go to CS/no fee...whatever that is. So now how long do I wait to turn it into a CF and will it be an issue?

Sounds like you need to HUCA. I think we've had several people recently who have PCed a CSP to CF or CFU, so I don't see why it would suddenly be an issue.

 

[Judique]

My DH doesn't love it either. For a $18 discount he can deal.

I deal. I order a single burger with cheese, lettuce and tomato and when I get it home I add Braswell's Vidalia onion relish, after I remove said lettuce and tomato which I eat separately. We get a small order of fries and split them as they give us a bag full and we can never eat them all even sharing.
@amalone - maybe you can doctor it someway for your hubby!