I love credit cards so much!

[AmyAnne]

Wow, that's great! I believe the cc fee for youngest's uni is 2.5%

I know - I'm sort of in disbelief. Four kids and four colleges and always a fee to pay by credit card.

 

[miztressuz]

Not sure if i should have started a new thread to ask this, but we’ll give it a try here...
We are credit card debt free, have long time Master Card we’ll charge eBay/amazon purchases on but pay it off monthly.

I JUST got the Disney $200 GC & no annual fee card offer in the mail...think I might just open that just for the GC.

After reading parts of this thread, I think we are missing out on free things!
What’s “the best card for freebies? We aren’t big fliers, but do like to travel.

TIA

Is that the offer for the $200 GC after just one purchase? I liked that offer, I didn't think they did those anymore. Good to be wrong if it is

It's not a bad offer and if you have a trip planned soon I may go against the grain and see about working that into the plan, but if you want to get more freebies for trips I'd hold off until you build a strategy. Each card issuer has rules to getting cards outside of just your credit history so having a goal and a plan is very helpful so you don't lock yourself out from other cards of better value.

One of the rules we'll mention a lot is the 5/24 rule from Chase where they will automatically deny a credit card application if you have 5 or more cards opened in the last 24 months as listed on your credit report. Many of their cards are subject to that rule so if it turns out you're interested in those cards then you'd want to get those earlier rather than later (I think the Disney one is not so it's usually later in some plans so you are not "taking up a slot" that could be used for another card). But you also don't just want to chase after their cards and get one right after the other in a short period of time because then you look like a credit risk and can be denied or worse, they can shut you down and take away cards they gave you already. It gets intricate depending on how quick and large you want to roll

The short story for "best card for freebies" is there isn't one.... there's tons The best card is going to be subjective to what freebie you're chasing. Do you want free hotels, a free flight, free tickets, food, transportation, etc etc? If it's free hotels, sometimes getting a brand's credit card is the best option, sometimes just using a flexible CC point system like the Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points is better. Depends on where you like to stay or where you are planning to stay. Free food or tickets might be a cashback card of some type. If you use Amtrak I thought there was a program that can transfer there but I'm not real sure on that one. We've only done Amtrak once because otherwise it's never made economic sense, despite us being in the middle of a bunch of east coast routes

So if you don't have to jump on that Disney offer soon, I'd take some time to think up what your goals are for the next year or two and, if you're willing to share with the group, then we can strategize a roadmap to freebies. Could be you only need a couple new cards and so picking up that Disney one won't harm any future planning. Could be all roads lead to Disney and so it's maybe good to add in anyway for the other perks. It's hard to say until you decide how you want to roll with this.

 

[amalone1013]

After much debate, I finally settled on what I'm going to do... I'm going to buy our tickets with URs, ~70k for 2 7day adult PHs. Of course I took so long playing around, that I'll have to call on Monday now.

I booked All Star Movies through Hotels.com for $153, and cancelled Pop through Disney for $140, for these reasons:

• I had $270 in Hotels.com GCs, all purchased for at least 15% off I believe, so ~$230
• I had used $219 plus a free night reward (worth $109) towards a booking at Universal's RPR (~$325)
• I cancelled that, and put the free night plus $44 in GCs towards ASMov
• I rebooked RPR with the remaining GCs and $111 OOP, because it will now count towards my next free night; about 10% of the value goes towards your next free night reward unless you use a free night reward, so I want it to use the higher cost room (~$30 because it's before taxes, vs $13.50 for ASMov)
• I have time to see if I can get a few more Prime Lightning deals on Hotels.com GCs, which would take the $111 OOP to $92 because I loaded my Amazon account with gift cards bought at the grocery store with my Discover 5% back
• Plus I should get 5% back from Swagbucks for both bookings, about $22

That was probably way too much work...

 

[calypso726]

Who here is working on 2020 or further vacations? I have next year set.. 2020 tentatively
and looking at 2021.

I don't think i will be opening up any new CC's. Just some old fashion saving and budget cutting.
(of course if some amazing offer comes ...all bets are off lol)

Me too! I’m tentatively planned out until 2023! Here’s my list so far and I’m not counting WDW trips since those are like staycations for us, we are there so often ...

July 2018 - NYC for a long weekend to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and catch whatever other shows we can. Might try Broadway Roulette. Flights paid with AA gift cards we’ve hoarded from triggering airline credits on cards. Using our free weekend nights at the Hilton from the Aspire card and our $250 resort credits.

Sep 2018 - Hawaii with the Westin timeshare promo. Used MR when the Amex business was giving back 50% for the flights over there. We used AA gift cards we’ve hoarded from various premium credit cards that offer an airline credit for the flights back.

Dec/Jan 2018 - Antarctica for my 50th. Used 490k AA miles for the flights because there weren’t any saver awards yet for the return flights. Ugh! The cruise itself will be paid with a BA credit card so we can get another BA companion pass out of it.

July 2019 - Scotland for a tour of the Atlantic rim. Hoping to secure award flights on BA and use my travel together companion pass ticket.

Sep/Oct 2019 - Japan adults only trip with Adventures by Disney! I may be using AA miles to fly JAL or Cathay Pacific.

Thanksgiving or 2019 or sometime in 2020 I’m going for either the Maldives or Bora Bora with overwater bungalows. It will either be with Hilton or IHG. We have about 700k points in each program so we can put something together. Just a matter of securing the resort and flights.

July/Aug 2020 - Aulani with my family. Using DVC points. Alaska Air and companion passes that come with the card to get them there.

Unless Adventures by Disney comes out with a new itinerary we simply have to do we will focus on the less pricier adventures.

2021, 2022, 2023 - Maiden Voyage for each new Disney ship.

 

[miztressuz]

Thanks! I haven't applied for a credit card in over a year, if that is what you mean? I currently have four Chase cards - 2 SW, 1 Disney and 1 Sapphire. I'm looking at the Amex Hilton card with no fee and 75,000 point sign-up bonus but one night at Hilton Tokyo Bay is 117,000 points so probably not the best deal for us - even though I travel for work, sometimes, we have to use the University's travel card not any of our own.

I'm not as familiar with Hilton yet, but the Hilton Ascend card also has an offer right now for a free weekend night certificate on your card anniversary. It has an annual fee so it's really a $95 "free" night (or $190 depending on how they work the cert, may have to pay for 2nd year to get the cert I don't know their timing) but if it can be used on that hotel might be worth it. Have to do some research on the cert hotel restrictions though. It's also 100k points bonus for 3k in spend. If the cert can be used, that card also has a perk of a weekend night cert after 15k in spend in a calendar year... if you can put that much spend between now and end of year. But if you can do that might be a better value to get different cards. Does it come up in the UR portal, how much is the hotel in UR points by comparison?

For work, even if you can't use your own CC, do you get to pick which hotels to stay at? We had flexibility to a point so I was nearly always able to pick the chain I wanted to earn points at. So it smarted to not be able to use my own CC but I still got hotel points for free. One business trip by itself paid for one night in Rome for us

 

[AmyAnne]

2021, 2022, 2023 - Maiden Voyage for each new Disney ship.

Whoa I missed something. New ships?!

Although the Magic itineraries have been our favorites.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Whoa I missed something. New ships?!

Yep, apparently Disney cruises are popular, who knew?! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/03/first-look-at-disneys-next-ships/

 

[gottalovepluto]

I think I took a step towards a big international redemption that will hopefully get me to a few places including the Maldives in the next couple years! I got a Hilton card! I like that they have more availability for points nights and that they will be opening properties closer to the airport in Maldives and their free weekend night certs. I got the Hilton Ascend (the DISchurner has been messaged ). Not necessarily an all time high but 100k Hilton points and the free night cert at my anniversary next year should result in 100k and 1 free night for $190 (2 annual fees). I wanted to get that free night asap so got that clock started! Next year I'll look into picking up the Aspire so I can use the free night cert with that and actually make use of the $250 resort credit. I figure the other night I can pick up with points earned from the bonuses and I'll have some points left for use someplace else.

Nothing is set in stone, I have no solid plans right now, just the outline of one. I'm a solo player here and not sure where life is taking me over the next couple years but darned if I'm letting that stop me from starting to make plans! I have 120k AS miles burning a hole in my pocket for some great international redemptions so my daydreams right now have a trip around the world worked out visiting some amazing places I've never been. Now... Need. More. Points.

Fwiw, this is my 4th Amex since I started in Oct 17. I was concerned about triggering a FR since my last credit line was only awarded at 5k so I did drop a line by 5k and got exactly that back a couple hours later when my Ascend was approved.

 

[Judique]

@miztressuz - my Marriott business card has arrived! Daughter just brought it in so not sure if it arrived over night or sometime today.

The benefits state that you get one elite night for every 3K in spend, just as the personal does. Of course we know august 1 is coming.

 

[Artygal90]

Who here is working on 2020 or further vacations? I have next year set.. 2020 tentatively
and looking at 2021.

I don't think i will be opening up any new CC's. Just some old fashion saving and budget cutting.
(of course if some amazing offer comes ...all bets are off lol)

Me, always! Looking at a cruise for Jan 2019 (our first ever, already booked actually), Universal in September 2019, Disney in May or Sept. 2020. I'd like to sneak in a trip to Maine and DC somewhere in there too. Too many places to go, not enough $$ or points!

Edit: Oh, also the UK and Tokyo in 2020 and beyond. Maybe sneak a trip to DLR and Tokyo Disney in there...

 

[jujubiee4]

I think I took a step towards a big international redemption that will hopefully get me to a few places including the Maldives in the next couple years! I got a Hilton card! I like that they have more availability for points nights and that they will be opening properties closer to the airport in Maldives and their free weekend night certs. I got the Hilton Ascend (the DISchurner has been messaged ). Not necessarily an all time high but 100k Hilton points and the free night cert at my anniversary next year should result in 100k and 1 free night for $190 (2 annual fees). I wanted to get that free night asap so got that clock started! Next year I'll look into picking up the Aspire so I can use the free night cert with that and actually make use of the $250 resort credit. I figure the other night I can pick up with points earned from the bonuses and I'll have some points left for use someplace else.

Nothing is set in stone, I have no solid plans right now, just the outline of one. I'm a solo player here and not sure where life is taking me over the next couple years but darned if I'm letting that stop me from starting to make plans! I have 120k AS miles burning a hole in my pocket for some great international redemptions so my daydreams right now have a trip around the world worked out visiting some amazing places I've never been. Now... Need. More. Points.

Fwiw, this is my 4th Amex since I started in Oct 17. I was concerned about triggering a FR since my last credit line was only awarded at 5k so I did drop a line by 5k and got exactly that back a couple hours later when my Ascend was approved.

That Hilton Aspire/Ascend card is the one i keep wondering if i should get. I wouldn't really need it until 2021 so that is making
me hold back. Maldives sounds like a dream. I have seen pictures of the over the water bungalows. Is it Hilton?

 

[Albort]

That Hilton Aspire/Ascend card is the one i keep wondering if i should get. I wouldn't really need it until 2021 so that is making
me hold back. Maldives sounds like a dream. I have seen pictures of the over the water bungalows. Is it Hilton?

some are. Hilton so far is the only hotel chain ive seen where you can get overwater bungalow(95k). The only other way ppl suggest doing is redeeming UR --> overwater bungalow.

 

[GlamMistress]

We stayed in Barcelona post cruise last year (I know, I have a problem ) at the Ritz and my parents at another Marriott (AC Cotton) --both were great choices. Airfare is the bugaboo so I wouldn't worry about hotels- both Marriott and Hilton have footprints there so that's the easy part! This year pre cruise we're in the Hilton DCL uses and post cruise using my free Ritz nights

I was thinking about grabbing the Ritz card for Barcelona either pre or post cruise. I'm doing RCL next August.

 

[AmyAnne]

Yep, apparently Disney cruises are popular, who knew?! https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/03/first-look-at-disneys-next-ships/

Wow. Not a fan of bigger ships but hopefully the new ships will mean more new itineraries for the smaller ships.

 

[Lain]

I'm planning a trip to Tokyo Disneyland for my 60th in September 2019. The Hilton Tokyo Bay seems like the more reasonable of the options. What would be the best card to get to earn Hilton points? I already have the Southwest visas (plus and premier) to get me to the West Coast from Boston. Then Alaska airlines to get me to Hawaii. DVC points to stay at Aulani. My husband will need a few days to recover from the flights before we fly to Japan. Cash to get me from Honolulu to Tokyo. All suggestions are welcome!

Thanks! I haven't applied for a credit card in over a year, if that is what you mean? I currently have four Chase cards - 2 SW, 1 Disney and 1 Sapphire. I'm looking at the Amex Hilton card with no fee and 75,000 point sign-up bonus but one night at Hilton Tokyo Bay is 117,000 points so probably not the best deal for us - even though I travel for work, sometimes, we have to use the University's travel card not any of our own.

So a couple of things to help us get a better idea of how to help.

Is your husband willing to apply for credit cards too, or would he be okay if you applied for credit cards in his name? This is what we refer to as “2-Player mode.” Two partners signing up for credit cards allows the couple to double up on the signup bonuses, potentially have one get a card first then refer the other to that card for the referral bonus, and allows each player to alternate card openings and slow their pace of signups so neither comes off hitting an issuer too hard and appearing as a credit risk to the banks.

How many credit cards have you opened in the past 24 months? (And if your husband is signing up for cards too, we need to look at this information for him too.) You mentioned you haven’t applied for any credit cards in over a year, but what about the past 2 years? Because while we’re looking at Amex for their Hilton cards, we should also look at Chase, which if you’ve been following has a “5/24 rule” that will deny you their most lucrative rewards cards if your credit report shows you opened 5 or more credit cards in the past 24 months. It would really help us help you if you could list what cards you might’ve opened in the past 24 months, with their name, month/date of opening.

Also, do either you or your husband have a business, or even a side business, and are you open to applying for business credit cards? A side business could be anything from selling things online (eBay, Amazon, Craigslist, Facebook, etc.), contracting, consulting, tutoring or teaching, babysitting, pet sitting or grooming, driving for Uber/Lyft, photography, renting out real estate, etc. Really anything can be considered a business for the purposes of applying for a business credit card. Business cards have some of the best signup bonuses, and an additional benefit is that most credit card issuers do not report business cards to the credit bureaus, so these cards do not show on your credit report and Chase will not count these against your 5/24 status.

What are your monthly expenses like? In order to earn the signup bonuses, the terms require you to meet a minimum required spend (“MSR”) by charging a certain amount onto the card within a certain amount of time (usually, 3 months). The bigger bonuses usually require a higher amount of spend, $3,000 to $5,000 within 3 months. Even if you don’t typically charge that much to your credit cards each month, if you look at your expenses there are usually things that you're paying cash or check for that you should be charging to a credit card for a small or no fee.

Two things in your plans that caught my eye:

(1) You’re visiting Tokyo Disneyland in September 2019 and are considering the Hilton Tokyo Bay because it seems like the most reasonably priced option.

- How many days are you planning to be in Japan?

- Are you planning to stay in and around Tokyo Disneyland/Tokyo Bay the entire time?

Hilton doesn’t have room availability out for September 2019 yet, but selecting 5 nights randomly in mid-September 2018 (9/16-9/21/18) shows standard award rooms at 75-80k HH points, and 315k HH for all 5 nights.

Checking Chase’s Ultimate Rewards (UR) travel portal on my Chase Sapphire Reserve (which makes my UR points worth 50% more) for the same dates at the Hilton Tokyo Bay, I see standard rooms from 111,740 UR points + taxes and fees. Although I’m not seeing Tokyo Disney’s other hotels on the UR travel portal, Chase’s Cruise & Tour travel agents should be able to book them using UR points, too.

So how do we get the points you need?

As I mentioned, Amex has increased offers right now until 6/27/18 on some of their Hilton cards. These are the highest historical offers on these card, which is something you want to consider when you apply for Amex cards. Amex has a one bonus per product per lifetime rule, which limits you to only one bonus on a card product – you take a lower offer, it’s very unlikely Amex will match you to a higher offer later, and you can’t sign up for the card again for another bonus – so it’s always in your best interest to go for the best and highest offer possible.

- The Amex Hilton Honors Business card (“Hilton Biz”) has a signup offer of 125k HH points after meeting a $5k/3 months MSR. If you and your husband both sign up for this card, that’s at least 250k HH points towards your Tokyo Bay stay. Ideally, in 2-Player mode, one of you would sign up for the Hilton Biz first, then refer the other to the Hilton Biz before the 125k HH points offer expires so Player 1 can earn 125k HH on her card, get a 25k HH referral bonus for referring Player 2, and Player 2 could also earn his own 125k HH, then pool all those HH points together when you’re ready to book. That’s about 285k HH points from just 2 cards (125k HH Player 1 signup bonus + 5k HH from purchases to meet MSR on Card 1 + 25k HH referral bonus + 125k HH Player 2 signup bonus + 5k HH from purchases to meet MSR on Card 2).

Unfortunately, because the increased offer of 125k HH points for the Hilton Biz ends on 6/27/18, it’s unlikely Player 1 will get her card in time to refer Player 2. And because the MSR is relatively high at $5k in 3 months, it may not be practical for 2 partners to be working on a combined $10k MSR in practically the same 3 months period. The previous offer on the Hilton Biz was 100k HH points: 75k HH after $3k in 3 months, and an additional 25k HH after $1k in the first 6 months. Player 1 could still jump on the increased offer of 125k HH points for Card 1, then when you’re ready to take on the MSR on Card 2, refer Player 2 to the Hilton Biz for the 25k HH referral bonus, and Player 2 would probably see a standard 100k HH points signup bonus on Card 2. That’s still about 260k HH points (125k HH Player 1 signup bonus + 5k HH from purchases to meet MSR on Card 1 + 25k HH referral bonus + 100k HH Player 2 signup bonus + 4k HH from purchases to meet MSR on Card 2).

Some of the Hilton Biz perks are pretty good, including complimentary Gold status, 12x bonus points at Hilton hotels and resorts (and 6x bonus points at gas stations, restaurants, and other categories), and a weekend reward night at after $15k spend on the card.

The real upside to the Hilton Biz is that it’s an Amex business card, which does not report to your credit report and won’t add to your 5/24 count if you want to apply for Chase’s cards. As a practical matter, Amex is known to give away their business cards like candy.

- You also mentioned the Hilton Honors no-fee card with a 75k HH points signup bonus with a $1k in 3 months MSR. Although it’s a no fee card with a relatively low MSR, it also doesn’t offer very much because 75k HH points will barely get you 1 night at the Hilton Tokyo Bay. In addition, as a personal Amex card, it will be reported to your credit reports and Chase will count this card against your 5/24 count. On the one hand, it’s a relatively easy way to bag 75k HH points (or 150k HH points between you and your husband) for no fee, but it’s also a small fishy when the ocean is full of bigger catch – like Chase’s cards that offer better rewards first.

Here are Amex’s four Hilton cards compared: https://www.doctorofcredit.com/four-american-express-hilton-cards-compared/(This article mentions a $50 statement credit as part of the increased offers on the no fee Hilton Honors and Hilton Biz cards, but be aware that there are reports of a glitch – in trying to trigger the offer with the statement credit for the Hilton Biz, an error on the backend would open a Hilton personal card instead of the Hilton Biz card, which obviously is not the card you might’ve applied for and the personal card counts against your 5/24. We recommend applying directly or through a "support" link to avoid this risk.)

On to Chase –

So let’s say a 5-night stay at the Hilton Tokyo Bay will cost you about 115k UR points. Let’s do a rundown of some of Chase’s Ultimate Rewards cards and their signup (and referral) bonuses:

Chase Sapphire Preferred (“CSP”) – 50k UR signup bonus, 10k UR referral bonus (5k UR bonus for adding an authorized user – but don’t add Player 2!)

Chase Sapphire Reserve (“CSR”) – 50k UR signup bonus, 10k UR referral bonus

Chase Ink Business Preferred (“CIP”) – 80k UR signup bonus, 20k UR referral bonus

Chase Ink Business Cash (“CIC”) – 50k UR signup bonus, no referrals

Chase Ink Business Unlimited (“CIU”) – 50k UR signup bonus, no referrals

Chase also offers the Freedom and Freedom Unlimited personal cards, but although they are solid cards for earning UR points, they don’t have very big signup bonuses so it’s usually recommended to downgrade (“product change”) a Sapphire card to one of the Freedoms, rather than sign up for the Freedom cards outright.

Keep in mind that the above cards are all subject to Chase’s 5/24 rule. You must be under 5/24 to be approved for the Sapphire and Ink cards. However, for Ink cards, since they are business cards, the Ink cards won’t add to your 5//24 count. There are additional rules like the “one Sapphire rule,” which you may be subject to since you hold a Sapphire card, that would prevent you from getting approved for another Sapphire card. There are timing rules too, like how frequently you can apply for Chase’s personal and business cards. Please check in with us to help you formulate a strategy and double check you’re operating within an issuer’s rules.

But as you can see, there are a lot of ways you can open just 2 or 3 Chase cards to get to 115k UR points to cover your Hilton Tokyo Bay stay.

(2) You’re planning to pay cash for airfare from HNL to Tokyo. Why? You could start by opening up some Chase UR-earning cards (listed above) and use the points you earn on them to either:

- Book flights on the Chase UR portal the same way as if you were paying cash on Expedia (really, the Chase UR travel portal runs on Expedia, and the currency is UR points and cash). 1 UR point is equal to 1 cent if you decide to “cash out” with a statement credit or bank deposit (don’t do this, because UR points are worth more when redeemed for travel). If you have a CSP or CIP, and you’ve pooled all your UR points on either of these cards, then you can redeem your UR points at 1 UR point = 1.25 cents towards travel booked on the UR portal. If you’ve pooled all your UR points onto a CSR, then you can redeem 1 UR point = 1.5 cents towards travel booked on the UR portal. You’re essentially paying the cash fare shown on the travel portal using UR points, which are worth more if your points are held and redeemed on a CSP, CIP, or CSR.

- Or, transfer UR points 1:1 to Chase’s many airline partners, including British Airways and United, which awards programs will get you from HNL to Tokyo.

So which option is better?

(I’m not as familiar with BA, so I’ll use United as an example.)

I see from awardhacker.com that it would cost as little as 27.5k United MileagePlus (“UA”) miles for a one-way economy award ticket from HNL to Tokyo. Keep in mind that Saver award availability is limited, so you should have the points and miles in place far enough in advance to book your award seats.

I checked United.com, and don’t see a 27.5k UA miles Saver award available for our hypothetical departure date of 9/15/18 (it’s at the standard award of 65k UA miles), but there’s Saver award availability on 9/17 and 9/18/18 (but not ideal, with 1 stopover and over 24 hrs. duration!). Looking at the rest of September 2018, I see there’s Saver award availability on 9/25/18 for 27.5k UA miles with no stopovers and a duration of slightly less than 8 hrs. The award price is 27.5k UA miles + $5.60. The cash price of the same flight booked directly with United is $592.40. The cash price of the same flight booked on the UR travel portal is the same $592.40, but because my CSR makes booking with UR points worth 50% more, I’d pay 39,493 UR points (or 47,392 UR points when booking with the CSP or CIP). Since 1 UR point transfers to 1 UA mile, transferring 27,500 UR points to United for 27,500 UA miles to book the Saver award is a better deal and use of your points.

But you need to get those points first!

Let us know what you’d like to do. Several of us are planning trips to Japan in the next year or two. @calypso726 and I have plotted out hypothetical flights for @Haley R, who’s working on some Chase business cards right now towards a trip to Japan next spring. And if you’re interested, we’d encourage you to join our community on Reddit, where we have a private group with tips, guides, and links to apply for credit cards that we use to support each other.

 

[elgerber]

Argh. Totally off topic but my son just put on offer in on his first home (condo). The market here is insane and stressful and we are waiting to see if they accept his full price offer or hold out for more money!! Ok just had to vent while we wait, since I can’t mention it anywhere else . And his credit is excellent thanks to his credit card history

Omg they accepted the offer!
Back to your regular chat now

 

[jhoannam]

How can I earn the most URs on Amazon? Don’t have the CIC. I have CIP, MPE, Amer BGR, CF & CSP.

 

[eeyoreland]

OMG, they swapped which sides the SW wanna get away and business select fares show up on. I almost had a heart attack that the flight I looked at yesterday had gone from $161 to $603 Then I figured it out.

LOL...that happened to me about a month ago!!! Ditto the heart attack.

 

[Lain]

Sep/Oct 2019 - Japan adults only trip with Adventures by Disney! I may be using AA miles to fly JAL or Cathay Pacific.

Speaking of JAL, I dropped my wife off at the airport for her JAL flight to Tokyo for a week of work abroad. She texts me in outrage at security that JAL doesn't participate in Pre-check, so she had to stand in a long line like a pleb. Then she gets past security, and the Air France/KLM Lounge at SFO was "at capacity" (it's always at f***in "capacity") and not accepting Priority Pass. EPIC FAIL!

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Thanks! I haven't applied for a credit card in over a year, if that is what you mean? I currently have four Chase cards - 2 SW, 1 Disney and 1 Sapphire. I'm looking at the Amex Hilton card with no fee and 75,000 point sign-up bonus but one night at Hilton Tokyo Bay is 117,000 points so probably not the best deal for us - even though I travel for work, sometimes, we have to use the University's travel card not any of our own.

Is that the standard room reward? That doesn't seem right. I've never see one that high. Grand Wailea is a Waldorf and only 95k a night. Sometimes the premium room rewards rate shows up, but that is when the standard is sold out. Availability comes and goes for the standard room rewards so keep watching.