I love credit cards so much!

[mmmears]

@anita46 - I didn't use points/miles (since this was a few years ago) but we took my Mom (who was in her 70s but has back issues and can't walk much) to Alaska a few years ago. She really enjoyed it but had been there before and chose to stay on the ship when we docked. The scenery is lovely, even when the ship is "at sea" since the inside passage cruise we took from Vancouver was in such a narrow channel that we could see mountains, waterfalls, etc. pretty much the entire time. Best cruise ever. We did go DCL, booked a room right near the elevator, and went on a smaller ship so that meant a bit less walking for her. We chose a balcony cabin and it was great since she didn't need to jockey for a spot up top and could see a lot even while resting in our cabin. I think it's really nice you want to do this. I wish my Mom would come on our upcoming cruise but her back is worse and the flights (even lie flat) are just too long for her. Also, get wheelchair/cart help in the airports - it's so much standing and walking and this was really helpful. Hope this helps.

 

[Albort]

Yeah, it's pretty clear Amex thinks they can play by their own set of rules, so they do as they want. It's a shame, because they have great cards and sign up bonuses, but they are so frustrating it sometimes makes you wonder if it's worth the trouble.

Stuff like this happening more frequently is why I decided to hit Schwab cashout this year. It was always going to be something I did, but with Amex getting harder and harder on churners that expedited me rolling through their MR cards. All I have left now is the Biz plat and Everyday Preferred, and continuing hearing stories like this from so many people makes me very thankful I already got most of their bonuses and don't have to worry about them again.

heh, im thinking about milking Amex next. Amex Offer is so fun to play with. currently only holding to the 2 SPG cards.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I'm getting confused by the new charts etc now..... what is the redemption for points gonna be after 8/17? isn't it 50k per night,not 35? what category is that again?

 

[hopemax]

Alright, so I just posted a few days ago about using our Chase UR points to book most of our trip to Hong Kong...and I am already planning the next adventure. And I want to run it passed you guys to make sure I am understanding things correctly. (My test case, should be a lot easier than some of the stuff you guys are doing, lol. Not trying to do a bunch of fancy tricks.)

Goal: DH, my Dad and I want to go to Tokyo Disneyland for a week during Nov/Dec.

I have been trying to price flights since before Christmas already, there are no deals at all for airfare to get us from Denver to Tokyo. The first option that comes up is the United N/S flight from DIA to NRT but that is $2156 per person and never seems to go on sale. Even if discounts with itineraries through the west coast, eventually come out, I would still prefer the N/S flight. United Award Saver fares are 35,000 miles each way so 70,000 per person total. Taxes & fees are $47 per ticket. I have looked at availability and even looking just 6 weeks out, for this flight there are Saver awards available @35,000. So it doesn't look like by the time we collect our bonus miles and book hopefully in August that availability would be a problem. Is this a valid expectation? (Business/FC is another story, but we are okay toughing it out in Economy).

DH has 2 Chase cards. I am AU on 2 Chase cards, Dad has 1 Chase card. (we are just babes, in this game). So no worries about 5/24.

Plan:

All three of us apply for the United Mileage Explorer Card. Current offer, expires Thursday. 50,000 pts with a $3000/3 months MSR, $95 AF waived the first year

My Dad, after he completes that MSR, he applies for the CSP (he doesn't travel/spend enough to make the CSR worth it). Current offer, I found a link that is 60,000 pts with $4000/3 months MSR but the AF is not waived, also there is 50,000 pts with same MSR but the $95 AF is waived first year.

Result:

Dad earns: 100,000 or 110,000 between the two cards, just from bonuses. So he has his 70,000.

DH and I both earn 53,000 (including original spend). Need additional 17,000 each. Currently have 31,000 UR. I am an AU on the CSR so we can transfer to either of our United accounts (correct?). I expect we can make up the 3K deficit either A. United miles from our HK trip (booked through the Chase portal, so we still get miles on United, correct?) B. Pending UR on CSR from our Disney hotel booking in HK. C. Additional spend, on either card.

So anything I have wrong or need to think about? Does the clock for the bonus points posting start as soon as you reach MSR (if we get done early) or after the 3 month period ends?

Dad doesn't want to work on MSR on both cards at the same time because he isn't confident he can reach the MSR that way (his spending is down now that my Mom is gone, but he does tend to use a CC for everything now, so he can reach the MSR one card at a time).

Thanks!

I am bumping my post back up, because I wanted to say we DID IT!

My Dad's CSP bonus points posted on Monday and I immediately booked our travel to Japan for the first week of December. It was super easy to transfer our UR points over to United. We have 3 RT tickets in premium economy on the daily nonstop Dreamliner United flight leaving out of Denver to Narita. Normally, this flight is $2400 per person for basic economy. So since we didn't have to spend $7000 on airfare, we booked 6 nights at the MiraCosta. I am over the moon excited. I can't believe I will have gotten to go to Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland in the same year, and the only airfare we paid was for some seat upgrades.

Thanks everyone!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

View attachment 339673

Ok so does this chart mean that the Level 2 Marriott property I need to book is 10,000 a night with the 5th night free right now, but after 8/1/18 it will be 10,000/12,500/15,000 a night depending on the season?

If I make the reservation now, can I lock in the 10,000 points a night cost? Will this work for just a points reservation even if I don't have all the points in my account yet?

 

[Ngwira]

Ugh Amex, what are you doing. I understand (well I don't really, but they do it) why they exclude cash-equivalent purchases from points, but I really do not understand why a tax payment is ineligible. It's a payment of a service! Not a cash equivalent. So crazy.

Told you why all my spend goes on Chase..lol

 

[miztressuz]

Ok so does this chart mean that the Level 2 Marriott property I need to book is 10,000 a night with the 5th night free right now, but after 8/1/18 it will be 10,000/12,500/15,000 a night depending on the season?

If I make the reservation now, can I lock in the 10,000 points a night cost? Will this work for just a points reservation even if I don't have all the points in my account yet?

The peak and off-peak pricing don't go into effect until 2019. So after 8/18 but before "early 2019" it'll be whatever the Standard redemption is for that hotel. You can check the specific hotel here: https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change

Yes if you book now you can lock in the 10k. You can reserve Marriott hotels without having the necessary points, but the points have to be available a certain time before the checkin date. It'll tell you the date/how many days when you go to reserve it, at some point it was 8 days before not sure what it is now.

 

[Ngwira]

I guess you're right, DH was gold for a long time and I don't know that we ever got anything in particular. If it doesn't happen it's fine- we won't really be in the room enough to enjoy it anyways! I was looking at hotels in Tucson for next year and drooling over this JW Marriott thinking how nice it would be to stay there and the views and then I was like "well it doesn't matter anyways since we'll barely be in the room to see them!"

I got the Times Square upgrade as a gold member at the Marriott Marquis last summer. I checked in early..around 8am so that maybe why? I hope you get it.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

The peak and off-peak pricing don't go into effect until 2019. So after 8/18 but before "early 2019" it'll be whatever the Standard redemption is for that hotel. You can check the specific hotel here: https://points-redemption.marriott.com/category-change

Yes if you book now you can lock in the 10k. You can reserve Marriott hotels without having the necessary points, but the points have to be available a certain time before the checkin date. It'll tell you the date/how many days when you go to reserve it, at some point it was 8 days before not sure what it is now.

Thank you very much for explaining. I was starting to panic just a little. I need to book 5 nights in South Africa for July 2019. I am deciding between 2 Protea Hotels (both Level 2 - currently 10,000 points a night). I am just hitting the 50 week mark for the dates I want for July 2019. My 100,000 Marriott rewards points should hit my account in about 2 more months. Now I can rest a bit easier knowing its not a big rush to book by 8/1.

I am having a bit of a hard time deciding between the Protea Hazyview and the Protea Paul Kruger Gate.

Protea Hazyview: tons of points nights availability with all classes of rooms, in the little town near restaurants, grocery stores, and other activities/sites we want to do/see, a pretty hotel with a beautiful view but not as spectacular as the Protea Paul Kruger Gate, 20 minutes from the Phabeni Gate into Kruger Park, DH and kids prefer to stay in a town.

Protea Paul Kruger Gate: super popular because it looks like a true safari lodge, spectacular scenery/property with average rooms, isolated with no restaurants or grocery stores, 45 min - 1 hour from town with activities, only 5 minutes from the Paul Kruger Gate into Kruger Park, points nights are selling out super quickly so it may be hard to get 5 consecutive nights. I prefer to stay here due to the gorgeous property.

 

[kayteekt]

Wow - great datapoint! I need to refresh the "churning for Disney" thread on DISchurners at some point and then we can add this info!

I didn't know y'all didn't know that. I learned it here I've done that for 3 bookings now. Goes for any discount Disney is offering. You need to call chase travel and tours, tell them what you want and what discount. They will have to call Disney to get your pricing. It takes a little while but so far I've been living double dipping on the discounts!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Sooo...in the past week, I used my Amex cards for the $5 off 25 @ BB&B and BBBaby. Also $15 off 50 at Sam’s on 2 cards. This morning I check my accounts to see what posted. All charges posted. $5 credits (x2) posted for purchases. Credits for Sam’s purchases have not posted. But there is an additional credit for $75 at BB&B. So I bought a Disney GC for $50 and got $80 credit. I’m sure they’ll figure it out and reverse it, but right now, they’ve paid me $30.

 

[jhoannam]

I am bumping my post back up, because I wanted to say we DID IT!

My Dad's CSP bonus points posted on Monday and I immediately booked our travel to Japan for the first week of December. It was super easy to transfer our UR points over to United. We have 3 RT tickets in premium economy on the daily nonstop Dreamliner United flight leaving out of Denver to Narita. Normally, this flight is $2400 per person for basic economy. So since we didn't have to spend $7000 on airfare, we booked 6 nights at the MiraCosta. I am over the moon excited. I can't believe I will have gotten to go to Hong Kong Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland in the same year, and the only airfare we paid was for some seat upgrades.

Thanks everyone!

Yay!! That’s wonderful.

Did you have to pay extra for premium economy?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I remember Amex was actively promoting using their Amex cards to pay your taxes around tax season too. That’s just shameful if they deny you the points.

Dang, if I found a copy of a promotion like that, I’d send it to them and say “where does it say I don’t get points?”

 

[jhoannam]

Thank you very much for explaining. I was starting to panic just a little. I need to book 5 nights in South Africa for July 2019. I am deciding between 2 Protea Hotels (both Level 2 - currently 10,000 points a night). I am just hitting the 50 week mark for the dates I want for July 2019. My 100,000 Marriott rewards points should hit my account in about 2 more months. Now I can rest a bit easier knowing its not a big rush to book by 8/1.

I am having a bit of a hard time deciding between the Protea Hazyview and the Protea Paul Kruger Gate.

Protea Hazyview: tons of points availability with all classes of rooms, in the little town near restaurants, grocery stores, and other activities/sites we want to do/see, a pretty hotel with a beautiful view but not as spectacular as the Protea Paul Kruger Gate, 20 minutes from the Phabeni Gate into Kruger Park, DH and kids prefer to stay in a town.

Protea Paul Kruger Gate: super popular because it looks like a true safari lodge, spectacular scenery/property with average rooms, isolated with no restaurants or grocery stores, 45 min - 1 hour from town with activities, only 5 minutes from the Paul Kruger Gate into Kruger Park, points nights are selling out super quickly so it may be hard to get 5 consecutive nights. I prefer to stay here due to the gorgeous property.

You can make reservations without having the points, I would probably reserve both hotels for now, until you decide where you really want to stay.

But what an awesome trip!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Yes, the Swan/Dolphin will both be Category 6 (50K). I was just being sarcastic about Cat 9, as they were Category 4 before April, then Cat 5 now, and Cat 6 in 8/17.

And in 2019, it will be 60K during peak season.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

So is it worth $116 to upgrade to Main Cabin Extra on AA for a 5 hr flight?

 

[HappyHappy]

Thanks for the kind words but I don’t currently have a CSR that’s why I don’t have a link. I’m planning to change that in a month tho

I'm in no hurry. Let me know when is doable.

 

[hopemax]

Yay!! That’s wonderful.

Did you have to pay extra for premium economy?

Yes. However, when we went to Hong Kong we bought a Global Premium Economy upgrade subscription for 2 on my United account. But the catch is that both travelers have to be on the same reservation. So for this trip, my upgrades were at no charge. We had enough UR points to transfer to my United account so that I could book DH one way on my reservation. We paid $179 for a seat upgrade one way for him. My Dad booked his RT from his account, so he had to pay each direction. We put him in the middle seat so it would be $169 each way, saving a few bucks. We haven't managed the credit card game detailed enough to get everyone flying first or business class for free yet, but just keeping the costs way down is good enough for now.

 

[amalone1013]

Sooooo if I let AMEX assign me a Hilton Honors number when I applied, how do i set up my online account?

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I got grumpy with the AMEX guy. I mean, I don't get super mean/grumpy really, but he annoyed me with his replies:

I see there's a tax payment of $1434 on 04/01. Tax payments along with transactions such as gift card purchases, card fees, etc are considered ineligible for points.

I didn't see that in the restrictions, or I would have chosen a different card.

Cards usually don't offer points for tax payments. We can offer discounts via offers & promotions, however, there're no points for tax payments.
We come up with offers and promotions all the time. If there's an offer or discount available to your card, we certainly let you know.

I will remember to use my Chase business card next year, since it does earn points on my tax payments.


Maybe it was how I read it in my head, but it felt condescending... I'm still annoyed. Then he went on about how I had 4 35 cent charges and charges under 50 cents don't earn points... okay, but my spending on that statement was $4963 and I earned 3477 points... even without the tax payment that's off by 54 pts. But he "went through every transaction one by one"

He also told me that this was an internal investigation and they don't contact me for that, when I just said I had wanted to check since I hadn't heard anything. Soooooo you opened a case on my request for my missing points, tell me the time frame is 6-8 weeks but usually much faster than that, but won't let me know the results? No one was going to call or message me and say my tax payment was ineligible for points?

So I lost my cool, and probably shouldn't have said that about Chase

That is really weird. I agree with others that you should call back and ask to speak to someone else. I used my Amex business platinum to pay my taxes and received the points. When I called about it before hand to make sure it qualified, the guy said something along the lines of of course you earn points; it's a great way to earn points. How about Twitter? You could point out they were marketing their cards as way to make tax payments and are now denying points with out specific language in the material.

I remember Amex was actively promoting using their Amex cards to pay your taxes around tax season too. That’s just shameful if they deny you the points.

Ditto! I remember this, too. I'll see if I can dig any of the promotions up but I suspect they are out of my trash now.