I love credit cards so much!

[Judique]

Oh gosh...I just read my comment again...and I have to do this guys...

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You didn't just go there!!!!! I hope your pastor isn't reading these boards today! This really made me lmao!!

 

[kmc8826]

I have thought about it too (the Disney change on UR’s) and just ran how much it would cost UR wise to spend 3 nights at UO and get tickets. 3 nights in Family Suite at Portofonio and 2 day PTP tickets for 5 of us is 242k. That would burn through almost all my UR’s but at same time I think it is sensible to earn and then use and not just keep. We are a Disney family and were underwhelmed when we went to UO 2 years ago but at the same time saving DVC points for 3 nights (before we check into BLT one bedroom) and then agreeing to the girls and their desire to do Harry Potter again might be worth it. I will have to ponder and talk to my husband.

In the future I agree with just category spending on Chase and then everything else you can Amex (or whatever else).

 

[Lain]

San Francisco Centurion Lounge: Departing Passengers Only, No More Than 3 Hours Before Flight -VftW

The SFO Centurion Lounge is now imposing crowd control measures with the following sign:

Due to high traffic in our lounge at this time, we can only welcome Platinum Card Members who are departing and who enter within 3 hours of their boarding pass departure time. We apologize for any inconvenience.​

Departures only, and no more than 3 hours before your flight. Does not apply to Centurion cardmembers.

Well, there are two new Priority Pass restaurants in the same Terminal.

Sad news.

 

[GlamMistress]

Well, I had an internal battle with myself this morning and a big freak out. For whatever reason I decided to check and see if Frontier had extended its schedule to April. It did on Wednesday for Discount Den (I'm a member) and I missed it. So of course my flights to Vegas for Aerosmith in April cost $500 R/T for me and DH. That is just too much for me on Frontier, considering you have to add bags too. So I popped over to Delta... and there were two award seats left at the cheapest rate on the nonstops each way. So I booked them, 77,000 Skypesos RT for really GREAT flight times for us.

Why the freakout? Because I was nervous about spending any of my Skypesos before I book Barcelona... and those flights will come open this week.

The way I see it, it's looking more and more like I'm going to be flying coach (ugh) on American to Spain which is 60k RT at the saver level. The Delta prices have been in the stratosphere for flights to Spain - even from big international gateway cities. So at this point, I'm just going with the cheapest way to get there and life moves on. I'll just drink a lot of wine during the flight I guess to make myself sleep. Or take NyQuil.

Like many of you have said over the past 72 hours or so - I think I need to really sit down and plan what is next. I'm an earn and burn churner. I grab enough points to get my next trip (or two) and then move on.

I don't know if that is the right strategy going forward, but I know I'm no longer comfortable sitting on big award balances - I don't trust these banks at all and airlines and hotel programs even less. Seriously considering the Schwab cash out to help pay for DVC.

Back to my Aerosmith trip. I'm now out just under $300 cash for that trip. That's the ticket for DH and taxes/fees on the Delta reward. My ticket was paid for with cash back and the flights were miles. Now on to getting a hotel for free for four of us for 3 nights! I like to use my points to pay for my friends as much as possible.

 

[Alice Sr.]

Agreed. It would stink if we couldn’t get tix and dining anymore, but I could make due with hotels. Ugh

Now I’m wondering if I should go buy $300 worth of Disney GCs at BBY tomorrow since DH still has the deal on his delta gold card.

Could you provide the specifics of this deal or the initial post # and I'll go back and catch that part up? I was just approved for the Delta Gold yesterday and may be able to take advantage.

I think they were collecting funds back from anyone who used the offer multiple times on the same account. I’ve used the offer on my account and now this one is on DH’s

Is it available on other AMEX accounts? I have AMEX Plat and SGP Biz but I'm not sure where to check for the offer.

Heading over to Reddit to support the team.

 

[Judique]

I think getting a policy from somewhere else might be better but don’t have anything to base that on. When I’m booking a cruise I always use one of those online insurance sites with multiple policies to compare. Think it was something like insure my trip . Com. They have people who can answer questions too. Might research on cruise critic for more advise on insurance.

@DisneyMandC - this is the one I couldn't remember that everyone uses.

 

[striker1064]

I will, however, shift my noncat spend elsewhere...DH's new plat amex and MSRs?

Just a thought, the Amex Plat is not the best for non-cat spend because it doesn't have any cat bonuses except for 5x airfare and hotels booked through Amex Travel. If you want a good non-cat spend card for MRs, the Blue for Business Plus is by far the best bet (2x MRs on every dollar spent up to $50k annually).

 

[DisneyMandC]

Could you provide the specifics of this deal or the initial post # and I'll go back and catch that part up? I was just approved for the Delta Gold yesterday and may be able to take advantage.

Is it available on other AMEX accounts? I have AMEX Plat and SGP Biz but I'm not sure where to check for the offer.

Heading over to Reddit to support the team.

These are part of the offers that are available to people on their Amex accounts. Mine are at the bottom of my Amex home page when I log in. You can have different ones on different cards, but can only add one offer per account. So, for example, I have the SPG Biz and the Hilton Biz. I had the Best Buy deal on my Hilton Biz and added it. Had I also had the offer on my SPG Biz, I would not be able to add it on that card. However, my DH has a Delta Gold and has the Best Buy offer on that card, so I can add it for him.

Unfortunately, the Best Buy offer came out quite a while ago and has already reached the max number of adds, so you may not see it on any of your cards. It expires tomorrow.

 

[Judique]

the numbers it generates every month

The reason this thread is what it is and why it will continue so long as it stays 'nice'.

 

[DisneyMandC]

@DisneyMandC - this is the one I couldn't remember that everyone uses.

Thanks! I wonder how far out/how close you can buy. My grandmother is not doing well and is expected to pass in the next couple weeks, unfortunately. I don't know if I should wait to buy or just see what happens or what.

I hope no one thinks I'm crass for asking about insurance/posting about this. I don't want to seem like I'm just abandoning my grandma in her hour of need. I'm one of her almost 60 grandchildren and great grandchildren, so she is very well-surrounded by family at all times!

 

[hsmamato2]

Thanks - I think we are definitely need to put some disclaimers out there going forward with people though. I mean there's a ton of us here handing out advice (and all of it is GOOD advice). I think the big takeaway now is (1) Emphasizing a FLEXIBLE strategy; (2) Having multiple uses for the points; (3) Making sure people are aware that things can change at any time, with no notice. I'm SURE nobody will come back to me or @Lain or anybody who advised them to get a card and be upset.

Also if this change affects you and you aren't sure what to do - let's discuss it! Don't overreact and just cash out your URs. We can work through this, there are a lot of ways to travel to Disney. PLUS I want to see how the booking hotels with URs pans out because as I said in an earlier comment for a lot of people 40%+ of their Disney cost is in the hotels.

the thing is....(don't beat yourself up for good advice) you DID put out disclaimers....again and again! We ALL did (even as we complained about changes) the ONLY sticky needed at the top a thread like this is
*****THIS GAME CHANGES****** it changes so fast at times your head spins,and you have to figure out AHEAD OF TIME what your odds are of 'winning' something (it's a game,right?) and how much you could potentially lose if the changes affect you. None of that is within @SouthFayetteFan or anyone else's control...it has been stated,and restated here a million and a half times.
I'm not saying I don't have sympathy for me or anyone else when the game changes for the worse (wth Chase???) but we have ALL been warned. And as noted by a pp, we still will get something out of this game we play(most of us) even if returns are diminished.(which they are) The advice here has ALWAYS been solid,and no need to feel bad about giving it as it's pertinent. (I recall someone on the gc thread being stuck with a LOT of target gc that couldn't be converted to Disney at one point, that was rough) my personal loss is the SPG program. but whatevs..... life goes on. For my next Dis trip I'm widening my view to look at lots of options,and it'll all be fun.

 

[Judique]

Thanks! I wonder how far out/how close you can buy. My grandmother is not doing well and is expected to pass in the next couple weeks, unfortunately. I don't know if I should wait to buy or just see what happens or what.

I hope no one thinks I'm crass for asking about insurance/posting about this. I don't want to seem like I'm just abandoning my grandma in her hour of need. I'm one of her almost 60 grandchildren and great grandchildren, so she is very well-surrounded by family at all times!

Absolutely not! you have made it perfectly clear that your Grandma is first in your heart.

What you are showing is maturity in your ability to think clearly and plan for what might happen.

 

[hsmamato2]

Ok, because of 1, 3 and 7 I am going to go with suggesting started my with CSP. Then, pick up a Freedom for 5x to speed the earning potential. Most of the time when it comes to economy flights you are better off using UR to pay for them than a miles transfer. When the time comes, your friend can upgrade to a CSR to make the miles more valuable and after redeeming, downgrade back to the CSP.

A secondary route would be AA miles since there is a hub in NY. They are easy to pick up since there are two card issuers, Citi and Barclay.

thank you!!!!

 

[Judique]

San Francisco Centurion Lounge: Departing Passengers Only, No More Than 3 Hours Before Flight -VftW

The SFO Centurion Lounge is now imposing crowd control measures with the following sign:

Due to high traffic in our lounge at this time, we can only welcome Platinum Card Members who are departing and who enter within 3 hours of their boarding pass departure time. We apologize for any inconvenience.​

Departures only, and no more than 3 hours before your flight. Does not apply to Centurion cardmembers.

Well, there are two new Priority Pass restaurants in the same Terminal.

Sad news.

how much does that Centurion card cost? I can't remember as I threw away my invite.

 

[hsmamato2]

I am not sure which one will use less URs. But I believe if you book through the portal you will earn jet blue points on the flight. Something to consider.

thru the portal..... so I look at what is avaalbe on chase travel portal,and book straight from there= JB points? using what currency? if I use the ur for the entire amount I get jb points? but if I transfer and then use the points at jb itself I get no extra points?

 

[AmyAnne]

This is the second post that I've noticed this insurance co mentioned, the first saying that it was asterisked out when they typed it out. That's because the DIS doesn't allow it to be brought up here, whether it be typed out as an actual web addressed or as above to avoid the asterisk. We all know we don't have a mod on this board, though I feel bad for anyone that has to keep up with all of it, but we should still try to abide by the rules of the DIS by not posting about the companies they block. Yes, I removed it from the quote so as to not keep it going.

We are already pushing things with mentioning our reddit group here. Though I would think they would appreciate how it's been done and understand the reasoning. I'm sure they are aware this thread exists, it'd be hard for them not to with the numbers it generates every month. But we also want to continue to do what we do and help each other.

Is it really against the rules to post about the companies? I understand that DIS blocks links to certain websites and so typing one of those websites will be replaced with asterisks, but I have not understood that to mean that discussing the company is against the rules. My assumption is that it's a ban on posting the link to the website, not on discussing the company at all, but if that's incorrect, please let me know.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I did this for our upcoming cruise. Didn't think about med evac and got a policy that covers up to $1mil. I never get for domestic trips.

I rarely get trip insurance for domestic trips, especially when booked on points/miles. But I always get travel insurance when we travel internationally and make sure med evac is high. I know a couple people who have had issues while vacationing and could have used med evac.

 

[deide71]

I researched online and the commission is 10% from Disney to TAs on hotels/packages- that puts them underwater on all 1.25x and 1.5x points bookings even if they kept the entire 10% commission (which obviously they don't get to do)...

Yes, but no more underwater then they are with any booking.
My point is, what would be the motivation for changing the practice. Although it feels to us that Chase is being punitive ALL of the decisions they have made prior to this benefit their bottom line. This one doesn’t...that is why it puzzles me.

 

[hsmamato2]

It really depends on where you're located. I fly RIC to MCO. Roundtrip Jetblue with points can be as low as 9,600 points. The cash price is $157 though. So with a CSR redemption, it would be 10,466 URs. I come out ahead transferring URs to Jetblue.

please refresh my memory again on how fast you calculate IRL cost to UR points and how you know that?
***ETA*** so my cash price is $157/159(each way) points on JB is 10,600+10,700...
what would I expect to pay thru portal (csr) for those?

 

[Lain]

how much does that Centurion card cost? I can't remember as I threw away my invite.

You mean the black card made out of titanium for high spend/high net worth individuals? $7,500 initiation fee and $2,500 AF.