I love credit cards so much!

[disneymagicgirl]

It should combine with the 1500UR after 5 purchases of $25+ using CSP/CSR, right? (that offer expires 12-31)

I think I Missed something. Is this targeted? Chase pay anywhere?

 

[Lain]

@Lain - I'm confused by self referring. I have the 50K rose gold card offer in the offers on one of my Amex cards. If I apply through that link is there any way I can also self refer myself?

Which Amex cards do you have?

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I think I Missed something. Is this targeted? Chase pay anywhere?

Yeah anywhere that accepts ChasePay; there's some info on DoC. I posted a screen shot waaaaaay back in the thread.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Yeah anywhere that accepts ChasePay; there's some info on DoC. I posted a screen shot waaaaaay back in the thread.

Seems I need to make some BB runs. thanks!

 

[brownhaired_girl]

DH was approved this morning for the Marriott Premier card. No automatic approval this time and 18 hrs late for the hay man who got cash. My old category 6 certificate became a category 1-4 after the merger and the room I wanted to use it on went from category 4 to category 5. I'm hoping I can upgrade, otherwise I need a new plan.

Then, I had some frustration today when I tried to use a Visa gift card that I purchased in August. I just opened the package yesterday, $200 card and it has $8.37 loaded . I went to Walmart and we were able to find and reprint the receipt from the purchase. Walmart customer service says they are not responsible and nothing they can do. There was an automated line to call, but no help there, no way to speak to person. I have to mail info into Visa Gift card. I sent in card info, copy of the receipt and card information. I'm hoping there is a good outcome..

This was especially frustrating since two weeks ago I tried combining some Disney gift cards on the gift card site. I have a package of 3x $50 that were not activated. I don't now which card I was using then so straightening that one out is going to be a little more messy, if even doable. From now on I will save receipts and deal with cards right away instead of just putting them in the drawer.

 

[Albort]

Is this targeted? Had a couple things from sb today but didn't read. Want to make sure I can find it.

Eta - I finally got the notification from sb.

i saw DoC posted on twitter that if you dont see this offer, sign off and sign back in should do that trick. to anyone else who cant find the offer.

 

[georgina]

Curious if anyone else is seeing this too. I've been playing the Marriott 29 game. Most I have earned is 500 pts a day. I sign in with my Marriott acct. DH only has an SPG acct. He had no points (all moved to my SPG before the merger) so I haven't bothered merging with Marriott. He has gotten 2 1000 point wins and today I got my normal 50 and he got 500. Small sample size but his SPG acct has more points than my Marriott from this game. Oh well, they'll all end up in my acct at some point.

My DH never had an SPG account, but he had a barely active Marriott acct with 1370 pts. He got 1000 twice and 500 once, while I was just getting 50 (I had merged my accounts and had over 100,000 Marriott from a recent credit card bonus).I finally got 500 yesterday. I think it is random though, based on what time you play if a certain prize is due.

 

[Lain]

DH was approved this morning for the Marriott Premier card. No automatic approval this time and 18 hrs late for the hay man who got cash. My old category 6 certificate became a category 1-4 after the merger and the room I wanted to use it on went from category 4 to category 5. I'm hoping I can upgrade, otherwise I need a new plan.

Then, I had some frustration today when I tried to use a Visa gift card that I purchased in August. I just opened the package yesterday, $200 card and it has $8.37 loaded . I went to Walmart and we were able to find and reprint the receipt from the purchase. Walmart customer service says they are not responsible and nothing they can do. There was an automated line to call, but no help there, no way to speak to person. I have to mail info into Visa Gift card. I sent in card info, copy of the receipt and card information. I'm hoping there is a good outcome..

This was especially frustrating since two weeks ago I tried combining some Disney gift cards on the gift card site. I have a package of 3x $50 that were not activated. I don't now which card I was using then so straightening that one out is going to be a little more messy, if even doable. From now on I will save receipts and deal with cards right away instead of just putting them in the drawer.

Congratulations... and I wish it was just that. It sounds like your VGC might’ve been compromised and someone else might’ve gotten access to your card and spent the funds. Unfortunately, that’s a risk, and I try never to leave my VGCs/MCGCs lying around for very long. @Albort might have more insight.

 

[Ava]

I applied my DW for the Barclay's AA Biz card tonight, and she got instant approval! And I finally got an e-mail for mine. 120K AA miles, here we come! Now to wait for the cards and put some purchases on them. I figure I'll use them for smaller non-bonus category purchases for a while so Barclay's doesn't flag us for not using the cards.

Interesting read and comments about the chase/expedia thing and vacation rentals. http://milenomics.com/2018/10/chase-ur-travel-portal-sold-us-out-new-expedia-powered-portal-issues/

Wow. Just another reminder for me to spend my points rather than banking them.

The devaluations just keep on coming.

I've only used the UR portal to buy flights so far, and those seem to be unaffected as far as I can tell. I've been looking at flights to London for next summer and the pricing/availability via the portal is pretty in line with what I'm finding from the airlines directly. Even so, I plan to use up what URs I have but not focus too much on earning more. I want to get more into airline miles (AA, Delta, JetBlue) and cash back cards, for more flexibility.

I just had the realization, that if we get the MCGCs from Safeway today with DHs AMEX, I should be able to load them into MasterPass and put them towards my car loan, and get the FFDs for them...

Do you have to load each card individually into Masterpass, or can Masterpass combine them so you can pay a larger amount on Plastiq? I don't think my landlord would be happy if they got multiple checks to cover one month's rent.

Starbucks bonus stars with ChasePay

Reload at least $20, three separate times with ChasePay and earn 475 bonus stars. Pair it with Freedom in ChasePay and earn 5x UR.

Do you know if this is targeted? I don't see anything under my offers on the Chase Pay app.

 

[mamathompson]

Booked my first ever awards flights last night! 5 tickets using UR's and another 3 using Capital One travel credits. I think we will have enough to cover the Capital One tickets in full before our 90 days is up. And we booked nonstop which we have never done before.

I've been thinking and researching more and am still torn on mine or DH's next card. I keep seeing all of these Amex deals and have some FOMO for sure. Next big trip will be in 2020 to Italy. Will MR's get me more than UR's internationally? I would also love something that could get us some GE credits or airline credits for baggage fees, but this isn't a must at this point. I can't seem to pull the larger offers incognito or through referral links though.

 

[platamama]

DH was approved this morning for the Marriott Premier card. No automatic approval this time and 18 hrs late for the hay man who got cash. My old category 6 certificate became a category 1-4 after the merger and the room I wanted to use it on went from category 4 to category 5. I'm hoping I can upgrade, otherwise I need a new plan.

Then, I had some frustration today when I tried to use a Visa gift card that I purchased in August. I just opened the package yesterday, $200 card and it has $8.37 loaded . I went to Walmart and we were able to find and reprint the receipt from the purchase. Walmart customer service says they are not responsible and nothing they can do. There was an automated line to call, but no help there, no way to speak to person. I have to mail info into Visa Gift card. I sent in card info, copy of the receipt and card information. I'm hoping there is a good outcome..

This was especially frustrating since two weeks ago I tried combining some Disney gift cards on the gift card site. I have a package of 3x $50 that were not activated. I don't now which card I was using then so straightening that one out is going to be a little more messy, if even doable. From now on I will save receipts and deal with cards right away instead of just putting them in the drawer.

Congrats on the first item (even though the card could've had a more timely arrival)!

I hope that you and many others like you who have a travel package can upgrade them. I really hate the way Marriott handled this merger, they didn't communicate anything useful. If I didn't feel that I got the upper hand in my dealings with them, I would be taking my business elsewhere. If you "overpaid" for your package like I did, you can contact Marriott for a 30K refund (they refunded me), I've seen others have success with that. Not so much with the upgrades though.

I've had what happened with you and your VGC happen to me a few years ago. It was a $500 VGC that I had around for 4 months, and when I ripped it out of its packaging to use at the store, it only had $11 left on it. It was a hassle, and I had to mail in copies of receipts and an affidavit for something, but eventually I got my $500 back (I think it was by check??). It was a VGC card issued by USBank, and I always have that experience in the back of my mind when I'm buying prepaid gcs and try to unload them as soon as possible. Sorry that ended up happening to you too, and hope it gets worked out. I wanted to share my experience so that you know it can have a good ending.

 

[calypso726]

Booked my first ever awards flights last night! 5 tickets using UR's and another 3 using Capital One travel credits. I think we will have enough to cover the Capital One tickets in full before our 90 days is up. And we booked nonstop which we have never done before.

I've been thinking and researching more and am still torn on mine or DH's next card. I keep seeing all of these Amex deals and have some FOMO for sure. Next big trip will be in 2020 to Italy. Will MR's get me more than UR's internationally? I would also love something that could get us some GE credits or airline credits for baggage fees, but this isn't a must at this point. I can't seem to pull the larger offers incognito or through referral links though.

I just wanted to say congratulations on booking your first flights with points!

As to whether UR or MR will get you more internationally, all depends on what airline you are flying, what class cabin and timing. We have flown a fair amount internationally and have used both URs and MRs to do so depending on the airline we need to transfer the points to in order to book an award flight. We’ve also used both MR and UR points to book an international flight and pay with points.

If you are paying with points and not transferring the points to an airline I would stick with UR points. With a CSR your points are worth 1.5 cpp on the front end. With an Amex, you’d need a business platinum card for the MR to be worth 1.54 but that winds up on the back end after about 30 days.

If you are going to book award flights and MR transfers to the airline then I’d go that route. Amex will run periodic point transfer bonuses and Chase never does. Recently we took advantage of a 30% MR transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic and will use those to book award flights.

Hope that helps.

 

[platamama]

Booked my first ever awards flights last night! 5 tickets using UR's and another 3 using Capital One travel credits. I think we will have enough to cover the Capital One tickets in full before our 90 days is up. And we booked nonstop which we have never done before.

I've been thinking and researching more and am still torn on mine or DH's next card. I keep seeing all of these Amex deals and have some FOMO for sure. Next big trip will be in 2020 to Italy. Will MR's get me more than UR's internationally? I would also love something that could get us some GE credits or airline credits for baggage fees, but this isn't a must at this point. I can't seem to pull the larger offers incognito or through referral links though.

Good job! That's such a satisfying feeling!

My family of 3 went to Italy this June on AA miles and on mostly AA metal. I used SW RRs to get to New York where we stayed a few days and caught a Hamilton show (paid for with bank bonus money), then direct JFK-FCO on AA (30K SAAver fare, $5.60 taxes&fees pp). Came back in business class VCE-LHR-JFK-DEN (57.5 SAAver fare, $82 taxes&fees pp). Neither MRs or URs transfer directly to AA though, both me and DH opened up two AA cards each in 2017 to accrue the miles needed (and maybe did some SPG points to miles transfer I can't remember; now it's Marriott points to miles), and did some shopping through the AA portal for bonus miles. It's definitely more challenging to plan award travel for families, and more so the larger the family is, since award seats are very finite in supply. I had the miles in our AA accounts by Sept (started collecting them in March) and pounced on the direct saver JFK-FCO flight when I saw it in Sept. for travel 9 months later in June. So it's definitely not too early to be thinking about how to get your points in place now for a 2020 Italy trip, which you're doing.

As for trying to get more MRs vs URs, you should find out what airline would serve you the best in getting to Italy, and then see if it is a transfer partner with AMEX MRs or Chase URs. If it is not, then you'd be using MRs or URs as cash equivalents so yes, high signup bonus is important, and also the category bonus where you can earn the most points per $ spent. If it turns out AA works the best for you, then the AA cc are the quickest & cheapest way to get lots of points. Both Citi and Barclay have AA cards.

 

[miztressuz]

Heads up for all the Platinum folks using the Uber credits, if you haven't seen it yet, it appears Uber made a change to how you apply the AmEx monthly credit. You have to manually select the credit in order to use it, new steps and info: https://thepointsguy.com/news/amex-credit-uber-cash/

 

[mmmears]

Booked my first ever awards flights last night! 5 tickets using UR's and another 3 using Capital One travel credits. I think we will have enough to cover the Capital One tickets in full before our 90 days is up. And we booked nonstop which we have never done before.

I've been thinking and researching more and am still torn on mine or DH's next card. I keep seeing all of these Amex deals and have some FOMO for sure. Next big trip will be in 2020 to Italy. Will MR's get me more than UR's internationally? I would also love something that could get us some GE credits or airline credits for baggage fees, but this isn't a must at this point. I can't seem to pull the larger offers incognito or through referral links though.

Congratulations. It's such a good feeling!

We've flown to Italy in first class on AA using AA miles.

We've flown to Copenhagen and London in business using MRs on Air France and British Airways. There was a "sale" on BA Avios which really helped us since we needed 3 seats and didn't have enough MRs if the transfer had been 1:1.

I'm new to URs and I'm using them mostly for hotels at this point, since we have the MRs and already know how to use them for air. So far it's taking fewer URs if we transfer the points to out Marriott or Hyatt accounts and book that way compared to using them at 1.5 cents to book through the portal. But I think this is something that you have to look at on a case by case basis.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

Congrats on the first item (even though the card could've had a more timely arrival)!

I hope that you and many others like you who have a travel package can upgrade them. I really hate the way Marriott handled this merger, they didn't communicate anything useful. If I didn't feel that I got the upper hand in my dealings with them, I would be taking my business elsewhere. If you "overpaid" for your package like I did, you can contact Marriott for a 30K refund (they refunded me), I've seen others have success with that. Not so much with the upgrades though.

I've had what happened with you and your VGC happen to me a few years ago. It was a $500 VGC that I had around for 4 months, and when I ripped it out of its packaging to use at the store, it only had $11 left on it. It was a hassle, and I had to mail in copies of receipts and an affidavit for something, but eventually I got my $500 back (I think it was by check??). It was a VGC card issued by USBank, and I always have that experience in the back of my mind when I'm buying prepaid gcs and try to unload them as soon as possible. Sorry that ended up happening to you too, and hope it gets worked out. I wanted to share my experience so that you know it can have a good ending.

Thanks and good to hear that things might turn out ok. I’m spending some time on FlyerTalk tonight reading about the travel certs.

 

[wendow]

Thanks and good to hear that things might turn out ok. I’m spending some time on FlyerTalk tonight reading about the travel certs.

I've tried to read off and on there as well. There seems to be no consistency in what Marriott is doing with these. I'd really like to upgrade mine but my dh has to call and he's been so busy that I've not brought it up. Let me know if you have any luck with Marriott.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

I've tried to read off and on there as well. There seems to be no consistency in what Marriott is doing with these. I'd really like to upgrade mine but my dh has to call and he's been so busy that I've not brought it up. Let me know if you have any luck with Marriott.

I am only half way through the Sept posts and will need the points from DH new credit card to upgrade.

 

[wendow]

I am only half way through the Sept posts and will need the points from DH new credit card to upgrade.

Are you seeing many people successfully upgrading?

 

[brownhaired_girl]

There were some as of Mid Sept