I love credit cards so much!

[GlamMistress]

Royal Caribbean is doing a Cyber Monday sale - drink packages, fine dining and excursions are reduced. This means I'll be buying my Vatican excursion for the Barcelona cruise I guess. I was wanting to wait because I've spent so much money lately but it doesn't make sense to pay more when I don't have to...

It's time for me to figure out a new card, too. Not sure if I want to get a Hilton card for DH or hang tight for the Citi Prestige in January. All of Chase is out for me now that it looks like everything is 5/24. I'm also kind of interested in doing a Discover for all of 2019 to get the double cash back and the 5x earning for gift cards, etc.

Need to plot a plan of action I guess.

*****Finally, I need some advice.****

DH is going to Vegas next Sunday for work via Frontier. I actually have a seat on that flight too HOWEVER my work kind of needs me to stay back so I also have a flight to Vegas via United on Wednesday. I swear I read on Frontier's site it costs $99 to cancel a flight and then I would have credit for the flight for 3 months. Well the flight didn't even cost that much to begin with... I hate to be a no show (DH and I are separate PNR). What if someone needed that flight and I didn't give it up? Does anyone have any advice? Think I can get that cancellation fee waived?

I wish I could just go to Vegas with DH and be done with it. Staying alone in our cavernous house sucks.

 

[afan]

thank you to whomever it was that said to chat with amex about the missing $200 att credit. I got it!!!

Glad it worked for you too!

 

[elgerber]

hmm...
ETOPs for SW could be delayed is the current rumor... dont expect to fly SW to Hawaii any time soon... :\ bad news for us all.

ETOP?

 

[Albort]

ETOP?

SW is currently waiting for their ETOPS rating to fly to Hawaii. ETOPS stands for Extended-range Twin-engine Operational Performance. To ELI5 this, its basically means 2 engine planes when flying over water must be within a certain mile from land in case of emergency. Place like Hawaii though, there isnt an island in between the west coast and Hawaii, in order for planes to fly there, the plane and crew needs to get ETOPS rating to do so. This is the main reason Southwest hasnt be able to fly to Hawaii yet since they really didnt need it at all until now.

So whats the hold up?
on Oct 29th, 2018, a Lion Air flight flight flying a 737-Max 8(2 month old plane) crashed. It is believe to be a computer error that causes the nose of the plane to dip down and the pilots wouldnt be able to control it. Boeing has released an alert to all operators including SouthWest. ppl are believing this is the reason the ETOPS for SW just got longer... Southwest currently has 26 of these planes in service with 234 on order...

must stress though... rumored...

 

[Calfan]

Just applied for the Amex Gold card (well, actually, Rose Gold ) and got instant approval! I was holding my breath to see if I'd get a pop-up, since I've hit Amex pretty hard lately, but no pop-up!! I was planning to wait a little longer to apply because I want to go for the CIC in Jan. when I get back to 4/24, but it did take my Aspire a full two months to hit my credit report, so I'm hoping the same will be true of the Gold and I'll be able to sneak the CIC in before it reports. If not, it just means waiting until April to get back o 4/24, so no huge crisis. It was kind of killing me not to have an MSR for upcoming holiday spend. I know I had the Rose Gold button ticked when I applied, but I think I'm going to call Amex tomorrow just to make sure that's what I'm going to get. I did get my instant card number, so I'm good to go to start using it. I self-referred from my Biz Plat. I really need to do a better job of tracking my referrals. I'm almost positive I had referral room left on my Biz Plat, but not 100% certain. Guess I'll find out....

 

[jhoannam]

Is the Chase DD really dead?!? DH is going for the SW CP, with biz and plus but would love to DD the Plus & Premier to get the additional RR points.

 

[tink1970]

Just applied for the Amex Gold card (well, actually, Rose Gold ) and got instant approval!

CONGRATS!

 

[jhoannam]

Another question, DH is using my mom’s United card to pay for his TSA, can that be paid online or does he pay during his interview?

 

[mmmears]

Here's a DP for you all. Ordered delivery from Whole Foods last weekend (called Amazon something now) so AMEX won't give us the 4x points for that week. Good to know, although I'm not happy about it. It's not like we ordered anything other than groceries too. Asked them by chat but they won't budge. Guess if I want my groceries delivered I'll be using a different card.

 

[Lain]

Is the Chase DD really dead?!? DH is going for the SW CP, with biz and plus but would love to DD the Plus & Premier to get the additional RR points.

Yes. See the thread about the modified DD on DISchurners.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Just applied for the Amex Gold card (well, actually, Rose Gold ) and got instant approval! I was holding my breath to see if I'd get a pop-up, since I've hit Amex pretty hard lately, but no pop-up!! I was planning to wait a little longer to apply because I want to go for the CIC in Jan. when I get back to 4/24, but it did take my Aspire a full two months to hit my credit report, so I'm hoping the same will be true of the Gold and I'll be able to sneak the CIC in before it reports. If not, it just means waiting until April to get back o 4/24, so no huge crisis. It was kind of killing me not to have an MSR for upcoming holiday spend. I know I had the Rose Gold button ticked when I applied, but I think I'm going to call Amex tomorrow just to make sure that's what I'm going to get. I did get my instant card number, so I'm good to go to start using it. I self-referred from my Biz Plat. I really need to do a better job of tracking my referrals. I'm almost positive I had referral room left on my Biz Plat, but not 100% certain. Guess I'll find out....

Going for rose gold in a few weeks. I’m also 4/24 but think I’ll sneak in the CIC first also. Will also be back to 4/24 come March.
How do you get the card number right away?

 

[MrsAlexis]

thank you to whomever it was that said to chat with amex about the missing $200 att credit. I got it!!!

I hope I am next! I think we chatted around the same time and I have been looking everyday... nothing yet

 

[DisneyMandC]

So I just sat down and got those, and booked the Doubletree across from Universal for 3 nights for 90k Hilton points.

Just stayed there, really nice stay! I didn't put a review on the hotel thread because @SouthFayetteFan's pretty much summed it up. I do recommend the free breakfast. It actually was decent as far as hotel breakfasts go, and very filling. We booked a standard room and I checked in on the app and was able to get an 18th floor Universal view room. The only thing we stopped at the front desk for was to confirm we would get the free breakfast. They had to select that option for us instead of the 1000 Hilton points.

 

[MrPTato]

Here's a DP for you all. Ordered delivery from Whole Foods last weekend (called Amazon something now) so AMEX won't give us the 4x points for that week. Good to know, although I'm not happy about it. It's not like we ordered anything other than groceries too. Asked them by chat but they won't budge. Guess if I want my groceries delivered I'll be using a different card.

Is Whole Foods coding as 4x on Gold if I were to go in-store?

 

[Lain]

Another question, DH is using my mom’s United card to pay for his TSA, can that be paid online or does he pay during his interview?

Online.

Is Whole Foods coding as 4x on Gold if I were to go in-store?

Yes.

 

[mmmears]

Is Whole Foods coding as 4x on Gold if I were to go in-store?

Yes, I've tried it and it did code as groceries for the 4x. I generally go to the store, but it was bad out and I thought I'd try their delivery service. It's annoying because it's not books or electronics coming from Amazon somewhere, it was only groceries and was picked up and delivered from our local store. They are basically claiming that Amazon is a superstore (like WalMart) and they won't give the bonus points. Live and learn I guess.

This is the second case (in about a month) of AMEX refusing to give us the 4x for legitimate charges. Whole Foods delivery and DH's employer's cafeteria/cafe, which they say is coding as something else (they only sell food there, so again, it's annoying).

ETA - I guess I should use my WF gift cards from the Amazon deal only for delivery, but I hate holding onto GCs and I don't order groceries often. I do prefer to go to the store and choose what I get.

Also, I don't have high hopes for my Nespresso coffee purchase now. I spent $70 there yesterday on pods (there was a deal), nothing non-consumable, but I bet it also won't code as food.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Has anyone ever taken the train from EWR to Penn Station? I'm considering taking it into the NYC when my mom and I arrive in a couple weeks. Looks like there's a train that will be good timing for when we land. It's about a mile walk Penn Station to our hotel, but I figure either we'll grab an Uber or just walk it since we're planning on walking around the city a lot anyways to see everything.

 

[Psychodisney]

Another question, DH is using my mom’s United card to pay for his TSA, can that be paid online or does he pay during his interview?

You pay at the interview for TSA precheck. For GE, you pay online.

 

[jhoannam]

You pay at the interview for TSA precheck. For GE, you pay online.

I hope they don’t check the name on the card.

ETA: How long does approval take after the interview? He applied today and his interview is tomorrow.

 

[Psychodisney]

I hope they don’t check the name on the card.

ETA: How long does approval take after the interview? He applied today and his interview is tomorrow.

When I got mine with DH’s card, the person did not say a word. When my DS got his a couple of months ago, the person looked at the card and questioned him. She still allowed it to go through.
My DS had his TSA precheck number within 2 weeks.