I love credit cards so much!

[Calfan]

I just found the Lowes and Staples offers on my Biz Plat and DH's Biz Green. They weren't there this morning.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I assume you will do more research than my friends did. They had gone to LA Olympics and Atlanta Olympics because they happened to be living in both areas at the time. They were able to just buy last minute tickets to events. They didn't really care what they saw. Flash Forward to Olympics in London. They just assumed they could do the same thing. But apparently you cannot just buy tickets there unless you are from the host country. Otherwise you had to buy tickets in advance, from your own country. They stood in line several hours to figure that out. They ended up just seeing the Marathon because that was run around the city and no tickets needed. So I guess they can still say they went to the London Olympics, but they were disappointed. Planning is definitely not their forte.

Yeah, I'm definitely already keeping an eye on the official Tokyo website and saving some cash to purchase tickets. They have sort of a broad schedule out right now, but I don't think they've said when the tickets will actually be released yet. I'm probably not going to go for anything crazy like beach volleyball finals, but I would like to see some gymnastics and definitely the equestrian events. I don't think the equestrian events are as popular for the general public, especially since they're not going to be right there in the center of the action, so I think we should have better luck with those.

Ugh @Andysol - Citi denied my match, lol. They said to send a copy of the offer I received.

I sent a separate new backdoor SM trying again saying I saw a higher offer here: https://creditcards.aa.com/citi-business-card-american-airlines-direct

Have you ever seen somebody get denied the match? Of course that would be my luck, lol!

This is good to know since I was going to go for that dummy offer for DH. Looks like I'll just do the 70k/4k.

 

[Albort]

I've been looking at flight options for getting our family to Tokyo. Looks like ANA is the best and if we went in regular season, it would be 50k points each. Reading I can transfer SPG or Amex MR 1:1. Would this be the same for Marriott points, or is this different now? Would I still get the transfer 20k, get bonus 5k?

don’t forget about Virgin Atlantic ANA redemptions...

 

[gottalovepluto]

Ugh @Andysol - Citi denied my match, lol. They said to send a copy of the offer I received.

I sent a separate new backdoor SM trying again saying I saw a higher offer here: https://creditcards.aa.com/citi-business-card-american-airlines-direct

Have you ever seen somebody get denied the match? Of course that would be my luck, lol!

Everyone once in awhile we've seen this DP. You did exact right thing, just write a new SM.

 

[wendow]

don’t forget about Virgin Atlantic ANA redemptions...

I saw that referenced in my reading but I don’t get it. Is it a better redemption? Lower fees? Those are high on ANA!

 

[gottalovepluto]

I just found the Lowes and Staples offers on my Biz Plat and DH's Biz Green. They weren't there this morning.

Yep, my parents said it showed up on their Amex Biz cards today! I snagged it for myself last time but by the time they looked it was gone. Guess they pulled the offer when they realized their personal v. biz glitch?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Everyone once in awhile we've seen this DP. You did exact right thing, just write a new SM.

Yeah - I seemed to recall reading that. I figured it would be my luck, haha!

 

[MomoMama]

Hello wonderful travel experts on this thread I would love to hear your opinions and advises...

I used to regularly check this thread, but it has since then gotten so difficult with the volume of posts added everyday. I apologize if this was talked extensively before, but I noticed there was a talk about trip insurance today. I would always buy insurance for cruise and have actually used it once for DCL we had to miss, so I know how important that is. But do you usually think travel insurance benefits provided by credit cards (especially CSR) are sufficient for international travels other than cruises?

I thought they were sufficient, and did not buy additional insurance for previous trips. One of the reasons for me to justify CSR's AF was their insurance. But we have 2 international trips coming up this year, and started to wonder if $2500 secondary medical emergency benefit is enough.

Also can someone confirm or correct me on this? CSR or any other travel insurance would not cover for hotels paid with points, because there is no receipt to show the actual money paid?

Thank you!!

 

[amalone1013]

$115 PRICE IS BACK

Super big thanks to @palhockeymomof2 for $10.83 on a LUV voucher

If I even attempted to explain to a normal person (i.e. non-SW expert) what I just did they'd think I'm crazy...

• Booked a dummy flight for Daughter 1 to combine $10.83 LUV voucher) and $33 flight credit (+ small CC payment)
• Changed the dummy flight for Daughter 1 to combine that flight ($45) with $47 flight credit (+ small CC payment)
• Cancelled current points flight and got $5.60 as a travel credit
• Changed the dummy flight again for Daughter 1 to our desired flight combined with $5.60 travel credit (+ final CC payment)
• Then I repeated these steps for Daughter 2 (except I didn't have to do the first step since no LUV voucher)
• Then I repeated these steps for me (with the added complication of cancelling and rebooking the companion fare for my wife)
• So yes...I just booked, changed, and cancelled flights 12 times I believe in the matter of 20 minutes and now have 7 pending charges on my CC from SW for amounts from $1.15 to $21.97...

BUT for doing all of this I save my 21,918 SW points and will earn 1,686 SW points from flying for paying $77.28 cash out of my pocket.

My one mistake...I put the charges on my SW CC instead of my CSR. So I'll earn 154 SW RRs vs. 231 URs. I guess I'll just have to get over wasting $1.19 on that move LOL!!!

Ok I re-read this and it is much fancier than when I switched that MCO flight to a Nashville flight to avoid having a $5.60 fare credit

I am 4 pages behind, but wanted to pop in and say check amex offers...though I am guessing this may have already been shared today. ha!

I have Lowes and staples.

Thanks! Had them each on a different card!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Ok I re-read this and it is much fancier than when I switched that MCO flight to a Nashville flight to avoid having a $5.60 fare credit

Thanks! Had them each on a different card!

Hahaha - well the goofy part of this was that each of the 3 of us had ended up with both a $33 and $47 travel fund due to prices dropping on each of our flights for a summer trip. And of course I also wanted to use the $5.60 from booking these current points flights. Soooo I had 3 travel funds to use on each flight and of course Southwest only allows you to use 3 total payment methods so I needed to combine two of them so I'd only have "2 travel funds" and 1 CC payment.

Having a LUV voucher for the one leg then added one additional step because on that flight I had 4 "travel funds" and needed to combine and then combine again to get down the limit of 3. I will say this was MUCH easier when they allowed 4 payment methods...booooo Southwest!!

And I was trying to do it quickly because if the $115 price happened to go away while I had that flight cancelled it would have stunk! That's why I did them one at a time...well that and the fact that keeping all of these conf#'s with SW straight would have been crazy! It is absolutely useless knowledge for the most part but I love being a SW booking expert, LOL! I'm sure MANY on this thread could have figured this one out...but outside of our world...most of my friends/family would have been hopeless to achieve this result

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This is good to know since I was going to go for that dummy offer for DH. Looks like I'll just do the 70k/4k.

I will definitely report back on if my second effort works!

 

[Judique]

Are the free night cert's for the SPG biz and Marriott biz both for a room up to 35k points per night? And the Chase Marriott night posts right away after your anniversary, but the Amex takes 6-8 weeks, is that correct? My SPG renews mid-Feb, so I would receive the cert by mid-Apr? My Marriott I opened June 25th, so I should get that by end of July? Trying to see if I'd be able to use one or both for the end of July in San Diego. Thanks!

My Marriott night posted on my 1 year anniversary 12/25/18. And yes to SPG being 6-8 weeks.

OMG I JUST GOT THE AMEX POP UP



2 business cards in the last 8 months, how is this happening to me?!?!

That's just weird. I was looking at your stats earlier today that you recently posted and was wishing I had that lineup right now.

I have 5 Amex, 2 for the last 20 years or so and 3 since the end of July 2018 all with instant approvals and I was putting minimal spend on any of the cards up until I apped for the SPG Biz. Plus I did Amtrak BOA and Chase Freedom in the same time period....end of July until late November so in a 4-5 month period (I may have gotten the Amtrak card a touch earlier.)
I've already gotten my rose gold bonus and have been trying to lay out a plan for the Plat.
Maybe I should delay that plan until they come looking for me...

 

[Albort]

I saw that referenced in my reading but I don’t get it. Is it a better redemption? Lower fees? Those are high on ANA!

i think it’s just a bit higher. but u can move UR/TYP/MR to it vs ANA, only marriott and MR.

 

[wanderlust7]

Also can someone confirm or correct me on this? CSR or any other travel insurance would not cover for hotels paid with points, because there is no receipt to show the actual money paid?

I'm pretty sure CSR would cover hotels using URs. But I'm not too sure about hotels using the hotel chain's own points.

As for other travel insurance, I know there's insurance that will cover timeshare maintenance fees. And also ones that will cover airline award change or redeposit fees. So maybe there are ones that'll cover hotel points. If you wanted to find one, I'd start with the chat feature on Insure My Trip.

The relevant sections for CSR under Trip Cancellation/Interruption:

(page 47):
If any or all of the Covered Trip was paid for using redeemable
Rewards, the Company will reimburse the Insured Person for
Rewards used. The Company’s reimbursement shall equal the
monetary value of the redemption through the Common Carrier,
Tour Operator, Travel Agency, or Travel Supplier up to the Benefit
Amount. If the monetary value of the redemption does not appear
on the Insured Person’s itinerary or redemption confirmation
issued by the Common Carrier, Rewards program manager, Tour
Operator, Travel Agency, or Travel Supplier the Company will
reimburse the Insured Person ($.01) per point redeemed up to
the Insured Person’s Benefit Amount.

(page 54):
Rewards – means points, miles, cash Rewards, or any other type
of redeemable Rewards, provided that all Rewards have been
accumulated through use of Chase Bank USA, N.A. and/or its
affiliates sponsored Rewards program

 

[CyndiLouWho]

I always joke that is the first thing I would buy if I ever won! One can dream, right?

Well it’s not the first thing I’d buy but it would definitely make the list

 

[Haley R]

I saw that referenced in my reading but I don’t get it. Is it a better redemption? Lower fees? Those are high on ANA!

We went through Virgin Atlantic using chase points. If we booked through United it would’ve been 300k points but by booking through VA it was only 180k points for business class seats

 

[disneybirds]

Need credit card suggestion for our college daughter. She is in an organization that requires fairly substantial spend that is reimbursed. I suggested she might want to sign up for a better earning card and to keep the expenses separate. She has had a Wells Fargo student card for about 18 months with a good credit score. She has also been a AU on one of my cards for years. I am leaning to a CFU. Credit Karma shows she is preapproved for a Blue Cash Everyday. Any other thoughts?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

And to answer my own question, guess what FedEx just dropped off?? That was crazy fast! Guess a trip to Sams is in my future in the next couple days. And it's here in time for $1000-$1500 vet bills coming next week.

I was glad my mom got her new CSP in time for yesterday’s vet bill of $500. Next week cardiologist vet visit. She’ll meet MSR in no time.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Ok off topic. Anyone do the Hp instant ink? Trying to decide if I should try it out.

My husband does it for his home office. All I know is he told me it is $2.99 for 50 prints and if I need him to increase it he can.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Same—but to me medical evacuation is catastrophic.

I think that varies greatly depending on your personal health coverage.