I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[snugglebug]

Were not big ADR people even in WDW. Last time we did a late breakfast at Storyteller’s in GCH. I think Blue Bayou is too much $$. We did have beignets at Cafe Orleans but that’s it. But there’s so much yummy food even without ADRs.

At WDW we tend to do breakfast at Kona Cafe and one other TS, but not much more than that. Being gluten free I tend to get a little tired of pizza and burgers and I usually want more than a salad. Gluten free options are expanding though, so that's good.

 

[babyready]

Also double check how long it's been since you opened the card, as the credits usually have to be done in the first 90 days or so

I think working in @babyready 's favor is most if not all of the dummy booking offers from Citi give you 12 months for the statement credit. But if it was something like the Delta offers, you could be out of luck since those are within the same 90 days.

Any idea if there is an easy way to check this? I couldn't find anything when I logged in but maybe I missed it. I might just need to call?

 

[570traveler]

Is anyone here a discount den member for frontier? I am trying to verify the date I am looking at is part of kids fly free. Can anyone check? It fits in all the small print but I want to verify before I blow $60 on discount den.

I am. I can try and check for you. What are you looking at?

 

[happysavermp]

Hi Everyone,
I've been following this thread for some time now. This is my first post and wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU for all the helpful information regarding credit card rewards! My family has saved so much money on Disney/Universal trips. We were even lucky enough to book a free dining bounceback and then transfer it to Chase Cruise and Travel Dept. right before Chase decided to get rid of Disney. I'd love to join the private dischurners group on the more advanced strategies. I know I need to have ten posts first though. Hopefully I'm posting this correctly. If now please let me know by pointing me in the right direction. Thanks again!

 

[mmmears]

Ok fine Europe experts here....I have some questions.... (this isn't my trip)
So flying BA into London (fare was $1 with $289 fees ) and looking to save $$$ on the actual trip.
Fam of 5 (3 kids 11,7,4) starting to build UR stash, using plan popular over on the Reddit thread.....Trip length- 3 weeks,4 days. Trip date is July 2020.
Have no AF sapphire,plan to PC to CSR this month to double dip TC. Also as noted, currently building UR but not much else.
plan is to travel between cities using the rail system,etc.
Can air bnb gc be purchased to cut cost of housing while there?
Looking to rent that type of housing,probably 2-3 different city areas(London,Paris,etc)
If some hotel rooms are booked,and they're 5, are they 'normal sized' hotel rooms like most of America,with 2 double beds for the whole fam to fit in?
The plan is to see the sites and chill with the kids while soaking it all in,so the main cost concern at this point is hotels/homes.
What are any and all cc options to further cut some costs? what cc is best to have and use while in Europe?
2 player family- I think they're both at about 2/24,maybe one of them is at 3.(they need to cool it with chase for the next 3 months also) but they own a biz,and their expenses are an easy MSR... great credit scores etc of course. thanks for any insights! I've never done a Europe trip,so I'm learning for myself too! (gonna happen someday)

Replying before I catch up today, so I apologize if I'm repeating things already said.

Flights to LHR have crazy high fees. We do our best to avoid them and tend to fly into CDG because it works well from our local airport. There may be better options for them depending where they are going and their departure airport. If we just want to see London I just deal with it and pay the fees. In 2020 we decided to take the train to Paris, stay there for a few days for fun, and then fly home from there. There are still fees, but it's less than half what we were quoted when we looked at booking BA through LRH. Dublin is another option if they are just visiting the UK.

Hotels aren't made for families in general. We struggle every single time because there are 3 of us. I can't imagine what I'd do for 5. I have read (but have no actual experience) that places in the UK like Premier Inns and Holiday Inns have what they call "family rooms" that will accommodate larger parties. I haven't found anything like that at the higher end hotels that I've looked at. DD traveled to Europe last spring break with her college buddies and they found that Air B'nBs worked really well for a large party. Normal hotel rooms in Europe typically allow only 2 people per room.

As for CCards, having one chip and pin would be nice for the London underground. We used Apple Pay which worked on 2 out of our 3 phones (yeah, that was fun) because we didn't have one. Mostly we use the Platinum card, the Gold AMEX, and the CSR when abroad.

 

[mmmears]

So our school district isn't starting school before Labor Day next year meaning next summer will be normal length but the following summer we will have a shorter break before DD starts college. So I'm thinking of moving her spring break trip to April 2021 instead of Summer 2021. I'm thinking 5 nights in London, three in Paris. Probably round trip out of Dulles (IAD to London, Paris to IAD). I currently have:

• 70,000 AA Miles
• 180,000 UR points (hopefully another 105k in the next few months)
• 100,000 MR points
• About 300,000 Marriott points

Anyone want to help me think through this? I'm thinking I'll do my 5 nights in London on Marriott points since I'll have a 50K points certificate to use and I'll get my 5th night free.

I looked at using AA miles (obviously I'd need more for round trip multi-city tickets) but the taxes are crazy high ($550/ticket???). So I'm looking at UR points which I'm figuring will be about 140K UR points. Is there a better option I'm missing.

Finally I'm thinking I can use UR or MR points for three nights Paris. Marriott points would also be an option but I don't want to limit myself.

Personal preference, but when doing something similar I just book 2 one way flights and take the train. It actually saves time since it's city center to city center so you don't lose the day at all.

Taxes into/out of LHR are crazy high, especially if you aren't booking economy seats.

We used URs for our next trip, but transferred them to the airline and bought the seats that way. It took far fewer URs than booking on the Chase portal. MRs also work really well in this capacity, and AMEX often runs transfer points specials with BA.

As for hotels, I think it just depends on what you have, points wise. We are using Marriott points in Copenhagen and Hyatt points in Paris.

 

[elgerber]

So, figuring I was being denied on my Barclays Hawaiian biz (that I no longer need LOL, since I booked with other lines), I applied for CIP. That was expedited and just arrived. Then 5 minutes later Barclays calls, asks some questions and now I have a Barclays Hawaiian biz on the way LOL. Ooops. They transfer to which hotel again, is it Hilton?

 

[havaneselover]

Personal preference, but when doing something similar I just book 2 one way flights and take the train. It actually saves time since it's city center to city center so you don't lose the day at all.

Taxes into/out of LHR are crazy high, especially if you aren't booking economy seats.

We used URs for our next trip, but transferred them to the airline and bought the seats that way. It took far fewer URs than booking on the Chase portal. MRs also work really well in this capacity, and AMEX often runs transfer points specials with BA.

As for hotels, I think it just depends on what you have, points wise. We are using Marriott points in Copenhagen and Hyatt points in Paris.

Yes, we are definitely wanting to do two one-ways and take the train from London to Paris. So tickets look to be about $1000 round trip so with CSR that's about 133,000 URs for two tickets. I did see I could transfer points to United but the cheapest one ways they had seemed to be 45,000 miles. I'll keep investigating. I'll also keep my eyes on MR specials. Hoping to have another 100,000 MRs within the next 9 months or so.

 

[EACarlson]

Just saw Disneyland Paris is getting a Marvel hotel (I'm behind in my Disney news). Need to work this into my 2021 trip for DD.

And now I know where my wife and I will be staying one night of our Paris trip in 2021.

Also, DH started a new job a few weeks ago with a lot of travel. Which we book ourselves and get reimbursed. Now to figure out the best cards for all of this new stuff. Jet blue and delta seem to be the best for most of his flights, neither of which we usually fly. Jet blue might be more useful for us for points. Unsure if jet blue CC would be useful. And they tend to stay at Marriotts (easier for him to stay where everyone else is, but he does have a choice) and we're usually hilton people. Time to dust off the old SPG biz card (now bonvoy)?. Or stay with CSR instead? Or a new marriott card? Any marriott or jet blue experts? Any favorite car rental places? We are not loyal to any company for that, usually book whichever is cheapest for family vacations...

If he is traveling a lot and you're making all of the bookings yourself, have you considered the Amex Plat? 5x MR on all flights and hotels plus lounge access and $200 airline credit. They are trying every time I log in to get me to upgrade my Gold. They may eventually wear me down but I don't fly enough to really make the most of it.
I've been partial to Hertz for the last couple years for car rentals. Being AAA members there is no fee for my wife to drive the car and she doesn't have to be there when I pick it up. Went through another company in DEN last year. They didn't even have an ice scraper in the car, in Denver, in November. I do have a booking with Alamo in Dec at WDW. Just make sure you get on the loyalty list of whatever company comes out cheapest that will let you skip the counter.

 

[platamama]

Hello!

I have a somewhat silly question. I got the Citi AA Business card several months ago. I got my 40,000 bonus but I do believe that I was supposed to get some kind of a credit as well. I can't remember how much. $100 or $200 and I think my plan was to get a gift card with that. Well, I moved on and completely forgot about that.

My question is, how does that work? Do I just charge it to my card and then it automatically gets credited? Was there a time limit on that? I am now booking flights to Hawaii this Spring and trying to determine if I should do some upgrades to use that up but I don't even know how!

Thanks for any assistance!

Did you get this offer (screenshot I took in April 2019)? Looks like with this offer you have 12 months. I bought a $250 AA gift card through their website, and got a statement credit 6 days later. I don't think you can use a gift card to pay for upgrades though; I think the gift cards only work to pay for flights.

 

[miztressuz]

So our school district isn't starting school before Labor Day next year meaning next summer will be normal length but the following summer we will have a shorter break before DD starts college. So I'm thinking of moving her spring break trip to April 2021 instead of Summer 2021. I'm thinking 5 nights in London, three in Paris. Probably round trip out of Dulles (IAD to London, Paris to IAD). I currently have:

• 70,000 AA Miles
• 180,000 UR points (hopefully another 105k in the next few months)
• 100,000 MR points
• About 300,000 Marriott points

Anyone want to help me think through this? I'm thinking I'll do my 5 nights in London on Marriott points since I'll have a 50K points certificate to use and I'll get my 5th night free.

I looked at using AA miles (obviously I'd need more for round trip multi-city tickets) but the taxes are crazy high ($550/ticket???). So I'm looking at UR points which I'm figuring will be about 140K UR points. Is there a better option I'm missing.

Finally I'm thinking I can use UR or MR points for three nights Paris. Marriott points would also be an option but I don't want to limit myself.

I may have missed something and it's changed, but if you're only spending 5 nights in London I don't think your cert will combine with points to get you the 5th night free. You have to reserve all 5 nights with points and the lowest point night will be subtracted. Once you do that I'm not sure they can just swap out a night with the FNC, it'd probably still charge you for 4 nights and take your cert - which is what would happen if you try to reserve with the cert and points to start with.

But I'd be happy to be wrong.

 

[havaneselover]

I may have missed something and it's changed, but if you're only spending 5 nights in London I don't think your cert will combine with points to get you the 5th night free. You have to reserve all 5 nights with points and the lowest point night will be subtracted. Once you do that I'm not sure they can just swap out a night with the FNC, it'd probably still charge you for 4 nights and take your cert - which is what would happen if you try to reserve with the cert and points to start with.

But I'd be happy to be wrong.

Yikes--good information. I may cancel SPG Lux (or whatever the heck it's called) then and just use my points.
Or I can use it for one night in Paris.

 

[ten6mom]

I would love suggestions for must do things. @Lain gave me great info yesterday and I have a list going. We stayed at Camelot Inn last time, but have points for Fairfield Inn this time. The Best Western is the one right at the DLR entrance, right?

There are several Best Westerns near Disneyland, it's very confusing! The one that's right at the crosswalk is the BW Park Place Inn. The BW Anaheim Inn looks very close too, just a couple buildings away.

@CyndiLouWho - the BW Anaheim Inn is about 3 properties south of "the crosswalk" that leads to the tram dropoff area on Harbor. The BW Park Place Inn is literally AT "the crosswalk." For me, the hotels are comparable (both are long, skinny properties with exterior corridors) but the breakfast at the BW Anaheim Inn is better IMO, due to the outside eating area and overlook I mentioned. For the BWPPI, breakfast is actually served in the upstairs of the Captain Kidd's buffet right next door and I don't like their setup as well.

And @wanderlust7 is correct- in addition to those two I mentioned, there are an additional 2 BW Properties down on Katella, (Stovall's and Pavillions). Neither of them is QUITE as convenient, location wise, IMO. Stovall's has their own breakfast and last time (the only time) I stayed at Pavilions, they didn't have their own breakfast but gave vouchers for the Denny's which is practically in their parking lot. I didn't care for the Pavilions location after dark.

I think there are more BW in the area farther away but those are the 4 I have stayed at.

My family isn't into parades or even character dining any more, but we are HUGE fans of mobile order any time we can get it! My very picky eater just enjoyed the Ronto Wrap (inside SWGE) twice on this last trip. It's a pork sausage, sliced pork, peppercorn sauce, and cole slaw in a pita. Very tasty!

We do occasionally enjoy Mickey and the Magical Map if it's still playing next summer and on our second day, we chose to get on the DLRR first thing at rope drop and were the ONLY people on it for the entire round trip. It was awesome.

I think you asked earlier about getting park tickets through UCT and adding MP later? I know you can do that but is there any reason you don't just want to buy them with MP to begin with? I find that one less thing to deal with upon entrance is always a plus. Don't forget you get PP downloads and ride photos with it.

Always do rope drop. Get there EARLY- it's worth it because the crowds get exponentially heavier as the morning goes on.

I don't know if you're Starbucks people but I put my son in line at the turnstiles and then mobile order breakfast from the DTD location (NOT DTD West... be careful!) and then bring it back and we eat/drink in line as we wait to go through the turnstiles.

That's all I can think of for now!

 

[babyready]

Did you get this offer (screenshot I took in April 2019)? Looks like with this offer you have 12 months. I bought a $250 AA gift card through their website, and got a statement credit 6 days later. I don't think you can use a gift card to pay for upgrades though; I think the gift cards only work to pay for flights.
View attachment 443934

Extremely helpful! Thank you!

 

[Calfan]

A few churning/credit card updates:

--I continued on my quest to simplify my life and cancelled my Amex Biz Gold by chat earlier today after I noticed the $175 AF had hit my account. The chat rep alluded to my calling in for a retention offer, but I NEVER use that card and just wanted it out of my wallet, lol.

--My DD needed new shoes, so that took us to the mall over the weekend, which happens to be near Staples. Took the opportunity to use the $25 off $100 offer on both my and DH's BBPs and bought a combo of Starbucks and Amazon gift cards. I also used my CF for the shoe purchase at Dillard's to get 5x UR.

--Used my Happy Card at Regal over the weekend without any issue (first time using a Happy Card), so will now plan to use the $15 off $100 Happy Card offer on each of my kid's Plat AU cards. (Didn't have it on any of my own cards).

--Was also super happy to see a grocery store offer of 15% off up to $10 (or maybe the reverse) on the right Amex card: my personal Gold!

--Finally, I had to fly to Denver on business last week, and my Admin booked the flights for me on SW. She booked Biz Select, and I now have about 11k more SW points in my account as a result! (Assuming it's a combo of earning more on Biz Select combined with the multiplier effect of my AList status). I also got some IHG points for a one-night hotel stay. Business travel for the win!!

 

[mechteach1]

Hotels aren't made for families in general. We struggle every single time because there are 3 of us. I can't imagine what I'd do for 5. I have read (but have no actual experience) that places in the UK like Premier Inns and Holiday Inns have what they call "family rooms" that will accommodate larger parties. I haven't found anything like that at the higher end hotels that I've looked at. DD traveled to Europe last spring break with her college buddies and they found that Air B'nBs worked really well for a large party. Normal hotel rooms in Europe typically allow only 2 people per room.

It might have changed in the last few years, but Premier Inns used to just go up to a group of 4 in a room (and only the Family Rooms, which were super-tight). We used to live in London, and loved PIs for cheap stays in the rest of the UK (especially the ones in York), but hit that obstacle when we would travel with grandparents in tow.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Did you get this offer (screenshot I took in April 2019)? Looks like with this offer you have 12 months. I bought a $250 AA gift card through their website, and got a statement credit 6 days later. I don't think you can use a gift card to pay for upgrades though; I think the gift cards only work to pay for flights.

Yes AA GCs are only good for domestic flights, not upgrades, fees or international flights.

I may have missed something and it's changed, but if you're only spending 5 nights in London I don't think your cert will combine with points to get you the 5th night free. You have to reserve all 5 nights with points and the lowest point night will be subtracted. Once you do that I'm not sure they can just swap out a night with the FNC, it'd probably still charge you for 4 nights and take your cert - which is what would happen if you try to reserve with the cert and points to start with.

But I'd be happy to be wrong.

@havaneselover, @miztressuz is correct. If you use your certificate, you will still pay for/use points for 4 nights, unless you book them separately. I tried to figure it out by phone and any way the CSR tried I ended up paying the same number of points, so I ended up using the 5 nights/1 free. Kept my cert.

I think you asked earlier about getting park tickets through UCT and adding MP later? I know you can do that but is there any reason you don't just want to buy them with MP to begin with? I find that one less thing to deal with upon entrance is always a plus. Don't forget you get PP downloads and ride photos with it.

I have a travel credit on CSR for $300, ticket with MP is well over that. Was figuring I’d use a different card/credit/Disney GC later if I could. Since it seems like it won’t work well, I’ll just buy one ticket with MP now from UCT. I’ll have TY points for the other 2 I need.
Thanks for the other suggestions! We generally have breakfast in our room. We bring cereal, hit McD’s for coffee or make in room. (can get Starbucks later, just need caffeine hit) Last visit we were at Camelot Inn, this time right next door at Fairfield Inn. I will say the BW is tempting because at the end of the night, I am always dragging returning to the hotel and every extra step seems like a mile. I remember passing the BW at the crosswalk and thinking if I booked that we’d be ‘home’ by now. In the end, I have Bonblah points which will get me a free room (but no free breakfast )

 

[GlamMistress]

At WDW we tend to do breakfast at Kona Cafe and one other TS, but not much more than that. Being gluten free I tend to get a little tired of pizza and burgers and I usually want more than a salad. Gluten free options are expanding though, so that's good.

Kona Cafe is my favorite. I wish I was eating pancakes there right now. ❤❤❤❤

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Applied yesterday for CIU, approved today. Needed some more URs and we have (unfortunately) a lot of large spending coming up. More than I need for DH's new SW biz. One being a new ride on lawnmower. Ours died it's final death this week. But served us well for 12 years. It had "fallen off the truck" at home depot (literally) and had a dented seat and steering wheel. They sold it for $400 and gave DH a new seat and steering wheel to put on himself. After that steal, we're a little sticker shocked at how much new ones really cost.

Also, DH started a new job a few weeks ago with a lot of travel. Which we book ourselves and get reimbursed. Now to figure out the best cards for all of this new stuff. Jet blue and delta seem to be the best for most of his flights, neither of which we usually fly. Jet blue might be more useful for us for points. Unsure if jet blue CC would be useful. And they tend to stay at Marriotts (easier for him to stay where everyone else is, but he does have a choice) and we're usually hilton people. Time to dust off the old SPG biz card (now bonvoy)?. Or stay with CSR instead? Or a new marriott card? Any marriott or jet blue experts? Any favorite car rental places? We are not loyal to any company for that, usually book whichever is cheapest for family vacations...

CONGRATS on your approval. If you used a DISchurners link for CIU, Make sure to let that person know. If you were able to cross-support from a spouse, no worries.

 

[needsomesun]

And now I know where my wife and I will be staying one night of our Paris trip in 2021.


If he is traveling a lot and you're making all of the bookings yourself, have you considered the Amex Plat? 5x MR on all flights and hotels plus lounge access and $200 airline credit. They are trying every time I log in to get me to upgrade my Gold. They may eventually wear me down but I don't fly enough to really make the most of it.
I've been partial to Hertz for the last couple years for car rentals. Being AAA members there is no fee for my wife to drive the car and she doesn't have to be there when I pick it up. Went through another company in DEN last year. They didn't even have an ice scraper in the car, in Denver, in November. I do have a booking with Alamo in Dec at WDW. Just make sure you get on the loyalty list of whatever company comes out cheapest that will let you skip the counter.

Thanks! I have not ventured into MR world yet. Something to think about. We do have the loyalty cards of most of the major car rental places.