I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[leeniewdw]

AAdvantage shop portal...ARGG!!! I hate it! twice now my purchase hasn't tracked,is this just me? I'm just trying to keep my point alive....

I think I messed up somehow on my AA portal purchase. I had an offer to purchase something ($35 or more) via the portal by 6/30 and get 1000 AA pts. Easy enough. But I think somehow Rakuten messed it up. I know to dismiss that when using portals and obviously thought I did, but got an email about the pts I earned via Rakuten. Not the end of the world, but annoying.

 

[calypso726]

Can someone explain repositioning to me? I'm looking to fly to Europe for a cruise next summer. We've only flown international two times - once to Germany and once to Australia. Both were in 2018 and we flew United both times by transferring points from Chase. All flights were 30,000 pts each way. I know things have changed since then, plus I will have more options besides UR if necessary. (I was just getting into CC churning then and the easy route worked for me).

Anyway, we'll be flying from STL and don't need first class seats. Right now we're looking at either London or Barcelona to cruise from. The cruises would be last part of June into July if that matters.

Is there a good place to search to see what all is even available or how would you go about figuring where to position from? Most flights to Europe from STL tend to layover in Chicago, New York or Washington DC.

Positioning is basically getting yourself to an airport that is not your home airport or where you really need to go (on a cheap easy flight ideally) in order to catch a flight that is available on points/miles that is available or usually more convenient points/miles wise. Sometimes it is needed because the flight options you have from your home airport aren't good due to schedule, availability or the plane you want to fly isn't located at your home airport.

Some examples of positioning and the varied reasons for them that I have used would be as follows. My home airports are MIA and FLL and I wanted to fly the Emirates A380 plane with the shower in first class to Dubai. That specific plane with that feature does not service MIA/FLL so I had to position to IAH to fly on it. I booked my Emirates flight out of IAH-DXB with Emirates Skyward miles transferred from either Chase or Amex, I don't recall and then purchased a separate cheap ticket on United and flew to Houston. Spent the day with friends over there and then caught my flight to Dubai.

DH, my mom and I were taking a trip to Scotland via London and I wanted seats in F for us. British Airways F seats out of MIA were dry, nothing open even checking as soon as they dropped. I saw 3 F available out of JFK and booked that instead. Plenty of cheap or low miles cost flights to NYC out of Miami so we booked those for the night before our long haul flight and spent the day in New York doing touristy things and used a FN cert for our hotel stay.

More recently, I needed to book 3 flights for DH, niece and I to Greece next year. I wanted to book in business (J) and also have good odds of finding 3 J seats on a specific date that wouldn't be an obscene amount of miles and lower in taxes. My best bet was booking an Emirates Fifth Freedom flight out of EWR-ATH. I will purchase our 3 flights to EWR using UTB funds that have been accumulating for the night before we are flying out. Then I will use FN certs and book our stay and spend the day catching a show and doing touristy things in NY with our niece.

Failure of all intended potential plans to book flights caused me to position to London of all places, later this year as a stopover for 2 nights in order to get to Cairo. We will get to see the NYE fireworks in London and have tickets to see ABBA Voyage. I am also positioning on the way back home. My best option for an easy flight home with miles in J was Egypt Air to JFK. We will stay a couple of nights and catch some shows. Then fly home on United using United Travel Bank funds. So on this trip I am positioning to get there and positioning to get back home as well. Not gonna lie, this epic failure of mine will likely be one of the best travel hacking plans I didn't have. LOL

Hope this helps

 

[calypso726]

Is there a good place to search to see what all is even available or how would you go about figuring where to position from? Most flights to Europe from STL tend to layover in Chicago, New York or Washington DC.

I would start with what points/miles do you have to work with and then go from there. Flying to Barcelona, my first thought would be Iberia even though you'd likely have a connection in Madrid. I had Avios miles sitting in BA collecting dust and transferred those to Iberia to book our 2 J seats to Barcelona from Miami for our VV med cruise in a couple of months.

I think you need to have an Iberia account open for 3 months first. But you can transfer to a newly opened Iberia account from Chase or Amex. Chase transfers are instant and our travel companions opened up new Iberia accounts and transferred their points right away to book. TPG (yeah, yeah, I know) article showing the drastic difference of tax savings booking with Iberia over BA
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/move-british-airways-avios-to-iberia-lower-fees/

I also agree with a previous poster about working your way backwards. That is also good advice.

BTW I'm pretty sure AA has some direct flights to BCN out of MIA, CLT, JFK and ORD

Hope this helps

 

[CyndiLouWho]

It definitely depends on dates. Marriott allows you to add up to 15K pts and these are 50K FNCs.

When I checked dates originally, all nights were 66k so the 50k FNC + 15k points would not cover any nights thus making the FNC bonus useless for me. Just pointing out the caveat.

 

[2TxAgs]

Wondering if anyone else shares my point of view on which direction to get the more comfy seats?

We were in Europe for a couple weeks in June. Flight there left in the evening, arrived AMS 10AM. Didn't sleep much, just watched some movies and relaxed, but we dropped our bags and were good for most of the day, followed by dinner and an early night. Woke up ready to go the next day.

Flight home left at 8am and arrived 1pm. It was miserable being in the back of the plane! Didn't sleep much the night before, anticipating an early ride to the airport, and airport connections were long and frustrating. I'd have LOVED to be anywhere but in the main cabin. I think if I only had points for one direction in F or J, I'd choose coming home vs the flight to Europe.

Anyone else?

 

[NewbieMom]

Need some advice. A few years ago, DH's cousin decided to become a digital nomad and moved to southeast Asia. She just announced this weekend she's getting married and to plan for late 2025. The wedding will be in Singapore. I think I've read on this board a couple of people that have gone that far. Maybe @*WDW*Groupie* ? Would Singapore airline be the best choice? We're west coast (SFO) but can also position to LA if it's easier to get award tickets, but I'm not sure it's even possible to get 5 J tickets? Going that far, I definitely would want to be in J but right now, it's all a bit overwhelming to think about the points we'll need and travelling that far with kids. I told DH I'd look into it, but may just end up having him go alone. Anyone have suggestions?

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Wondering if anyone else shares my point of view on which direction to get the more comfy seats?

We were in Europe for a couple weeks in June. Flight there left in the evening, arrived AMS 10AM. Didn't sleep much, just watched some movies and relaxed, but we dropped our bags and were good for most of the day, followed by dinner and an early night. Woke up ready to go the next day.

Flight home left at 8am and arrived 1pm. It was miserable being in the back of the plane! Didn't sleep much the night before, anticipating an early ride to the airport, and airport connections were long and frustrating. I'd have LOVED to be anywhere but in the main cabin. I think if I only had points for one direction in F or J, I'd choose coming home vs the flight to Europe.

Anyone else?

Being almost 6' tall with long legs I need biz class for any flight over 3 hours. I could maybe push to 4 hours, but anything over that and I just can't, it's way too uncomfortable. My dh will never fly economy or premium economy. He pays for biz and first class seats -- he's not into points and expenses all of his travel. It works for me because I use the points that he accumulates for my travels. Sorry, I'm not much help.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Anybody been to Rome in the last couple of years? I am trying to plan our itinerary for our November Italy trip but the official sites of many Rome attractions don't work for me regardless of what browser I use. It's hard to know opening times and such. I could get tickets with third-party sites for, say, the Colosseum and Vatican tours, but it seems some of them have conflicting information. I would like to have the official times! Any help would be appreciated.

Also, if anyone has done any tours that you would recommend, let me know!

 

[nalabear]

Any new ways to get to Australia cheap for three? ANA and Lifemiles look the easiest and availability wise.

 

[wannabee]

Need some advice. A few years ago, DH's cousin decided to become a digital nomad and moved to southeast Asia. She just announced this weekend she's getting married and to plan for late 2025. The wedding will be in Singapore. I think I've read on this board a couple of people that have gone that far. Maybe @*WDW*Groupie* ? Would Singapore airline be the best choice? We're west coast (SFO) but can also position to LA if it's easier to get award tickets, but I'm not sure it's even possible to get 5 J tickets? Going that far, I definitely would want to be in J but right now, it's all a bit overwhelming to think about the points we'll need and travelling that far with kids. I told DH I'd look into it, but may just end up having him go alone. Anyone have suggestions?

I have flown to Singapore twice. Both on United - they had a direct - 17 hour flight from SFO and LAX the last time I flew in 2019

 

[Alexle2007]

I would start with what points/miles do you have to work with and then go from there. Flying to Barcelona, my first thought would be Iberia even though you'd likely have a connection in Madrid. I had Avios miles sitting in BA collecting dust and transferred those to Iberia to book our 2 J seats to Barcelona from Miami for our VV med cruise in a couple of months.

I think you need to have an Iberia account open for 3 months first. But you can transfer to a newly opened Iberia account from Chase or Amex. Chase transfers are instant and our travel companions opened up new Iberia accounts and transferred their points right away to book. TPG (yeah, yeah, I know) article showing the drastic difference of tax savings booking with Iberia over BA
https://thepointsguy.com/guide/move-british-airways-avios-to-iberia-lower-fees/

I also agree with a previous poster about working your way backwards. That is also good advice.

BTW I'm pretty sure AA has some direct flights to BCN out of MIA, CLT, JFK and ORD

Hope this helps

PHL is also another option for direct flights to BCN on AA. We just flew with them and it was easy getting in and out of Philly. we’re in MD so we did the drive and didn’t need to position.

 

[Alexle2007]

I am so torn. DS is headed to U of Alabama this week. I am going with him but he’ll be on campus. I can’t decide on just staying in Tuscaloosa at the Embassy Suites or the HR in Birmingham. I could use the Hyatt nights to maintain my status but it seems like being in Tuscaloosa would be fun since there are plenty of restaurants and shops to walk to. Any thoughts? I have decide by 11:59 tonight.

 

[chattadisser]

I am so torn. DS is headed to U of Alabama this week. I am going with him but he’ll be on campus. I can’t decide on just staying in Tuscaloosa at the Embassy Suites or the HR in Birmingham. I could use the Hyatt nights to maintain my status but it seems like being in Tuscaloosa would be fun since there are plenty of restaurants and shops to walk to. Any thoughts? I have decide by 11:59 tonight.

Can you do a few nights in each? They aren't too far apart and, to me, they both have enough for a few days of entertainment. After that, I'm done.

 

[punkin]

Anybody been to Rome in the last couple of years? I am trying to plan our itinerary for our November Italy trip but the official sites of many Rome attractions don't work for me regardless of what browser I use. It's hard to know opening times and such. I could get tickets with third-party sites for, say, the Colosseum and Vatican tours, but it seems some of them have conflicting information. I would like to have the official times! Any help would be appreciated.

Also, if anyone has done any tours that you would recommend, let me know!

We were in Rome last October and are going back this October. We did a Vatican breakfast tour and a guided villa borghese tour (bcause I was to late to buy tickets without a tour). I highly recommend both. We did not do the colosseum.

 

[calypso726]

Wondering if anyone else shares my point of view on which direction to get the more comfy seats?

We were in Europe for a couple weeks in June. Flight there left in the evening, arrived AMS 10AM. Didn't sleep much, just watched some movies and relaxed, but we dropped our bags and were good for most of the day, followed by dinner and an early night. Woke up ready to go the next day.

Flight home left at 8am and arrived 1pm. It was miserable being in the back of the plane! Didn't sleep much the night before, anticipating an early ride to the airport, and airport connections were long and frustrating. I'd have LOVED to be anywhere but in the main cabin. I think if I only had points for one direction in F or J, I'd choose coming home vs the flight to Europe.

Anyone else?

My DH was named PlanePrincess by this board and he has turned me into one too. So it's comfy seats both ways for us. But to answer the question, I suppose it depends on the time of the flight. For a late evening flight, I will want to sleep and arrive refreshed. The last thing I'd want is to start my trip irritated and sleep deprived.

 

[Haley R]

I need some advice/opinions on suitcases. We’re planning to check two bags for our Germany flight. We normally bring 3 backpacks, one for each of us, but are considering getting ds his own smaller roller suitcase to use instead. Is it unrealistic to expect a 3 year old to roll a suitcase through the airport lol? If it’ll be more trouble we’ll just stick with the backpacks instead

 

[djmeredith]

When I checked dates originally, all nights were 66k so the 50k FNC + 15k points would not cover any nights thus making the FNC bonus useless for me. Just pointing out the caveat.

Very true, some people can make better use of a points SUB.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

We were in Rome last October and are going back this October. We did a Vatican breakfast tour and a guided villa borghese tour (bcause I was to late to buy tickets without a tour). I highly recommend both. We did not do the colosseum.

Where did you book those tours? What website? Thanks!

 

[NewbieMom]

I have flown to Singapore twice. Both on United - they had a direct - 17 hour flight from SFO and LAX the last time I flew in 2019

17 hours on a plane sounds pretty miserable to me, front or back of the plane!

 

[punkin]

Where did you book those tours? What website? Thanks!

https://tickets.museivaticani.va/home/fromtag/4/1697083200000/Biglietti-Musei
That's for the vatican. I got the villa borghese tickets thru TripAdvisor, but the actual villa borghese website is https://www.tosc.it/en/artist/galleria-borghese/galleria-borghese-2253937/