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

[CyndiLouWho]

I think I transferred MRs to Delta. Was able to use the Platinum for Delta lounge in Terminal 5.
Spent the night in Calgary at Hyatt Place near the airport. Drove up the next morning to Fairmont Lake Louise. We splurged and would stay there again! We stayed at Fairmont Banff but that one I probably wouldn’t do again.

Sadly, I have no MRs. Honestly never had an MR card, only co-brands. Lots of UR cards but have no URs at this point either.

 

[becauseimnew]

yeesh.... this has been the most unexpected year/couple of years roller coaster! So now here I am with an upcoming 3k bill to pay ,and I already hit my ink MSR..... I need another MSR for that 3k but I'm at a loss.... I can't do SWA till Feb(and I could use points!) I love hotel points but already have 2 ihg cc's....

Same, we’ve been hitting our MSRs faster than the Ink train allows. Plan for this year is stay on the Ink train and put the non-MSR spend on Hilton Biz and Hyatt card.
My goal is to hit the Hilton Biz FNC spend before I need to close it August. And the Hyatt spend at any point.

 

[Haley R]

We used our $400 in Plat dell credits today to buy a Nintendo switch for ourselves.

 

[havaneselover]

Hilton gift card ordered. Dell credit is next.

 

[becauseimnew]

For those using Dell credits today, accessories are 9X on the AA shopping portal.

 

[Babars_Wife]

Been slowing my churning because of other things distracting my brain. Am in the process of both my partner and I working on SW CP and have a huge expense coming up and realize I may need another credit card. Wanted to see what I can without impacting my CP pursuit.

Partner: is at 3/24
United 3/22 (1)
Amex Gold 3/22 (2)
Chase ink 6/22
Chase ink 9/22
Chase ink 1/23
Chase ink 4/23
Chase ink 8/23
SW personal 10/23 (3)

I will be doing the SW performance business for P2 on 1/5

Me: I’m at Chase 1/24
United 5/22 (1)
Chase ink 11/22
Chase ink 3/23
Chase ink 6/23
SW premier business 10/23

I am not able to apply for the next SW card (because of previous bonus) until 3/11/24

Am I safe to get a personal now and a business in March. I can’t remember if it’s “wait 30 days after personal and you can get a business” or if it’s vice versa or im just misremembering. And googling now about companion passes is giving me too many hilarious stories about people ruining their search (that are also giving me unnecessary anxiety)

Help?

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Happy New Years all!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Happy New Years friends. I am up this morning using all of DH's Business Plat credits before I cancel in the card in 10 days. I do have to pay the AF as the bill due date is 1/05, but the fee posted 12/11.

Credit I'm using, please let me know if I'm forgetting anything
$10 Wireless
$200 Airline (SW)
$200 Dell

Saks $50.00 (you can buy a GC in store)
$200.00 Hotel credit (book a refundable room to trigger the credit)

 

[havaneselover]

Saks $50.00 (you can buy a GC in store)
$200.00 Hotel credit (book a refundable room to trigger the credit)

Those are on the personal Biz, no?

 

[GZanta77]

Happy New Year everyone!!

Just got back last night from a Father/Daughter trip to Singapore with a 5 day cruise to Malaysia & Phuket. Was a great trip - made much better by this hobby. Singapore Airlines Prem Econ Newark to Singapore, Air France Biz Class Singapore to London and Virgin Prem Econ London to Boston - all on points + relevant taxes. Had a few nights at the Andaz Singapore on points as well. It was my first trip to South East Asia and has left me hungry for more. Absolutely loved it.

Now to get to work on meeting the MSR for that new CIC that arrived while I was away.

 

[Psychodisney]

Hilton gift card ordered. Dell credit is next.

What’s the Hilton gift card strategy? Is that to use the quarterly credit?

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Happy New Year everyone!!

Just got back last night from a Father/Daughter trip to Singapore with a 5 day cruise to Malaysia & Phuket. Was a great trip - made much better by this hobby. Singapore Airlines Prem Econ Newark to Singapore, Air France Biz Class Singapore to London and Virgin Prem Econ London to Boston - all on points + relevant taxes. Had a few nights at the Andaz Singapore on points as well. It was my first trip to South East Asia and has left me hungry for more. Absolutely loved it.

Now to get to work on meeting the MSR for that new CIC that arrived while I was away.

Would love to hear what you did/enjoyed in Singapore, and Phuket! We are planning a trip in Dec 24/Jan 25 to Phuket with friends, and we'll stop in Singapore for 12 hours on the layover there to explore (and maybe on the way back too).

Also, how was Prem Econ on Singapore Airlines? I am looking for flight deals to Phuket, and so far with the points currencies we have, we could either do United Econ/Prem Econ or Qatar Airways/British Airways in Econ or Biz (if we can find availability) or AA economy... or a combination thereof. Would love to hear more about the Prem Econ on Singapore Airlines and if you transferred URs?

 

[Narnia_girl]

I flew into Spokane on Southwest and drove to Glacier (4 hours). You can also fly to Kalispell, but as a smaller airport, it can be more expensive.

The best place to fly into for Glacier NP (the US side) is Kalispell. We went in 2017 and the fares to Kalispell were SO HIGH. We ended up flying into Spokane WA using SW points and drove. In hindsight, not sure that was the best use of "savings" since we had a 4-5 hour drive? We flew into Spokane late (and even later since there were storms in/out of DEN) and by the time we got into our hotel room (directly across from Spokane airport) it was 3am local, 6am our time -- we'd been up for 24 hours! Anyway -- we saved about $300 per ticket flying into Spokane (wasn't using points back then).

I said I'd never do that again if (hopefully *when*) we return to Glacier, but we also have much more flexibility on time/dates since we're mostly retired.

We also flew into Spokane on our Glacier trip. I loved the Spokane hotel access and walking back across the street the next day to get our rental car. We drove the scenic route (Kootenai Falls) to the west side of Glacier and that was about 6 hours.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

After having a semi-negative experience at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando, I think we are going to give the Orlando Conrad a try for spring break. I have 4 nights booked with points, 5th night isn't available at standard rate (fingers crossed it opens up so I can get that 5th free night), then we will move to Shades of Green for one night to take advantage of the Deluxe Resort extended evening hours.

I hope that fifth night shows up for you. Hopefully you were able to do an Open Hotel Alert or other alert program? I've had good luck with both Max my point and Stay with Points.

ETA: I meant to add that if that 5th night shows up, you'd have to cancel and rebook all 5 nights together, and there's never a guarantee the first four nights go back into inventory, so it's always a gamble. Good luck!

Happy New Years friends. I am up this morning using all of DH's Business Plat credits before I cancel in the card in 10 days. I do have to pay the AF as the bill due date is 1/05, but the fee posted 12/11.

Credit I'm using, please let me know if I'm forgetting anything
$10 Wireless
$200 Airline (SW)
$200 Dell

Same. I have five Amex cards with credits. I was busy creating the 2024 spreadsheet, then using a bunch of the credits. I think I'll canceling 3 plats/biz plats in the next couple months. It will feel really weird not to have those cards, but I'll be thankful not to have to juggle those credits.
I think the Aspire comes with phone insurance now, so I can switch over to that.

 

[havaneselover]

What’s the Hilton gift card strategy? Is that to use the quarterly credit?

Yes.

 

[GZanta77]

Would love to hear what you did/enjoyed in Singapore, and Phuket! We are planning a trip in Dec 24/Jan 25 to Phuket with friends, and we'll stop in Singapore for 12 hours on the layover there to explore (and maybe on the way back too).

Also, how was Prem Econ on Singapore Airlines? I am looking for flight deals to Phuket, and so far with the points currencies we have, we could either do United Econ/Prem Econ or Qatar Airways/British Airways in Econ or Biz (if we can find availability) or AA economy... or a combination thereof. Would love to hear more about the Prem Econ on Singapore Airlines and if you transferred URs?

If I recall correctly, I transferred MRs to Singapore Airlines - wasn't the best deal ~70k miles each, but I had a very narrow travel window and had to grab what was available, esp with it being so close to Christmas. We flew on the A350 ULR that only has Business and Premium Economy Cabins - 18.5 hour flight. I was dreading the flight, but wasn't too bad - it definitely helped that I snagged the exit row so had tons of legroom. Otherwise, in terms of seat and service, it was an OK Premium Econ experience, but the inflight entertainment system was very good. We departed Newark at 9.30am Sunday and arrived Singapore just after 5pm Monday. I napped about 2 hours on the plane. This worked out really well as it was not long to stay up after we arrived then went to bed about 11pm and got a good nights sleep. Did not really experience any jetlag.

In Singapore, we did the main tourist things - Chinatown/Little India/Sentosa/Gardens by the Bay. We really enjoyed the Christmas theming and the light shows - and the Christmas Wonderland was fun, if a little chintzy. Just loved how easy it was to get around and the vast number of places to eat and foods to try.

As I said, our Phuket stop was on a cruise - so can't give much of an opinion. We docked at Patong, which seemed a bit of a Party Central type place that I might have enjoyed 30 years ago. I probably wouldn't choose to stay there now, but I am led to believe there are much nicer and quieter places to stay on Phuket. Our trip was to Phang Nga Bay which has phenomenal scenery and we really enjoyed the excursion and boat ride.

 

[newski_mom]

Happy New Years friends. I am up this morning using all of DH's Business Plat credits before I cancel in the card in 10 days. I do have to pay the AF as the bill due date is 1/05, but the fee posted 12/11.

Credit I'm using, please let me know if I'm forgetting anything
$10 Wireless
$200 Airline (SW)
$200 Dell

I have to do that too, but for my personal plat. I have to cancel by the 15th. If the credits don't post by then, will I still get the credits? I will still have a gold card open.

 

[Psychodisney]

Yes.

Aspire?

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

If I recall correctly, I transferred MRs to Singapore Airlines - wasn't the best deal ~70k miles each, but I had a very narrow travel window and had to grab what was available, esp with it being so close to Christmas. We flew on the A350 ULR that only has Business and Premium Economy Cabins - 18.5 hour flight. I was dreading the flight, but wasn't too bad - it definitely helped that I snagged the exit row so had tons of legroom. Otherwise, in terms of seat and service, it was an OK Premium Econ experience, but the inflight entertainment system was very good. We departed Newark at 9.30am Sunday and arrived Singapore just after 5pm Monday. I napped about 2 hours on the plane. This worked out really well as it was not long to stay up after we arrived then went to bed about 11pm and got a good nights sleep. Did not really experience any jetlag.

In Singapore, we did the main tourist things - Chinatown/Little India/Sentosa/Gardens by the Bay. We really enjoyed the Christmas theming and the light shows - and the Christmas Wonderland was fun, if a little chintzy. Just loved how easy it was to get around and the vast number of places to eat and foods to try.

As I said, our Phuket stop was on a cruise - so can't give much of an opinion. We docked at Patong, which seemed a bit of a Party Central type place that I might have enjoyed 30 years ago. I probably wouldn't choose to stay there now, but I am led to believe there are much nicer and quieter places to stay on Phuket. Our trip was to Phang Nga Bay which has phenomenal scenery and we really enjoyed the excursion and boat ride.

We are looking to go to Phang Nga Bay while we’re in Phuket also, so it’s great to know you guys enjoyed that. Surprisingly, DH tells me he’d rather do a 18.5hr straight shot flight, then split it up with layovers, so I’ll have to look more into transferring points to Singapore Airways and the points cost. Thanks so much for the info! At least I know there’s another option to add into the equation now

 

[lsutigers03]

I cancelled a CIC last week. Do I need to wait 30 days to apply for a CIU?