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

[afan]

Hmm, I may be interested in this card instead of the Barclays Aviator... but I've never had Alaska miles before. We do fly American a lot, and we may be flying Singapore or Qatas later this year. I see all 3 are partners(?) of Alaska. Can you transfer miles to these programs specifically, or does Alaska show availability for all their partners and you book direct through them? It's a very tempting offer.

You can't transfer miles to another airline, that's actually quite rare to be able to do and I always find it odd when it's discussed.

You can book partner, but I never have. Not sure if it's online or a phone call. I've read blogs about it so there's info out there. I think intl partner is a good deal but I don't think you can book AA with them or that it would be a good deal.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

The flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai left the gate 5 minutes early and arrived 10 minutes early. Such a change from AC, which was the worst on time airline in N. America last year (by a wide margin), with only 60% of their flights arriving on time!

I got a taxi at the airport for a few dollars and when I arrived at my hotel right at 3pm my room was ready! Love when that happens. Unpacked and decided to wander around the Old Town area, where my hotel, The Inside House, is located. There are massages shops every few feet here, so I stopped and had a half hour foot massage for $5.50. I booked the hotel direct online, which gives me 16 pieces of laundry over my 4 nights, daily breakfast and afternoon tea, a gift (I chose an elephant tote bag) and 1 dinner (which I had last night). Before dinner last night I went to the Night Bazaar, but I didn’t stay long because it was crowded and didn’t have anything different than what I saw at Chatuchak.

Today I had booked a cooking class at MammaNoi and it was amazing. Everyone got picked up in a songthaew, which was cool. Then we went to the food market and had a small tour before heading to the cooking school. It was very impressive, which a large organic herb and fruit garden and nice ceramic pieces placed strategically around the property. We got to choose 3 dishes to make, I chose pad thai, Tom yum soup and Khao Soi. Since we made everything ourselves we were able to adjust the spice (I made my dishes mild). At the end of the class we were each given a cookbook with the recipes before being dropped off at our hotel.

Next I visited 2 gorgeous temples in Old Town and a ceramic shop, where I bought some really nice pieces, which they are shipping home for me.

Tomorrow I have a driver/guide to take me to an ethical (no riding or bathing and no show) elephant sanctuary and to Lanna to see a famous temple, visit a local village and a small market. It’s an early start (8am), but since I have been waking up at 4am that shouldn’t be an issue! I don’t usually get jetlag, but the 12 hour time difference is really messing with my circadian rhythms.





Night Bazaar




This is the best pad Thai I’ve ever had

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I have a stay booked for April at an IHG hotel. It's two nights and I should be getting a FNC this month. Can I call them and apply the FNC to the existing reservation? If not what's the best way to rebook two nights and use the FNC?

I would like to know this also. Have 2 Rooms booked for September at Intercontinental Miami for a night before a cruise. I booked on points but will have 3 FN Certificates coming up. Wasn't sure if I had to cancel and rebook or just call.

Sorry, so late to responding to this. I am not aware IHG can book two nights, one on points and the other on FNC. Marriot is great about this. Also, there has to be available inventory to rebook the FNC. You can modify the reservation to one night and then book online using the certificate, but keep in mind, there's no guarantee that your canceled room goes back into inventory. Of course, if there is inventory before you modify/cancel, it should be a non issue. If you call to do this, they will make notes to link your reservations together. If you are Diamond, call the Diamond desk.

Yikes that is a great deal! Part of my problem these days is that my kids' lives are in flux (starting/finishing grad schools, starting new jobs, relationships, etc.) so travel planning far in advance is pretty much non-existent. I'm lucky I got seven months to plan Japan. It's not going to be perfect but if I waited for perfect, it wouldn't happen at all.

Regarding the blogs, which ones do you follow? I admit I am somewhat skeptical of bloggers b/c I suspect that their advice is driven by what is in their own interests.

I use MilesFeed which is a miles/points blog aggregator. From there, the blogs I prefer are
OMAAT - One Mile at a Time
DoC
Frequent Miler
Loyalty Lobby
Thrifty Traveler
I really, really, really dislike View From the Wing. It's the Daily Mail of miles/points blogs.

____________________________________
@*WDW*Groupie* I saw extend a Hilton Extend Diamond status offer and thought of you.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hmm, I may be interested in this card instead of the Barclays Aviator... but I've never had Alaska miles before. We do fly American a lot, and we may be flying Singapore or Qatas later this year. I see all 3 are partners(?) of Alaska. Can you transfer miles to these programs specifically, or does Alaska show availability for all their partners and you book direct through them? It's a very tempting offer.

Here’s the AS award chart. Book direct with AS if you have AS miles. When I booked Air Tahiti I did it all on the app but idk if all their partners are bookable online. The program is seeing big changes this year so make sure any blogs you read aren’t guiding you on the old redemption rates/ways.

 

[lsutigers03]

Sorry, so late to responding to this. I am not aware IHG can book two nights, one on points and the other on FNC. Marriot is great about this. Also, there has to be available inventory to rebook the FNC. You can modify the reservation to one night and then book online using the certificate, but keep in mind, there's no guarantee that your canceled room goes back into inventory. Of course, if there is inventory before you modify/cancel, it should be a non issue. If you call to do this, they will make notes to link your reservations together. If you are Diamond, call the Diamond desk.


____________________________________
@*WDW*Groupie* I saw extend a Hilton Extend Diamond status offer and thought of you.

Would it be easier to call to do everything or should I make the new reservation and modify the current reservation online then just call to have them linked? Also how far ahead of time should I ask if they have any upgrades available?

 

[elgerber]

Wow instant ink approval, 2 months and 1 day after my last. Darn FOMO. I REALLY need to lay low with Chase after this for awhile. But I am still 4/24 LOL.
Just send PM for the match, wish me luck.

 

[newfamilyman]

Alaska biz up to 75k with 4k spend, DoC posted about it with a link.

Got instant approval.

I also got instant approval, which surprised me since only Amex has been approving me of late. I haven’t had much luck finding good redemptions for Alaska, so I’m hoping that will change.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Well I am weak and my FOMO was too strong. I applied for a CIU for my Mom tonight supported my me and it went pending...

I didn't want to apply for another card under her name while it was pending, so I used a support link by a Diser over on Reddit to apply for a Bilt Card for my Dad. Unfortunately, that man has the worst luck with CC as that card application went pending as well...

I then check my Mom's email and voila! Her CIU was approved! Yippee! I immediately sent a SM requesting the card to be expedited and a separate SM asking Chase to please match the currently available SUB of $900 from her current SUB of $750.

Let's see if Dad gets approved for the Bilt...

Update. Dad was approved for the Bilt Card. Whew!

Applying for other players are always so nerve racking!

Now to start accumulating their points so that they can fly in comfort to/from Asia (again)!

 

[Sheree]

going to apply for an INK, DH support. which one can get matchd to the 90k points?

there's 2 with $750, thanks

6k spend in 3 months

 

[IFlossU]

going to apply for an INK, DH support. which one can get matchd to the 90k points?

there's 2 with $750, thanks

6k spend in 3 months

Either one

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

going to apply for an INK, DH support. which one can get matchd to the 90k points?

there's 2 with $750, thanks

6k spend in 3 months

One gives you 1.5x on everything, one gives you 5x at office supply stores. Unless you're buying a lot there or getting fee-free GCs, the 1.5x may be the way to go for you.

 

[AmyAnne]

Not sure if it's a dump or phantom availability but I'm seeing Boston to Tokyo on JAL available all through August with AA awards right now.

What's interesting is I can find premium economy JAL flights in August on AA using points TO Tokyo from several cities (and ended up actually booking from LAX--I did have some issues and had to call but it did work in the end) but I cannot find any flights FROM Tokyo to any US cities using points. Seems weird to me but I am a complete rookie when it comes to award flights.

 

[Sheree]

One gives you 1.5x on everything, one gives you 5x at office supply stores. Unless you're buying a lot there or getting fee-free GCs, the 1.5x may be the way to go for you.

thank you! instant approval, 4k limit. just have to remember 6k 3 months!

 

[djmeredith]

You can check out my trip report from a few years back, but we definitely preferred the DLH Beauty and the Beast room over the Mira Costa. We didn't have the Venice view, though.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I was leaning toward DLH and your responses to me and Haley R sealed the deal. I'm not even going to try for the Harbor View.

Thanks for sharing! I showed ds a picture of a grand park view room at the Disneyland hotel and he was super excited about seeing the monorail and castle so I think we’re gonna try to book that.

I'm still debating between the grand park view and Beauty and the Beast, but leaning toward the park view.

 

[wanderlust7]

thank you! instant approval, 4k limit. just have to remember 6k 3 months!

The 90k public offer is rumored to end tomorrow morning. So you probably want to SM for the match now and take a screen shot of the 90k offer just in case.

 

[Haley R]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I was leaning toward DLH and your responses to me and Haley R sealed the deal. I'm not even going to try for the Harbor View.

I'm still debating between the grand park view and Beauty and the Beast, but leaning toward the park view.

It’s hard to beat a view of the park! Dh wants to do the alcove room but I’d be okay with the standard room.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

thank you! instant approval, 4k limit. just have to remember 6k 3 months!

Don't forget to SM!

There will be a tracker on the Chase app where you can see your spending progress and deadline --makes things easier. You'll probably have to factor in any returns yourself, though.

 

[kmc8826]

Has anyone else got language in the chase response to the 90k match request that you will qualify once make spend IF “haven’t got bonus in last 24 months.” I will still try to get the match when I make the spend but I thought that language was weird.

 

[SleepyatDVC]

Has anyone else got language in the chase response to the 90k match request that you will qualify once make spend IF “haven’t got bonus in last 24 months.” I will still try to get the match when I make the spend but I thought that language was weird.

Yes, my Mom got that same message in the response to her SM request for the match for her new CIU. Lucky for her, her last Ink was a CIC. Not sure when she got her last CIU but most likely it was more than 24 months ago. So, let's see what happens...

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Has anyone else got language in the chase response to the 90k match request that you will qualify once make spend IF “haven’t got bonus in last 24 months.” I will still try to get the match when I make the spend but I thought that language was weird.

Strange. No, we did not get that message on Monday when DH and, I each received our replies about the match. Oh dear, I hope these cards don't switch to a bonus every 24 months...