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

[MsOnceUponATime]

Ahhh, 21 days, I'm jealous! And I'll be waiting on your report since we aren't going until September. We too might look at an Airbnb in Paris, so many markets there I wouldn't mind buying food and taking it back to make our own meals some of the time.

I've been a little slow on booking things. I normally am not like that. This is such a big trip for us that I'm taking extra time to do more research than I normally do. I just bought trip insurance last week (I bought an annual package because we take a lot of trips). Better late than never. I have been having the food/meals discussion with my husband. It consists of how much are we really going to want to go back to the Airbnb and cook? We're going to be on vacation -- who's going to want to cook? But I really want to be able to do laundry and I do enjoy an apartment like space. The boutique hotel comes out cheaper -- even for two hotel rooms. I need to think more on it...

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

We're going in June, too! We're doing an Italy/Greece cruise and then heading to Paris after. We're at 16 days. I'm hoarding points for flights to Japan next summer, though, so I just cried a bit as I paid cash for our 4 plane tickets

Ohmygosh!! Please post your details (if you feel comfortable)!!!

 

[ljhayes]

Ohmygosh!! Please post your details (if you feel comfortable)!!!

We're on a direct red-eye from BOS->FCO on Delta. We're staying at the Optivm Hotel for one night and plan to sightsee on our own on the day we arrive. The next day I booked a pre-cruise tour so they will keep our luggage and we won't have to go back and forth to the hotel, and we'll do the Vatican then head to the cruise early afternoon. We're on the NCL Epic for 10 nights doing Italy and Greece. After the cruise we're flying to Paris (although I haven't booked those flights yet. Will likely use a low cost carrier into Orly). We're spending 2 nights in the city center. I've currently got two hotels booked and am trying to decide which one to keep: Hotel Tourisme Avenue and Hotel de la Motte Piquet. Planning a Seine cruise, Eiffel tower visit and taking the train out to Versailles. Then we're spending 2 nights at Disneyland Paris in the Sequoia Lodge, flying home on a direct flight from CDG->BOS on Air France. Signing up for a million cards as we work through all the spend to hopefully get us our Japan tickets

 

[iujen94]

I surprisingly haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere yet, but I just saw that Chase and Southwest are offering a companion pass through 2/28/25 plus 30k points as a SUB on all 3 of the Chase SW personal cards. Offer ends 3/11/24.

The offer is also showing up through support links.

I’ll throw in that my personal favorite of the 3 Chase personal SW cards is the Priority. It’s the most expensive of the 3 ($149) but the benefits of the card ($75 yearly SW credit, 7500 SW points each year, 4 upgraded boardings each year) more than pay for the annual fee.

 

[hsmamato2]

Global entry..... these appts seem difficult to find/get. Did I read here previously about passengers doing this when arriving at a destination airport,or did I imagine that?

 

[Psychodisney]

I surprisingly haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere yet, but I just saw that Chase and Southwest are offering a companion pass through 2/28/25 plus 30k points as a SUB on all 3 of the Chase SW personal cards. Offer ends 3/11/24.

The offer is also showing up through support links.

I’ll throw in that my personal favorite of the 3 Chase personal SW cards is the Priority. It’s the most expensive of the 3 ($149) but the benefits of the card ($75 yearly SW credit, 7500 SW points each year, 4 upgraded boardings each year) more than pay for the annual fee.

Thanks for posting this. Seems like an easy road to 1 year of CP. Sending to my son!

 

[hsmamato2]

I surprisingly haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere yet, but I just saw that Chase and Southwest are offering a companion pass through 2/28/25 plus 30k points as a SUB on all 3 of the Chase SW personal cards. Offer ends 3/11/24.

The offer is also showing up through support links.

I’ll throw in that my personal favorite of the 3 Chase personal SW cards is the Priority. It’s the most expensive of the 3 ($149) but the benefits of the card ($75 yearly SW credit, 7500 SW points each year, 4 upgraded boardings each year) more than pay for the annual fee.

where are you seeing this?

 

[Psychodisney]

where are you seeing this?

Go to the chase support a friend catchall. I found it on there.

 

[Psychodisney]

When cancelling a SW card, how long do you have to wait before applying for a new one?

 

[iujen94]

where are you seeing this?

It popped up in my SW app when I was doing my daily flight price drop check!

 

[iujen94]

where are you seeing this?

Here’s a link (NOT a support link) - https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/so...38_kwd-73942477455959:loc-190_dev-m_ext-_prd-

 

[hsmamato2]

oh thank you! this seems like a really good deal..... better than the 'regular' cp route?

 

[Haley R]

Just wanted to share the data for a trip we booked to London/Paris for Sept. P2 and I each transferred some miles to Flying Blue during the last bonus from Amex, but we had to top it off yesterday in order to book what we wanted. I had been keeping an eye on KLM/Airfrance and when I found a direct flight from Paris to Newark for 50K miles in Biz. Anyway, here is the breakdown all booked on FB all in BIZ:

CLE -> London 91K miles pp + $382 in fees (CLE-JFK on Delta, then JFK-LON on Virgin) wanted to book this way so we could check our bags straight through. We'll have a 4 hour layover to lounge hop.

Paris to Newark - 50K miles pp + $218 in fees (AirFrance). I will book a cheap cash flight on United from Newark to CLE since we have to get our bags, etc. in Newark anyway and we have the United card.

We will be there a total of 10 nights and taking the Eurostar from London to Paris. Excited to start planning and deciding on hotels, etc. Just wanted to share what I thought was a good deal of 141K miles r/t to Europe - actually less than that since we transferred a number during the 25% bonus. DH and I have been to both before, but London was 25 years ago and we didn't go together. We spent a few days in Paris in 2022 but felt we didn't have enough time and have wanted to go back.

ETA: I checked the amount we transferred during the bonus offer plus with what we added yesterday, and the total MR reward points was 234K or 117K pp.

We’re planning on doing London next May/June! We’ve never been. It looks like we’ll most likely fly into Paris and stay one night then head to London.

 

[reliev]

We're on a direct red-eye from BOS->FCO on Delta. We're staying at the Optivm Hotel for one night and plan to sightsee on our own on the day we arrive. The next day I booked a pre-cruise tour so they will keep our luggage and we won't have to go back and forth to the hotel, and we'll do the Vatican then head to the cruise early afternoon. We're on the NCL Epic for 10 nights doing Italy and Greece. After the cruise we're flying to Paris (although I haven't booked those flights yet. Will likely use a low cost carrier into Orly). We're spending 2 nights in the city center. I've currently got two hotels booked and am trying to decide which one to keep: Hotel Tourisme Avenue and Hotel de la Motte Piquet. Planning a Seine cruise, Eiffel tower visit and taking the train out to Versailles. Then we're spending 2 nights at Disneyland Paris in the Sequoia Lodge, flying home on a direct flight from CDG->BOS on Air France. Signing up for a million cards as we work through all the spend to hopefully get us our Japan tickets

did Le Calife (river cruise) highly recommend it. We were watching Les Frenchies videos and they recommended it to us it didn't disappoint. the only weird thing at the end after we already paid the tip it was prepaid (which is weird in Paris) the dude acted like the wanted another tip I guess we dressed too American

 

[leeniewdw]

I have been having the food/meals discussion with my husband. It consists of how much are we really going to want to go back to the Airbnb and cook? We're going to be on vacation -- who's going to want to cook? But I really want to be able to do laundry and I do enjoy an apartment like space.

We had 9 Airbnb Nights in Ireland (3 different towns) in June and mostly I wanted laundry at each but also said how we'd "eat some meals at 'home' ". I'm trying to recall if we ever used the stoves once!! We definitely used the laundry at 2 of them and we kept snacks, but we I don't think we used the stoves ever. My husband was still icing his knee frequently (had a knee replacement in January) and one of them didn't even have a freezer (we just bought a bag of ice at a grocery story and left in the sink to melt as he used it).

We wanted to pack in carry-on size luggage (though we checked it on the way) since we'd be moving around so much and I knew I'd fill a bigger suitcase if I had one. So we did laundry a few times and basically just brought 4-5 days of clothes.

In the end, we loved the places we stayed so I'm glad we chose them.

 

[leeniewdw]

Global entry..... these appts seem difficult to find/get. Did I read here previously about passengers doing this when arriving at a destination airport,or did I imagine that?

We did arrival interview in June. Since you clear customs in Ireland on return, we did it there (SNN). I had conditional approval, but my DH was still pending. We both did the interview/photo/fingerprint in Shannon and mine was approved and got the GE card w/in a week. My husband still had to do an interview, but since he'd had the physical steps done (fingerprint/photo), it was via zoom appt which was super easy to get. edit: just to be clear, this is enrollment upon RETURN to the US, not a destination airport -- it just so happens that Ireland does clearance in Ireland for returns to the US.

When cancelling a SW card, how long do you have to wait before applying for a new one?

Curious on this too!

Found this at the link someone posted:

30,000 Bonus Points After You Spend $4,000 On Purchases In The First 3 Months From Account Opening: The product is not available to either (i) current Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards® Credit Card, or (ii) previous Cardmembers of any Southwest Rapid Rewards Credit Card who received a new Cardmember bonus within the last 24 months. This does not apply to Cardmembers of the Southwest Rapid Rewards Business Card and Employee Credit Card products. To qualify for your bonus points, you must make Purchases totaling $4,000 or more during the first 3 months from account opening. Please allow up to 8 weeks for bonus points to post to your Rapid Rewards® account. (“Purchases” do not include balance transfers, cash advances, travelers checks, foreign currency, money orders, wire transfers or similar cash-like transactions, lottery tickets, casino gaming chips, race track wagers or similar betting transactions, any checks that access your account, interest, unauthorized or fraudulent charges, and fees of any kind, including an annual fee, if applicable.) To be eligible for this bonus offer, account must be open and not in default at the time of fulfillment.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

I surprisingly haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere yet, but I just saw that Chase and Southwest are offering a companion pass through 2/28/25 plus 30k points as a SUB on all 3 of the Chase SW personal cards. Offer ends 3/11/24.

The offer is also showing up through support links.

I’ll throw in that my personal favorite of the 3 Chase personal SW cards is the Priority. It’s the most expensive of the 3 ($149) but the benefits of the card ($75 yearly SW credit, 7500 SW points each year, 4 upgraded boardings each year) more than pay for the annual fee.

Thanks so much for mentioning this. Perfect timing as DH and I were just saying that we should have done another CP this year. We've toggled the past 6 years, but after frustrations from SW and schedule changes we thought we didn't want it. But flying out of SFO is such a PITA it makes SWA from OAK look much better.

 

[Haley R]

I've been a little slow on booking things. I normally am not like that. This is such a big trip for us that I'm taking extra time to do more research than I normally do. I just bought trip insurance last week (I bought an annual package because we take a lot of trips). Better late than never. I have been having the food/meals discussion with my husband. It consists of how much are we really going to want to go back to the Airbnb and cook? We're going to be on vacation -- who's going to want to cook? But I really want to be able to do laundry and I do enjoy an apartment like space. The boutique hotel comes out cheaper -- even for two hotel rooms. I need to think more on it...

When we were in Germany we stayed in apartment style hotels and cooked meals almost every night for dinner. We liked being able to make things that were more “normal” to us since we were there for so long. It was also really nice to be able to do laundry. We’ll be in Japan in May and are staying in a house for the same reason.

 

[wanderlust7]

When cancelling a SW card, how long do you have to wait before applying for a new one?

Should be 30 days. Assuming you’re 24 months from the last SW personal bonus.

 

[AndreaDM]

We had 9 Airbnb Nights in Ireland (3 different towns) in June and mostly I wanted laundry at each but also said how we'd "eat some meals at 'home' ". I'm trying to recall if we ever used the stoves once!! We definitely used the laundry at 2 of them and we kept snacks, but we I don't think we used the stoves ever. My husband was still icing his knee frequently (had a knee replacement in January) and one of them didn't even have a freezer (we just bought a bag of ice at a grocery story and left in the sink to melt as he used it).

We wanted to pack in carry-on size luggage (though we checked it on the way) since we'd be moving around so much and I knew I'd fill a bigger suitcase if I had one. So we did laundry a few times and basically just brought 4-5 days of clothes.

In the end, we loved the places we stayed so I'm glad we chose them.

Yes, even if we don't "cook" I still like a kitchen for longer stays. We might have a dinner of local cheese and bread with wine, etc. so a bigger fridge and room to spread out is so nice!