I love credit cards so much!

[Calfan]

Finally getting around to joining in on the 2019 travel plans posts:

Jan.: WDW for WDW Half Marathon weekend. Doing the half marathon. Using DVC points for a BLT studio stay (it's just me going and meeting up with CaliforniaGirl and her family). Used Delta points for flights. Haven't had very good experiences with Delta out of BOI (they don't have a very big operation here), so crossing fingers everything goes smoothly with the flights. These are likely my last Delta flights since I will have used most of my Delta points and plan to cancel my Delta Amex when next AF hits.

Late Jan.: McCall, Idaho for annual Winter Carnival. Lots of cool snow sculptures, among other activities. No way to use points at our favorite McCall Hotel, Shore Lodge, so will put on CSR to earn 3x.

Feb.: Quick trip to Bay Area for friend's annual Super Bowl party. Used combo of SW points, travel credits and gcs purchased through various Amex airline fee reimbursement benefits for flights.

March: Maui for Spring Break with my parents and sister. Happily, this is our every-other-year trip to Maui with my parents (DH can't tolerate any more frequently, lol), and my father pays for air, rental car and most meals (all meals when we actually eat with them). Hotel is covered thru their timeshare.

April: WDW for Star Wars Half Marathon weekend. Doing the 10k and half marathon. Using DVC points for a BLT studio stay (same situation as for WDW Marathon Weekend). SW for flights, which I have already repriced multiple times.

May: Stanley, ID for Memorial Day Weekend. No way to use points for Redfish Lake Lodge, so will put on CSR to earn 3x.

June/July: Botswana with Natural Habitat Adventures, with 4 pre-nights in Zimbabwe at the Victoria Falls Hotel. Used United miles plus URs transferred to United for Biz class flights on Swiss going. Used URs for flights on Emirates coming home. Have stockpiled enough MRs to upgrade all 4 of us on Emirates return flights and stalking upgrade availability.

August: As yet unplanned trip to Scotland and England to scout out universities for my DD who is a junior in high school. Looks like we will be hitting Edinburgh and Glasglow in Scotland and Durham, Newcastle and York in northern England. Hope to use a combo of various hotel points (Radisson, Starriott, Hilton) to cover most of the hotel stays. Whether we book flights using points/miles will depend on whether we've already booked our Japan flights for 2020 so I know how many points I have left over.

Fall: Various trips to Bay Area for Cal football games. DS also wants to do road trip for UW game, and we are planning on traveling to Oxford, Mississippi when Cal plays at Ole Miss. Assuming DH gets CP (he was approved for Priority in late Oct.; I plan to apply for Biz for him next week), then we will use CP plus points for many of these flights.

In terms of credit cards, first goal is to get DH the SW CP. Next card for me is likely CIC, followed by CIU. Also want DH to get CIU. Also starting to think about possible AA Biz cards, but not completely sure I want to dive in to AA.

 

[mhartman09]

So I decided to go for the Marriott upgrade offer for 50K after one purchase, but when I entered my info I get a message saying "We are sorry. We are unable to process your request at this time. For further assistance, please call the number on the back of your card."

I'll chime in with my 2019 goals:

First off, DH's SW CP expires at the end of this month, so I'm working towards getting my SW CP early in 2019. I've got the SW Plus from the in-flight 50K offer on a flight in October. I've got until 02/02/19 to make spend. Plan to use this card to buy 4 new tires for my car (yuck for having to buy new tires, but yay for meeting MSR easily!) I'll drop my CL on this card before I app for the SW biz in a few weeks.

I've only really got Disney trips in the works for 2019 so far. We'll be heading to WDW this Friday for a Christmas weekend trip (Fri - Tues). I had a trip booked for Mardi Gras week in March to celebrate our 10 year anniversary, but had to move it because someone else in the office here at work beat me to requesting that week off. Now that trip is scheduled for 8 nights Easter week instead. We will still celebrate our anniversary during the trip, even though it's technically the month before. We'll be staying at CSR which is where we stayed back in October and really enjoyed. I've got another trip booked for the last week of May staying at Poly in a club level room. Poly has been on my list for a while now, so I'm so glad we'll finally be able to stay there. Doing club level for 8 nights is an added bonus.

Currently working on DH to agree to a DL trip next November for Thanksgiving. I've only been once, over 15 years ago, and our son has never been. I know he would absolutely LOVE Carsland. Should be booking that one soon. We may have a beach trip to Fort Morgan/Orange Beach area sometime in the summer, but it's not set in stone just yet.

I sure do miss being able to book these WDW hotel stays with URs. I've been using lots of discounted GCs to pay for the 2 I have booked for 2019. Still holding on to my URs just in case the hotels come back to UR portal......I know, I know, wishful thinking. I suppose I need to either decide to cash them out to use towards more discounted GCs or start researching other ways to use them. Need to start branching out beyond URs soon, as that's all I've really focused on for the last 2 years. Don't have any specific cards on the horizon yet (besides SW), so I need to start figuring out a game plan.

I'd like to get more into bank bonuses in the coming year. I have a Chase personal checking bonus under my belt, but I've got lots more research to do on that side of things. Hoping 2019 brings me more time to post here than I've had recently. I'm always reading, but just haven't had the time to post as much as I used to. This is usually me. Who knows.....I may even get a mention from @SouthFayetteFan next year at this time. Isn't that our true goal here anyway? Haha!!

This thread is by far my favorite here, not only because of all the amazing insight gained here, but also because of the friendly nature of everyone. This really is an amazing group of people.

 

[snugglebug]

Got an email today from IHG to switch to paperless for a $10 statement credit. Jumping on that one. DH was just complaining last week about my paper statements and I told him I was waiting until I was given an incentive to switch to paperless

 

[lynzi2004]

I just saw on a Nerd Wallet article that Chase points are currently eligible for booking Wdw tickets! I know there were a few saving up points and then they quit allowing it. No idea how long it will last!

Go to search Orlando travel, then click on Universal tickets and scroll all the way to the bottom and it gives the option that other people were searching for Wdw. I tried it and it was valid.

Hope this helps someone!

 

[snugglebug]

Varo update*

Android app is supposed to work now. I recommend waiting for DPs to roll in confirming it works but my theory is the referral tracks by email so you should be able to use any referral because: A DoC user forwarded me their referral email to my DoC email, because they did that instead of sending it to me themselves I was able to type in my own email to send the referral too. I rolled the dice and typed in my legit email, that sent my legit email a note from Varo I'd been referred and I should download the app, it included something along the lines of "make sure to use this email when signing up". I did so and got the bonus just fine.

DP on reddit claims you can email customer service for your own referral email and they'll send you one within a week. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c...count_bonus_week_of_december_14_2018/ec2ftq2/ I emailed today saying I wanted to refer a friend to the $100 offer can they help me do that, we'll see what I get back. Remember the deadline on this bonus is 12/31.

*ALL of this is YMMV and I want to make that crystal clear! I do not guarantee any of this will work, just passing along what I'm seeing and experiencing

I did this one using DH's work Iphone on Sunday and my account is pending review still. If I had just waited I could have used my own phone. Apparently I had clicked through at some point and my email was on the android waiting list, I don't remember doing that, because I also got an email from them that the Android app is ready. I may have botched this one, but really anyone can have both systems and use both apps which was my intention, sign up with IOS and use Android.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Varo update*

Android app is supposed to work now. I recommend waiting for DPs to roll in confirming it works but my theory is the referral tracks by email so you should be able to use any referral because: A DoC user forwarded me their referral email to my DoC email, because they did that instead of sending it to me themselves I was able to type in my own email to send the referral too. I rolled the dice and typed in my legit email, that sent my legit email a note from Varo I'd been referred and I should download the app, it included something along the lines of "make sure to use this email when signing up". I did so and got the bonus just fine.

DP on reddit claims you can email customer service for your own referral email and they'll send you one within a week. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c...count_bonus_week_of_december_14_2018/ec2ftq2/ I emailed today saying I wanted to refer a friend to the $100 offer can they help me do that, we'll see what I get back. Remember the deadline on this bonus is 12/31.

*ALL of this is YMMV and I want to make that crystal clear! I do not guarantee any of this will work, just passing along what I'm seeing and experiencing

PM me if you get good news back on the $100 offer...

 

[bernina]

Quick Hyatt award night question. Does anyone know if they charge resort fees on award stays (in this case Chase Hyatt free night)? Thanks!!

Staying at Grand Cyprus later this month during a cruise overnight.

 

[1st*toright]

So fun to see everyone's 2019 travel plans!

I'm not planning to do much in the way of travel in 2019 - new boss at work, and lots of stuff going on that might make it tough to get away at the time my kids have school vacations during the year.

We have a weekend WDW/Universal trip planned tagged on to a conference I'm attending - flying DH and LO down on points/companion pass, but probably paying for hotels/tickets with cash/gift cards (on site at both WDW and USO because we aren't there for long).

DH is taking my LO to see his parents in Europe for spring break - flight paid for by nights & flights miles from Marriott. Paying cash for the room at a Marriott because no points eligible bookings during the week they are going.

I've got "suite night" awards from Starriott for being platinum, and we have the CP for next year, plus a fair amount of SW points, so I'm trying to add in another weekend trip or two where we can enjoy a nice stay somewhere interesting. Maybe Memorial Day weekend in San Francisco? Or take our kids to Chicago for the weekend? Or New York? Can you tell we are city folk?

My other plan (and the reason I'm hoarding URs) is to get all 4 of us somewhere in Europe we've never been (current front runners and Vienna and/or Budapest) for Spring Break 2020. Trying to get enough URs/United miles together to be able to book 4 tickets in business as soon as flights come out in April/May. May be able to book hotels on Amex points and/or Marriott points for that trip.

 

[striker1064]

Varo update*

Android app is supposed to work now. I recommend waiting for DPs to roll in confirming it works but my theory is the referral tracks by email so you should be able to use any referral because: A DoC user forwarded me their referral email to my DoC email, because they did that instead of sending it to me themselves I was able to type in my own email to send the referral too. I rolled the dice and typed in my legit email, that sent my legit email a note from Varo I'd been referred and I should download the app, it included something along the lines of "make sure to use this email when signing up". I did so and got the bonus just fine.

DP on reddit claims you can email customer service for your own referral email and they'll send you one within a week. https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/c...count_bonus_week_of_december_14_2018/ec2ftq2/ I emailed today saying I wanted to refer a friend to the $100 offer can they help me do that, we'll see what I get back. Remember the deadline on this bonus is 12/31.

*ALL of this is YMMV and I want to make that crystal clear! I do not guarantee any of this will work, just passing along what I'm seeing and experiencing

I will take a PM for the offer once everything comes through for you.

 

[afan]

Quick Hyatt award night question. Does anyone know if they charge resort fees on award stays (in this case Chase Hyatt free night)? Thanks!!

Staying at Grand Cyprus later this month during a cruise overnight.

You shouldn't owe anything on any reward night, not even taxes. One of the things that makes it so nice. Our three nights at the hyatt vendome is paris was totally free with the points and free certs you used to get as sign up bonus.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

How does cashing out UR's work? Is it a statement credit? Is there a timing delay? Anything to keep in mind?

 

[wanderlust7]

March - We are going on a Carnival Cruise (4 of us) SW Flights on Points and Cruise booked on UR Points.

How is the pricing on cruises booked with UR? Is it based on whatever the price is direct with the cruise line?

 

[wendow]

How does cashing out UR's work? Is it a statement credit? Is there a timing delay? Anything to keep in mind?

I cash out occasionally. It gives me the option of a statement credit or to deposit into my Chase savings or checking. There is a delay of about 5 business days.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

2019 goals...

April/May two week Disney vacation. Staying offsite and planning shorter days.

June 10 days in Wisconsin Dells.

August 10 days Wisconsin Dells

October two week Disney trip.

Hoping for a week in southwest Florida, or at least someplace warm maybe mid-March.
December... hoping to go back to our favorite Orlando resort for a week.

Churning goals...

I have been without MSR the last 3 weeks. This is the first time since mid-June 2017 (baby churner). Not feeling any withdrawal so far. No FOMO. I might be in recovery.
I am currently under 5/24. Only serious plans are for SW CP end of 2019.

2020 goals...

Hoping to get the family to Costa Rica maybe in February

 

[platamama]

And this trip has been so long in the making, and the cat stuff has been coming up this whole time... even though when the planning originally started, cat was happily staying at vet clinic and being watched by those family members as BIL told us no one could watch the cat...

TBH, 14-20 months is a long time in a cat's life especially as they hit that 13-14-15 yr mark, things can really change. That said, all I know is that the only person you have any control over is yourself and how you respond to any given situation. Hope the plans fall into place as you want them to, but even if they don't, that you and your DH have a memorable time with your ILs and don't let the things you can't control darken that.

 

[MrPTato]

Other - Maybe Tampa for Busch Gardens or Cleveland for Cedar Point, maybe ABQ for Hot Air Balloon festival, maybe New OrleansWork on some Bank Bonuses to help lessen OOP travel expenses

Talking to DW about this the other day....I want to go so bad...told her if she isn't interested...then I would go solo. When I was 14 or 15, we took a balloon over the Adirondack mountains in New York. I couldn't believe how quiet it was when you are up that high. The pilot lowered us down at one point and we were bowling across the tree tops brushing the tops of the pine trees. Ended up in a cow field many miles away.

If you can go up, and aren't scared of heights, I would highly recommend it.

 

[platamama]

I have Citi AA Business that I used for Mortgage. Waiting for points to post then will cancel and reapply for that.

So, will try and rack up AA points.

Have you read the post on Dischurners and on this thread about how to approach that? You need the mailer without the 24 month language, and don't apply with a mailer that has your name on it.

 

[LynnTH]

How is the pricing on cruises booked with UR? Is it based on whatever the price is direct with the cruise line?

Yes. Pricing was exact same as cruiseline. I have CSR so used 200,000 points for $3,000 towards the cruise. Very nice. Now in the process of replenishing UR's.

 

[Alexle2007]

So I decided to go for the Marriott upgrade offer for 50K after one purchase, but when I entered my info I get a message saying "We are sorry. We are unable to process your request at this time. For further assistance, please call the number on the back of your card."

I got that same error the first time I tried to do the upgrade. I just went back into the email and tried again and it worked without any problems. Easiest 50k bonus!

 

[LynnTH]

Have you read the post on Dischurners and on this thread about how to approach that? You need the mailer without the 24 month language, and don't apply with a mailer that has your name on it.

Yea. Will probably need to buy a mailer on that other site where people are not as friendly...