I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[bernina]

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[georgina]

Nothing like over an hour of thunderstorms to liven up a Saturday night. So unusual for here too especially with the southern rolling thunder instead of just a clap bang. And it's got the UW vs Cal game delayed since just before 8 and still waiting for the storm to pass. Had been looking forward to the game, but not sure I'll even make it to the restart

We’re in Seattle for the weekend. We had great weather last weekend in Portland, during the week in Olympic National Forest, and our first few days here. Heading home tomorrow.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Question that I thought maybe this group could help me with. Citi has sent me a couple mailers with an invitation to switch my thankyou preferred card to rewards+. Should I do this? From what I can tell the main difference for me would be getting 2 points per dollar on grocery and gas stations instead of restaurants and entertainment. Also the rewards+ would round up to nearest 10 points. Has anyone made this switch? Is it better?

We tend to focus more on hitting sign up bonuses so I don’t recall if any of us have done this upgrade. I worry that you might lock yourself out of a good Thank You Points (TYP) bonus because Thank You cards have rules about bonuses, you can’t get a Thank You bonus if you’ve opened or closed a Thank You Card in the last 24 months. Unfortunately product changing with Citi sometimes results in their computer resetting that 24 month clock even though a product change is not a true closure/opening of a credit card. What might be most interesting here is to look at the Citi Thank You Premier with its 60k point sign up bonus, get that card and after getting the bonus switch your TY Preferred card to the Rewards plus if you decide that’s what you would rather have. Doctor Of Credit is a trusted source for credit card reviews around here because their blog does not use credit card affiliate links making them unbiased. Here is their review of the Rewards+ card. If you haven’t opened or closed any TY card in the last 24 months here’s a link to DoC’s review of the 60k Thank Premier offer. The idea would be get the bonus and then after a year close the Premier so you don’t have to pay an annual fee in year 2.

If you are interested in other cards read through post 1 here and then come back and ask any q’s you have prior to doing anything with these Citi cards.

 

[Judique]

Has anyone stayed at Gaylord in Orlando? Thoughts on it?

I stayed there a couple of times when it was brand new on priceline deals. It was very nice back then but I haven't been back.

 

[Judique]

I have not used one yet, so I am not sure! Though looking at Hawaii, I think there are only 2 possible redemption locations: The Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach or the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach. All others look higher than a category 4. I am hoping to get a second free night with staying 30 nights this year. Right now with all DH's travel he has planned for the rest of the year, he is at exactly 50 for Marriott and 27 for Hyatt through the end of the year. I am like please go away 3 more nights in a Hyatt friendly place! haha Hyatt's are ususally tough for him, but he will have had 3 conferences at Hyatt Regencys this year so the nights added up. And with almost 30 nights we are still only at 3 different Hyatt Brands! Grrrrrr

Also, maybe you know this, but for some reason I assumed the spend $15k was for calendar year. It is for your anniversary year. I am now seeing spend $5k for 2 nights credits also. Maybe I need to at least do that this year.

Is this offer in an email just for you or is it on the website? I would jump on that one.

 

[Judique]

No to the fee, yes to the 35K certs. I paid my $85 fee on June 1. I received my 25K cert in May and used it in July on our Yellowstone trip in Idaho Falls for a value of $182. I received a prorated refund of $63.81 when I upgraded mid August. No $95 fee yet.

It took from December until June for them to charge mine. I was okay with that.

 

[bernina]

On a related note to my award flight question above, I just tallied up the award redemptions we’ve made this year for our San Francisco, Disney, and July 2020 cruise trips.

For travel valued around $7,000 if we paid cash we redeemed:

117K UR (avg redemption value 1.8 cpp)
102K Delta (avg 1.05 cpp)
32K Hyatt (avg 2 cpp)
20K IHG (avg 0.85 cpp)
$420 in taxes and fees

At this point I’m happiest in getting slightly better than the CSR standard 1.5 on our URs. We book economy so we won’t be seeing crazy value from our points/miles but the $7K cash value also got us a ton of travel.

Tickets to/from Spain/Scotland x3
Round trip tickets to SFO x3
Tickets from Spain to London x3
5 Mid-range hotel nights

In addition we were able to double and triple dip some of the premium card benefits (CSR and Personal Plats) to pay DVC dues and cover flights down to Orlando last month (plus get some ridiculously overpriced clothing for DD from Saks).

This hobby is so much fun and I couldn’t do it without the support of this group. Best place on the web!!!!

 

[afan]

We’re in Seattle for the weekend. We had great weather last weekend in Portland, during the week in Olympic National Forest, and our first few days here. Heading home tomorrow.

I hope you've had fun! Last night wasn't normal, one weather person said the last time we had something like that was around 1993. There was over 1200 lightning strikes in the area over 2 two hour period from a storm that was supposed to stay in the mountains east of all of us.

 

[miztressuz]

I had saved the link to my notes hoping to use it in October toward my 2020/2021 CP. when I click on it now it says it is no longer available. Is it “smart” enough to know I’m no longer using SW WiFi?

Yes, if you get the dual offer link where a little popup opens for the actual application then that one is smart enough to know when you aren't on the Southwest wifi. That one starts with "swa.mychasecreditcards.com"
If you get the single card offer where a new page opens for the app, those ones were working off the Southwest wifi. Those ones start with "applynow.chase.com"

Had two SW flights and both had the dual offer link so no new inflight links from me
The last ones I posted still open for me, but hard to tell if they are still good to use (they were from April). Probably won't know until you submit the application.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

I have not used one yet, so I am not sure! Though looking at Hawaii, I think there are only 2 possible redemption locations: The Hyatt Centric Waikiki Beach or the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach. All others look higher than a category 4. I am hoping to get a second free night with staying 30 nights this year. Right now with all DH's travel he has planned for the rest of the year, he is at exactly 50 for Marriott and 27 for Hyatt through the end of the year. I am like please go away 3 more nights in a Hyatt friendly place! haha Hyatt's are ususally tough for him, but he will have had 3 conferences at Hyatt Regencys this year so the nights added up. And with almost 30 nights we are still only at 3 different Hyatt Brands! Grrrrrr

Also, maybe you know this, but for some reason I assumed the spend $15k was for calendar year. It is for your anniversary year. I am now seeing spend $5k for 2 nights credits also. Maybe I need to at least do that this year.

Not sure value of Hyatt as we typically don’t stay Hyatt. We did stay at Hyatt place and it’s a descent location. Parking was $20 a day I believe they only had valet. The beach is two blocks walk. It’s walking distance to quite a bit. I’m thinking of going back there unless we have enough Marriott points to stay across the street.

 

[wanderlust7]

AA award flight question.

I placed an award booking on hold through AA for main cabin economy flights on British Airways from Barcelona to London next July. Does anyone know if I’ll be able to select seats or will I be required to pay? I’m not concerned about seat location for a 2 hour flight but need to make sure DD is next to one of us and it’s of course preferable to all sit together.

It appears we also receive one free checked bag but they make it so confusing with all of the disclaimers. We have gold status with AA and no status with BA.

We flew ABZ-LHR-SJC on BA using AA miles. Didn't pay for seats because I was peeved that the fees were so high and didn't want to give them more money, lol. That and because on the BA website, they say that they'll make sure children under 12 sit with an adult. I checked in online exactly at the 24 hour mark. The short flight ABZ-LHR, we got front and back rows where there's 2 seats in a row. The long flight LHR-SJC, we were separated by 1 row. The plane had 3 seats in a row, so each adult had a kid plus a stranger. Not ideal, but it was fine.

We got one free checked bag, no status with either AA or BA.

 

[platamama]

AA award flight question.

I placed an award booking on hold through AA for main cabin economy flights on British Airways from Barcelona to London next July. Does anyone know if I’ll be able to select seats or will I be required to pay? I’m not concerned about seat location for a 2 hour flight but need to make sure DD is next to one of us and it’s of course preferable to all sit together.

It appears we also receive one free checked bag but they make it so confusing with all of the disclaimers. We have gold status with AA and no status with BA.

I found this on the BA site:



It looks like your AA Gold status will make you a Ruby OneWorld Elite member, giving you assess to free seating selection 7 days prior to departure (otherwise we peasants get access at 24 hours prior to departure). Will you still be AA Gold during your trip?

Is London a long stopover? I think long haul TATL flights on BA include a checked bag with MCE tickets, but not sure about the BCN to LHR leg. If your stopover is short then I'd expect your bags to be checked through and be free. But if you're spending days in London then you need to pick them up upon arrival. At least, that's how I recall it working from my trip four years ago.

Have you compared using Avios for that BCN-LHR leg (I don't know how many AAmiles it will cost you)? I'm seeing 7500 Avios + $20.50 fees. Both MRs and URs transfer to BA Avios 1:1.

 

[bernina]

We flew ABZ-LHR-SJC on BA using AA miles. Didn't pay for seats because I was peeved that the fees were so high and didn't want to give them more money, lol. That and because on the BA website, they say that they'll make sure children under 12 sit with an adult. I checked in online exactly at the 24 hour mark. The short flight ABZ-LHR, we got front and back rows where there's 2 seats in a row. The long flight LHR-SJC, we were separated by 1 row. The plane had 3 seats in a row, so each adult had a kid plus a stranger. Not ideal, but it was fine.

We got one free checked bag, no status with either AA or BA.

.

 

[WVMomof3]

Is this offer in an email just for you or is it on the website? I would jump on that one.

Just want to make sure you know it is 2 nights toward elite status, not 2 free nights.

 

[WVMomof3]

Not sure value of Hyatt as we typically don’t stay Hyatt. We did stay at Hyatt place and it’s a descent location. Parking was $20 a day I believe they only had valet. The beach is two blocks walk. It’s walking distance to quite a bit. I’m thinking of going back there unless we have enough Marriott points to stay across the street.

Thanks. I was looking at it for possible Hawaii trip. Though I was looking at the Centric more because I want another brand!! I think they are near each other.

 

[bernina]

I found this on the BA site:

View attachment 433957

It looks like your AA Gold status will make you a Ruby OneWorld Elite member, giving you assess to free seating selection 7 days prior to departure (otherwise we peasants get access at 24 hours prior to departure). Will you still be AA Gold during your trip?

Is London a long stopover? I think long haul TATL flights on BA include a checked bag with MCE tickets, but not sure about the BCN to LHR leg. If your stopover is short then I'd expect your bags to be checked through and be free. But if you're spending days in London then you need to pick them up upon arrival. At least, that's how I recall it working from my trip four years ago.

Have you compared using Avios for that BCN-LHR leg (I don't know how many AAmiles it will cost you)? I'm seeing 7500 Avios + $20.50 fees. Both MRs and URs transfer to BA Avios 1:1.

.

 

[Judique]

Just want to make sure you know it is 2 nights toward elite status, not 2 free nights.

View attachment 433971

I should have known it was too good to be true! No, I thought you had some really great offer, since spending 5000 for me is sign up bonus money!

 

[magickingdomprincess]

I'm kicking myself for closing my WF checking account after my bonus posted (around six months ago). I'm trying to find a good biz credit card to apply for and the WF biz has a $500 SUB but you have to have had a checking account open for a year. Something to keep in mind if any of you are working on a WF bank bonus.

 

[tink1970]

Has anyone stayed at Gaylord in Orlando? Thoughts on it?

I haven't been there in a while and stayed for a conference. It's nice, and there are/were alligators in the atrium (enclosed and away from guests) which was...different. DH was there in May but said nothing about it. He's a man of few words, though.

 

[elgerber]

I was so happy that Chase finally opened bank branches in my state. So Friday night, after working 47 hours in 4 days, I sat down to apply for the $600 bonus that they sent me the offer for, and was denied. So rude LOL.