I love credit cards so much!

[gottalovepluto]

Yes. I looked it up once @gottalovepluto pointed it out. Not motivated enough to dm though. Is it bad that I totally blame Utahns and not priority pass for this?!? Despite the fact that I am the only one I know in real life into churning like this Utahns tend to be notoriously cheap. Free hot dogs advertised? Out within 10 minutes.

Hahahaha!!! I get that! Same sort of thing where I’m from.

At least you know PP is looking at options for SLC! Maybe not this place but maybe you’ll get another place. A better place! That place! ...ok I’ve devolved into Disney mania- any other pirates fans out there tonight?

 

[Lain]

@SouthFayetteFan - So make that 10/24 now. I finally managed to get the PRG offer to pull up for 50,000 MR and was approved instantly!

Congratulations! Great bonus and first year benefits, and it looks like it’s going to be a keeper!

​

But how do you not already have, or have you never had the PRG?!

 

[Lain]

Congrats! How did you get the offer to pull up? On card match I only get Chase and CapOne offers -- not any AmEx at all . . . is there another route?

Incognito mode. Then go to Amex’s site to search their cards and offers. Try clearing history, different browsers, VPN if you have it, etc.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

@amalone1013 - look at you go on r/churning. You come back from Vaca, throw out like a dozen comments and collect yourself 30 quick karma! All those people complaining about downvotes over there, and you basically proved that in 3-4 hours you can earn your way to post referrals, HAHA!

 

[Lain]

@Lain I am so happy you got the gift from SPG. I saw notice of that yesterday on DoC and was like “I don’t even understand what that is but I want one!”

It’s like a Tile, if you know what those are. Basically it’s a tag that you attach to your stuff, and acts as a kind of tracker if you can’t find your stuff. I haven’t used a Beagle, but there should be an app that goes with the tag and uses Bluetooth to find the tag and your stuff within a limited range.

It was a nice surprise getting a boxed gift in the mail. I saw the news about it, but didn’t expect one since I’ve never been picked to get any of the gifts that Amex sends out to their cardmembers.

 

[linzjane88]

Thx for the update! I have been following that thread too and calling is on my to-do list as well. Did you call the US number? Seems people were having good luck calling the UK.

First time I called I called the UK (yikes, that might cost me on my cell phone bill!) number who transferred me around and finally disconnected (I didn't have points in place yet so I didn't push it), next two times were the US numbers and one was a flop and one was highly successful. It's a crapshoot!

 

[Lain]

@amalone1013 - look at you go on r/churning. You come back from Vaca, throw out like a dozen comments and collect yourself 30 quick karma! All those people complaining about downvotes over there, and you basically proved that in 3-4 hours you can earn your way to post referrals, HAHA!

Hating on Keith Rosso will get you some quick upvotes too. ETA: TPG, too.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

True and most impressive I might add. I'm curious though, with the current Amex climate, new language, pop ups etc. Do you think you could do the same thing again if you started today and were at 5/24? Or do you think that the game has changed significantly enough with regards to Amex and business cards to impact the creative path you took to churning your way below 5/24? If so, how would you go about it today?

When we started way back when, DH and I were able to accumulate a million miles/points in under a year. I don't think I could do the same thing, the same way if I were starting out today. I'd have to make a concerted effort to go for the Chase cards first and space them out. I wouldn't be able to get multiple Citi AA cards every few months and multiple US Airways cards every few months. MS with Amazon Payments was so easy and Blue Bird accounts weren't getting shut down and you could buy Visa GCs at CVS with a credit card. I'm feeling nostalgic, can you tell.

Ok so if I can't be /24 then how about /24? I know I'm currently at 9/24 and about to drop to 8/24. I also know that if my plans go well I will be back up to 12/24 before long.

I have to acknowledge that we were SUPER fortunate with how things worked out for us. We barely beat the 48 month rule and shutdown purge (and I'm still sweating that one). I hammered AMEX before their whole popup debacle started...Heck I'm probably part of the reason the popup exists. I went and hit 14 AMEX cards in 16 months without spending a dime over the MSR on each card, LOL!

I'd guess I could come up with a strategy now to make it work again but it would look different and be much less lucrative. I honestly can't even begin to ponder how I'd go about it as I'm so happy to be where I am now, LOL! It's hard to look back and think what that was like. My wife is now 2/24. I'm 13/24 but I have 7 cards dropping off in Oct/Nov so I will be 6/24 come December.

I'm still very excited for what we can do with this < 5/24 status in 2019 & 2020. My wife can still hit CIC, CIU, SW Biz, SW Personal and she'd still be at 3/24 after all of that. I've got designs of a CIP, CIC, CIU, CSR or CSP, SW Biz, SW Personal. We may even cross-refer CF and CFU. It could be a great run for the next 18 or so months!!

I couldn't in good conscience advise somebody who was sitting at 15/24 to attempt to go under 5/24 (even if they were in 2 player mode). I'm not saying it would be a bad decision, it's just with the way things seem to change on a moment's notice, I wouldn't want to responsible for that strategy. If somebody wants to go with it though and has a good plan then I'd say good for them!

 

[gottalovepluto]

DoC is reporting Barclay is matching the 60k + AF waived offer on the Arrival Plus for people who call and request it quick enough. I don’t recall anyone here saying they got the 60k offer on A+ but I skipped a lot of pages and even if none of our “speakers” got it here’s a PSA for our lurkers out there
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/barclays-is-matching-to-the-60000-annual-fee-waived-arrival-offer/

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Nice! My P2 really wanted to get this card, but it would put him at 5/24 so I told him to wait and think about it. Serious FOMO here, though. It must be very liberating not to have to worry about the x/24 number. Congrats!

How do you use/redeem MRs? That's how I'd determine if this is truly something you're "missing out" on

 

[wendow]

One of my friends is trying to use URs to fly Dallas to Zurich (then river cruise) and then fly home Amsterdam to Dallas. The flights are not awful through URs. About 70k is lowest for RT. I looked at award hacker and I just don't get the site at all. Are there other sites I can check for him? He has 120k URs and no other points. He's just dipping his toes, very cautiously lol, into churning.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Hating on Keith Rosso will get you some quick upvotes too.

My blood BOILS!! (And I feel so sorry for other fellows with the same name...)

 

[wendow]

DoC is reporting Barclay is matching the 60k + AF waived offer on the Arrival Plus for people who call and request it quick enough. I don’t recall anyone here saying they got the 60k offer on A+ but I skipped a lot of pages and even if none of our “speakers” got it here’s a PSA for our lurkers out there
https://www.doctorofcredit.com/barclays-is-matching-to-the-60000-annual-fee-waived-arrival-offer/

I think you advised me before about what to do when my Arrival + AF hits. I want to either drop to a no-AF card or cancel. I have 5000'ish points that are just sitting there. My AF should post next month. Is there a free card I can PC to? And then the Arrival + is churnable?

 

[Lain]

Nice! My P2 really wanted to get this card, but it would put him at 5/24 so I told him to wait and think about it. Serious FOMO here, though. It must be very liberating not to have to worry about the x/24 number. Congrats!

The PRG would put DH at 5/24 in two months, when Amex gets around to reporting it to the bureaus, and it finally shows up on DH’s credit report for Chase to see whenever you apply for a card with them. Before then, Chase has no way of knowing DH has this new card.

 

[gottalovepluto]

One of my friends is trying to use URs to fly Dallas to Zurich (then river cruise) and then fly home Amsterdam to Dallas. The flights are not awful through URs. About 70k is lowest for RT. I looked at award hacker and I just don't get the site at all. Are there other sites I can check for him? He has 120k URs and no other points. He's just dipping his toes, very cautiously lol, into churning.

I can’t help but I can sympathize. Award hacker confused me too & I think it missed some opportunities when I was looking for South Africa flights.

 

[gottalovepluto]

I think you advised me before about what to do when my Arrival + AF hits. I want to either drop to a no-AF card or cancel. I have 5000'ish points that are just sitting there. My AF should post next month. Is there a free card I can PC to? And then the Arrival + is churnable?

It used to be super churnable but I just saw a DP on DoC from someone who closed the card 3 months ago and was told they couldn’t get it because they’d recently had it. Which means the 24 month(?) language might be being enforced via computer now. It seems to have changed in Aug. A month earlier someone had applied 2 weeks after closing and got approved but then stuff started to change

Idk about the downgrade options for the card. I used all the points I could feasibly use & cancelled it.

 

[Alice Sr.]

I was just checking out the AwardHacker site thanks @Albort and saw the DoC post regarding Amex 40% transfer credit for British Air right now. Would it be stupid of me to transfer points to take advantage of the 40% even though I do not have a specific flight in mind? I saw possible awards for CHI to Orlando (15k r/t), which would be pretty easy for me to use and CHI to Dublin (40k r/t), which would work for a trip planned for 2020 if I didn't use the transferred points before then. I don't have a BA cc though so need to see when they would expire. Just seemed like a way to capitalize on the MR points not doing anything at this point.

 

[Albort]

One of my friends is trying to use URs to fly Dallas to Zurich (then river cruise) and then fly home Amsterdam to Dallas. The flights are not awful through URs. About 70k is lowest for RT. I looked at award hacker and I just don't get the site at all. Are there other sites I can check for him? He has 120k URs and no other points. He's just dipping his toes, very cautiously lol, into churning.

awardhacker gives u the general idea on where to look. You would then need to take that data and search for the airline awardhacker says to look.
If seats dont show up on the airlines website, this is where expertflyers work if u dont want to call in.

awardhacker also gives u the routes u can take and what airline.

 

[Albort]

I was just checking out the AwardHacker site thanks @Albort and saw the DoC post regarding Amex 40% transfer credit for British Air right now. Would it be stupid of me to transfer points to take advantage of the 40% even though I do not have a specific flight in mind? I saw possible awards for CHI to Orlando (15k r/t), which would be pretty easy for me to use and CHI to Dublin (40k r/t), which would work for a trip planned for 2020 if I didn't use the transferred points before then. I don't have a BA cc though so need to see when they would expire. Just seemed like a way to capitalize on the MR points not doing anything at this point.

is still suggestive to keep your MRs instead of at BA. if in case you ever need them elsewhere, then u have them. ie redeeming MR for ANA is one of the best value of MR.
Choice is up to u though.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Ugh. So we are doing 3 nights WDW before an RCL cruise in Feb. Right now I have first night booked at Pop and next two at Swan. Originally was going to buy tix with URs. I have a gc stash so will apply that to tix now. I think I should just buy them before the 16th but can’t imagine 2 day nonhoppers will go up that much. In hindsight I should have added the tix onto the room to make a package and then I could just cancel if better tix opportunities arose. There is zero value availability now for 2/7 for just one night. Seems crazy to me.

Also @amalone1013 i know you did USO tix. Post cruise we are doing 3 nights RPR. I will prob use URs to get tix. There is a new buy 2 get 2 promo. Want to do park to park all 3 parks. Can these be converted to APs? Roughly how much more would it cost?