I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[wanderlust7]

Do you have to be in a group to get group rate. And the offer states you have to pay the cruise line
directly. How does that work with Cruise Compete or really any travel agent.

Nope, don't need to be part of a group. The group rate is just a block that the travel agency has.

Cruise Compete is a site to get quotes from travel agencies. Once you decide on one, then you'll just work with that agent/agency. All my payments have gone directly to the cruise line, except once. I had one Covid canceled group rate booking where part of the final payment went directly to RCCL and part of the payment went to the travel agency. I think they paid in advance for some of the block and that was why. It wouldn't hurt to double check with the travel agent that the charge will come directly from the cruise line.

 

[becauseimnew]

But now they’re throwing cards at me. Is this something they do frequently?

Umm… maybe because many of us are constantly getting new business cards

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

I still can't believe my nightmare is over!!! I'm going to try one more hail mary and email the CEOs again to see if they can work any magic on the 3rd Biz seat we need on the way home. I did find a biz return my mom could have taken, but it was to PHL and the arrival was late so she would likely have to stay in PHL. The fees on our seats hurt ($560 for my DD and I) but I'm trying to remind myself that I have to pay $80 in fees to fly free on Spirit to Cancun, LOL and that's not business class OR Europe, LOL.

I do want to share, since the avios site was erroring out when I was trying to search flights, I bought another daily pass w/ points.me. It was showing availability for flights when that wasn't true. So if you're using points.me, I would use it to get an idea of what currency/points you need. But availability isn't true. Also even booking on Aer Lingus, it was showing the fees/points for booking via the BA site where taxes are higher.

I'm not booking our flights to BOS yet, but in general how much time do you think we need to give to get our bags from the Aer Lingus flight and recheck them in for a flight to DTW? We should all have GE which I'm hoping helps. Might be worth it to try to carry on only...but I guess we'll see. The length of the trip is doable w/ carry on. But the footwear and souvenirs make me want to check a bag.

Congrats! I was hoping to see a resolution each time I came back to this thread! I was sweating getting our Aer Lingus Biz seats and I was booking 11 months out! And we moved our travel dates up because the mid-June seats seemed to be less available and I could still see the early June ones.

The trip will be here before you know it! Glad you got it worked out!

Part of this is my fault for waiting to book the trip so long. But I kept harassing my 17yo to tell me where she wanted to go. Finally when I saw the BA bonus I said, I'm just picking, LOL. Now onto booking hotels, LOL. Oh and a rental car which looking is $$$$$$$.

If another business class seat doesn’t open up…can the 3 of you rotate which 2 sit in business class…..I’ve never flown business so don’t know if that’s an option

I'm sure we will figure it out. The bummer part is my mom wouldn't be able to go into the lounge with us beforehand. I'm hoping we get lucky and snag the upgrade we need.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I'm trying to use up a LUV voucher that expire by the end of this month. I saw earlier in the thread that with SW doing non-expiring travel funds, I could book a flight and cancel it to turn it into a non-expiring travel fund. I just have a question...since my LUV voucher has only $31 left on it, I know I'm going to have to pay the difference in cash for a flight. Could I cancel the flight within 24 hours to get my money refunded back to my CC and then the $31 will convert to a travel fund? I figure I could always use the $31 to pay taxes/fees. Could I do this or will the LUV voucher remain as is since its within the 24hour cancellation window?

 

[happ]

I'm trying to use up a LUV voucher that expire by the end of this month. I saw earlier in the thread that with SW doing non-expiring travel funds, I could book a flight and cancel it to turn it into a non-expiring travel fund. I just have a question...since my LUV voucher has only $31 left on it, I know I'm going to have to pay the difference in cash for a flight. Could I cancel the flight within 24 hours to get my money refunded back to my CC and then the $31 will convert to a travel fund? I figure I could always use the $31 to pay taxes/fees. Could I do this or will the LUV voucher remain as is since its within the 24hour cancellation window?

Maybe buy a refundable flight and cancel after 24 hours?

 

[Narnia_girl]

If Iberia is selling the BA flight, I would think you should be able to just change your flight to the one you prefer, or cancel the flight and rebook the one you prefer.
If BA is selling the flight, then I think you would need to cancel the Iberia flight and then transfer your Iberia avios to BA. I think there might be some rule about having both accounts open for 90 days, so look into that first if you don't meet that criteria.

Here's an article I found. It sounds like Iberia cancellations can be time consuming and the points returns might take a few days.

See above. Call them and see if they can help you. They are really friendly and very competent on the phone (or at least the few I've spoken with have been).

Avios is AMAZINGLY helpful. It's BA that sucks! So if you can call Avios to do all this, I would try them. Avoid BA at all costs! Reading FT I'm seeing people are being told 3mos+ to get points to post, but those are missing points for travel/shopping. I'd like to think my transfer gets handled faster!

I had asked about changing an Iberia/BA flight to extend our trip. AFter some of your helpful advice, I took another approach...Instead of messing with BA and extending my trip, I decided to leave home three days earlier, so extending it from the front end. That flight was with Virgin Atlantic booked with Avios and they were wonderful! I spent about 20 minutes on chat hold, but the agent changed my flights to three days earlier with no change fees. I'm super happy with them right now.

Yes you can SM to expedite….I was approved Monday…sent a SM and it arrived UPS on Wednesday

Looking at getting a second CIU. I was approved 4/29 so I think I’d be good for a second card. Are the credit limits on additional cards generally the same? Have a $5k college tuition bill I can pay.
Other option would be to try to get DH approved.
Any other good SUB’s right now? Don’t want anything with a large AF because school charges a fee for using a card. DH is 1/24 and I’m 4/24

Edit..looking at DH chase account he has a lot of cards he’s already pre-approved…including biz cards so I guess that wouldn’t be an issue. Just worried the credit limit won’t be high enough! I

Umm… maybe because many of us are constantly getting new business cards

I carefully applied for a CIU on July 16 and I still don't have approval. I know it says it can take 2-4 weeks, but I didn't actually think it would. It's my first business card app, and my first delayed response. I have a big spend coming up and if I don't get this by the 12th I'm going to have to pay another way.

 

[GZanta77]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

 

[elgerber]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

There are so many of those now. It’s insane.

 

[MICKIMINI]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

OMG! That is terrifying! We always know where family is when we are traveling as we call or text when boarding and again when deplaning. We know our kids work schedule and when they travel on business, but of course don't know where they are in TX every minute.

We've all agreed not to believe any call that comes in like this (especially my elderly parents)...but, the spoof is where it goes off the rails.

There is a special place in you know where for scammers like this!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

DH and I both have Marriott 35k FNCs. Was hoping to use them both for a weekend iin January. I can book 3 nights on my account with a FNC but any combo of 2+1 nights gives me 'no points res available' message for the single night. Any way around this? Can you transfer a FNC to another person? Would calling be better?

 

[Princess Michele]

There's supposedly (according to the website) one in Prince Frederick and I've never been in the store. I have my grands today and really don't want to go but I've got all these offers! Plus a $300 statement credit on the Disney card I got back in June.

If I got there and no cards, I might be a slight bit miffed.

Route 1 is a possibility also but same story as above.

@Judique, there is definitely an Office Depot in Prince Frederick. We were just there on Thursday night and purchased 3 Disney GCs. They do not have a large selection of GCs and I have not seen any $200 VGC's, just $25, $100, and variable load. If you are looking for a specific GC I could stop in and check for you.

There is also an Office Depot in Annapolis but I have not been inside to look at their GC's. It is on my list to stop in on a future trip to the mall.

 

[chattadisser]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

I actually had one one time where I was calling myself. The caller ID was ME!! I didn't answer it as I knew it was some sort of scam but it was kinda freaky. I try to warn my mom about these scams but she will answer every call and text and that scares me. She thinks she's wise to the world but not when it comes to this scams.

 

[platamama]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

Geez, that is really scary that they spoofed your cell phone number!

I haven't heard of that particular scam, but my mom got a call from the "sheriff's office" that my brother was being held in jail for a traffic accident where the other party, a "pregnant woman," had been whisked off to the hospital.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

I think it's pretty common though clearly evil. My BIL is a phone IT guy for a major insurance company and he says it's pretty easy to spoof a number and make another name appear in the caller ID. That said, I think some variation of this scam has been around for decades though in lower tech ways. I remember when I was a kid, my mom got a call (landline, ages before cellphones or caller ID) from her 'aunt' saying she needed money and some other info, maybe her DL for some weird reason. Pretty sure my dad was skeptical and made her hang up. Tried calling the aunt who of course knew nothing.
I'm glad you were home and she didn't get scammed.

 

[GZanta77]

I think it's pretty common though clearly evil. My BIL is a phone IT guy for a major insurance company and he says it's pretty easy to spoof a number and make another name appear in the caller ID. That said, I think some variation of this scam has been around for decades though in lower tech ways. I remember when I was a kid, my mom got a call (landline, ages before cellphones or caller ID) from her 'aunt' saying she needed money and some other info, maybe her DL for some weird reason. Pretty sure my dad was skeptical and made her hang up. Tried calling the aunt who of course knew nothing.
I'm glad you were home and she didn't get scammed.

Yeah, it sucks that it seems to be so easy for people to spoof numbers to appear someone else is calling. I'm sure the phone companies must be able to do something about it if they really wanted to.

 

[elgerber]

Geez, that is really scary that they spoofed your cell phone number!

I haven't heard of that particular scam, but my mom got a call from the "sheriff's office" that my brother was being held in jail for a traffic accident where the other party, a "pregnant woman," had been whisked off to the hospital.

My dad got one years ago from my “son” saying he had been arrested. He said they even used my sons name.

 

[mmmears]

I actually had one one time where I was calling myself. The caller ID was ME!! I didn't answer it as I knew it was some sort of scam but it was kinda freaky. I try to warn my mom about these scams but she will answer every call and text and that scares me. She thinks she's wise to the world but not when it comes to this scams.

Same thing happened here. I didn't answer, since I knew I wasn't the one calling, but this stuff make me so mad.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I'm trying to use up a LUV voucher that expire by the end of this month. I saw earlier in the thread that with SW doing non-expiring travel funds, I could book a flight and cancel it to turn it into a non-expiring travel fund. I just have a question...since my LUV voucher has only $31 left on it, I know I'm going to have to pay the difference in cash for a flight. Could I cancel the flight within 24 hours to get my money refunded back to my CC and then the $31 will convert to a travel fund? I figure I could always use the $31 to pay taxes/fees. Could I do this or will the LUV voucher remain as is since its within the 24hour cancellation window?

Yes, you can do exactly that. I just did it the other day. So you can book the flight using combo of cc and LUV voucher, then immediately cancel and you can select for the cc to be refunded, but the $31 will be a travel credit. Pretty sweet.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

NOTE: Off-topic but wanted to see if any of you have heard of this............................

So DW just had a new type of scam call which I haven't seen before, but it has me a little concerned. Basically, someone called her from what appeared to be my cellphone - came up with my name on her caller id in the format that she has it stored on her phone. They proceeded to tell her I had been in a bad accident and I was currently being airlifted to hospital. They claimed to be from a third party company that acts as liaison between the medical facility and the families. She did not get a name of the company - and is not sure they ever gave one. They were saying they needed to verify my my wife's details so that they could put her on an authorized list to receive updates and visitation details.

Unfortunately, at this point DW told them they must be mistaken as she knew I was in the house......and the scammer hung up. Personally, I would have toyed with them a bit to find out what details they were after.

However, it does concern me that they could spoof my cell number and know to call to my wife on her cell. That indicates that they have both of our details and/or one of our phones has been hacked. It also scares me that had I not have been in the house - who knows what my wife would have given them - she would have been panicked thinking I had been in a serious accident. I am pretty sure they would have been after Social Security# and/or Drivers Licence - who knows what reason they might have come up with to request credit card details.

Anyone ever heard of this scam before?

I am so sorry that happened to you and your family was so fortunate to all be home at the same time.

I hadn't felt ready to share this because it is still very traumatic for me, but I will now. A few months back I received a call from my young adult daughter, sobbing hysterically. Then a police officer gets on the phone and tells me she had been in an accident near Walmart, but that she was fine and could I come pick her up? I say of course and ask a few questions and then he asks me to speak with her again to just calm her down and let her know I'm on my way. She gets on the phone again crying and begging me to come get her. Then she whispers "They're not who they say they are, Mom. They're not police." The phone gets ripped away from her and then my nightmare starts. The guys says okay, we're not police, your daughter saw something she wasn't supposed to and now we have her. He's very anxious, saying he doesn't want to hurt her but he doesn't know what to do with her and can he trust that if I come get her I will make sure she doesn't turn them in? Anyway, I'm just not able to continue fully with the rest of the story, but know that for hours on end I was tortured like this.

Apparently this is known as a virtual kidnapping. It feels incredibly real in the moment. When someone sounds like your child, you will do anything, move any mountain, put yourself in any danger to make them safe. I am not an easily fooled person. I won't even let a salesperson sell me the thing I came to a store to buy. My guard is ALWAYS up. But I would swear it was my daughter on the phone. Anyways, the techniques they use are very sophisticated, whether it be IT techniques or psychological techniques. And the experience is very, very controlling. They don't allow you to put them on speaker and they constantly keep you busy, so that you don't have time to reach out for help or fact check etc. And you are so so fearful you'll do something wrong that will endanger your child. Anyways, it's really, really awful the ends people will go to for money.

I think I've heard a very simplified version of this, more like "your niece is calling from Europe and she lost her wallet" or whatever, and I always chalked it up to elderly people falling for these scams. I really had no idea how sophisticated they were. I have also heard a variation where when you post details about your upcoming vacations on social, they'll target your parents, etc that you've been kidnapped abroad.

Here's just one example https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...082690-8963-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html

 

[havaneselover]

I am so sorry that happened to you and your family was so fortunate to all be home at the same time.

I hadn't felt ready to share this because it is still very traumatic for me, but I will now. A few months back I received a call from my young adult daughter, sobbing hysterically. Then a police officer gets on the phone and tells me she had been in an accident near Walmart, but that she was fine and could I come pick her up? I say of course and ask a few questions and then he asks me to speak with her again to just calm her down and let her know I'm on my way. She gets on the phone again crying and begging me to come get her. Then she whispers "They're not who they say they are, Mom. They're not police." The phone gets ripped away from her and then my nightmare starts. The guys says okay, we're not police, your daughter saw something she wasn't supposed to and now we have her. He's very anxious, saying he doesn't want to hurt her but he doesn't know what to do with her and can he trust that if I come get her I will make sure she doesn't turn them in? Anyway, I'm just not able to continue fully with the rest of the story, but know that for hours on end I was tortured like this.

Apparently this is known as a virtual kidnapping. It feels incredibly real in the moment. When someone sounds like your child, you will do anything, move any mountain, put yourself in any danger to make them safe. I am not an easily fooled person. I won't even let a salesperson sell me the thing I came to a store to buy. My guard is ALWAYS up. But I would swear it was my daughter on the phone. Anyways, the techniques they use are very sophisticated, whether it be IT techniques or psychological techniques. And the experience is very, very controlling. They don't allow you to put them on speaker and they constantly keep you busy, so that you don't have time to reach out for help or fact check etc. And you are so so fearful you'll do something wrong that will endanger your child. Anyways, it's really, really awful the ends people will go to for money.

I think I've heard a very simplified version of this, more like "your niece is calling from Europe and she lost her wallet" or whatever, and I always chalked it up to elderly people falling for these scams. I really had no idea how sophisticated they were. I have also heard a variation where when you post details about your upcoming vacations on social, they'll target your parents, etc that you've been kidnapped abroad.

Here's just one example https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...082690-8963-11e6-875e-2c1bfe943b66_story.html

Thank you for sharing and I'm so sorry that happened. I can't begin to imagine