I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

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Minnie368 said:
Thanks for all that info! It’s giving me a good starting point to start gathering info. I may have some questions along the way. When you say your booking window opens do you mean for flights, hotel? How early out do those things open?
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Yes, flights. Our trip is tentatively schedules for June 2021, which means that the booking window opens July 2020. Most airlines open their booking 11 months in advance, and when you want to use miles to travel during school breaks you need to usually book right when the flights are released.

I won't worry about hotels until after we have flights, I'm not doing too much research on what and where until I have flights. I will just continue to collect URs. I was going to use Marriott points for hotels but with this devaluations happening March 4th, I'm going to use those to book our October trip and save the 60K URs I was going to transfer to Hyatt.

calypso726 said:
Just wanted to say that I loved reading how you’ve got a few plans in place and are looking at accomplishing your goals using multiple angles. :-)
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Thanks, I learned this from you! I'm almost ready for our first European trip.
 
Pretty busy week around here...here is a recap taken directly from the DISchurners News Thread!

2/7/20 - @miztressuz shares that Hilton no-AF card with increased 100k/1k incognito offer popping up again
2/7/20 - @Killer Fish shares that new baby "Miles" has arrived!!
2/7/20 - @SouthFayetteFan shares an IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT regarding the DISchurners membership policy
2/7/20 - @alryan mentions that you should consider asking for a match on the new SW Performance Biz 100k offer if you signed up in the last 90 days. I further highlighted this with some thoughts in the second comment below.
2/7/20 - @SouthFayetteFan shares news of a New Southwest Performance Business Offer... for those that like to SPEND A LOT! 100,000 points but it requires $25k in spend.
2/5/20 - @SouthFayetteFan shares A Fireside Chat on EARNING, BURNING and HOARDING...
2/5/20 - @miztressuz reports that the annual Bonvoy category changes list is out. As we usually expect, there is more negative news than positive here!
2/5/20 - @miztressuz shares some thoughts on amex and how to view L3 data
2/4/20 - @SouthFayetteFan reposts: a Fireside Chat on Chase and Pacing: Why 3 months??

2/4/20 - @SouthFayetteFan shares a reminder that the elevated 75k SW personal offers will be going away on 2/18
2/4/20 - @SouthFayetteFan and @Lain briefly revisit the "one sapphire" rule which might become more relevant to people as we are now <9 months away from some people being able to churn the CSR SUB for the first time ever...
2/4/20 - @SouthFayetteFan shares news of an Update to the Program Details on Chase Support Links - DO NOT SELF REFER!!
2/3/20 - @miztressuz shares a few thoughts on the rarely discussed Thank You points program. (rarely discussed because you just can't earn a TON of them easily like Chase URs or Amex MRs)
2/3/20 - @PolyRob shares that there might be a way to score 2,500 extra United miles when applying for the Explorer Card
2/2/20 - @Lain & @Alexle2007 share a couple thoughts about Amex Popups - namely, don't try daily to see if it's gone, it's probably not a good idea!
2/2/20 - @mgarbowski shares news of an increased Jetblue Barclays Offer
2/2/20 - @tink1970 shares that the Cap One 10% Hotels.com benefit appears to have ended
 
wisconsinmom said:
How long does it typically take for SW [support] points to show up? .... I’m getting nervous that I messed up the [support] by using my SW bus which I closed instead of my SW plus.
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If you closed a card before you got the support points I’m sorry to say that I’m fairly certain you won’t be getting those points. Your card needed to remain open through its next statement cycle to allow those points to post on a statement and then transfer to SW.
 
A dear friend of mine, who is the most selfless, kindest person I know (I worked for/with her for years) has finally retired. Before she left our work and moved to Florida, she would make quick little (like 4 day) trips to England to visit (she especially loves Downton Abbey). She always travels solo but (perhaps jokingly??) mentioned that the next time she goes, I should come with her. So while I don't have any plans beyond Japan, I have just barely begun to toy with the idea of taking BOTH of us to England (possibly other parts of Europe, too) on points. It would be nice to return some of the kindness she has shown me over the years. Lots to think about.
 
SouthFayetteFan said:
If you closed a card before you got the support points I’m sorry to say that I’m fairly certain you won’t be getting those points. Your card needed to remain open through its next statement cycle to allow those points to post on a statement and then transfer to SW.
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I just checked and it looked like I’ll be getting 20,000 points when my cycle closes in 5 days. Thank goodness I didn’t mess that up!! I was getting nervous!!
 
Minnie368 said:
This thread has been very helpful and I’m still in awe of what so many of you have managed to do with your points. I have plans kind of in the works now for our upcoming trips to wdw and cruises. But we’re starting to plan a trip to Europe for 2021 or 2022. We’ve never been before so I’m looking for advice on what points/cards will benefit us the most. Our plans are to fly in to London, with stops afterward in Paris and ending in Rome for a few days with hopefully a day trip/train ride to Venice. It’s the very early stages of planning and I’ve got lots of research to do, but this is where I’ll start. Afterall, for years all of my best research for our wdw trips has been done here on the DIS in the other trip planning forums!
So my biggest questions for now are-
1. Is London the best city for us to start in? I thought I read several pages back that London was tough to fly out of so that’s why I thought we’d start there instead. Also, flying out of Pittsburgh- any recommendations on a particular airline?
2. Is there a hotel brand we should focus on building a stash of points for? Not looking for anything super high end but definitely places with a good reputation (clean and safe).
3. Once in London, what is the best way to get to Paris and then on to Rome?
We hope to take this trip in June of 2022 right after DS graduates from college. Would love to go in May but DD will be playing college softball and we won’t know when her season will end. Second option would be August 2021 before he starts his last year but I heard lots of places close in august in Europe. Is that true and how would it affect our trip? Fyi our travel party will be me, DH, DS22, DD20. Thanks in advance! Europe is a whole new animal for us as we have stuck mostly to the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.
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I see you've already received some great advice. I'll add that you may find better and cheaper flights to Europe out of EWR (compared to PHL) and that taking the train from London to Paris saves time and money since it gets you from the center of one city to the center of the other. Plus it's fun!

When booking Europe, I have found that it's been best to have a nice stash of both Chase URs and Amex MRs to play with. That way when you are ready to book you have some flexibility in terms of flights and airlines you can use. Europe itself isn't closed down in August (at least the large cities and tourist sights) but know that as you progress south from London down towards the Med and Italy it may get really, really hot. Northern Europe is still quite cool in August, so London would be more hit or miss in that regard.
 
mmmears said:
I see you've already received some great advice. I'll add that you may find better and cheaper flights to Europe out of EWR (compared to PHL) and that taking the train from London to Paris saves time and money since it gets you from the center of one city to the center of the other. Plus it's fun!

When booking Europe, I have found that it's been best to have a nice stash of both Chase URs and Amex MRs to play with. That way when you are ready to book you have some flexibility in terms of flights and airlines you can use. Europe itself isn't closed down in August (at least the large cities and tourist sights) but know that as you progress south from London down towards the Med and Italy it may get really, really hot. Northern Europe is still quite cool in August, so London would be more hit or miss in that regard.
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Thank you! I was thinking of working on both MR and UR. We have things started well with UR but need to find a way to get going with MR although I did get the BBP as an Amex starter card last month.
 
What a day with Disney FP saga! I woke up at 3:25 am to check for 8 am FP for TSM for our 3/13 since WDW had just changed the DHS opening hour. Lucky me, it was open and I grabbed it. I go back to bed. I wake up at 6:15 am and I see an email that my FP was changed to 11 am. So I log on to MDE and search for the 8 am. Again, I get lucky and can grab 8 am. Then I see confusing email at 11:30 am and 1 pm that there were changes but I still good at 8 am. Then comes another email at 3:30 pm and this one changes my FP to 1 pm. What the heck! I then finally have enough and call Disney. 75 min waiting for tech support, helpful Marissa looks at my account, sees my dilemma and puts in a message to her IT people. While we are waiting I chat, I did try and get some pixie dust for DS’s 13th birthday. She advises me to get a Happy Birthday button and maybe he’ll get some pixie dust. So after a very long stressful day, kind, helpful Marissa gets us anytime TSM so we are now set for our visit.

Oh, and Friday was a glorious day...
 
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Alexle2007 said:
Here’s why! MB day! And DS still has no idea! DH is Grumpy not DS :)
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Ha! My DH is Grumpy too. So fun to plan a surprise trip! I’m really excited for our USO trip (so funny you are usually at USO and we’re at WDW). DS has finished 5 of the HP books in the past 2 weeks and is really into them now which makes a surprise trip to USO extra fun. Today I ordered him a USO gift card for him to spend as he likes (since I cannot buy the dang things anywhere local). I’m trying to figure out when to give it to him, when we board the plane or after we land.

And BTW, whenever we go to WDW in February or March, DS gets a Birthday button and gets comments from everyone which he really enjoys. I don’t recall any special pixie dust except people being super nice but it’s still fun.
 
CyndiLouWho said:
Ha! My DH is Grumpy too. So fun to plan a surprise trip! I’m really excited for our USO trip (so funny you are usually at USO and we’re at WDW). DS has finished 5 of the HP books in the past 2 weeks and is really into them now which makes a surprise trip to USO extra fun. Today I ordered him a USO gift card for him to spend as he likes (since I cannot buy the dang things anywhere local). I’m trying to figure out when to give it to him, when we board the plane or after we land.
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I vote for after you land
 
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