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

[middieline7608]

Question or Advice What Credit Cards do people use for airline points. We are a family of 6 and are 2 hours or less from CLE, CAK, CMH, and PIT. Also CVG and DAY are options as we have family in that area.

 

[calypso726]

2021 was pretty light for me in terms of travel.

Spent most weekends in WDW.

Spent a weekend in Boston.

Spent a week at Aulani and another week on the Big Island

Had a long weekend in San Francisco and followed that up with 3 nights at the Alila Ventana Big Sur and then 3 nights at DLR

We just had a 5 night cruise on Virgin Voyages.

2022 trips

Currently at WDW and rang in the New Year here.

14 night Panama Canal Cruise in March followed up by 3 nights at DLR

April - Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser hotel experience

May - Long weekend in NYC

June - Wish Maiden Voyage

September - Kauai for 5 nights and then Napa for 3 nights

October- a weekend at the Miraval Berkshires

November - Dubai for 5 nights at the Al Maha Desert Resport & Spa

December - Celebrity Flora cruise to the Galapagos

Add weekend WDW trips every month throughout 2022 and that about wraps things up for now.

 

[thevalley]

Does Amex have a retention offer rule. My Marriott brilliant card just posted it’s annual fee. I got an offer 2 years ago and they said there is no offer available now. I have until the 25th to pc or close. Happy New Year!!!

 

[mmmears]

I feel like I need to recap... between my work computer randomly not working great with the dis in mid 2020, and 2020/2021 not being the most exciting travel years I've not been posting much. Most of our 2021 travel was to Uni with APs since it was easy. Did our Winchester Mystery House day trip and I went home 4 times which was great after not visiting and I'm at a point where I do really miss the area. I switched jobs in 2020 so I no longer work every dang weekend! We used some of the points cashout options to do home projects in 2021 - did I mention we bought a house at the end of 2020?

Early 2022 plans so far: I'm hoping to get in a weekend trip somewhere for me and Zack, another trip back home, and more house projects for this...

View attachment 635024

Congratulations on your upcoming new arrival!!! How exciting!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Good morning everyone. Since it's a new year I looked into using some of my airline credits but FT is reporting that United TB has been suspended. Anyone have any more info or thoughts on this one?




1Password. DH is a stickler for online security stuff and he recommends this one. It's a pain sometimes, but Amex told us that there were attempts to break into both of our accounts a few months ago and they were unsuccessful (and they also said it looked like it wasn't just a random Amex hacker thing).

Reports are circulating that United TB has been discontinued and a new program will launch soon to replace it. No idea what that means and I don’t personally use TB so just sharing what I’ve heard.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Does Amex have a retention offer rule. My Marriott brilliant card just posted it’s annual fee. I got an offer 2 years ago and they said there is no offer available now. I have until the 25th to pc or close. Happy New Year!!!

I understand you can only get one retention offer per Amex card every 13 months. Once you you accept an offer, if you close the card in less than 12 months, you risk clawback.

I would use the search tool on r churning to look for some DPs. Then, I would chat every day or so. It's not uncommon that I'll see DPs of no offer, no offer, then finally an offer (this is in general, not specific to this card.)

 

[jenmsmith]

I feel like I need to recap... between my work computer randomly not working great with the dis in mid 2020, and 2020/2021 not being the most exciting travel years I've not been posting much. Most of our 2021 travel was to Uni with APs since it was easy. Did our Winchester Mystery House day trip and I went home 4 times which was great after not visiting and I'm at a point where I do really miss the area. I switched jobs in 2020 so I no longer work every dang weekend! We used some of the points cashout options to do home projects in 2021 - did I mention we bought a house at the end of 2020?

Early 2022 plans so far: I'm hoping to get in a weekend trip somewhere for me and Zack, another trip back home, and more house projects for this...

View attachment 635024

Awww! Congratulations!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

For Dell, I am trying to split the payment to send a laptop to my SIL but I keep getting an error when adding another payment. Can you split payment when sending to a different address?

So you see the option to "split your payment" but then it errors? It might be a security issue, like you alluded to because of the delivery address. IDK if chat or calling would help? I had a bad chat last week, but a helpful phone call.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Curious where they're talking about the small loads on Amazon. I use that a lot each month to do debit transactions on accounts that I need to make so many of to get the high interest. I typically do about 25 or so a month. I'd hate if it ends. I will say, each month, I get a little nervous about it for some reason though. I'm sure it looks kind of fishy!

Bummer about the phone credits, but I figured that might be the case when I couldn't find it on my account benefits anywhere.

I saw it on a few of the FB groups I'm in. I think it's mostly tied to using VGC.

 

[mmmears]

Reports are circulating that United TB has been discontinued and a new program will launch soon to replace it. No idea what that means and I don’t personally use TB so just sharing what I’ve heard.

I saw that, too. I guess I'll need to find a new way to use up those credits.

 

[Judique]

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[IFlossU]

Question or Advice What Credit Cards do people use for airline points. We are a family of 6 and are 2 hours or less from CLE, CAK, CMH, and PIT. Also CVG and DAY are options as we have family in that area.

From the sound of your 1st post it seems like Southwest is a good choice for you. You may want to research getting a Southwest Companion pass.

 

[wanderlust7]

For Dell, I am trying to split the payment to send a laptop to my SIL but I keep getting an error when adding another payment. Can you split payment when sending to a different address?

I've done it once. It went through fine. But then every single order after that would get canceled, even physical items. I think the different address caused my account and all associated credit cards to get on their black list. It was a big pain to resolve. Was flagged as a reseller (never sold a single thing). At one point, was told 5 orders in a calendar year gets flagged. Which is crazy. Can you imagine if Amazon did that?

 

[Alexle2007]

I've done it once. It went through fine. But then every single order after that would get canceled, even physical items. I think the different address caused my account and all associated credit cards to get on their black list. It was a big pain to resolve. Was flagged as a reseller (never sold a single thing). At one point, was told 5 orders in a calendar year gets flagged. Which is crazy. Can you imagine if Amazon did that?

OMG, maybe I’ll just ship to my house and ship to her. That might be the easiest route. She is in AZ vs MD which was why I wanted to ship direct. Oh well.

 

[ctinct]

I feel like I need to recap... between my work computer randomly not working great with the dis in mid 2020, and 2020/2021 not being the most exciting travel years I've not been posting much. Most of our 2021 travel was to Uni with APs since it was easy. Did our Winchester Mystery House day trip and I went home 4 times which was great after not visiting and I'm at a point where I do really miss the area. I switched jobs in 2020 so I no longer work every dang weekend! We used some of the points cashout options to do home projects in 2021 - did I mention we bought a house at the end of 2020?

Early 2022 plans so far: I'm hoping to get in a weekend trip somewhere for me and Zack, another trip back home, and more house projects for this...

View attachment 635024

Huge congratulations to you! You know what they say…..new house, new baby.

 

[ctinct]

Forgot to add congrats on the new job, too. I remember reading about the crazy hours you used to have to work. Good news all around!

 

[EACarlson]

Question or Advice What Credit Cards do people use for airline points. We are a family of 6 and are 2 hours or less from CLE, CAK, CMH, and PIT. Also CVG and DAY are options as we have family in that area.

Personally, I use my Chase cards (Sapphire Preferred, Freedom Flex and Freedom Unlimited) to transfer points to SW and my AMEX Gold to transfer points to Delta. I don't fly enough to get too invested in one program and am not really a churner, although that may change after we buy a house this year.

 

[trenty]

Question or Advice What Credit Cards do people use for airline points. We are a family of 6 and are 2 hours or less from CLE, CAK, CMH, and PIT. Also CVG and DAY are options as we have family in that area.

Like @EACarlson, I use the same three Chase cards and transfer UR to travel partners (airlines or hotels) or book through the Chase portal. I am also not a churner and do fine putting almost 100% of spend on various credit cards.

I also have the Amex everyday which earns MR that can transfer to different travel partners. And I have Discover It which earns cash back that I earmark for travel (and pay my CSP AF with).

I use all five of these cards regularly and maximize bonus categories for each card.

 

[happ]

Does Amex have a retention offer rule. My Marriott brilliant card just posted it’s annual fee. I got an offer 2 years ago and they said there is no offer available now. I have until the 25th to pc or close. Happy New Year!!!

You can wait a little bit and try again. Other than the 13 month guideline, there seems to be no rhyme or reason to it. Some speculate it has to do with spending. I've only been successful once with Amex. I usually try 2-3 times. Good luck.

 

[Judique]

2021 was pretty light for me in terms of travel.

Spent most weekends in WDW.

Spent a weekend in Boston.

Spent a week at Aulani and another week on the Big Island

Had a long weekend in San Francisco and followed that up with 3 nights at the Alila Ventana Big Sur and then 3 nights at DLR

We just had a 5 night cruise on Virgin Voyages.

2022 trips

Currently at WDW and rang in the New Year here.

14 night Panama Canal Cruise in March followed up by 3 nights at DLR

April - Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser hotel experience

May - Long weekend in NYC

June - Wish Maiden Voyage

September - Kauai for 5 nights and then Napa for 3 nights

October- a weekend at the Miraval Berkshires

November - Dubai for 5 nights at the Al Maha Desert Resport & Spa

December - Celebrity Flora cruise to the Galapagos

Add weekend WDW trips every month throughout 2022 and that about wraps things up for now.

Older daughter took a short trip to the Galapagos 2nd week in December, last month.

I just finished searching the pictures she sent me, but many of the good ones contain people pictures.

They flew from Guayaquil to San Cristobal on Latam. Stayed in a $49 a night Hostal Romy. Clean with local food, nice fruit and water and coffee in the room, and owner and family onsite, plus acceptable wifi. Not posh, but in order to make travel funds meet, DD will go from one end to the other. If I remember correctly she used either UR's or just booked on Travelocity. The owners were really nice, even offering to pick them up at the airport, which was in walking distance, but it's pretty warm there being equatorial. DD also speaks the language so that makes it easier.


While on the islands they saw Galapagos turtles, swam with sealions, took a boat trip with dolphins following the boat, and for my benefit, took pictures of many blue footed Booby. And a few other creatures.



Culturally they experienced a parade of locals dancing in colorful costumes. I haven't asked her if it was a festival or just Saturday night hijinks in town. Or something to draw tourists.




Most of her pics were short videos so I can't really share, but they show lots of wildlife and wild terrain as opposed to developed resorts. Several beaches with just a few people enjoying the fine sand with sea lions lounging around.



Overall, this was a very short (3 nights) budget visit and she would go back and stay at the Hostal. She really enjoyed the area and may be getting more nature oriented (like her Mom) as she gets older.

We talk several times a day via WhatsApp when she's out of the country. Works great!

Editing to add:

Flew on Spirit from Dulles BWI to Fort Lauderdale, then on to Ecuador. Long layover in between flights.