Can a Chase Ink transfer UR points to CSR? We plan on keeping one CSR for my husband, downgrading mine, but I will apply for a Chase Ink (is it plus) for my eBay business. That would really stink if the ability to transfer went away - how strong are the rumors of that happening?
We just returned from our Europe trip. We booked Norwegian Air through the portal as they were the cheapest flights I could find to anywhere in Europe for August, then with the 1.5 redemption it was great. Award tickets for a family of 6 are darn near impossible (and I've found that trying to coordinate award travel with non-award travel is a pain) so UR points have really opened up possibilities for us.
I am able to transfer my Ink + UR points to my DH's CSR account with no issues.
BA which usually has decent availability with multiple award seats but they are distance based and the taxes and fees are exorbitant when connecting through London.
Not sure if the rumors will come to fruition. In the meantime I am transferring all UR points to CSR as I get them.
i believe they are trying to cut things internally. Everyone is getting into the game and the one place suffering right now is the Priority pass Lounges... it used to be like, 3 cards. now its at 5 and more and more CC companies are coming out with their own edition of the CSR. US bank with its attitude card, BOA is suppose to come out with one next month to try to get some of the CSR with BOA accounts back to BOA.
im sure we will see more and more of these cards.
Yeah they need an Attitude adjustment. "CSR killer" ... not so much.
So in my quick scan of 333 pages
I couldn't find an answer to my question, so my apologies if this has been asked before:
DW and I have our 30th next year and we're thinking about going to Europe. I'd love it if we could get enough points to fly an upgraded class on points alone.
We've never really maximized points before and not really sure about the distinctions on flights between premium economy/business/first/etc. Anyone have any websites, links, books, tips, resources, etc. to help me starting getting smart on this and planning? Thanks!
I learned everything through the bloggers mostly. Million Mile Secrets, View From the Wing, One Mile at a Time, The Points Guy, Frequent Miler and trying to decipher Flyer Talk.
I'd say you are starting behind the 8 ball for your current plans. It's possible but not easy. I plan at least 2 years out for big trips and always with a contingency back up. I will start checking flights to where I want to go. I will use Google flights, Momondo and also see if any of the bloggers have already done what I'm trying to do. Once I know which airlines or alliances I will likely be using, then I plan on how to get the miles I will likely need.
I give myself one year to accumulate the points and miles we need for plan A and plan B. I want them in place one year before the trip, as I will likely be booking about 11 months or so out. This is due to the types of trips we take.
Adventures by Disney mostly, and I am currently on the Italy one headed to Venice as I post this. Between that and our jobs, we don't have much flexibility so we need to book specific dates. We travel hack to fly in first and those seats go fast so I need to book them the moment they are released.
Seat class experience varies across airlines, aircraft type and domestic vs international. The bloggers do a great job of discussing and rating them. Seat Guru dot com is my "go to" website when planning a trip. For a long haul flight we want lie flat seats. Therefore, I need to find which specific flights and aircraft have them for the trips we are planning.
When we were planning our Hawaii trip, we planned to use AA miles and there is only one aircraft that would get us to Hawaii in lie flat seats. So, we had to position ourselves to connect through DFW from Miami in order to get in the aircraft with the lie flat seats. Every other flight and connection would be in a slighter wider than economy seat that reclined a few inches. No thanks.
My suggestion is to start with the Chase Ultimate Rewards point earning cards first and to have both you and your DW each get your own individual cards, not authorized user" and each make the spend and each get the bonus. DH and I were able to accumulate 750,000 points and miles our first year doing it this way. Things were also easier than they are now. I would not apply for anything until you have exhausted 5/24 with Chase. Chase will automatically decline apps for UR (and a few other) cards if you have opened 5 credit cards, regardless of brand or type over the last 24 months. I would first get the Chase Sapphire Reserve (don't let the AF scare you). It's essentially a $150/year card sin FE you get a generous $300 travel credit. If you get Global entry then that's another $100 you save. The points alone are going to be worth over $750 and if you are redeeming for first with an airline transfer, then likely more than that. After CSR, get the CSP and just say you want it to separate business and personal expenses since it's the same card with similar benefits. Then I'd get the CIP, followed by the Marriott and United cards if you find you are able to utilize United.
Once you are past 5/24, from there, I'd pick up an SPG card, IHG card and a Club Carlson Card.
When it comes to spending, exploit your bonus categories, utilize shopping portals, join and max the dining rewards network of your preferred airline. Hope this helps.
OMG. I have found my tribe! We are very new to this game, but I'd love advice from you experts. We are doing a huge home renovation right now, with 30k-ish spend that could be accomplished really quickLy buying things like cabinets, fixtures, etc, all of which is immediately paid off. I decided to try to maximize that purchasing with cc bonuses, and was planning to spend the rewards on a big Disney trip. However, we are rethinking that, and as of right now I'm only planning to use my Barclay Arrival and Capitol One Venture points for park tickets and Starwood points for two separate 5th night free stays at the Dolphin, but want to use the rest of the points for other travel.
I am still not great at figuring out the timing of applying for more cards--at this point we will be adding cards strategically and using everyday spend to meet minimums. I would like a CSR and an Ink Business (I own a small business) and would love to drop and re-add my Southwest personal and business Visas in 2019 to get a companion pass, so I'm not sure if we should apply for more cards or not. It looks like I can maybe apply for Hyatt and IHG cards and it won't trigger 5/24? Any thoughts on Flexperks? I applied for 5 cards in 2017, all by June.
Oh, you are past 5/24 so you would not be able to get a CSR or a CIP If you apply for more cards you likely won't be under 5/24 to qualify for the SW cards when 2019 rolls around. You can get approved for the IHG and Hyatt but then you'd be at 7/24.
If you are good with putting off your UR earning and SW cards off then might as well get several bonuses. We had a similar opportunity via a kitchen and bathroom remodel. We opted to get the BA card and will earn 100,000 Avios plus a travel together ticket which is good for 2 years. We are ok with BA's crazy taxes and fees when redeeming for first class. Using half the required miles with a travel together ticket will be great. Might use it to go see Hamilton in London too or some other insane plan LOL
Since I know a little about what you've been up to, I'd say you can use points to chase eclipses 
(we actually used 60K of our Hilton Surpass bonuses (100K/each) to stay 3 nights for the eclipse).
