I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[EACarlson]

what's AA PNR? I got a GE # and I need to add it to my booking on Alaska Air and Fiji Air (thru ak air booking)

American Airlines Passenger Name Record, it's usually six or seven characters numbers and letters, sometimes referred to as a confirmation number.

I'm thinking I'll need to call in to do this? Thanks

Depends on the airline, but all of my domestic trips I've been able to add it online.

SHould I be doing this for my upcoming domestic flights for SWA? Or does GE work if I just show up and get in precheck line without doing this?

Yes, you enter your PassID as your KTN. If you add it to your RR account, it will auto populate for all future reservations, but not the ones already booked.

Question about driving from the US to Canada (and back).

I am going to a work conference in Niagara, Canada, and I am flying into Buffalo NY and then driving over the border (and driving back over the border and flying home out of Buffalo).

I do have Global Entry but I understand that's only for flights.

I anticipate this will be the only time I drive across the US/Canada border.

Is there anything to do to make the border crossing quicker just for this trip?

(I think the answer is no, but I just wanted to make sure I'm missing anything).

Global Entry works for land crossings, you just have to make sure that you have your actual GE card. I think it's the same line as Nexus, but I'm not sure.

 

[Sheree]

any good ideas on places to stay in Lisbon and Barcelona? after racking our brains for flights to hungary, poland etc from Lisbon back to the US we decided to make it easier. ewr to lisbon to barcelona to ewr. 3-4 nights in each. so looking for ideas. have Hilton points, URs, IHG points, amex fhr, some marriot! just 2 of us, friends since we were 2!.

i used chase UR for 2 flights, and my csr credit for th TAP flight to BCN.

thanks all

 

[calypso726]

I haven't been on this thread for a few years, but I need advice on credit cards moving forward. I've had lots of changes, including a divorce, a new job, and a new house.

I've been a loyal Starwood person for years and switched to Marriott, like many here. Lifetime gold and 2 years to lifetime platinum. I have a slew of Bonvoy business cards that will be closed with the new job. I have a Bonvoy Brilliant card and a Chase Sapphire reserve I alternate for general spending (not everyone takes AmEx).

My wife did some traveling for work, so we had an AAdvantage Executive Platinun for lounge access and some perks. Not on that anymore .

I would like to have a collection of cards that would give me perks when traveling more than anything else. I can get status on American with spending on any of the cards, but I can get several perks with just opting for another Execuative card. I use Marriott points all the time and occasionally use Sapphire points. I have never been able to use AA points for anything!

Thoughts on how to manage my cards moving forward?

If your goal is not to accumulate points and miles to mitigate the cost of trips and solely for the perks then your strategy may well be very different that what is typically offered here as advice. Generally, the advice if under 5/24 is to get the Chase cards and welcome bonuses for the points while you are under that number. Many stay under that number by using business cards. Many rack up points by bonus spending categories on existing cards and many more by always working on the next SUB.

We are in an AA hub so the AA miles can and do come in handy and there are plenty of partners within the One World alliance to choose from. Finding a decent saver level award is challenging though.

However, since you are asking about perks while traveling, you would need to consider if the juice of said perks is worth the squeeze. The better perks are going to come with higher annual fee cards. What works for one person may not work for another so on the cards we keep for perks, I will add our why we do on the keeper cards.

American Express Platinum cards with an AF of $695 but gets one person into a Centurion Lounge unless you spend $75k a year on it. Global entry and Clear credit, gold status with Marriott and Hilton, Priority Pass lounge access, $200 airline credit for incidentals, $200 credit for FHR or Hotel collection, elite status with Avis, Hertz and National car rentals. You can mitigate the AF with the myriad of monthly, annual and biannual credits for both the business and consumer cards. We mainly keep a Plat card each for Centurion Lounge access. There is a Centurion lounge at our home airport and the other close airport has an Escape lounge which we use every time we fly out. None the less we use the coupon book of credits to the extent that the AF is covered on both cards each year.

Amex Hilton Aspire card with an AF of $550 but comes with Diamond status, a free night certificate for any Hilton property in the world, a $200 resort credit twice per year, and a quarterly $50 airline incidental credit and a Clear credit. Between the FN certs, resort and airline credits we come out way ahead on this card's AF. So much so that we have 2 of them.

Chase Ritz Carlton card with an AF of $450 comes with 15 elite night credits, an 85K free night cert, $300 annual airline incidental credit, $100 GE or TSA pre check credit every 4 years, priority pass lounge access with unlimited guests, Chase Sapphire lounge with unlimited guests. We keep this one mainly for the FN cert since the AF is lower than the Brilliant and the airline credit mitigates the fee, plus the 15 elite night credits don't hurt. The PP access with unlimited guests is great when we are traveling with friends or family who don't do this hobby.

Chase Hyatt will give you Discoverist status and a cat 1-4 FN certificate
Chase IHG will give you Platinum status and a 40k annual FN certificate

I'm sure there are a number of other cards with various benefits that are worth holding on to depending on your situation. Many of those I will pick up just for the SUB. We each have an AA exec card that comes with lounge access but won't be keeping it beyond a year. The United card has a couple of annual lounge certificates and the United Club card has lounge access but I wouldn't keep either.

Hope this helps

 

[havaneselover]

any good ideas on places to stay in Lisbon and Barcelona? after racking our brains for flights to hungary, poland etc from Lisbon back to the US we decided to make it easier. ewr to lisbon to barcelona to ewr. 3-4 nights in each. so looking for ideas. have Hilton points, URs, IHG points, amex fhr, some marriot! just 2 of us, friends since we were 2!.

i used chase UR for 2 flights, and my csr credit for th TAP flight to BCN.

thanks all

We really liked Cotton House in Barcelona.

 

[calypso726]

There is a P2. Thanks! It's the first time I'm starting to plan that far ahead. Usually we're 1-2 yrs ahead in planning so this will be interesting.

I'm also normally in the 2 years out camp for something specific and 1 year if its on my radar and convenient. I've got New Zealand in mind but what I want to do and the way I want to do it will take me a few years of racking up specific points.

It's not the free for all it used to be.

If I had no cards and wanted to start the process I would first understand that you can only keep two long term, now that you are starting from Zero. It's also possible to get 2, a biz card and a personal card, one from each issuer or both from the same side during the same period, but it will be 24 months before you can churn those two cards. That's where closing after a year and following the chart to get a replacement will come in again times 2, one Amex and one Chase just not the two you just had.

That doubles if you have a player two.

I don't have the cost of your Lodge in my brain and too busy to look it up. But my guess is it's mega points. The highest FNC is 85K, so I'd make that my last quest 15 months before your trip.

Meanwhile, getting SUB's that equal just FNC's is not going to help you. You need one that will help accumulate points so that they don't expire, and that give a certificate yearly that will help (up to 100K) when you are ready to go.

Good luck! A couple of others on this board may be able to clarify this a LOT better. I have 4 cards and the chart doesn't allow me to do any kind of churning but I was lucky enough to get the upgrade offer.

No, I sure miss those days. JWMM is 150k per night (mega points) for peak so FN certs won't work unless one finds some off peak days that are at 100k or less. Looking at the calendar all the way into next year the lowest ones I see are at 108k here and there. Cash rates for 1 person is about $1800 average per night, 2 people average about $3,000 per night.

any good ideas on places to stay in Lisbon and Barcelona? after racking our brains for flights to hungary, poland etc from Lisbon back to the US we decided to make it easier. ewr to lisbon to barcelona to ewr. 3-4 nights in each. so looking for ideas. have Hilton points, URs, IHG points, amex fhr, some marriot! just 2 of us, friends since we were 2!.

i used chase UR for 2 flights, and my csr credit for th TAP flight to BCN.

thanks all

We stayed at Le Meridien Barcelona last year and enjoyed it. The location was perfect and we used 85K Free Night certificates for the stay.

 

[mmmears]

We really liked Cotton House in Barcelona.

We stayed at the Cotton House, too. It's really charming and I'd happily stay there again.

 

[Narnia_girl]

this sounds AMAZING! how did you find out about doing this? I'd do it too

We stayed at this inn in 2022 and they posted on their FB page. I'm not sure if other inns in that area do it.

 

[newski_mom]

DH, DS and I are going to NYC over Labor Day weekend to see the Cardinals play the Yankees and general sight-seeing.

Looking for ideas about best place to stay. Planning on staying in Manhattan, but not sure where to start for best area. We went back in 2012 when the kids were much younger and stayed at the Affinia Manhattan which looks like it's not even open anymore. It was on 31st and 7th - and was one of the few hotels I could find that would fit all 5 of us. I do remember it being a pretty good area though.

We have a lot of URs /Hyatt and IHG points. I have about 93,000 MRs, but I don't think that will go far with Hilton or Marriott in NYC. We will be staying 4 nights (Thurs - Mon) if that matters.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

[lsutigers03]

Can you buy Universal tickets through the Chase portal? I’ve bought them there before but I just looked and didn’t see them and I wasn’t sure if the had been removed.

 

[miztressuz]

AmEx offer

Hilton Las Vegas & Nevada
Spend $400 or more get $90 back
Expires 7/31/24

Restrictions: Offer valid only at participating Hilton properties located in Nevada. Excludes Hilton Grand Vacations. Excludes all other US and international Hilton locations.

 

[WinterSolider]

Extremely frustrated. Venture X is giving my wife a hard time by not giving her credit for my salary in her household income calculations, despite the fact that credit applications are *specifically* supposed to include all of the income someone has access to for applicants over 21.

We've run into this once before with Amex Platinum, and it's infuriating.

 

[platamama]

Extremely frustrated. Venture X is giving my wife a hard time by not giving her credit for my salary in her household income calculations, despite the fact that credit applications are *specifically* supposed to include all of the income someone has access to for applicants over 21.

We've run into this once before with Amex Platinum, and it's infuriating.

I don't understand - on the application there is only one entry field for annual income, how is it that she's getting pushback for putting down the household income? How would they know how much of it is your salary? I have the Venture X and two Plats and just entered the total household income, instant approval on all of them.

 

[WinterSolider]

I don't understand - on the application there is only one entry field for annual income, how is it that she's getting pushback for putting down the household income? How would they know how much of it is your salary? I have the Venture X and two Plats and just entered the total household income, instant approval on all of them.

I'm guessing the application was flagged because it had a high income, but "unemployed" employment status.

We submitted 1040 (MFJ), my pay stubs, and bank statements (joint) so we'll see if that works. Amex rejected it because the pay stubs weren't in my wife's name, we'll see if Cap1 is different.

 

[afan]

View attachment 856136

I'm guessing the application was flagged because it had a high income, but "unemployed" employment status.

We submitted 1040 (MFJ), my pay stubs, and bank statements (joint) so we'll see if that works. Amex rejected it because the pay stubs weren't in my wife's name, we'll see if Cap1 is different.

Is there a homemaker or something option other than unemployed that she could use?

I know I've read about this issue before when a stay at home parent is applying but I don't remember what the resolution was for that field.

 

[platamama]

Is there a homemaker or something option other than unemployed that she could use?

I know I've read about this issue before when a stay at home parent is applying but I don't remember what the resolution was for that field.

@WinterSolider I used other and homemaker.