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

[hsmamato2]

We always have luck with Clear and pre-check, but yeah, MCO has consistently horrible security lines. We typically travel through there at slow times too. I can only imagine what you experienced.

I'm gonna see if I can convince my fam I've got to travel with next to PC their CSP to a CSR to get this option.....

 

[hsmamato2]

Quick trip from our weekend trip to Disney. We spent 2 nights at the Waldorf Astoria using 2 FNC (me & DH from 2 SUBs). We arrived at 4PM on Saturday and our room wasn’t ready. So we headed to the pool restaurant for some appetizers to use the $50 F&B credit ($62 with tip). Lots of families waiting for rooms. Not happy with the room delays since we missed the 5:35 shuttle to Disney Springs, we had to take an Lyft ($10). Room finally ready at 6PM, we had just gotten our bags from bell check to change in the public restrooms when I got the alert that our room was ready. Disney Springs was so busy (Saturday night), we did a little shopping, dinner and did a little more shopping. We missed the 9:20 shuttle back to WA so another Lyft, next shuttle wasn’t until 11PM.
The next morning we checked out and back in before walked over to Signia to use the pool, had lunch and some drinks ($105 w/tip).

We took the 3:05 shuttle for the Christmas party. Arrived at MK via ferry boat at 3:40 and I think we were in by 4:15. The park wasn’t busy at all, we were having a good time when a big storm moved in around 5PM. We had a great time at the party, I think it was pouring rain until 7:30. We got lots of cookies, rode all the rides we wanted (no characters pics), saw the first parade and the fireworks, even rode Tron for the first time. It was a successful trip. DH ended up not going to the party, he came down with a fever and just couldn’t get out of bed when we got back from the pool (he was feeling sick since the morning). At 9:20PM, I went to Guest Services and they gave us a Disney GC for the value of the party ticket.
After the party we walked to the Contemporary to catch a Lyft back the our hotel.
Thanks @IFlossU for all the tips, specially about checking our bill before leaving, they didn’t apply the F&B credit to our second night, so I’m glad we got that fixed before leaving this morning. With the F&B credit and DH $50 Surpass quarterly credit, we only spent $20.

Ha- that storm Sunday night! We got lucky and were sitting inside the boathouse watching the lightning...you're brave!

 

[EACarlson]

Thanks for all the replies....(can't tag all of you) I'm gonna check into those options- my problem is I'm usually traveling with noobs and people who don't want to be bothered getting this stuff...... (I mean, checking suitcases....yeesh!)

I tell my traveling companions that I have Precheck and for most of the year had Clear. I'm not waiting for you if you don't have it and get stuck at the checkpoint. I just had my wife tell her mother this for their Hawaii trip next month, that caused my MIL to go get Pre.
I've traveled to FL three times this year and checked at least one bag each time. I'm there for 5 days of working so have some equipment.

 

[hsmamato2]

Alaska Air- if I'm looking at my travel dates (Fiji) and I see availability with cash, but none on miles, that means that's it for miles awards on those dates, right? No use getting a cc with Alaska miles if no availability?

 

[becauseimnew]

Ha- that storm Sunday night! We got lucky and were sitting inside the boathouse watching the lightning...you're brave!

We were 100% unprepared for the rain and cooler temperatures.
This is what we wore. I did not buy us panchos. This was taken as we were walking out of the park, no line.

 

[AndreaDM]

Question - I have an AMEX gold card, which we use, a lot! I have an offer to upgrade to a Platinum card, earning 100,000 points for spending $6,000 in 6 months. (We would miss the 4x on dining and groceries, but I can always have hubby apply for the gold card.) We travel so the 5x flights and clear/TSA/incidental credits would be used. As would the lounge access.

Would you do it? Or wait for a higher sub which may or may not come?

I did this exact same thing about a year and a half ago. DH has the gold, so we get the restaurant and grocery benefits that way, and the plat benefits with my card.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Got home yesterday afternoon and I'm almost organized now (cleaning, laundry, sorting, etc.).

Decided to call AmEx since still no points or FNC from July personal HH card (MSR met Sept. 8th). I filed a case at the 12 wk mark and was told 7-10 days for resolution, but called anyways. The CSR I spoke with told me that AmEx had "decided in my favor" to grant me the points and FNC (like this was ever an issue ), but their "back office" has yet to issue the points and FNC. He went on to say that he can't call the back office for an update and "it's a very complicated process" to issue points and FNCs after the fact with co-branded cards. He said that he "has no idea" how long it will take. I thanked him and asked that his supervisor call me back; he said a call from a supervisor can take up to 24 hours. So I wait and wait.....

 

[becauseimnew]

Got home yesterday afternoon and I'm almost organized now (cleaning, laundry, sorting, etc.).

Decided to call AmEx since still no points or FNC from July personal HH card (MSR met Sept. 8th). I filed a case at the 12 wk mark and was told 7-10 days for resolution, but called anyways. The CSR I spoke with told me that AmEx had "decided in my favor" to grant me the points and FNC (like this was ever an issue ), but their "back office" has yet to issue the points and FNC. He went on to say that he can't call the back office for an update and "it's a very complicated process" to issue points and FNCs after the fact with co-branded cards. He said that he "has no idea" how long it will take. I thanked him and asked that his supervisor call me back; he said a call from a supervisor can take up to 24 hours. So I wait and wait.....

How frustrating. I hope you can get your points and FNC issued soon.

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Quick update on my whirlwind trip to see Christmas markets. I wanted to visit the Strasbourg market from Paris, but the return train

We debated Europe last week and the Christmas markets. But I'm a sun/warm girlie. Especially when it's crappy here. Maybe next year we'll try those.

We did a quick-ish trip to Zion NP, Bryce NP, LV last week (Sunday to Friday, 5 nights). Here's a quick recap of points/cc redemptions:

Airfare:
We flew direct RDU-LAS on Delta (Skymiles for me, a $100 delta credit + ~$100 in cash for DH)
Return LAS-DEN-RDU on SW (using RR points)
Out of pocket ($100) edit: Add another $100 because we added Early Bird.

We almost pivoted from Cancun to Vegas. As a UNLV alum I was sad to hear what happened. It's a small campus. We likely would have been in Vegas the day it happened. I'm kinda shocked UNLV hasn't really sent any emails about the event.

Clear has just been absurd recently. I don't know why I still bother using it. For the past 5/5 flights, the regular pre-check line has moved faster than the Clear + Pre line (I always note the person entering the regular Pre line at the same time as me).

This past weekend, the standard security line was faster in both ATL and MCO than Clear + Pre (we had a friend traveling with us who went through standard).

So frustrating. I just wrote in to Clear to complain, but I know it will not do anything.

Definitely not a service I would pay for if it weren't included on my Amex.

home airport here just to chime in the 2 months i was out of having global entry/pre check was horrible i saw people taking off random garmets not understanding things and arguing with the tsas and these weren't people with kids. The weird thing that has happened to me the last 2 times i used clear with DW is the line has been longer then just precheck it makes no sense. I still want some more flights to come out of the new terminal its completely empty.

I have said that 1- they need to stop pushing things like pre-check and clear. Those lines are getting longer than regular TSA. 2- They need to make you do a mock run through pre-check to get it vs paying a fee and answering 3 questions. The amount of people I've had in front of me in precheck that don't know what they are doing. Like I had a guy who didn't know how to walk thru the scanner. He kept stopping under it. If I see a family w/ 900 items, I cut in front of them. And those damn crescent roll scanners SUCK! They get jammed up all the time.

Was just coming here to ask about this, so thank you very much for the info!

Me too! I need to order mine, LOL.

Got home yesterday afternoon and I'm almost organized now (cleaning, laundry, sorting, etc.).

Decided to call AmEx since still no points or FNC from July personal HH card (MSR met Sept. 8th). I filed a case at the 12 wk mark and was told 7-10 days for resolution, but called anyways. The CSR I spoke with told me that AmEx had "decided in my favor" to grant me the points and FNC (like this was ever an issue ), but their "back office" has yet to issue the points and FNC. He went on to say that he can't call the back office for an update and "it's a very complicated process" to issue points and FNCs after the fact with co-branded cards. He said that he "has no idea" how long it will take. I thanked him and asked that his supervisor call me back; he said a call from a supervisor can take up to 24 hours. So I wait and wait.....

My BF called Monday about his. They told him he should be getting everything in 7-10 days. So we'll see. I'm shocked because I earned mine w/ no issue. Also I didn't get the referral credit for referring him. Once all his processes I might go after those points. I know he used my link because I sent it to him, LOL.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

I just got credited something from an Amex offer from the spend in July I had given up on it, as it was only $1.94 and wasn't really worth the time to me. I guess all that talk about them being slow... never seen THAT slow!

 

[wanderlust7]

Ugh. I just got this card with a 65k offer and higher spend.

Maybe it's just as well. Turns out the Alaska biz 75k offer is a hacked link. I'm not really sure if that just means changing AKBuscard65k to AKBuscard75k in the link. But if that works, I would think that means the offer exists. In DoC comments, no one has been able to confirm the offer, but it could just be a lag in their system. I'll just have to wait and see. Should have been more suspicious when I didn't see the elevated offer reported elsewhere.

 

[MsOnceUponATime]

My trip report here

Ah yes, I've read this one!
I'll take another look at it to familarize myself further now that I'm at bat for actually going! Thanks!

 

[elgerber]

I just got credited something from an Amex offer from the spend in July I had given up on it, as it was only $1.94 and wasn't really worth the time to me. I guess all that talk about them being slow... never seen THAT slow!

are these delays incliuding offers that you use? LIke the $50 back on $250 at Lowes?

 

[platamama]

I keep waiting for the RCCL Amex offer to show up on one of our numerous Amex cards but so far nothing. I used it on 3 or 4 cards within the last year so I wonder if they figure I don't need to be incentivized. Boo.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

are these delays incliuding offers that you use? LIke the $50 back on $250 at Lowes?

Yup, exactly. It was a grocery store offer, for 10% back on spend up to a total of $30 back. Completed the spend on the offer in July. $28 tracked, I guess the last $2 took 5 months to catch up!

 

[elgerber]

Yup, exactly. It was a grocery store offer, for 10% back on spend up to a total of $30 back. Completed the spend on the offer in July. $28 tracked, I guess the last $2 took 5 months to catch up!

Great LOL. I got the emails yesterday that I redeemed the $50 offer, really don't want to have to pay that and get a refund down the road.

 

[becauseimnew]

I was thinking about my 2023 Churning and we have spent way to much on credit card fees this year. I'm kind of embarrassed to post how much we've spent. So I think my goal for 2024 is to spend less than $1,000 of credit card fees.
I think DH and I will just stick to CIC/CIUs until that train dries out.
We do have a few cards with AFs that are keepers
WOH $95
Marriott Bonvoy $95
Hilton Biz $95
Amex Gold $250
One CSR $550
Total $1,085
The gold puts us over our budget the CSR $300 travel credit brings us under the $1,000 net.

 

[Judique]

are these delays incliuding offers that you use? LIke the $50 back on $250 at Lowes?

I've had 2 recent offers that credited almost immediately - cell phone and internet. The internet one credited in 1 day.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

Great LOL. I got the emails yesterday that I redeemed the $50 offer, really don't want to have to pay that and get a refund down the road.

hopefully this was just an anomaly, and you get the credit ASAP! In the months since, I've had things credit within a week or two.

 

[Judique]

I was thinking about my 2023 Churning and we have spent way to much on credit card fees this year. I'm kind of embarrassed to post how much we've spent. So I think my goal for 2024 is to spend less than $1,000 of credit card fees.
I think DH and I will just stick to CIC/CIUs until that train dries out.
We do have a few cards with AFs that are keepers
WOH $95
Marriott Bonvoy $95
Hilton Biz $95
Amex Gold $250
One CSR $550
Total $1,085
The gold puts us over our budget the CSR $300 travel credit brings us under the $1,000 net.

In that vein, I have:

Amex Bonvoy biz $125
Amex Bonvoy (2) $190
Chase Bonvoy Biz $99?
Hyatt $95
IHG $49
NavyFed Flagship $49
HHonors Surpass $95
Chase SP $95

Total = $797

Some cards have diminishing returns after the first year or two.

The 4 Bonvoy cards pay for free nights on my road trips. Usually get double in value, then add in a few offers from the cards and there's a little more value.

IHG is always a great return on $49 fee.

Hyatt is up/down. My fave Hyatt is no longer a spot for the 15K FNC, but this next one is already booked at MCO HYatt Regency. Last year's I got 10K for. Year before that, nada. 2 earlier years = $500 hotel nights. I 'think' I should close and reapply for this card and then I realize the spend gives me less than a new CIU/CIC, so I just keep it. For now.

Flagship is a 2% card and paid my Amazo.n Prime. I got it early when it came out and got a 50K sign up. I charge enough on this card to earn close to $300 cash back a year over the fee. Also cashed in on the precheck for family member.

HH Surpass was supposed to be a 1 year card and then they changed the terms and put the $50 per quarter on it, which now makes it a keeper. I'm trying for the gift card credit but even if that doesn't work I'll get the $50 by staying/eating/shopping at a Hilton.

Chase Sapphire Preferred was/is my UR transfer card, and the added $50 hotel credit, combined with offers and points earned pay the fee.

Cards I dumped: Amex Gold - after a few years it wasn't performing well.
Bonvoy Brilliant - they made this card too high end for my lifestyle. If I wanted a $650 fee I'd look for a PLat or a CSR for a bit less. I'd love to have 85K FNC, but just one wouldn't cut it and I'm basically a single player.

BOA - 2 of these. US Bank - 1, bye bye to both companies. I'm thinking of getting rid of my Costco Citi card also, but not the Exec account. The card is just extra baggage.