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

[Best Aunt]

Thanks for the replies about my property tax bills!

 

[Judique]

I’ve also used the offer. But I believe you’re limited to 2 of each kind of card Sam’s sells. I purchased a combination of $500 and split payment between 2 cards that had the 10% back offer. So I got $500 for $433.88

Thanks for clarifying on the 2 card limit. I've ordered cards before but not for quite some time.

 

[wanderlust7]

Feeling Bonvoyed. Booked a night with FNC+top off, but neither points nor FNC show deducted. Didn't get a confirmation either, but the reservation shows up in the account. Thought I'd cancel it and try again. Same thing. But this time I had clicked update my account since it asked me to fill in my phone number. Now I'm locked out of the account.

Googled a bit and seems like this is a security measure from updating my contact info that will last 4 days. Doesn't sound like calling will help, so guess I'll just wait to try again.

 

[tink1970]

DH has been hitting Casino Royale when we have been cruising RCCL. Thanks to his efforts we are headed to Italy for 7 night to the Greek Isles and Adriatic cruise in June in a balcony room for $863 for 3 of us. The cruise leaves out of Ravenna. Any pointers for Venice (where to stay or what to do), getting to Ravenna? We have stops in Montenegro, Zadar, Athens and Santorini. Any suggestions for excursions? So excited to be returning to Europe to celebrate DS’s graduation.

We just went on a 10 night Adriatic cruise with Viking in Oct/Nov. While I'm glad Venice is being environmentally responsible, I didn't want to deal with the headache of getting to a port (in our case Chioggia), so we did a pre-cruise tour, so I'm no help with the Ravenna logistics. Have you looked at cruise critic for assistance?

In Montenegro we did a walking tour (included but I'm sure RCCL will have a similar one) that included the mariner's museum-it's small, like a few rooms but cute- and that gave a nice overview of the country which is a very young country and has survived turbulent times. There are some others that are farther afield, though, and again, you might want to look at cruise critic for suggestions.

In Zadar we went to Krka National Park and had a guide who talked about the history of Croatia as well as the national park. The waterfalls were gorgeous and a couple of sites were great for selfies/family photos...sadly I was squinting in the one and only one DH and I took so there went the Christmas photo. It's a very popular place but definitely worth looking into.

Oia is the village on Santorini that everyone shows with the white buildings with blue roofs...the winds were too high and although I made it onto the island, every excursion was cancelled due to high winds and the danger of tendering (ironically, we DID tender on and off the ship so...)...all I can say is I've seen a lot of the caldera and the island from the water-can't really recommend anything ON the island, sadly. I wish I could!

Athens is a crazy, hectic large city and I was surprised at how much I disliked it, honestly. My DD loves it, of course! We left town and went on an excursion to Corinth, although if you're not into archaeology I wouldn't recommend it-DH and I just did it to see where DD had been during the summer (she was excited to tell us about it). It was interesting from that perspective but I perhaps your DS would prefer something more active like a food tour, going to the Plaka (shopping district), touring the Panatheniac Stadium (where the first modern Olympic Games were held), or the Acropolis....or all of the above.

What a wonderful graduation cruise, though-he's a lucky son!

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

We are looking at a Thailand trip with friends next year, probably Nov/Dec 2024. Has anyone used Qatar Airways on points? Looks like we could transfer Chase URs to Avios (?) and then book Qatar Airways in QSuites (business class). I've read a bunch on this, but the process is still fuzzy to me. I'd love if someone can explain or give any tips on where we'd transfer URs to, where we can view the award availability, where we book. We're looking at going from ATL>DOH>HKT (Phuket).

Also, if anyone has any reviews/comments on the Khao Lak area, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

 

[rnorwo1]

I need to open a new business card soon. I'll probably do chase ink, which currently has a $900 cash back bonus for $6k in spend, I think. Does anyone know/suspect if there would be better bonuses in January? I used to be on top of this points game but have been out a couple of years and haven't been watching the patterns. Thank you so much for any info!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

For the new Amex Hilton Aspire benefits, has anyone used the $50 quarterly airline credit this quarter? I did previously use my full 2023 benefit of $250, but I'm thinking I might have a fresh $50 available to use before the end of the year. Does that sound correct?

 

[wanderlust7]

I need to open a new business card soon. I'll probably do chase ink, which currently has a $900 cash back bonus for $6k in spend, I think. Does anyone know/suspect if there would be better bonuses in January? I used to be on top of this points game but have been out a couple of years and haven't been watching the patterns. Thank you so much for any info!

You might be able to find a 120k offer on the CIU in branch (possible end date 1/1). But in 2 player mode, 90k+40k support (taxable) might make more sense and is easier.

90k is historically high for public offers, so is 40k support. You can see patterns in a chart here.

 

[wanderlust7]

For the new Amex Hilton Aspire benefits, has anyone used the $50 quarterly airline credit this quarter? I did previously use my full 2023 benefit of $250, but I'm thinking I might have a fresh $50 available to use before the end of the year. Does that sound correct?

Correct. I've used my new $50 credit after already using the $250 one.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

We are looking at a Thailand trip with friends next year, probably Nov/Dec 2024. Has anyone used Qatar Airways on points? Looks like we could transfer Chase URs to Avios (?) and then book Qatar Airways in QSuites (business class). I've read a bunch on this, but the process is still fuzzy to me. I'd love if someone can explain or give any tips on where we'd transfer URs to, where we can view the award availability, where we book. We're looking at going from ATL>DOH>HKT (Phuket).

Also, if anyone has any reviews/comments on the Khao Lak area, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

We flew Qatar Airways on points, transferring from UR to Avios. I believe their schedule opens 360 days in advance, so you've missed the schedule opening for most of Nov/Dec 2024. But you might be able to find some availability, but maybe for just one person.

You can create an account directly on Qatar Airways and look for availability there. You don't want a Flexi fare, which has a little icon and is double the points. The award rate from ATL-DOH should be 70k pts. For example, I see this available for Dec 5. If you're lucky to find it all the way to HKT, it's 95k. The most important leg is booking the ATL-DOH leg and that would be the availability I would search for first.

Also, be aware that not all flights are Qsuites, if that's important to you, and aircraft changes are common on some routes. But we found the service to be exceptional, regardless of Qsuites or not.

Another option is to book using American Airlines points if you have them. I am guessing the cost is probably 70k points. You would search for availability on AA.

 

[djmeredith]

For the new Amex Hilton Aspire benefits, has anyone used the $50 quarterly airline credit this quarter? I did previously use my full 2023 benefit of $250, but I'm thinking I might have a fresh $50 available to use before the end of the year. Does that sound correct?

Correct. I've used my new $50 credit after already using the $250 one.

Thank you both for asking/answering this question. I was able to use my $50 to add ECBI to our upcoming SW flights.

I have a data point I have not seen here previously. AmEx gave me a one-time courtesy credit today for a Delta ticket purchase that did not qualify as an "incidental" fee. I rolled the dice in Oct when I made the purchase on Delta. It didn't post, so I assumed it was because it charged as a ticket. I decided to chat and inquire today anyway. She confirmed it showed as a ticket fee and asked me what it was for and if it was for a seat selection. I was honest and said it was a ticket. She then told me she credited it anyway and explained that it is only for incidentals. I'm sure this courtesy credit is a YMMV depending on what agent you get, but it can't hurt to ask if you end up in a similar situation.

 

[Crazed4DisneyinSC]

We flew Qatar Airways on points, transferring from UR to Avios. I believe their schedule opens 360 days in advance, so you've missed the schedule opening for most of Nov/Dec 2024. But you might be able to find some availability, but maybe for just one person.

You can create an account directly on Qatar Airways and look for availability there. You don't want a Flexi fare, which has a little icon and is double the points. The award rate from ATL-DOH should be 70k pts. For example, I see this available for Dec 5. If you're lucky to find it all the way to HKT, it's 95k. The most important leg is booking the ATL-DOH leg and that would be the availability I would search for first.

Also, be aware that not all flights are Qsuites, if that's important to you, and aircraft changes are common on some routes. But we found the service to be exceptional, regardless of Qsuites or not.

Another option is to book using American Airlines points if you have them. I am guessing the cost is probably 70k points. You would search for availability on AA.

TYSM! You've helped a ton! I did create an account on Qatar Airways earlier and was searching, but now know my mistakes - I was looking at Flexi fares (wondering why it was costing so much!), and I was looking at the entire leg to HKT, and I was looking for 2 biz seats which seems to be impossible since I missed the booking window. I do now see 1 single biz seat available, for certain dates in Dec like the 5th and 12th.

All this info is really, really helpful, thanks again! I knew I could count on someone here to point me in the right direction! Maybe we'll try to plan this for January 2025 at this point...

 

[mmmears]

DH has been hitting Casino Royale when we have been cruising RCCL. Thanks to his efforts we are headed to Italy for 7 night to the Greek Isles and Adriatic cruise in June in a balcony room for $863 for 3 of us. The cruise leaves out of Ravenna. Any pointers for Venice (where to stay or what to do), getting to Ravenna? We have stops in Montenegro, Zadar, Athens and Santorini. Any suggestions for excursions? So excited to be returning to Europe to celebrate DS’s graduation.

Congrats to your son on his upcoming graduation, and nice deal on the cruise. We ported in both Athens and Santorini this summer. I booked private tours for each port. In Athens we chose to see the Acropolis, the A. Museum, have lunch at the Plaka, and we saw a few other sights in the city. We had a fantastic day there. For Santorini, I booked a private tour which worked out even better than I had hoped for. We saw Oia and got lots of pics with the blue domes, saw Fira, went to Akrotiri (an archeological dig), the lighthouse, a beach, and a few other sights. We had a great time and really enjoyed our tour. If you want to book private, let me know and I can look up and PM you our guides' contact info.

For the new Amex Hilton Aspire benefits, has anyone used the $50 quarterly airline credit this quarter? I did previously use my full 2023 benefit of $250, but I'm thinking I might have a fresh $50 available to use before the end of the year. Does that sound correct?

Yep. I got the $50 last month after already using up the $250. Not bad.

 

[rnorwo1]

You might be able to find a 120k offer on the CIU in branch (possible end date 1/1). But in 2 player mode, 90k+40k support (taxable) might make more sense and is easier.

90k is historically high for public offers, so is 40k support. You can see patterns in a chart here.

Thank you!!

 

[becauseimnew]

Has anyone bought a washer recently? Our 12 year old front loader is done, it is a GE that did her job. The front loader has worked great for us, I know a lot of people don't like them but I have trained my family to leave the door open and we've never had issues. But I'm open to the idea of a top loader. Any recommendations?

 

[NewbieMom]

Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone heard if PYB is going to continue in January? I think everything I've seen still says 12/31?
2. If my Biz Plat AF is due on 1/2, there's no way to use any of the credits right since anything I charge on 1/1 won't post and credit that quick? There's no retention, so thinking I might as well close now. Thoughts?

 

[wanderlust7]

Couple of questions:
1. Has anyone heard if PYB is going to continue in January? I think everything I've seen still says 12/31?
2. If my Biz Plat AF is due on 1/2, there's no way to use any of the credits right since anything I charge on 1/1 won't post and credit that quick? There's no retention, so thinking I might as well close now. Thoughts?

You can get the AF refunded 30 days after it posts. It doesn't matter when it's due, though you still have to pay it and then wait for a refund.

 

[NewbieMom]

You can get the AF refunded 30 days after it posts. It doesn't matter when it's due, though you still have to pay it and then wait for a refund.

Thanks! This gives me 5 extra days to hopefully get the extra credits.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We are looking at a Thailand trip with friends next year, probably Nov/Dec 2024. Has anyone used Qatar Airways on points? Looks like we could transfer Chase URs to Avios (?) and then book Qatar Airways in QSuites (business class). I've read a bunch on this, but the process is still fuzzy to me. I'd love if someone can explain or give any tips on where we'd transfer URs to, where we can view the award availability, where we book. We're looking at going from ATL>DOH>HKT (Phuket).

Also, if anyone has any reviews/comments on the Khao Lak area, I'd love to hear it.

Thanks!

I have flown on Qatar a few times on points and QSuites are amazing; though Qatar is known for plane switches, I have never experienced this. ! I book through BA the day points availability opens up. Not sure when you want to leave, but if you're looking for Christmas / NY, then you can still book flights there (I believe BA opens seats at 355 days), but you'd have to act fast.

I'm going to Thailand on January 12th (ANA first class using AP points) -- 3 nights Bangkok, 4 nights Chiang Mai, 5 nights Koh Samui and 3 nights in Tokyo on my way home (ANA first using AP points, Koh Samui and Tokyo hotels were booked also on points). I booked a cooking class in Chiang Mai yesterday (used one of my CIP cards to save 7% with an offer). I still need to book the floating market in Bangkok and a few temples with a guide. If anyone has suggestions for things to do I'd appreciate it, especially in Koh Samui.

 

[DogCat]

Has anyone seen a deal on a new Sam's Club membership? I checked DOC but there's nothing. The only thing I can find is 10% off a "purchase" at Sam's on several chase cards but I'm not sure if that would apply to the membership fee or not.