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

[havaneselover]

what's the deal with the Hilton gc's again? Only certain hotels will take them as room payment,and I won;t know till I try to use them at checkout,right? if that's the case it's kind of annoying....

My experience trying to use them to pay the pet fee has been mixed. Basically the hotel staff have no clue how to use them.

 

[disneylover81]

Okay cruise people, this will be my first cruise since 1999, LOL. I'm taking the kids on the "free" Carnival cruise in August. We'll non-rev into MCO likely the day before. We leave from Port Canaveral. I'm trying to figure out, how do we get from MCO to a hotel, and then a hotel to Port. I did reserve a rental car from MCO to drop at the port, but it's $160! I'm thinking uber for both would probably be cheaper. But then I'm like what do we do for food? And also thinking I might want a car to get pop and stuff when we get to FL vs doing a check bag filled with everything.

Any tips on the smartest/easiest way to do all this? I used a Bonvoy FNC for the SpringHill Suites right by the port. The room is 2 kings plus a sofabed and trundle. But I could book in MCO if that makes more sense too. Figure we can all enjoy the space before being crammed into a tiny interior room together, LOL. I was likely going to make my kids carryon and not bother with a checked back, but I'm not sure if we can fit everything in just 3 carryon bags. We're doing a 7 day cruise. And the hope would be to non-rev home ASAP once we get off the plane! Heck, I've tried to look and see if we can just disembark our last port and fly back, LOL.

I figured it's time to start actually planning for this. I mean I booked it a year ago, LOL. My head is spinning trying to figure this all out now.

When we cruised last year, we flew to MCO the day before, stayed at the MCO Hyatt and booked the Carnival bus to Port Canaveral the next morning. It was easy and very convenient. The month before DS went on a cruise MCO to Port Canaveral, but he booked with GoPort on a Fly Snooze Cruise package and it went well for him also.

 

[LynnTH]

This is awesome- congrats. KLM is a great airline- I think you'll really enjoy it. Air France and KLM are sort of sister airlines, known as Flying Blue awards program. Just putting my experience on your radar, but hopefully you don't end up with this issue. I booked economy seats on AF/KLM through Virgin Atlantic, because as you saw, they can be much cheaper. However, maybe four months prior to departure, AF ended up canceling the flight. Because AF/KLM only allocate a certain number of award flights to VS and none were available near my original date, my only option was to take a cancellation, rather than switch to another flight. So then I was stuck rebooking them directly with AF, but the economy rates went way way up. So I paid double or triple AND I had points stranded with VS.

I also had award tickets for that same original flight booked in biz (for different passengers- some were in biz and some economy) directly through Air France. Because I had booked directly with AF, I was able to switch to any AF/KLM flight of my choosing, when they canceled my original flight.

So sometimes it pays to book directly with the airline program you are flying. But for that price, I would have probably jumped on that deal as well!!

Oh no. That worries me. Didn't know that. Would assume that once they take the points and do the booking that it is all set. How can they do that? That does not seem right at all...

 

[hsmamato2]

My experience trying to use them to pay the pet fee has been mixed. Basically the hotel staff have no clue how to use them.

so strange that they'll offer them for use with no idea how to use them.....

 

[Judique]

so strange that they'll offer them for use with no idea how to use them.....

Sounds similar to my Marriott experience. It's training.

I will say that when I used up a remaining Marriott gift card at the Swan at WDW they were awesome and had no problem.

 

[Communicore1991]

Okay friends. It's that time of the year where a $2,000 insurance payment is due and I ponder whether I should open a new card and if so, which one. I am at 3/24. Right now all my Gas, Grocery, and Dining expenses are going on my Shop Your Way card as I get 10% back up to $1,000 each month, so a new card would pay the insurance payment and non bonus spend (which admittedly isn't all that much). I tend to hoard points (bad I know) and fly with United, occasionally JetBlue and stay at Hilton or preferably Hyatt properties.

My current card lineup:
Amex Blue Business Plus
Amex Hilton Surpass
Amex Amazon
Amtrak
CF
CFU
CSP
Disney Visa
Hyatt
Ink Cash
Citi DC
Citi SYW
Discover It
JetBlue Plus
United Explorer
United Quest
Verizon

Any thoughts if you were in my shoes would be appreciated!

 

[afan]

Oh no. That worries me. Didn't know that. Would assume that once they take the points and do the booking that it is all set. How can they do that? That does not seem right at all...

The T&Cs that come with the gc explain how to run it. When this came up a few weeks ago and whether you could use them at any hilton I read through them because I was curious. It clearly spells out how they need to run it. I'd think those would also be online but maybe just take that paper the card was attached to with you and then show them how to do it.

It should be a matter of training and not that the system can't do it. At least that's how I read it.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Oh no. That worries me. Didn't know that. Would assume that once they take the points and do the booking that it is all set. How can they do that? That does not seem right at all...

I didn't know either, until it happened to me! But nothing to worry about and this was like 2022, so fingers crossed there were more flight cancellations going on then, than now? More recently, I had flights I booked through VS on Delta metal and those flights were cancelled, and VS had alternate Delta flights to offer me. So, I'd just focus on the positive!!!

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

For my upcoming Portugal trip, awhile back I booked some flights through the Chase portal (I know) but they were just short-ish flights to get from mainland Portugal to the Azores islands, and I had so many UR, it seemed worth it. It was being sold by TAP, but a code-share operated by SATA, the Azores airlines. I specifically selected a flight that included checked baggage, hand baggage and seat selection. SATA insisted on charging me for seat selection, siting some BS about code-share additional fees. TAP couldn't help. It's been a fun ride. but finally I just forked over the 7euro pp x8, because I need to keep my sanity.

Normally I would take this up with Chase, but I don't have the energy for Chase travel This trip in general has really ended up costing way more, after I found biz flights both ways, flights to islands, etc. I love that we have so many kids and that all 8 of us can travel together. But I need to do a better job balancing out the travel style some. I really need to set a budget prior to a trip so I can prevent that creep.

Anyone else feeling like that?

 

[afan]

I thought someone posted about this before but I couldn't find anything or I didn't go back far enough.

I made a points booking for hilton for next May, have a conf number and it's in the stays part of the app. However when I look at my points history it went out and then 2 days later came back in.

Should I call, do I need to worry about it? It's still the same points so I could cancel and rebook. It's just weird and I don't recall it ever doing this before. I only noticed because my points total went up and it wasn't from the Surpass sub. Which has now posted.

 

[LynnTH]

I didn't know either, until it happened to me! But nothing to worry about and this was like 2022, so fingers crossed there were more flight cancellations going on then, than now? More recently, I had flights I booked through VS on Delta metal and those flights were cancelled, and VS had alternate Delta flights to offer me. So, I'd just focus on the positive!!!

Crossing fingers everything goes well and I will be diligently checking on the flights up until we leave.

 

[GZanta77]

Okay friends. It's that time of the year where a $2,000 insurance payment is due and I ponder whether I should open a new card and if so, which one. I am at 3/24. Right now all my Gas, Grocery, and Dining expenses are going on my Shop Your Way card as I get 10% back up to $1,000 each month, so a new card would pay the insurance payment and non bonus spend (which admittedly isn't all that much). I tend to hoard points (bad I know) and fly with United, occasionally JetBlue and stay at Hilton or preferably Hyatt properties.

My current card lineup:
Amex Blue Business Plus
Amex Hilton Surpass
Amex Amazon
Amtrak
CF
CFU
CSP
Disney Visa
Hyatt
Ink Cash
Citi DC
Citi SYW
Discover It
JetBlue Plus
United Explorer
United Quest
Verizon

Any thoughts if you were in my shoes would be appreciated!

Cap1 VentureX or Citi Strata Premier? Not sure what the current SUBs are on those cards but both are keepers in my current lineup.

 

[havaneselover]

Amex FHR credit question--I booked a hotel room for Atlanta for dd's graduation in December. I thought she'd graduate on Saturday but it looks like it will be a Friday. So I need to change my FHR reservation from Friday night to Thursday night. I can change the date on Amex travel for about $95. If I cancel instead, will Amex claw the credit back? And if they do, am I able to get a credit again if I rebook using FHR?

 

[Sheree]

I might think about downgrading the plat instead of outright closing assuming no retention offer. Then you can always upgrade back to plat. If you haven’t had the gold I might downgrade clear to green and then wait for an upgrade offer to gold (and possibly later plat). I have done that a couple times with different cards.

haven't had green or gold. shouldn't I try to open one with a msr and sub? I don't recall nll

 

[mmmears]

what's the deal with the Hilton gc's again? Only certain hotels will take them as room payment,and I won;t know till I try to use them at checkout,right? if that's the case it's kind of annoying....

We couldn't even use them for room charges in Cabo. The hotel kept trying to use them but it didn't work. DH finally got a refund on the GCs because he's not willing to spend hours of vacation time trying to make it work. I hope it will work better for you.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Amex FHR credit question--I booked a hotel room for Atlanta for dd's graduation in December. I thought she'd graduate on Saturday but it looks like it will be a Friday. So I need to change my FHR reservation from Friday night to Thursday night. I can change the date on Amex travel for about $95. If I cancel instead, will Amex claw the credit back? And if they do, am I able to get a credit again if I rebook using FHR?

Yes, they will claw the credit back and yes, you will get it back. The only issue is it can take a bit of time to get the credit back, sometimes you have to call and they have to do it manually (which is what happened to me). Are you saving money by cancelling and re-booking? If not, I'd just do the change on the AmEx website.

 

[kmc8826]

haven't had green or gold. shouldn't I try to open one with a msr and sub? I don't recall nll

You could try and see if you get approved without the pop up. Last year Amex instituted card family rules which is if you have had top card (plat) you might not get approved for the cards under it.

https://milestomemories.com/amex-gold-card-gets-new-family-rule-for-welcome-bonus/

 

[havaneselover]

Yes, they will claw the credit back and yes, you will get it back. The only issue is it can take a bit of time to get the credit back, sometimes you have to call and they have to do it manually (which is what happened to me). Are you saving money by cancelling and re-booking? If not, I'd just do the change on the AmEx website.

Thank you! I'm considering other hotels. Otherwise I'll just do the change.

 

[trenty]

Can anyone suggest where to stay in Boston?

 

[GZanta77]

Can anyone suggest where to stay in Boston?

Thats a difficult question to answer without more information - Boston is expensive. When are you going? Is there a specific area you want to be?

A couple of suggestions - I quite like the Residence Inn in the Seaport area. The Hyatt Centric by Faneuil Hall is decent but small rooms and can be a bit noisy if you get a room facing the street.

To be honest though, you need to narrow down the field as there are so many choices.