I love credit cards so much! v7.0 - 2025 (see first page for add'l details)

[smallsy]

Wow $83 to upgrade both segments. For one hour flights.

Ugh, yeah. Our last flight back from Orlando was $80 for both segments.

What's worse is we felt forced to pay it for the first segment because despite paying for early bird, they put Me, DH, and our 12yo DS at the end of group A and my 9yo twin DDs in group B! We knew we'd be further back in A since we changed our flights about 6 weeks out, but I still can't believe they separated two 9yos from their parents.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Ugh, yeah. Our last flight back from Orlando was $80 for both segments.

What's worse is we felt forced to pay it for the first segment because despite paying for early bird, they put Me, DH, and our 12yo DS at the end of group A and my 9yo twin DDs in group B! We knew we'd be further back in A since we changed our flights about 6 weeks out, but I still can't believe they separated two 9yos from their parents.

We seem to always get the very end of A and the start of B with our kids. It's tough to get sandwiched between family boarding.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Expected to open in 2026, Grand Hyatt Grand Cayman is accepting ressies for April 1, 2026 and beyond. Right now calendar is open for all of April and part of May, 2026 with standard rooms at 29k and suites at 44k, most nights.

 

[elgerber]

We seem to always get the very end of A and the start of B with our kids. It's tough to get sandwiched between family boarding.

I was c 17 for my second leg. And I need to work when I get home so I need to be upfront. Assuming I make my connection

 

[EACarlson]

Ugh, yeah. Our last flight back from Orlando was $80 for both segments.

What's worse is we felt forced to pay it for the first segment because despite paying for early bird, they put Me, DH, and our 12yo DS at the end of group A and my 9yo twin DDs in group B! We knew we'd be further back in A since we changed our flights about 6 weeks out, but I still can't believe they separated two 9yos from their parents.

What is it you think they should have done? You made multiple choices that led to your group being split amongst boarding groups. There is a published policy on what you should do when that happens.
Curious, what was the change at 6 weeks that was made?

 

[Limes96]

I’m annoyed at the Marriott reports of cracking down on booking for family members. I regularly book rooms for my grad school aged son including in a few weeks for a night near Ft Myers airport. I used a Marriott fnc from my Amex biz card. He gets in late night and the rest of us are flying in next morning so we’ll be picking him up in the morning after we arrive but now I’m second guessing and thinking maybe I’ll cancel and go with a Hampton Inn, pay cash to use a $50 surpass credit.

So I would actually be on site before he checks out and yet I’m still considering switching to a Hilton property. Not really asking for advice here I’m just saying how annoyed I am at Marriott for making me question my original plan in booking with them. Bonvoyed.

 

[EACarlson]

I’m annoyed at the Marriott reports of cracking down on booking for family members. I regularly book rooms for my grad school aged son including in a few weeks for a night near Ft Myers airport. I used a Marriott fnc from my Amex biz card. He gets in late night and the rest of us are flying in next morning so we’ll be picking him up in the morning after we arrive but now I’m second guessing and thinking maybe I’ll cancel and go with a Hampton Inn, pay cash to use a $50 surpass credit.

So I would actually be on site before he checks out and yet I’m still considering switching to a Hilton property. Not really asking for advice here I’m just saying how annoyed I am at Marriott for making me question my original plan in booking with them. Bonvoyed.

Just to be clear, your annoyed that they are making you follow the terms that you agreed to and the conditions that are on the FNC? Seems like a reasonable business choice to me.

 

[Limes96]

Just to be clear, your annoyed that they are making you follow the terms that you agreed to and the conditions that are on the FNC? Seems like a reasonable business choice to me.

I’m annoyed that I will actually be on property and I’m still rethinking my choice.

 

[EACarlson]

I’m annoyed that I will actually be on property and I’m still rethinking my choice.

But the FNC terms state that it is for the use of the named person right? And your son is not named, you are. If you're going to be there why not use the FNC for you and pay cash for your son?

 

[hsmamato2]

Just used ACI Payments to make two estimated federal tax payments for Q1. Almost knocked out my CIU MSR. Business cards are still working with Paypal.

best way to pay federal is PayPal for biz?

 

[KPK02090]

I have a $4K car insurance bill due and an msr to meet on an Amex, but of course, they don't take Amex. Trying to decide which card to use instead. Wasn't there some extra bonus category of insurance on freedoms or is that over?

ETA: The options are
Bank of America® Premium Rewards
CHASE FU
CHASE FF
CHASE Freedom
CSR
CIP
Jet Blue Plus
AAAdvantage Aviator
US Bank triple cash
US Bank leverage

Bank of America would earn 2% and the CFU 1.5% everything else would be 1%. Any reason to use any of the others over the Bank of America at 2%?

 

[Limes96]

But the FNC terms state that it is for the use of the named person right? And your son is not named, you are. If you're going to be there why not use the FNC for you and pay cash for your son?

There’s no reason to get two rooms for two people in the same family. We only need one room. To get to the point here, Marriott is needlessly alienating families by enforcing their policy in this manner. I doubt I’m the only one shifting my loyalty stays and spend to Hilton for this reason.

 

[LynnTH]

I’m annoyed at the Marriott reports of cracking down on booking for family members. I regularly book rooms for my grad school aged son including in a few weeks for a night near Ft Myers airport. I used a Marriott fnc from my Amex biz card. He gets in late night and the rest of us are flying in next morning so we’ll be picking him up in the morning after we arrive but now I’m second guessing and thinking maybe I’ll cancel and go with a Hampton Inn, pay cash to use a $50 surpass credit.

So I would actually be on site before he checks out and yet I’m still considering switching to a Hilton property. Not really asking for advice here I’m just saying how annoyed I am at Marriott for making me question my original plan in booking with them. Bonvoyed.

I missed this - what are they doing. I have used many FN Certificates for my kids in the past. I would book online and then call the hotel and add their name to the booking and advise them that they would be the ones checking in.... Is this not a thing anymore.

 

[Limes96]

I missed this - what are they doing. I have used many FN Certificates for my kids in the past. I would book online and then call the hotel and add their name to the booking and advise them that they would be the ones checking in.... Is this not a thing anymore.

My understanding is that Marriott has sent out notices to hotel staff that the person whose loyalty account it is has to be the one checking in. This is to fight fraud which I totally get. But doing it this way - spouses or kids getting there first wouldn’t be able to check in until the member arrives, even if you call to add their name to the reservation. This just rubs me the wrong way. I’ve never had trouble with Hilton and it’s so easy to add a name at time of booking.

 

[LynnTH]

My understanding is that Marriott has sent out notices to hotel staff that the person whose loyalty account it is has to be the one checking in. This is to fight fraud which I totally get. But doing it this way - spouses or kids getting there first wouldn’t be able to check in until the member arrives, even if you call to add their name to the reservation. This just rubs me the wrong way. I’ve never had trouble with Hilton and it’s so easy to add a name at time of booking.

Well Dang... Good to know. But also sad about this.

 

[reliev]

I’m annoyed at the Marriott reports of cracking down on booking for family members. I regularly book rooms for my grad school aged son including in a few weeks for a night near Ft Myers airport. I used a Marriott fnc from my Amex biz card. He gets in late night and the rest of us are flying in next morning so we’ll be picking him up in the morning after we arrive but now I’m second guessing and thinking maybe I’ll cancel and go with a Hampton Inn, pay cash to use a $50 surpass credit.

So I would actually be on site before he checks out and yet I’m still considering switching to a Hilton property. Not really asking for advice here I’m just saying how annoyed I am at Marriott for making me question my original plan in booking with them. Bonvoyed.

NGL I am platnium with Marriott for lif,e thanks to my obsession with SPG before I was on the Hyatt bandwagon, They play a lot of games to the point id rather not book them period, even with my "status" I want to get a hilton card but it does not benefit us this year maybe next year the SUB is pretty good right now for the aspire I want to say if any other brand id go with it would be them sometimes I have to book them because the hyatt is not in a good location (as is the problem with less properties)

 

[Limes96]

NGL I am platnium with Marriott for lif,e thanks to my obsession with SPG before I was on the Hyatt bandwagon, They play a lot of games to the point id rather not book them period, even with my "status" I want to get a hilton card but it does not benefit us this year maybe next year the SUB is pretty good right now for the aspire I want to say if any other brand id go with it would be them sometimes I have to book them because the hyatt is not in a good location (as is the problem with less properties)

Yes exactly. Just a week or two ago I was asking here about upgrading to the ritz card but have decided that for a premium hotel card will probably go with the aspire now which I’ve never had before due to pop up jail but plan to try again soon, hopefully before the elevated bonus dies.

 

[StephPlum]

My understanding is that Marriott has sent out notices to hotel staff that the person whose loyalty account it is has to be the one checking in. This is to fight fraud which I totally get. But doing it this way - spouses or kids getting there first wouldn’t be able to check in until the member arrives, even if you call to add their name to the reservation. This just rubs me the wrong way. I’ve never had trouble with Hilton and it’s so easy to add a name at time of booking.

That sucks. I frequently book with DH's cert and check in (actually travel solo). So far it has worked out well. We did cancel his Marriott biz due to not being able to use all the FNCs with current travel plans. I was going to have him pick up a Marriott Personal but I'll rethink.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

My understanding is that Marriott has sent out notices to hotel staff that the person whose loyalty account it is has to be the one checking in. This is to fight fraud which I totally get. But doing it this way - spouses or kids getting there first wouldn’t be able to check in until the member arrives, even if you call to add their name to the reservation. This just rubs me the wrong way. I’ve never had trouble with Hilton and it’s so easy to add a name at time of booking.

This is sad indeed. I used to use dh's Marriott FNC and add my name as an additional guest. The only place I wouldn't have tried this is in Japan because they enforce rules to the letter.

This year I'm using both FNCs for rooms down east for dd's uni grad. If they ask for dh we will have a problem, but I've stayed at this property a few times before so hopefully they'll give us some leeway. What I do is put my FNC for the first night, then dh's the second night (2 separate reservations). At check-in I'll tell them that dh will be joining us, ask if they can link the reservations and make sure I can use the same key for both nights.

 

[AndreaDM]

Here's an odd IHG FNC scenario - we just got back from spending 4 nights in Panama City using DH's 4 FNCs, each had to be booked separately, these expired May 3. I looked at his IHG account this morning and it still shows one of those FNCs available, in addition to the 1 FNC for his one year anniversary. The one expires May 3, 2025 and the new one May 3, 2026. Is this some kind of glitch? Did the stay 3 nights, get the 4th free somehow work with FNCs? At this point we don't have any use for it prior to the exp date, but if it's legit (which it certainly appears to be), we might take a quick weekend somewhere.