I love credit cards so much!

[hsmamato2]

Availability for using SPG points for rooms is limited, so you have to book when there's availability. You can't just convert a stay to points unless there's availability.

on SPG- usually if there's any availability at all you can book a points night.... so it's pretty flexible, cash and points is a very different thing, very limited (waah) that said, if you're going at a busy time, book as soon as you can! sometimes they sell out 100% due to conventions etc.

 

[Ngwira]

Hello from my first flight paid for with UR points when we got the CSR way back when! We are on Delta in first and these are lie flat seats. Headed for a week in in Iceland to chase northern lights, explore ice caves, do a glacier hike and visit beautiful places I can’t spell or pronounce! Cheers credit card peeps!

View attachment 284063

Beautiful. Enjoy your vacation!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

yeah, i dont think she knows how to post comments...

No. I have posted comments there. Didn't you see me? Lol
I don't know how to post my referral links. It doesn't work when I try on my iPad.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

How do you create new thread on reddit? I'd love to see a sub on what to do next....I don;t mind starting one if I only knew how.... lol Reddit is something I'm still figuring out

We are limiting the number of new threads on there because of how things can get "buried" if there's a ton of new threads. There was a suggestion to do a What Card or Strategy thread. I'll create one of those, I think it seems appropriate and would be helpful as comments on here can also get buried after a day or so, haha!

 

[Lain]

Ok. I’m over my shock. Have a wonderful trip!!! Iceland is seriously on my bucket list. Would love it if you posted a report and pics of your award travel!

@calypso726 , to clarify, by "shock" I meant that feeling when you realize someone you know only as text on a screen looks exactly like the avatar that's been staring you in the face the whole time. Now back to your regularly programmed vacation!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

No. I have posted comments there. Didn't you see me? Lol
I don't know how to post my referral links. It doesn't work when I try on my iPad.

So you just reply to the referral thread...kinda like this:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi I'm blahblahblah, please consider using my links:

- [Chase Southwest Card](www.chasecreditcard.com/mysouthwestlink) Earn a bunch of points after you spend a crapton of money
- [Chase Marriott Card](www.chasecreditcard.com/mymarriottlink) Earn some free hotels after you spend a boatload of money

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The [ ]( ) will turn your text into a link and we use that format to make things cleaner and easier to read.

To create a "bulleted list" hit enter twice before he first item in the list and then start each line with a dash.

You need to find your referral links first on Chase Refer a Friend or Amex Refer a Friend. You can use twitter or facebook to get your links instantly (don't use the email option as it can take a long time for those emails to come through). If this isn't helpful enough then I'd suggest you PM somebody for specific help. Thanks!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I have added a "What Card Next/Strategy" thread on DISchurners.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DISchurners/comments/7e1mi0/what_card_next_or_strategy_thread/

If you post there I would recommend you mention it here or post a link to your comment so people can provide advice. I'm guessing there is more traffic regularly here vs. there.

The benefit of posting there is that people can see what other's advice was, add to that, or provide an alternative idea, and you can see it all clearly together. You can also circle back to tell us what you decided to do. Thanks to @Lain and @hsmamato2 for suggesting his thread.

And as always - quick reminder that when applying for a new card consider supporting a DISchurner that has been helpful to you by using heir link if available.

Thanks all and happy Sunday!

 

[calypso726]

@calypso726 , to clarify, by "shock" I meant that feeling when you realize someone you know only as text on a screen looks exactly like the avatar that's been staring you in the face the whole time. Now back to your regularly programmed vacation!

@Lain - Ah, if only I was as youthful, and skilled an archer. No worries, I had a feeling that is what you meant.

Nothing exciting to report or post as we slept all day. The jet lag is strong. It was still dark when we landed at 8 am and it got dark again by 4 pm. More on the trip and what we are getting thanks to the credit cards. Thanks to the Amex Platinum card we have gold status with Hilton. We booked a normal standard room which or may not have included breakfast. I can't recall. Check in time the Hilton Nordica in Reykjavik is 2 pm. We arrived about 9 am. We were granted early check in and a complimentary space available upgrade to the Executive lounge floor. So we have lounge access. This is a great benefit because food in Iceland is fairly pricey if memory serves. Even the budget minded are looking at about $25 per person, per meal on average.

I am mentioning the status benefit because it is often overlooked and I know many get sticker shock with regards to the high AF Platinum cards from Amex. With good timing and a specific trip in mind you can receive much more value beyond the fee. The annual $200 airline credit is calendar year. So you can get the card in November, pick up a couple of $100 airline GCs that trigger the credit, then come January pick up 2 more. That's $400 of the $550 fee put to use especially if you are paying OOP for the trip and traveling on your selected airline. If you are traveling international then you can pick up global entry for free with the $100 credit. Plus your sign up bonus for the 60k card is worth $600. Now back to the gold status benefit, on this particular trip we were upgraded to the Executive lounge. The cost difference at this hotel for a queen bed non Executive room vs the same room on the Executive floor is $155 per night! Not that I would pay that, I wouldn't. However, if I were to choose to have all of my meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner in the lounge I would be saving an average of $75 per person per day which is about $450 for the two of us. So my advice is always dig deep into a planned trip and what it entails as well as a high fee card before immediately discounting it based on the AF.

 

[3 DD love princesses]

Marriot Twitter 16 games till 8 pm

 

[CyndiLouWho]

So you just reply to the referral thread...kinda like this:

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hi I'm blahblahblah, please consider using my links:

- [Chase Southwest Card](www.chasecreditcard.com/mysouthwestlink) Earn a bunch of points after you spend a crapton of money
- [Chase Marriott Card](www.chasecreditcard.com/mymarriottlink) Earn some free hotels after you spend a boatload of money

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The [ ]( ) will turn your text into a link and we use that format to make things cleaner and easier to read.

To create a "bulleted list" hit enter twice before he first item in the list and then start each line with a dash.

You need to find your referral links first on Chase Refer a Friend or Amex Refer a Friend. You can use twitter or facebook to get your links instantly (don't use the email option as it can take a long time for those emails to come through). If this isn't helpful enough then I'd suggest you PM somebody for specific help. Thanks!

Thanks. That is how I did it but apparently it doesn't work on iPad. I will have to borrow DS's Chromebook. Thanks for the help.

 

[mefordis]

Thanks, I am sure we will. Merida is my favorite Disney princess by the way I usually post practically live trip reports on the ABD forum but this isn’t an ABD trip. I can post a trip report here if everyone likes. We did manage to get our flights and hotels with points and miles, so I imagine it isn't too off topic but I will leave that for others to decide.

So starting with the flights which is MIA - KEF. DH wanted lie flat seats so my only option was Delta. Delta wanted 700,000 Sky Pesos and the OOP cost was about $2900 pp. We already had a lot of UR points and had also recently each got the CSR when it was at 100k. So we purchased the flights through the UR portal and that was a little over 181,000 UR points pp. prior to this I have only transferred UR points to airlines and booked award flights. Our best options for the hotel stay was either Hilton or Radisson Blu. We opted for the Hilton Nordica in Reykjavik using the Citi Prestige 4th night free benefit and the other 3 nights were on Hilton points.

Since it is an international first class flight we did not need to use our Amex Platinum to get Delta lounge access. We should be arriving in Iceland in about 5 hours. Delta has Gogo wifi availability and the Amex business Plat card comes with 10 Gogo wifi passes per year and That is how I am able to be on the interwebs while flying.

PLEASE post our trip report here! I enjoy your ABD reports so much! I'd lOVE to read about every detail you want to share I hope your trip exceeds your expectations!

 

[Albort]

@MarriottRewards @NFL 16 #RewardsPoints

go go go!

edit: damn, someone beat me to it. lol

 

[Lain]

Special thank you to @CyndiLouWho and @Calfan for pointing me to Last Minute Travel and a double thanks to CyndiLouWho for finding me a free membership!

We ordered a Disneyland Park Hopper for our DD on Friday morning using my wife’s CSR to use up the travel credit. Got a bit nervous that the confirmation said the actual eTicket would be delivered within 7 days, when our trip is this week! I shouldn’t have waited til the “last minute” to book on Last Minute Travel. But we received the eTicket on Saturday afternoon, and this morning the LMT charge posted, earned 3x UR, and applied against the CSR travel credit! And even though we ended up buying an adult ticket for our DD (no way to buy just a child ticket), we still saved $15 off the ticket booth price for a child ticket and it was completely covered by the balance of the travel credit.

 

[wendow]

@MarriottRewards @NFL 16 #RewardsPoints

go go go!

edit: damn, someone beat me to it. lol

This is great, Albort. I'm not a twitter user, other than for things like this, so I appreciate the actual tweet being typed out so I can just copy & paste.

 

[brownhaired_girl]

@MarriottRewards @NFL 16 #RewardsPoints

go go go!

edit: damn, someone beat me to it. lol

My points posted.
thanks for the reminder

 

[Albort]

This is great, Albort. I'm not a twitter user, other than for things like this, so I appreciate the actual tweet being typed out so I can just copy & paste.

haha, I'll post a link that basically it tweets for u lol.

I got a question now! going to universal studios Hollywood. any deals with CC? I think arestravel is the cheapest for us(we gonna do front of line). codes as 3x on csr?

 

[afan]

So United sucks and you can't book a one way flight without the prices going up like crazy. The flight to Paris via Dulles was great but the flights back weren't going to work so I wanted to mix and match as I often do. When I searched it as a one way instead of round trip all of the cheap economy went away and the flights were over 2k. If I did it as round trip the flight was 805. So we're flying Iceland Air and meeting in Iceland instead. Not looking forward to the nonstop from Seattle to there but it was the cheapest option and the flight times worked. But I'll earn Alaska miles which are worth more to me than anything United would get me.

The awesome news is I was able to use my 2 free Hyatt nights at the Paris Vendome and then when I get my points from the CSR I'll book the 3rd night we need. And since I just put DLP and my flight on my card with some other shopping I'm only 1k away from meeting min spend, yay!

The other awesome thing was DLP had a special of 2 nights paid 2 nights free or 2 nights paid 1 night free, so for the same price we're staying there 4 nights. We also splurged for club level at the Sequoia Lodge to get free breakfast buffet, the drinks/snack and the daily hotel fast pass.

This is my first trip with a mix of paying and points/cc bonus stuff which was planned and I'm excited about. I'm hoping to pay less oop for trips going forward with all this but for now I'm excited and happy.

We're flying into De Gaulle but out of Orly, does anyone have any tips with either? Orly seemed closer to Paris and easier to get to/go through as far as coming home.

 

[AmyAnne]

@Lain

Thanks to the Amex Platinum card we have gold status with Hilton. We booked a normal standard room which or may not have included breakfast. I can't recall. Check in time the Hilton Nordica in Reykjavik is 2 pm. We arrived about 9 am. We were granted early check in and a complimentary space available upgrade to the Executive lounge floor. So we have lounge access. . . .

Now back to the gold status benefit, on this particular trip we were upgraded to the Executive lounge. The cost difference at this hotel for a queen bed non Executive room vs the same room on the Executive floor is $155 per night! Not that I would pay that, I wouldn't. However, if I were to choose to have all of my meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner in the lounge I would be saving an average of $75 per person per day which is about $450 for the two of us. So my advice is always dig deep into a planned trip and what it entails as well as a high fee card before immediately discounting it based on the AF.

I love reading about your travel/rewards adventures.

I copied the part about Hilton and gold status because I also have gold status thanks to the AmEx Platinum and really have no idea how this whole upgrade thing works.

We are staying at the Hilton in Chicago that's next to the theater where Hamilton is playing in December. I have three rooms booked for our party of 6 - standard rooms, two queen beds. Do I ask whether there are any upgrades available when we check in? Would they be willing to upgrade some but not all 3 of the rooms, if 3 upgrades are not available?

Anything else I should know -- but obviously do not, because I really know nothing - except that I got $900 worth of room reservations for free, thanks to AmEx and Citi

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I love reading about your travel/rewards adventures.

I copied the part about Hilton and gold status because I also have gold status thanks to the AmEx Platinum and really have no idea how this whole upgrade thing works.

We are staying at the Hilton in Chicago that's next to the theater where Hamilton is playing in December. I have three rooms booked for our party of 6 - standard rooms, two queen beds. Do I ask whether there are any upgrades available when we check in? Would they be willing to upgrade some but not all 3 of the rooms, if 3 upgrades are not available?

Anything else I should know -- but obviously do not, because I really know nothing - except that I got $900 worth of room reservations for free, thanks to AmEx and Citi

My hubs has been Hilton diamond for years (from stays) and we don’t often get upgraded. It is worth asking, but go in expecting nothing. We do always get access to a lounge if there is one, even if they don’t upgrade us to the club level floor.

 

[wendow]

haha, I'll post a link that basically it tweets for u lol.

Thank you! Love you for that