I love credit cards so much!

[wendow]

Haha, unfortunately no. In fact I wasn't even sure I was understanding him correctly when he was talking because he had such a thick accent. Phone calls like that make me sooooo stressed out! LOL! It took about half an hour but I was on hold most of the time. I was quietly mouthing to my best friend sitting next to me "OMG I dont think he's going to charge me the points!" while she was going "Shhhh! They might be listening!". As soon as we hung up from that call she called Chase to get the points manually added for her referral to me that we could never get to work (she SM's and they said to call after approval and they would manually add it) We were like giddy school girls when we got off the phone.

Honestly for all the doom and gloom surrounding those travel packages it seems that for the most part they are still allowing upgrade. I have been stalking the flyer talk thread for days while I waited for my points to post (little did I know I wouldn't need them!). I think the most important thing is to know going in how many points you need to pay to upgrade, along with the points you've paid already, how many the room would cost for 7 nights, etc because it seems like there is a huge variation in the CS reps knowledge and they may try and offer you X so you need to have solid numbers already in front of you so you can not get confused and be confident in saying 'no' and doing a HUCA. I was very confused with the first guy that said he would cancel my cert for 45k and then I would re-buy the nights portion of the package in the category I wanted for 105k. I couldn't figure out where he was getting his numbers from and I had a feeling it wasn't going to work in my favor but felt too on the spot to calculate it out with him on the phone.

Awesome! I'm happy for you, and hope we can report more positive DP's from the rest of us!

Our package is in my dh's marriott account so he will need to call...hoping there isn't too much HUCA...cause he won't be happy! When I check the cert in his marriott account, it shows it is for a cat 6. I expected that to change after 9/18 since Marriott had said all the upgrades/changing over would be done by then. So, it's weird to me that it still shows as a cat 6 cert. It should say cat 1-4.

 

[calypso726]

Strange question here - We're just giving them a card for "incidental" charges. I fully expect to have to use a card with my name on it as the driver when I pickup at Alamo (and my wife has the CSR and CSP so it will not be one of those cards) - BUT since we're booked on URs through my wife's points (CSR @ 1.50x) then I thought the primary insurance coverage still kicked in (regardless of what card we give them at the counter)... Thoughts??

As long as you book with UR points out of the CSR/CSP account AND decline the car rental company's collision damage then you are covered. This is of course unless Chase changed something else again and I completely missed it but I'm sure something like that would have hit the blogosphere. I'd till use the CSR at the counter, just in case.

 

[kmc8826]

I always use Alamo at MCO. I book through Costco, check in online, skip the counter and gstraight to the garage. Never had a problem with them. I pay with my CSP because of the primary insurance coverage, but now that DH has a CSR I guess we will use that. I did have a horrible time with Budget once at their counter.

Can you not skip the counter if you book with UR?

I love Alamo and their fastbreak program. Off the plane and in a car within a half hour. You don’t go to the counter at all. I had a horrible experience with Budget at their counter. They actually ended up stealing our card number at the time.

Strange question here - We're just giving them a card for "incidental" charges. I fully expect to have to use a card with my name on it as the driver when I pickup at Alamo (and my wife has the CSR and CSP so it will not be one of those cards) - BUT since we're booked on URs through my wife's points (CSR @ 1.50x) then I thought the primary insurance coverage still kicked in (regardless of what card we give them at the counter)... Thoughts??

Just make sure the card you have on file is the CSR or CSP. If something happened you then have the argument that booked with points and CSR on file; if you have some other card I don’t think they would be inclined to cover. Plus with Alamo you can just go through with the toll roads and have it bill your card for a minimal cost (which counts as a travel credit).

 

[MrPTato]

Trying to catch up from our weekend in Philly.

Does anyone know SPG Lux MSR bonus point post times?

Mine posted 1 day after the final charge posted.

Same. Not a huge Halloween person and it's just not my thing. There's a lot of movie's I haven't seen and for the most part I'm ok with it but I'm sure many wouldn't.

I don't like Halloween either...but Nov 1 means my Christmas trees start to go up!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Apparently it's "Disney Week" at TPG... so get ready to see some hilarious errors/omissions.

 

[GZanta77]

Awesome! I'm happy for you, and hope we can report more positive DP's from the rest of us!

Our package is in my dh's marriott account so he will need to call...hoping there isn't too much HUCA...cause he won't be happy! When I check the cert in his marriott account, it shows it is for a cat 6. I expected that to change after 9/18 since Marriott had said all the upgrades/changing over would be done by then. So, it's weird to me that it still shows as a cat 6 cert. It should say cat 1-4.

Not so good DP here.......tried last week to upgrade my OC6 to NC5 and attach to a reservation - twice I called, explained what I wanted to do....agent stated they needed to check with a 1) Supervisor 2) Rewards Specialist.... I was placed on hold for around 20 mins each time, then they hung up without ever coming back on the line. Not happy. Will try again this week at some point.

Hope your DH has more success.

 

[hsmamato2]

The CSP sounds like a good call. Simple, annual fee waived year one and you’re familiar with the UR program already.

Imho do not store Hilton points that long. They have started some crazy dynamic changes in their rewards redemptions, they aren’t hyper-inflation status yet but doubling point costs at random hotels overnight is killer if your hotel is the one that gets hit. If that happened to you it sounds like dh might put his foot down permanently so I’d much rather dip toes in with CSP and get a Hilton closer to the potential Maldives trip. A simpler way to look at it is: the Hilton offers are at all-time highs- but so are the point costs for their hotels.

I'm thinking about this answer...is CSP out of reach for someone young and starting out on their own card? I could get ds to app for that one possibly if so, it's a good card and I can help him hit the spend no issue...

 

[hsmamato2]

Anything big I’ve missed over the last week por favor? Last I heard chase bonuses were starting to post so yay for that!

I’m back from taking the fam to Disneyland for their first Halloween & my best friend joined us at the party. Much fun!! Churning wise I got saver airfare on AA Reno to Lax for 7.5k/person/way. With 4 people I was thrilled to find that availability a couple months out! I used bank bonuses and gift card savings for the hotel (DLH CL *faint* but no regrets!). AP discounts helped on the party tickets.

Went to Campanile on our PPs in LAX T4. Right next to the escalator when coming from T5 and at the escalator you can catch the bus to the remote terminal so that was super handy. Campanile was solid. $28 person got me a split of Chandon and turkey sandwich (which i actually liked). Others got the burgers, which were not cooked enough so order a level more cooked than you want. Said we were on 2 PP cards, server wasn’t happy as they’ve been having issues and asked to run the cards right away to make sure the worked- cell reception is REALLY bad there. She got both through so we each had $56 to use. Prices charged did not match the menu so that was very annoying and potentially illegal? Idk- at least for the Chandon that was $14.50 not the stated $13.99 and the ultimate totals seemed higher than they should have been but I didn’t have time to argue or double check & our credits covered each tab anyway.

Trip was great, pretty much the only point that super sucked was AA briefly lost 3 of our 4 bags at LAX. They were found an hour and a half later still out at the satellite terminal for AA. I wrote a complaint wondering if I’d get some points but no luck, just a “this happens sometimes, our job is complicated” type “apology”. Well, the flight was basically free & we got our bags (thank goodness) so I’m not pushing that.

thanks for the Campanile DP.... I think I'm going to try this when I get there.... what remote terminal do you mean? I'm wondering where PF changs is since that appeals the most...(we are flying in on Jetblue,leaving on AA) and it's two credits per pp,right? so I have the PP card plus 10 PP credits from our Hilton Amex to use...

 

[amalone1013]

I'm back... 139 pages behind here. Plan to slowly work through over the next couple days (unless I ignore work completely, which is tempting ). I am 3/4 of the way through my 500+ emails The worst part is most don't even pertain to me, people just always send them to EVERYONE.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

An update from BWV before my daughter and I head over to Epcot...men are playing golf.....

Alamo...booked a midsize SUV through Costco..checked in online so went straight to the garage...picked a mini van with 3 rows for the room..off to,the booth..gave cc, my DL and DH DL...no,hang tag in the car so they needed the keys...get the paperwork but DH didn’t check the price...we drive off and I see they charged us $60 more than what I booked...so had to go back andget that corrected

Had the magic band issue with the room door...with 5 working out of 6....so had to have all 6 reset...now all work great..

Enjoyed a yummy dinner at flying fish....which was covered by Disney GSs

Everyone enjoy their day !

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

As long as you book with UR points out of the CSR/CSP account AND decline the car rental company's collision damage then you are covered. This is of course unless Chase changed something else again and I completely missed it but I'm sure something like that would have hit the blogosphere. I'd till use the CSR at the counter, just in case.

I love Alamo and their fastbreak program. Off the plane and in a car within a half hour. You don’t go to the counter at all. I had a horrible experience with Budget at their counter. They actually ended up stealing our card number at the time.



Just make sure the card you have on file is the CSR or CSP. If something happened you then have the argument that booked with points and CSR on file; if you have some other card I don’t think they would be inclined to cover. Plus with Alamo you can just go through with the toll roads and have it bill your card for a minimal cost (which counts as a travel credit).

I appreciate the responses but I don’t think Alamo will allow me to use a CSR or CSP that doesn’t match my ID (as I am the driver, not my wife). That’s what sparked the discussion in the first place.

Regardless, I pay no attention to those insurance benefits on cards anyways lol. Last time I rented a car I probably put it on whatever card I was working on MSR. I probably will just continue to pay it no mind haha.

 

[WVMomof3]

We have Alamo booked with UR out of MCO end of October. Now I am nervous about it. Will try to check in online. I was able to look up our reservation just now on the Alamo site with the Chase confirmation number so hopefully will be good to do this. This will be 3rd or 4th time using UR points for car but this time it was actually cheaper on the UR site also, even over Costco. Usually it is a little higher but using URs at 1.5 still makes it come out a little cheaper.

 

[hsmamato2]

Just grabbed a great Priceline deal on a hotel for my night before my Disney cruise in January. I swear I've never planned a trip like this ever...
like, I'm just grabbing the first thing that comes up and moving on. Priceline offered me an airport hotel that has shuttle service from airport to hotel, breakfast and shuttle to cruiseport for $70 all in. I took it, didn't read reviews, didn't obsess for anything cheaper, didn't feel like using points, didn't care. Put it on my Plat to make Amex happy.

And when I picked the DCL cruise, I literally searched by date - picked the sailing for the date I wanted and booked it. Didn't worry about the ports or ship or reviews.

It's sort of freeing I won't lie.

this is how I feel after booking my HI trip.... after the misery of booking WDW for 16 last spring(endless hours) I just sort of saw deals,booked them,and am figuring out the rest as I go along!

 

[Haley R]

As long as you book with UR points out of the CSR/CSP account AND decline the car rental company's collision damage then you are covered. This is of course unless Chase changed something else again and I completely missed it but I'm sure something like that would have hit the blogosphere. I'd till use the CSR at the counter, just in case.

Do you have to book with UR points to get the coverage? Or can you just use that card to book the rental?

 

[GlamMistress]

Grabbed a return flight from FLL to CVG for 10k skypesos each for the Monday after my Miami Disney cruise in Jan.

My boss is going to be pissed I have to use another vacation day during a very busy time for us but life moves on. I've been doing triple duty on my own for four months. There just were no good flight options to get home on Sunday after disembarkation. The mileage or cash costs were literally insane or the times were worse.

Another day in Florida versus crappy Ohio winter? I'll take it.

Next up: finding a nice hotel for that surprise extra day, hopefully on the beach. Then there's the matter of finding lodging for Aerosmith/Vegas in April.

I need to sit down and make a real plan. With so many new changes/restrictions, I need to be more careful going forward.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Do you have to book with UR points to get the coverage? Or can you just use that card to book the rental?

Oh you can definitely use the card to just book the rental.

We're talking about a strange scenario where one spouse has the CSR/CSP card and the other does not. You book the car using the one spouse's URs but the OTHER spouse is the driver. You don't owe any money when you show up, BUT you still have to put a card on file. The reservation was paid in full through the URs but since we don't have a CSR/CSP with my name on it, I have to provide another card that matches my license (as most companies require the DL of the driver to match the CC being used)...

 

[GlamMistress]

I appreciate the responses but I don’t think Alamo will allow me to use a CSR or CSP that doesn’t match my ID (as I am the driver, not my wife). That’s what sparked the discussion in the first place.

Regardless, I pay no attention to those insurance benefits on cards anyways lol. Last time I rented a car I probably put it on whatever card I was working on MSR. I probably will just continue to pay it no mind haha.

When you rent a car, the card you use to pay must match the driver's ID. My DH was a car rental agent in college and that's what he just said. Plus we were told that at the Budget desk at MCO in January.

 

[WVMomof3]

Do you have to book with UR points to get the coverage? Or can you just use that card to book the rental?

Using the card will definitely give you the coverage. There has actually been some debate about whether booking just on points also gives you coverage. Myself and others have asked and gotten the yes it will be covered, but we all know the CRs are not always correct. So it does make me nervous. Just hope we never have to use the coverage to find out for sure.

 

[WVMomof3]

Slightly , but booking a hotel and going through Ebates, do you have to prepay to get credit? I hate prepaying but I guess I might to get 10% back. It is a group rate so prepaying this time will not be any cheaper.

 

[Haley R]

Oh you can definitely use the card to just book the rental.

We're talking about a strange scenario where one spouse has the CSR/CSP card and the other does not. You book the car using the one spouse's URs but the OTHER spouse is the driver. You don't owe any money when you show up, BUT you still have to put a card on file. The reservation was paid in full through the URs but since we don't have a CSR/CSP with my name on it, I have to provide another card that matches my license (as most companies require the DL of the driver to match the CC being used)...

Sounds super confusing lol. Good to know about booking normally though. We might visit Arizona in December since frontier has good deals and we would rent a car.