I love credit cards so much! v2.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[punkin]

Just bought an unlocked Samsung galaxy S10 off the samsung website. If my chase credit posts, it will be under $500 with ear buds included. ATT wanted to charge me almost $800 for an S9.

 

[tink1970]

Now that that's done I have some new questions after talking with Dh about flying to London.

1. Would you consider a positioning flight with a 1 year old? Something like flying in the night before and staying the night then flying out the next day. In an ideal world, I wouldn't choose this, but I know there are a lot better flight options compared to MCO.
2. Would a 1 stop flight be horrible with a 1 year old? I was aiming for nonstop, but booking with miles doesn't always allow that, especially since we're looking at going out of MCO.
3. What time frame should we be looking at for booking flights? A year in advance or something different?

We've shifted our thinking away from business and are pretty sure we will do premium economy. That way we can get 3 seats together easier and at a cheaper redemption rate.

1) Yes, we position a lot and as long as you keep baby as close to their schedule as possible you and s/he will be happy. Keeping baby on schedule, whether you position or not, will be important. It might be nice to rest and spread out the night/day before the flight, then again you might want to not add on another day. DH and I position to/from Europe and we find it's easier traveling all around.

2) A flight with 1 stop isn't terrible, either, as long as your layover builds in time for the entire family to eat, potty/change diaper, and relax a bit. Rushing through an airport with a poopy diaper baby just isn't fun.

3) Once you decide (or have an idea) of flights, start booking as soon as you can so you can grab the best price miles wise (some alliances will drop prices a week or two before the trip but then there are close in booking fees, and it's a gamble). Each airline has their own idiosyncratic release times so you might be looking as early as 364 days out or as late as 330.

 

[mamathompson]

Now that that's done I have some new questions after talking with Dh about flying to London.

1. Would you consider a positioning flight with a 1 year old? Something like flying in the night before and staying the night then flying out the next day. In an ideal world, I wouldn't choose this, but I know there are a lot better flight options compared to MCO.
2. Would a 1 stop flight be horrible with a 1 year old? I was aiming for nonstop, but booking with miles doesn't always allow that, especially since we're looking at going out of MCO.
3. What time frame should we be looking at for booking flights? A year in advance or something different?

We've shifted our thinking away from business and are pretty sure we will do premium economy. That way we can get 3 seats together easier and at a cheaper redemption rate.

I don't mind a one stop with kids. Sometimes a change of scenery and moving around can be beneficial. I personally wouldn't do number 1 though. For me it would be too much to fly, go ton a hotel, back to an airport. I would find that more stressful than powering through travel days, I'm sure it works for other families though.

 

[Alexle2007]

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[GZanta77]

Now that that's done I have some new questions after talking with Dh about flying to London.

1. Would you consider a positioning flight with a 1 year old? Something like flying in the night before and staying the night then flying out the next day. In an ideal world, I wouldn't choose this, but I know there are a lot better flight options compared to MCO.
2. Would a 1 stop flight be horrible with a 1 year old? I was aiming for nonstop, but booking with miles doesn't always allow that, especially since we're looking at going out of MCO.
3. What time frame should we be looking at for booking flights? A year in advance or something different?

We've shifted our thinking away from business and are pretty sure we will do premium economy. That way we can get 3 seats together easier and at a cheaper redemption rate.

1&2 - The issue here is the pressure changes during take-off and landing. You just don't know how that will affect your baby. I know you can buy baby ear-planes earplugs to help equalize but you never know if they are fitted right and baby can't tell you if their ears hurt. For that reason alone, I would seek to minimize the number of flights.

3. Ideally 330 days out for award seats (or whenever flights are released) - especially if traveling during school vacations. If you can possibly plan your trip to avoid school vacations then everything should be cheaper and award availability can be found much closer to your actual travel dates. That said, London to Orlando is a a popular route and award seats tend to go quickly. On this route, you might need to consider booking one-way flights so you can grab an award as soon as the outbound flight is released.

 

[PolyRob]

Yeah - it seems that there are multiple ways to see the old version still. I’d imagine that could be phased out. I’ve finally accepted and adjusted to this new dashboard view. Still don’t like it but all I care about is pending points on next stmt lol.

Wait... you will embrace Chase's UR portal change BUT still use old Reddit?!

 

[PolyRob]

I need to stop browsing at Costco. Bought Mrs. Prindables chocolate caramel dipped pretzel rods. Just ate two of them for dinner.

At least you said "for dinner" rather than "in addition to dinner"

 

[PolyRob]

Costco didn't have the same models in-store as online and as we needed a new laptop for dd like last Saturday (she's got many projects to do over break and has only been able to work on the ones that use google docs), we went to the Apple Store. At least we could use the student discount AND my CIP MSR is just about done.

If you are still interested in the Costco deal, Apple has a no questions asked return policy. You could use and erase the MacBook and bring it right back once the Costco one comes in. The window is usually 14-days, but since it is the holiday season, the return window is actually extended until 1/8/20!

 

[Haley R]

1) Yes, we position a lot and as long as you keep baby as close to their schedule as possible you and s/he will be happy. Keeping baby on schedule, whether you position or not, will be important. It might be nice to rest and spread out the night/day before the flight, then again you might want to not add on another day. DH and I position to/from Europe and we find it's easier traveling all around.

2) A flight with 1 stop isn't terrible, either, as long as your layover builds in time for the entire family to eat, potty/change diaper, and relax a bit. Rushing through an airport with a poopy diaper baby just isn't fun.

3) Once you decide (or have an idea) of flights, start booking as soon as you can so you can grab the best price miles wise (some alliances will drop prices a week or two before the trip but then there are close in booking fees, and it's a gamble). Each airline has their own idiosyncratic release times so you might be looking as early as 364 days out or as late as 330.

I’m thinking a positioning flight might be more of a hassle than a relief. The only reason we would do it is to get a better miles rate but we would have to stay the night which would cost points and get a flight to/from that city. I think a positioning flight would be our last resort.

When I looked briefly earlier it was showing 8 hours for nonstop and 10 hours for one stop. I feel like depending on the airport that could be enough time in between for the layover. I’m definitely feeling more comfortable with the idea of having a stop now. That would help us be more flexible with choosing flights too.

 

[Oscar Madison]

Does anyone know if I use the UR portal to buy something on shoes.com will I get the 8% plus the 5% if I checkout using PayPal? Not sure I get both.
Thanks

 

[Haley R]

I don't mind a one stop with kids. Sometimes a change of scenery and moving around can be beneficial. I personally wouldn't do number 1 though. For me it would be too much to fly, go ton a hotel, back to an airport. I would find that more stressful than powering through travel days, I'm sure it works for other families though.

You guys are making me feel a lot better about having a stop. Getting nonstop from Orlando seems like it might be hard so I won’t feel as stressed if we can have just 1 stop without it being an issue. That’ll definitely open up more options too

 

[amalone1013]

Just bought an unlocked Samsung galaxy S10 off the samsung website. If my chase credit posts, it will be under $500 with ear buds included. ATT wanted to charge me almost $800 for an S9.

I didn't need to know this... lol

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

If you are still interested in the Costco deal, Apple has a no questions asked return policy. You could use and erase the MacBook and bring it right back once the Costco one comes in. The window is usually 14-days, but since it is the holiday season, the return window is actually extended until 1/8/20!

Unfortunately she goes to school several states away, in a city without an Apple store (the horror!), otherwise this could work

 

[Haley R]

1&2 - The issue here is the pressure changes during take-off and landing. You just don't know how that will affect your baby. I know you can buy baby ear-planes earplugs to help equalize but you never know if they are fitted right and baby can't tell you if their ears hurt. For that reason alone, I would seek to minimize the number of flights.

3. Ideally 330 days out for award seats (or whenever flights are released) - especially if traveling during school vacations. If you can possibly plan your trip to avoid school vacations then everything should be cheaper and award availability can be found much closer to your actual travel dates. That said, London to Orlando is a a popular route and award seats tend to go quickly. On this route, you might need to consider booking one-way flights so you can grab an award as soon as the outbound flight is released.

That’s true about the pressure changes. I had horrible ears as a kid and I’m hoping I don’t pass that on. I had tubes put in my ears and screamed on the planes. We still flew places but I’m sure it wasn’t fun when I was so small that I couldn’t tell them how I felt.

We plan to go back to Iowa next July to visit family so that might be a good gauge for the baby on flights. That would mean we would need to plan for maybe August or September of 2021 (possibly July). My main goal is somewhat warmer temps while in London and Scotland. We won’t have school schedules and dh shouldn’t have any trouble getting work off so I think we’ll be super flexible.

I didn’t realize orlando to London was a popular route. Just looking at flights today it didn’t seem like there were great options but I didn’t look very long. I’m a little hesitant to book one way just because I don’t want to get stuck with a bad returning flight

 

[Jax1023]

You guys are making me feel a lot better about having a stop. Getting nonstop from Orlando seems like it might be hard so I won’t feel as stressed if we can have just 1 stop without it being an issue. That’ll definitely open up more options too

We flew with my older son from NY to Amsterdam when he was 14 months, wasn’t quite walking yet, it was super easy, had a layover in Dublin, it was good to get off and stretch our legs and have some breakfast. we did not buy him a seat though and he slept on me basically the whole way. Got there, Tried to get him on his usual schedule in a new time zone. Stayed up most of the day, had dinner and in bed at 7. He slept til 9 the next morning, although he ended up in bed with us and nursed a bit overnight. Ended up on a 9p-9am ish sleep schedule which worked well on vacation.

My son is easy going and loves traveling. Now my dd is not that trip would have been awful with her. We went to visit my parents in FL over Easter when she was 9 months and I basically got zero sleep the entire week and it was miserable. She’s two now and finally getting to be easier to travel with. We went to Disney when she was 14 months old and she basically screamed the entire flight due to wanting to get out of her seat and not being able to. She does this in the car too, but there we are not annoying 150 other people.

I would wait to book til the baby is 6ish months old and you get to know their personality. Every kid is different and while yes you can travel with kids, it’s more fun with some kids than with others lol.

 

[mmmears]

I still have a few questions about this, in case someone is able to help me out...

I did save the number you call for possible retention offers from Amex that somebody posted this weekend, so I have that. If the retention offer doesn’t make sense for us, can we cancel the card on the same phone call? And what is the timing for making sure our MRs are cleared out of this account? I’m hoping for the HH offer to show up but so far it hasn’t. So I’d wait as long as possible to transfer in case a good offer shows up. Annual fee was charged on Nov 15, payment due Dec 10, next statement close is Dec 16.

Thanks in advance for the guidance! I don’t have any Amex card closing experience, so don’t want to mess this up!

I was really anxious about calling in for a retention offer, but it was painless and the rep said there was a 3K/20K MR offer attached to my account and asked me if I was interested. @Lain gave you good advice about not closing too early - DH called and the rep seemed surprised but said there was no offer on the account but suggested he call back next week. We were surprised, too, since it's an old card that got a ton of use over the years and we never knew to ask for an offer. DH called back a week later and got the 50K MRs just put right into his account, no spend necessary. So I would advise calling soon, and if there's no offer, try again another time. Hope this helps.

 

[jhoannam]

I have to buy a Bj's membership, unless I can add $140.58 in Disney gift cards & $10 membership, will those be charged separate? Should I pay for the membership first? Or how do I do the one day pass?

 

[punkin]

I didn't need to know this... lol

I desperately needed a phone. I was looking at cheaper options but it's a nice phone.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

How do we feel about an off topic discussion of Turkey Gravy?.... I’m kinda desperate. Costco got rid of my Fra’mani Turkey Gravy (just warm it up and boom! Awesomeness!) and I’m lost because I’m more of a warm it up type cook lol. Basically I want a decent Turkey Gravy that requires warming up or at most adding water or broth from a box- something easy! I’ve got cooked Turkey Breast, just no Gravy for it (this isn’t a Thanksgiving Feast or anything stressful, just average dinner type meal). Favorite easy to do Turkey Gravy anyone?...

Here ya go. Instant party
https://www.fox32chicago.com/news/c...nksgiving-dinner-to-higher-level-company-says

 

[mmmears]

Some of you may recall that my dh travels a lot of business. He just texted me this morning that he was involved in a serious car accident on Saturday. A paralegal talking on his phone, driving in the far right lane (dh was in the far left lane going the same direction) decided to suddenly make a u-turn, cut across 3 lanes and dh drove into him (obviously couldn't avoid him). Dh said his car cut right through the unibody at the wheel well of the other vehicle (2019 Acura small sedan). Thankfully dh seems to be okay, but his car (he's in Toronto) doesn't look great. The road was closed for 4 hours because the paralegal who drove into him was unconscious and apparently there was blood all over his car. I wish dh had told me sooner and maybe by phone. He sent me a video of the scene with the firefighters and police cars everywhere. Thanks for listening -- it's weighing heavily on my mind because it could've been so much worse if dh wasn't driving such a safe, well-made vehicle. Trying to work but finding it hard to concentrate.

OMG. I'm so sorry about this and so glad your DH is doing ok.