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

[Albort]

Something shady about Juicy Miles, which was promoted on Frequent Miler and various other paid bloggers recently...

Here is a note from the Founder of Juicy Miles:

We give our staff the option to provide a profile picture or remain anonymous. For the vast majority of our team, this is a side gig and many choose to stay anonymous and prefer their employers remain unaware of the time they devote to award booking. In fact, I was just Adam and had no picture until about a year ago when I left my regular job to run JM and Point Me full time. That same courtesy is given to the entire team, if they want to share they are welcome to, otherwise they can simply provide a bio or just their name, it’s completely up to them. If they choose not to share, they can select a photo to represent them. I can personally relate to our team members as I had one employer who restricted me from contributing to either site while I was employed and another who tolerated but did not want clients seeing my full name, bio or picture on the web. My BoardingArea profile is actually still blank - I finally provided approval to BA to share my JM photo late last week. That said, we want to be as genuine as possible with our clients and so we’re making a change. Team members who do not wish to share will have their pictures replaced with a stylized avatar.

 

[ski_mom]

I don’t think there’s a lot to know about frontier but go in with the mindset that it’s definitely a budget airline. No snacks, WiFi, or entertainment on the plane. We don’t mind because of how cheap they are but that might bother some people

Other than what you mentioned as far as bag fees and seat assignments, nothing else to worry about with Frontier. My brief experience has been positive.

Thanks - I think we'll go for it. It will mean an extra night hotel expense, but I'd rather do that than start our trip by leaving the house at 3:30 in the morning!

 

[elgerber]

I definitely see the value for my large family in DVC. We typically only come every 2 to 3 years though. DH likes Copper Creek and we were planning on staying at Wilderness Lodge renting points on our next trip. Buying direct is more money obviously but is it worth it to have access to the new resorts being built? Or would we be just as happy buying somewhere else and not worrying about the new resorts. That is probably my biggest question at this point. We rented at AKL this trip and while it's beautiful and a unique experience, it is too far from the action for us. The bus service has been horrible and it's made our days feel very disjointed when we want to head back for a rest. So staying closer to Epcot/Magic Kingdom is definitely appealing.

I personally, think buying resale to save the money is worth it. Every new resort that opens, seems to have higher point values than the last (of course there is no guarantee that will continue), and I don't have much interest in the newer resorts right now. To me location is so important! We bought BWV site unseen (but we had stayed at YC and BC) and haven't regretted it for a second. We also bought retail but it was almost 17 years ago, so there were no restrictions then. You would still have access to many resorts if you go resale, so I think plenty of options are out there for you. But if you want closer to a park, the 11 month window can be really important, so the advice of buy where you want to stay is pretty crucial in my opinion.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

Apologies if this has already been posted, but Topcashback has 12% back at Dell for the next 6 days, and Ebates has 10% back for at least today. They seem to do this every year for Presidents Day, in case you are wondering when to use those Dell cashback credits on your AmEx Business Platinum.

thx! I have an amex offer there I can combine to use for some accessories for DS10's bday.

 

[disneybirds]

Quick trip update. 3 of 5 kids are down with what appears to be the flu. I'm certainly grateful we sprung for the two bedroom, with all this sickness it's extra helpful to have the space. We are pretty disappointed though. It's our first trip to WDW in 3 years and we are supposed to celebrate our oldest's 13 th birthday in two days. Hoping no one else goes down and these three improve. On a closer to churning note we are dangerously close to purchasing DVC. I've researched a ton but would love to hear more first hand experiences.

Oh no! Hope everyone feels better soon! Disney is no fun if you are sick. We own at BCV and HHI and don't regret it all. We bought when the girls were 7 and 4, the youngest will turn 17 next week. They still enjoy going and my youngest just texted me a picture of Kevin at AK. We have lots of memories and many years take friends or family with us. I would agree with everyone that said to buy where you want to stay. The 11 month advantage is huge at some resorts. We went lots last year, so we are taking a break this year. We sold our BCV points this year and it only took a day or so to sell. Good luck with your decision!

 

[vanjust14]

Ugh, just noticed I used my Southwest Priority card instead of my CSR on dinner Friday night. I'm blaming the cucumber martini

 

[miztressuz]

Here is a note from the Founder of Juicy Miles:

We give our staff the option to provide a profile picture or remain anonymous. For the vast majority of our team, this is a side gig and many choose to stay anonymous and prefer their employers remain unaware of the time they devote to award booking. In fact, I was just Adam and had no picture until about a year ago when I left my regular job to run JM and Point Me full time. That same courtesy is given to the entire team, if they want to share they are welcome to, otherwise they can simply provide a bio or just their name, it’s completely up to them. If they choose not to share, they can select a photo to represent them. I can personally relate to our team members as I had one employer who restricted me from contributing to either site while I was employed and another who tolerated but did not want clients seeing my full name, bio or picture on the web. My BoardingArea profile is actually still blank - I finally provided approval to BA to share my JM photo late last week. That said, we want to be as genuine as possible with our clients and so we’re making a change. Team members who do not wish to share will have their pictures replaced with a stylized avatar.

That's what he should have done in the first place! I have to question why he thought it was appropriate to allow fake pics on his site at all? If he wasn't totally shady, and there really are employees, then I suspected that's what was happening - but it just ruins the reputation you were trying to build by having photos and profiles to begin with. You've lost the trust you were hoping to gain by going for the personal connection... with fake people.

 

[wendow]

so sorry @mamathompson that your crew is sick! That is always my worst fear as we head to Disney. Hope they start feeling better and y'all can enjoy the rest of your time!

 

[AmyAnne]

Question about Frontier? We have a trip booked to Vegas using SW points for our flights. When DH booked it he chose the earliest flight out of STL which is 6-ish am. As we get closer to the date, I REALLY don't want to get up to fly out that early, so started looking at other options. The SW flight leaving the evening before is a lot higher, but I found a Frontier flight that would work time wise for only about $100. I know we have to pay for either a checked or carry-on bag and also for seat assignments. If we book it, I was thinking of not paying extra for seat assignments. Not that I don't like DH, but I really don't care too much if we aren't next to each other for the 3 hour flight. But, having never flown Frontier, I didn't know if there are other things I should be aware of.

Secondly, since DH booked the flights on SW, he booked them as round trip tickets. How hard would it be to cancel just the first leg of the flight? We are wanting to keep the same return flight that we currently have booked.

Thanks for any info!

My kids have flown Frontier every now and then for random things with no serious issues. I think the biggest problem is the limited schedule -- if your flight is cancelled, there usually is no other flight that day that you can be rebooked on.

 

[Albort]

That's what he should have done in the first place! I have to question why he thought it was appropriate to allow fake pics on his site at all? If he wasn't totally shady, and there really are employees, then I suspected that's what was happening - but it just ruins the reputation you were trying to build by having photos and profiles to begin with. You've lost the trust you were hoping to gain by going for the personal connection... with fake people.

yeah, i still think its shady as well, but it good that he responded to it. Reddit is currently saying the sites probably was just trying too hard and made it now look in a negative way, i still think its shady as hell too, should of just posted like a dog picture instead or something... lol.

either way, my other group has actually met some of them and vouch for them... lots of success stories... but at the end, still weird to me.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Here is a note from the Founder of Juicy Miles:

We give our staff the option to provide a profile picture or remain anonymous. For the vast majority of our team, this is a side gig and many choose to stay anonymous and prefer their employers remain unaware of the time they devote to award booking. In fact, I was just Adam and had no picture until about a year ago when I left my regular job to run JM and Point Me full time. That same courtesy is given to the entire team, if they want to share they are welcome to, otherwise they can simply provide a bio or just their name, it’s completely up to them. If they choose not to share, they can select a photo to represent them. I can personally relate to our team members as I had one employer who restricted me from contributing to either site while I was employed and another who tolerated but did not want clients seeing my full name, bio or picture on the web. My BoardingArea profile is actually still blank - I finally provided approval to BA to share my JM photo late last week. That said, we want to be as genuine as possible with our clients and so we’re making a change. Team members who do not wish to share will have their pictures replaced with a stylized avatar.

That's what he should have done in the first place! I have to question why he thought it was appropriate to allow fake pics on his site at all? If he wasn't totally shady, and there really are employees, then I suspected that's what was happening - but it just ruins the reputation you were trying to build by having photos and profiles to begin with. You've lost the trust you were hoping to gain by going for the personal connection... with fake people.

Today in “How to not run a business 101”...

How to damage all credibility out of the gate. Please turn to page 1 of the textbook. LOL!

 

[Lain]

DW was just approved for the SPG Personal without the pop up. I'm still worried. Let's not celebrate until those 75k Marriott points are in her account.

P.S. My BGR SUB is still MIA. I'm not holding my breath for them, and I'm certainly not going to bother contacting Amex. (I'm almost convinced that chatting with them to confirm the welcome offer was attached to my BGR in the first place put eyes on my account and resulted in whatever is going on with the SUB.) If they post, great, if not then onto the next card.

P.P.S. For some history, DW got the pop up when trying to apply for the Amex Gold just before the refresh in October. She's only ever had 2 Amex cards in her own name, the SPG Biz and Hilton Biz, both opened in 2018. I began putting more regular spend on her two Amex cards, taking advantage of gas and dining categories and Amex Offers, amounting to a few hundred on average every month. I never did try applying for the Gold again, as we decided it wasn't a good fit for her to use continually, since she's still holding a CSR for dining and I do most of the grocery shopping. When the upcoming changes to the Starriott cards were announced last month, I tried applying for the SPG Personal for her out of FOMO but got the pop up. Since that pop up, I maxed out the Staples Amex Offer with $500 in MCGCs, made a $2.6k payment and a few miscellaneous small transactions on my wife's Hilton Biz, pumped several tanks of California-priced premium gas and ate/ordered out several times on her SPG Biz. No pop up after almost $4k in spend across the two cards in the past month.

 

[mmmears]

Maybe you can borrow some of his URs and transfer to Hyatt for a stay at the Park Hyatt Sydney while you are skipping that birthday? It's only 30k for a room that is going for $1112 AUS. That seems like an awesome return on redemption.

I think I need a Hyatt card for my future visit to Australia...

LOL that's why I wanted the Hyatt card so badly. Now that I'm realizing it's going to be hard to get a good flight on points we're leaning towards other trips where I won't need those Hyatt points so much... I've stayed nearby in Sydney (Four Seasons) and the Rocks area, where the Hyatt is located, is really pretty with nice views, but requires a bit more walking (totally worth it IMHO).

yeah, i still think its shady as well, but it good that he responded to it. Reddit is currently saying the sites probably was just trying too hard and made it now look in a negative way, i still think its shady as hell too, should of just posted like a dog picture instead or something... lol.

either way, my other group has actually met some of them and vouch for them... lots of success stories... but at the end, still weird to me.

I'm always worried about getting scammed by things like this, so I'll just say that while I was skeptical but maybe willing to try it before, I'm not willing to now.

DW was just approved for the SPG Personal without the pop up. I'm still worried. Let's not celebrate until those 75k Marriott points in her account.

Ok, so no big congrats yet, but I'm hoping she will get her bonus.

 

[DisneyMandC]

DW was just approved for the SPG Personal without the pop up. I'm still worried. Let's not celebrate until those 75k Marriott points in her account.

P.S. My BGR SUB is still MIA. I'm not holding my breath for them, and I'm certainly not going to bother contacting Amex. (I'm almost convinced that chatting with them to confirm the welcome offer was attached to my BGR in the first place put eyes on my account and resulted in whatever is going on with the SUB.) If they post, great, if not then onto the next card.

Really thinking about going for it today just to see what will happen.

 

[Albort]

I'm always worried about getting scammed by things like this, so I'll just say that while I was skeptical but maybe willing to try it before, I'm not willing to now.

theres some pretty positive Feedback on them, i wouldnt count them out just yet.

Albort, could not diagree more. A. i hired them to book tix for for of us to Africa and back this summer. Could not have been more engaging and helpful. B. My travel sensei engaged them for a RTW trip last year and gave them an A++ rating. C. I have been emailing with the CEO for about two weeks about their new offering and every exchange makes their service better and better.

I have met John ( who is actual award booker for Juicy miles) when I was in HKG a while back. He is real and older guy/old school who started back with Randy Peterson era. I can say that I believe Juicy miles has been around for a while and legit. However, most the award bookers are independent 1099 contractors, thus no pictures. I don't feel that the Reddit thread is accurate representation. I have talked to a few people who have used the new award search tool It works but there are things it misses. I say more tools are better, but $29 a month is a little steep.

 

[Alexle2007]

LOL that's why I wanted the Hyatt card so badly. Now that I'm realizing it's going to be hard to get a good flight on points we're leaning towards other trips where I won't need those Hyatt points so much... I've stayed nearby in Sydney (Four Seasons) and the Rocks area, where the Hyatt is located, is really pretty with nice views, but requires a bit more walking (totally worth it IMHO).

We stayed at I want to say the Stafford Apartments (it might be Rendezvous Hotel now) but we checked in for our honeymoon and my gentleman said wait until you see your view. And we were like ok. Got to our room and we had a totally unobstructed view of the Opera House. It was just amazing. I got some fantastic pictures with the sun rising and setting over it. We can't wait to go back.

 

[Lain]

Really thinking about going for it today just to see what will happen.

I figured if DW got the pop up, I wouldn't have bothered going through with the application.

If DW didn't get the pop up and was approved, I'd get the 20k Marriott points referral bonus, she'd get a card with no-AF in the first year, then $95 AF for a 35k FN cert that we'll find some way to use next year, whether or not she gets the 75k points bonus. If she doesn't get the bonus, that's $3k in wasted MSR and a sub-5/24 slot, but she was going to be 0/24 (not counting the SPG Personal) next month, anyway, so she has plenty of runway with Chase. We may have to push out plans to get her the United Biz, but we've got some time before that 75k miles offer ends 3/18/19.

 

[miztressuz]

DW was just approved for the SPG Personal without the pop up. I'm still worried. Let's not celebrate until those 75k Marriott points are in her account.

P.S. My BGR SUB is still MIA. I'm not holding my breath for them, and I'm certainly not going to bother contacting Amex. (I'm almost convinced that chatting with them to confirm the welcome offer was attached to my BGR in the first place put eyes on my account and resulted in whatever is going on with the SUB.) If they post, great, if not then onto the next card.

P.P.S. For some history, DW got the pop up when trying to apply for the Amex Gold just before the refresh in October. She's only ever had 2 Amex cards in her own name, the SPG Biz and Hilton Biz, both opened in 2018. I began putting more regular spend on her two Amex cards, taking advantage of gas and dining categories and Amex Offers, amounting to a few hundred on average every month. I never did try applying for the Gold again, as we decided it wasn't a good fit for her to use continually, since she's still holding a CSR for dining and I do most of the grocery shopping. When the upcoming changes to the Starriott cards were announced last month, I tried applying for the SPG Personal for her out of FOMO but got the pop up. Since that pop up, I maxed out the Staples Amex Offer with $500 in MCGCs, made a $2.6k payment and a few miscellaneous small transactions on my wife's Hilton Biz, pumped several tanks of California-priced premium gas and ate/ordered out several times on her SPG Biz. No pop up after almost $4k in spend across the two cards in the past month.

Yay! No dancing yet, we'll wait for the bonus, but it's a step in the right direction

My few hundred bucks in the last 2 weeks has done nothing for me I tried this morning, got the popup, chickened out. I meant to pick up a VGC or something but didn't get out this weekend, but it still wouldn't hold a candle to the amount of spend you've been doing. I have to say though that since picking up the SPG Biz last year I've doubled my amount of AmEx spend. Not saying it was great amounts, but on a individual level I thought that's what they were going for, increased use? It's not like I kept the same amount of spend and just split it between the two cards. Actually if you count the SPG Biz MSR they got way more than that, but most of that was one off purchases, so I assume ongoing spend is weighted more heavily than sign up spend. And in that case they got a win... I think they're just greedy My expenses are low so my spend is low.

Sigh, I really am leaning to just getting the card without the bonus but it's so hard to pull the trigger even though that frees me up for easier Visa spend instead.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I figured if DW got the pop up, I wouldn't have bothered going through with the application.

If DW didn't get the pop up and was approved, I'd get the 20k Marriott points referral bonus, she'd get a card with no-AF in the first year, then $95 AF for a 35k FN cert that we'll find some way to use next year, whether or not she gets the 75k points bonus. If she doesn't get the bonus, that's $3k in wasted MSR and a sub-5/24 slot, but she was going to be 0/24 (not counting the SPG Personal) next month, anyway, so she has plenty of runway with Chase. We may have to push out plans to get her the United Biz, but we've got some time before that 75k miles offer ends 3/18/19.

That's kind of my thought too. That will put me at 4/24, but I just got the Chase Hyatt card and don't currently have any plans for more Chase cards for me. Plus I'll have my CSP fall off in September and October this year. I'm not sure I even want to self-refer from my SPG biz and potentially put myself in hot water though.

 

[mamathompson]

Ok, since I'm just hanging in the room with the sick kids today and browsing the boards I have another question for you all. I'm already considering a "2019 Disney do over". DH is not onboard.....yet. We have 10 day non hopper tickets now. If we were to come for 4-5 days this fall would you all update to annual passes now? I mean, we are working towards MSR on CIP anyways....