I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[Haley R]

I'm not seeing that.
My search is 3 adults, non-stop.
View attachment 754485

Sorry this is out of PHL not Boston. It shows up just like that but they said there aren’t actually seats. It makes no sense

 

[lsutigers03]

You can get both at the same time

Awesome thank you

 

[wanderlust7]

Sorry this is out of PHL not Boston. It shows up just like that but they said there aren’t actually seats. It makes no sense

Sounds like phantom award space, unfortunately. It can happen with partner awards. You can use Air Canada to cross check partner availability.

 

[becauseimnew]

Sorry this is out of PHL not Boston. It shows up just like that but they said there aren’t actually seats. It makes no sense

oh no... I'm so sorry. I just checked BA and it appears that there are only 2 J Seats on that flight. Same for the BOS flight on 8/13

 

[Haley R]

Sounds like phantom award space, unfortunately. It can happen with partner awards. You can use Air Canada to cross check partner availability.

oh no... I'm so sorry. I just checked BA and it appears that there are only 2 J Seats on that flight. Same for the BOS flight on 8/13

It’s alright. It’s our own fault for not checking all websites before transferring points over. We also should’ve called United first to make sure. Dh thinks we should transfer over the 120k and go through with the trip and accept the cost. It sucks but we did already have the trip planned out and those points are already with United. They said they would escalate it and it could take 7-10 days but I doubt they will send the points back to chase. We would be flying United Polaris in/out of Newark to Dublin.

Should we wait and hope they give our points back or go ahead and book with United?

 

[platamama]

What would my churners do? Direct flight from LGA to home, 3 hours 44 minutes.
We booked AA for 11K points each (3) but because I booked when I was AA Plat Pro I was able to reserve MCE seats for free, I'm back down to Gold.
Same flight is now available through BA for 11K Avios (would have to sit at the back of the plane),BUT J is available for 22K Avios (66K total). We do have 400K MRs, so we have the points. I just need someone to help me decide.

Back in 2018 we flew AA J from JFK-DEN as part of our VCE-DEN award ticket, and personally I wouldn't spend extra on a <4hr flight for that -- 66K MRs equals $726 via Schwab cash out to me. Domestic J is not anywhere close to international J in terms of the hard product.

 

[platamama]

@Haley R How flexible are you?

On UA's website I see mixed cabin Premium Economy for 45K miles MCO-IAD (3'39")-DUB on Aug 7. For a flight that goes for $1996, that's a pretty good redemption of UA miles. Not as good as a lie-flat seat though to be sure.

ETA: I would not get your hopes up for a return of URs from UA to Chase. Chase is very clear about transfers being a one-way transaction.

 

[djmeredith]

It’s alright. It’s our own fault for not checking all websites before transferring points over. We also should’ve called United first to make sure. Dh thinks we should transfer over the 120k and go through with the trip and accept the cost. It sucks but we did already have the trip planned out and those points are already with United. They said they would escalate it and it could take 7-10 days but I doubt they will send the points back to chase. We would be flying United Polaris in/out of Newark to Dublin.

Yikes, that is a lot of points for such a short flight in biz. Not to rub salt in your wound (in fact this might change your decision), but I'm flying to London on United Polaris next month for 60K each. I booked those tix about 5 mos out. Another option to consider would be to look for a different European city on Polaris that requires less pts, spend a day or two there, and then catch a cheap European airline flight to Ireland. A lot of people don't think about repositioning in Europe, but I have found some extremely cheap intra-Europe flights on pts or cash through Air France/KLM/Delta. And last year I got cheap cash tix on Vueling.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

I am debating on which card to get. I have lots of travel to book(flights to Hawaii) so would prefer to put it on a Sapphire.

I can get the CSR online for 70,000 UR online
CSP for 80,000
Or Chase CIU

I use Chase as my main bank so I don’t like to hit it hard. I would only do one card for probably the next 6 months. I need to book flights paying cash and have about 200,000 URs to book a hotel. I’m thinking having the 1.5 redeem on the CSR would be nice, plus the 2 travel credits.

I have gotten 3 inks in the last 18 months, plus no benefits to booking travel on it.
Dh does have a CSR though so as long as I can transfer points to him, I can get the 1.5 redeem that way.

ETA: Im lazy and don’t like calling attention to myself, so no branch visit for me to get a card.

I would go for the 80k CSP. Does your DH have a CSP to support? If he has a spare Freedom, he could consider upgrading it to a CSP for the 15k support. Like you said, then transfer those URs to him to redeem at 1.5. I don't see a need for two CSRs in one household, unless the CSR SUB was amazing, which it isn't.

What would my churners do? Direct flight from LGA to home, 3 hours 44 minutes.
We booked AA for 11K points each (3) but because I booked when I was AA Plat Pro I was able to reserve MCE seats for free, I'm back down to Gold.
Same flight is now available through BA for 11K Avios (would have to sit at the back of the plane),BUT J is available for 22K Avios (66K total). We do have 400K MRs, so we have the points. I just need someone to help me decide.

I think I'd stick with the 11k point flights.
1. There's 3 of you, so you have your own row.
2. Unless lounge access would be very valuable and you couldn't get it otherwise, I'd save the points.

It’s alright. It’s our own fault for not checking all websites before transferring points over. We also should’ve called United first to make sure. Dh thinks we should transfer over the 120k and go through with the trip and accept the cost. It sucks but we did already have the trip planned out and those points are already with United. They said they would escalate it and it could take 7-10 days but I doubt they will send the points back to chase. We would be flying United Polaris in/out of Newark to Dublin.

Should we wait and hope they give our points back or go ahead and book with United?

I'm sorry this happened to you! It's my biggest fear with transferring points. Sending hugs your way!

I think it's unheard of for them to return the points to chase. I just honestly don't think that would happen. So I think your options are to be flexible and look for alternative flights or add the extra points. I understand the good thing about United is that you can cancel and rebook for no charge (I think), so I would book anything that looks appealing and make changes as you do more research.

 

[Haley R]

@Haley R How flexible are you?

On UA's website I see mixed cabin Premium Economy for 45K miles MCO-IAD (3'39")-DUB on Aug 7. For a flight that goes for $1996, that's a pretty good redemption of UA miles. Not as good as a lie-flat seat though to be sure.

ETA: I would not get your hopes up for a return of URs from UA to Chase. Chase is very clear about transfers being a one-way transaction.

Dh is pretty set on flying business with the lie flat seats. It’s showing 115k just for the flight there and about 75k for the flight back per person

 

[Haley R]

Yikes, that is a lot of points for such a short flight in biz. Not to rub salt in your wound (in fact this might change your decision), but I'm flying to London on United Polaris next month for 60K each. I booked those tix about 5 mos out. Another option to consider would be to look for a different European city on Polaris that requires less pts, spend a day or two there, and then catch a cheap European airline flight to Ireland. A lot of people don't think about repositioning in Europe, but I have found some extremely cheap intra-Europe flights on pts or cash through Air France/KLM/Delta. And last year I got cheap cash tix on Vueling.

I think we have to just rethink the entire trip. We never looked at London but I’m seeing 60k each way like you said. I don’t think we’d want to do another flight to Dublin with a 3 year old after having to do a positioning flight in the first place. It seems like too much. I guess we’ll have to start over with our planning and see what we want to do

 

[IFlossU]

What would my churners do? Direct flight from LGA to home, 3 hours 44 minutes.
We booked AA for 11K points each (3) but because I booked when I was AA Plat Pro I was able to reserve MCE seats for free, I'm back down to Gold.
Same flight is now available through BA for 11K Avios (would have to sit at the back of the plane),BUT J is available for 22K Avios (66K total). We do have 400K MRs, so we have the points. I just need someone to help me decide.

Back in 2018 we flew AA J from JFK-DEN as part of our VCE-DEN award ticket, and personally I wouldn't spend extra on a <4hr flight for that -- 66K MRs equals $726 via Schwab cash out to me. Domestic J is not anywhere close to international J in terms of the hard product.

I think I'd stick with the 11k point flights.
1. There's 3 of you, so you have your own row.
2. Unless lounge access would be very valuable and you couldn't get it otherwise, I'd save the points.

I agree with all of the above. While it’s nice to sit up front I agree 22k is still more than I would want to let go of for that short of a flight. I think what you already have booked sounds good!

 

[NewbieMom]

What would my churners do? Direct flight from LGA to home, 3 hours 44 minutes.
We booked AA for 11K points each (3) but because I booked when I was AA Plat Pro I was able to reserve MCE seats for free, I'm back down to Gold.
Same flight is now available through BA for 11K Avios (would have to sit at the back of the plane),BUT J is available for 22K Avios (66K total). We do have 400K MRs, so we have the points. I just need someone to help me decide.

AA miles are much more valuable to me than Avios, because there isn't always saver space. I would definitely switch. But I can't answer the Y vs J because I've never taken a J flight. We have 5 seats to buy!!

 

[wanderlust7]

I think we have to just rethink the entire trip. We never looked at London but I’m seeing 60k each way like you said. I don’t think we’d want to do another flight to Dublin with a 3 year old after having to do a positioning flight in the first place. It seems like too much. I guess we’ll have to start over with our planning and see what we want to do

Since you were considering Scotland before, you can go from London to Edinburgh by train in 4.5 hours. City center to city center, should be easier than a flight.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Some of you mentioned Flying Blue now has biz class seat selection fees, and they are like $90 each way pp, so not inexpensive! I noticed the BoA AirFrance Flying Blue card in this post, which has a 70k SUB, $100 statement credit for $2k MSR/3 mos. $89 AF. But card approval + meeting SUB seems to earn 100 XP, which would earn Flying Blue Silver status (from what I can tell), which would allow for free seat selection. That status is good from one year from earning it, so perhaps this might just be a one year card. The MSR is pretty minimal and 70k SUB is equivalent to one biz class flight, so it's definitely something to consider. For me, the seat selection would really add up because we tend to travel in a party of four or more in Flying Blue biz class. And I do like to sit next to my family in biz class because otherwise it seems so isolating.

6.1 Air France and KLM Flying Blue Platinum members, Club 2000* card holders, Flying Blue Gold members, and Flying Blue Silver members may reserve a Business Seat free of charge granted they have provided their Flying Blue number at the time of booking. This fee waiver also applies to traveling companions in the same booking. Customers who have not provided their Flying Blue card numbers at the time of purchasing their tickets can book a Business Seat at applicable rates.

 

[platamama]

@Haley R When considering the lie-flat biz seats, look at the plane layout. Sometimes the seats are staggered, sometimes each seat is like a mini pod to itself; how does a seat "communicate" to the ones around it, like do you have to walk all the way around to the front or back of the biz cabin to talk to someone on the other side...and how would your 3yr old do in one of those? Biz class seats generally try to be as private as possible and with my kid at that age I don't think being off in a "pod" would've worked out well for us (we would've squeezed together into my "pod" probably ).

 

[Haley R]

@Haley R When considering the lie-flat biz seats, look at the plane layout. Sometimes the seats are staggered, sometimes each seat is like a mini pod to itself; how does a seat "communicate" to the ones around it, like do you have to walk all the way around to the front or back of the biz cabin to talk to someone on the other side...and how would your 3yr old do in one of those? Biz class seats generally try to be as private as possible and with my kid at that age I don't think being off in a "pod" would've worked out well for us (we would've squeezed together into my "pod" probably ).

We looked at both aer Lingus and United Polaris and they seem to have 2 seats that are basically next to each other. So dh and I would take turns being by him I think.

 

[Haley R]

Since you were considering Scotland before, you can go from London to Edinburgh by train in 4.5 hours. City center to city center, should be easier than a flight.

I’m also gonna look at doing London. I have no idea what’s around there for a 3 year old to do lol

 

[fbb]

Dh is pretty set on flying business with the lie flat seats. It’s showing 115k just for the flight there and about 75k for the flight back per person

I’d go there in business and come back in economy. It took me a few trips before I realized that, for us, we were wasting miles/money for biz class from Western Europe to eastern US

 

[wanderlust7]

I’m also gonna look at doing London. I have no idea what’s around there for a 3 year old to do lol

My youngest was 6 when we went. We did the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Tower of London, London Eye, Shrek's Adventure, Hampton Court Palace, and Warner Bros Studio Tour. Also looked into the Transport Museum and Diana Memorial Playground, but didn't get to them.