I love credit cards so much! v4.0 - 2021 (see first page for add'l details)

[EM Lawrence]

Welcome!

The Chase travel portal runs off of Expedia. If it's bookable there, most are also bookable through the Chase portal. Exceptions being all things Disney are blocked and most vacation rentals are also blocked. If you get the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you get 1.5 cent per point redemption through the portal. The Sapphire Preferred and Ink Preferred (business card) gets 1.25. These count as third party bookings and usually won't count towards hotel status.

With the Amex Hilton Aspire, you can get Diamond status. It comes with a free night for any standard room soon after card opening and again every anniversary. Diamond status will get you lounge access at certain properties, breakfast, and upgrades but it's based on availability.

With Hyatt, you can book suites using more points. You can get to Globalist status with 30 nights this year, which is half the usual required. You would get free breakfast and upgrades on availability. With 50 nights, you can get suite upgrade certificates, which would guarantee the upgrade. The Chase Hyatt card gets you 5 elite nights every year. URs transfer to Hyatt 1:1 if you have one of the more premium UR cards (CSP, CSR, CIP).

When you say all things Disney are blocked, does that include properties like the Dolphin, Swan, Four Seasons, and the DS hotels? Or is it just all onsite properties that are blocked?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Saw a report that the Southwest change window might be back again on April/May flights. I’d assume same window as last week.

 

[kmc8826]

Delta question...I have the AmEx Delta Plat with the companion tickets. Last years companion pass got an extension so now I have 2 companion certs that expire 12.31.21. Does anyone know if I can use both on one reservation? For example I'd like to buy me a ticket and use one cert for my oldest DD and then buy DH a ticket and use the other cert for younger DD. Or do I need to be the person on each ticket purchased with each cert? I hope this makes sense

When you get on to actually book it will ask if you are flying. One thing to keep in mind is that only some flights have companion certificates available and there could be a limited number. So booking more than one certificate for a group to go can be tricky. When I am booking for 5 of us I usually do 2 of us with certificate and then either cash or miles for other 3. And yes as mentioned you need to call after and make sure they understand you are one party and the reservations are linked. You still might end up separated (with us 3 and 2) but hopefully they then won’t do anything crazy like move you on different flights if there is a schedule change.

 

[wanderlust7]

When you say all things Disney are blocked, does that include properties like the Dolphin, Swan, Four Seasons, and the DS hotels? Or is it just all onsite properties that are blocked?

Onsite and Swan and Dolphin are blocked. Park tickets and Disney cruises are also blocked.

 

[chattadisser]

You might have to do two reservations, but you should be able to. I used mine a couple of years ago for dd and her friend, I didn't fly at all.
For some reason I have 3, and I have no idea why. I even downgraded my plat last fall, and I still have 3 in my account. Very weird.

Just like @elgerber said, you will probably have to do 2 reservations. After you book them be sure and call to link the 2 reservations so if there are flights changes the tickets stay together.

When you get on to actually book it will ask if you are flying. One thing to keep in mind is that only some flights have companion certificates available and there could be a limited number. So booking more than one certificate for a group to go can be tricky. When I am booking for 5 of us I usually do 2 of us with certificate and then either cash or miles for other 3. And yes as mentioned you need to call after and make sure they understand you are one party and the reservations are linked. You still might end up separated (with us 3 and 2) but hopefully they then won’t do anything crazy like move you on different flights if there is a schedule change.

Thank you all. Good to know that I can possibly use both for the four of us. I hadn't thought about calling to link the reservations or that there could be a limited number of certificates available on a flight. Last year was the first time I got a certificate. Both certificates end this year and I'm feeling more confident that we may fly once this year but maybe not two. Crossing our fingers!!

 

[happ]

Well poop, that's going to be..... impossible. Any great thoughts how to do this without tipping them off to his passing? I guess I could try to bring out my inner man.

If there is an AF I wonder if it will take longer to be closed for inactivity as opposed to a no fee card? His two CF cards have already been closed organically.

You could do it in writing and mail them a letter, or possibly fax it. I did that years ago when my husband passed.

 

[EACarlson]

As far as airlines go, I don’t have a preference. We don’t fly enough for me to have formed an opinion one way or the other, most of our travel involves driving. I would like to get enough points to fly business class or higher, and I have time now to accumulate them, since we probably won’t make the trip for a year or more with all of the Covid interruptions. When we do fly, it is out of either Atlanta or Jacksonville. I have seen that Orlando is getting a direct flight to Hawaii, I guess I need to find out what airline that is with. I know it is Delta that flies non-stop to Honolulu from Atlanta.

I’m going to go look around the Expedia site and see what kind of bookings they would offer at the properties we normally visit. Maybe that will help me decide if it is better to put my points accrual spending toward UR or a brand loyalty credit card.

I looked at dates this fall, Delta One with lie flat seating nonstop ATL-HNL is 320,000 points per person. It is 222,000 points per person if you are willing to go domestic first to Minneapolis and then Delta One lie flat to HNL. That is a large number of points that would need to come from either Delta Amex cards or transferring MR from AMEX.

 

[Judique]

You could do it in writing and mail them a letter, or possibly fax it. I did that years ago when my husband passed.

Did they ask for a death certificate?

 

[GZanta77]

For anyone with the extra $200 Platinum travel credit: I thought those charges had to be booked with Amex travel. Nope. I got credited for an Avis rental. I rec'd the $75 Avis offer and the remaining travel credit came off. I booked directly through Avis.

Well, I got excited for a minute, but checked my account and I only received the $75 credit for the Avis offer but my $200 Travel credit counter is still at $0. Guess this is YMMV.

 

[amcc]

I was thinking about using the Wine Insiders AmEx credit to send my niece and her husband some wine, but I recall that some have been having issues getting AmEx to credit the spend. Is this worth the hassle?

From my one successful attempt, you need to navigate from the Wine menu at the top to Shop All Wine and then on that page narrow down your wine selection. Don't go directly from Wine to White, Red, etc. because that seems to code the purchase in a way that is excluded. I've had mixed success using a promo code. I stick to white and rose and have had decent experiences understanding that these are relatively cheap wines.

 

[Psychodisney]

Saw a report that the Southwest change window might be back again on April/May flights. I’d assume same window as last week.

I played around this morning and didn't find any that worked. Tried May 8 and May 27.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

I played around this morning and didn't find any that worked. Tried May 8 and May 27.

Those are outside of the window. I definitely know of some folks that were able to use the April portion of the window to move some things around to late March today. You'll need to wait for the next window if those dates matter to you.

 

[Alexle2007]

4/19 worked

 

[happ]

Did they ask for a death certificate?

I don't remember. My mind was in a bad place back then. I may have sent a copy.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

For anyone interested in the AmEx plat Wine Insider offer, Rakuten is $44.50 cb today. If you can score 3 bottles under $30.00 you can send a nice gift and pocket a bit of change.

I read 2 articles from the site that shall not be named, one explaining how to ensure your order codes correctly (as explained by @amcc above) and the other with some recommendations. Hope my niece and her husband enjoy their surprise gift! I'll use the other part of the AmEx offer to send some wine to one of my friends.

 

[EM Lawrence]

I looked at dates this fall, Delta One with lie flat seating nonstop ATL-HNL is 320,000 points per person. It is 222,000 points per person if you are willing to go domestic first to Minneapolis and then Delta One lie flat to HNL. That is a large number of points that would need to come from either Delta Amex cards or transferring MR from AMEX.

It looks like Hawaiian Airlines is the one that operates a direct flight from MCO to Honolulu. Flying out of Orlando is just as convenient for us as flying out of Atlanta. I looked on HA website, and they list Bonvoy points as one of the ways to transfer points and book flights with them. So maybe it makes sense just to keep racking up Bonvoy points? Am I missing an obvious thing that would make opening an American Express or Chase card a better option? (Other than the welcome bonus.)

If I can’t book fully with points, they do allow you to book an economy ticket and upgrade to first class with points, which would also work for us.

Could I open the Chase card, get the bonus, transfer those to Bonvoy and then transfer again to Hawaiian?

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

Hi my name is Amy and I haven't looked at Chase PYB at all......

I've been holding onto/collecting URs for the Ireland trip w/ my DD and the Hawaii trip at some point with both kids. So I ask, am I missing out right now on redeeming with PYB?

 

[mfly]

For anyone interested in the AmEx plat Wine Insider offer, Rakuten is $44.50 cb today. If you can score 3 bottles under $30.00 you can send a nice gift and pocket a bit of change.

I read 2 articles from the site that shall not be named, one explaining how to ensure your order codes correctly (as explained by @amcc above) and the other with some recommendations. Hope my niece and her husband enjoy their surprise gift! I'll use the other part of the AmEx offer to send some wine to one of my friends.

Ugh - I have like 8 wine offers, but no Wine Insider offer! How rude!

 

[Mopedmom1]

You could do it in writing and mail them a letter, or possibly fax it. I did that years ago when my husband passed.

Did they ask for a death certificate?

I don't remember. My mind was in a bad place back then. I may have sent a copy.

Yeah, I'm trying to close the account WITHOUT notifying them of his death. I'm just not ready to have that info out there in his credit world. I guess I'll just pay the fee this year.

 

[lsutigers03]

Has anyone added someone as an AU to a Citi card? I added my kids to my Double Cash to help them start building credit. I wasn't asked to provide their SSN. Why would Citi not ask for this and can they build credit without me adding it?