I love credit cards so much! v3.0 (see first page for add'l details)

[wanderlust7]

Did I read that the extra 25% redemption benefit is going away next year?

Yes, 4/10/21.

 

[Artygal90]

I know this post was from last week, so I'm not sure if you are still in decision mode. We redid our deck last summer, and after comparing various products went with basic gray Trex from Lowes (there was an amex promo!) With brown Trex accent (it was a more specialty color so more $). When comparing to TimberTek we could do the deck 2x for the price difference and decided to go with the more budget friendly Trex.

That looks great so I actually consulted with a family member who is a contractor and DIYd his own deck, and he actually recommended we replace the whole thing with composite or a concrete patio given the state of the understructure (ie rotten and improperly put together) and how close it is to the ground. So our new deck is on hold until we can get quotes to do that and we will probably pay cash not points

In the meantime I am redeeming a few points to buy cute rugs on sale and some other small items to prettify the deck as is. Hoping to have it all done in time for an outdoors Thanksgiving dinner with family

 

[Disneyonmymind]

FYI: reports of Amex shutdowns circulating. Anybody here hit??

No details on what’s causing it yet...

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/jenawd/_/g9hti0i

What is NLL?

 

[amcc]

I had an AA trip booked with UR's. Yes, they had no change fees, but because the flight was not cancelled on their end, they would only give me credit. So now have a $1200 AA credit on my UR account, that I will never be able to use.

That really stinks. You mentioned it's non-transferable - are there no AA workarounds at all?

Side note- “no change fees” does not equal “free refund” . Refunds only happen if the airline cancels your flight.

Thank you. I'm so torn on booking a tentative trip for next year. My son graduates from HS next year plus, well, COVID wrecked all the plans for this year. I was thinking of booking an Italy trip - airfare with UR on whatever airline was cheapest, and airBNB since many have very liberal cancellation policies now and prices are also great. You've given me something to think about since I had wrongly thought that cancellations would be refunds. I have to give more thought to committing UR plus cash and then being stuck with airline and AirBnB credit.

I want to start planning for next summer (and a rescheduled NYC for Spring Break but that feels like an impossible dream).

 

[becauseimnew]

That really stinks. You mentioned it's non-transferable - are there no AA workarounds at all?

Thank you. I'm so torn on booking a tentative trip for next year. My son graduates from HS next year plus, well, COVID wrecked all the plans for this year. I was thinking of booking an Italy trip - airfare with UR on whatever airline was cheapest, and airBNB since many have very liberal cancellation policies now and prices are also great. You've given me something to think about since I had wrongly thought that cancellations would be refunds. I have to give more thought to committing UR plus cash and then being stuck with airline and AirBnB credit.

I want to start planning for next summer (and a rescheduled NYC for Spring Break but that feels like an impossible dream).

I planned our Amsterdam and Spain trip, everything is refundable and the prices on apartments are amazing.

We used 240k AA miles and 152k URs on 11 nights of lodging. Amsterdam was the most expensive at 43k for 2 nights.

I would suggest booking the lodging now.

 

[awestbrook23]

That was the main reason for getting these cards was for the Disney Tickets. Didn't want to use my precious UR's for these - I like to hoard them. And I didn't have any other redemptions for these so worked out great.

Glad to know I'm not alone in finding something worthy of my URs. I feel like there needs to be a support group for UR hoarders who have a hard time parting with their points.

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I know this post was from last week, so I'm not sure if you are still in decision mode. We redid our deck last summer, and after comparing various products went with basic gray Trex from Lowes (there was an amex promo!) With brown Trex accent (it was a more specialty color so more $). When comparing to TimberTek we could do the deck 2x for the price difference and decided to go with the more budget friendly Trex.

Looks great.....eventual we will need to replace ours and will keep this design in mind

 

[afan]

What is NLL?

No lifetime language.

 

[Albort]

Glad to know I'm not alone in finding something worthy of my URs. I feel like there needs to be a support group for UR hoarders who have a hard time parting with their points.

I can only find decent redemption with Hyatt for URs. other than that, airfare at 1.5x is the next best thing... since im craving for more J and F class flying, i started working more on MRs and less on URs. i only hit URs if its at 5x.
everyone has different usages and thought on this matter i guess... basically no wrong answer. Free is Free.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Yes, 4/10/21.

I have Citi Premier points but no plan on what I'll be using them for. What is the 1.25 benefit that will be going away? I'm wondering if I should use them for a few Disney tix myself for DH and the kids for next June. Thanks!

 

[StephPlum]

dd and I just cancelled our December Disney trip. That's 3 this year :-(. 2020 can bite me

This was going to be a terrific travel year for me. I had 4 major domestic trips I had to cancel. And the trip that is booked for Jan/ Feb to Hawaii is going to be cancelled. I must say it took until just this month to be at peace with it. It was really depressing. I don’t think I’ll be getting on a plane in 2021 either. Right now I am planning to look at road trips, even long ones to Glacier if need be. And I will probably stay in cabins or VRBO properties to further distance. Good news, I’ve found some really cool places to visit in some neighboring states.

If I book a trip on the Chase portal on AA that has no change fees and we can't take the trip, is it difficult to get the points back? AA refunded to my credit card the trips that were canceled this spring but is it more complicated to get UR back? And since it's so far in the future, how are changes (if we have to tweak dates) handled with UR if there are no change fees? There are really good prices to Italy for next summer - haven't seen them so low in the past 3/4 years that I've been looking.

Even with no change fees, you won’t get you URs back. Cancelled AA flight this summer and got a voucher for full refund. But as others pointed out it is non-transferable and it has a deadline of using by 12/31/21. The deadline isn’t too bad A bit longer than they normally give. Mine shows up in my AA account so I don’t have to go back through Chase to use it.

I have my Biz Aviator card in hand! Wooooo! Shouldn't be hard to hit that spending. And then I need to figure out how to get DD a card for the extra miles bonus.

My two Staples are out of VGC. Grrrr. I think I'll hit OD today and see if I can get lucky there. I'm $3100 away from the FNC with Hilton, which has been my goal w/ the VGC. I guess if I can get a few of the OD cards, every little bit helps. I need to cancel my Hilton Biz card as I think the AF posts next month. That will give me 3 Amex cards, and the opportunity to add a new card at some point.

And now I need to choose how I want to hit Chase. Debating the CIC or the IHG(free). I think I've ruled out the Bonvoy offer. With nothing planned the 5 FNC doesn't make sense right now. And as a teacher, I can't always do off season offers to maximize the value. I'm at 3/24. So I guess I could do the IHG now (since it's an elevated offer), and hold off on the CIC. That's not going anywhere and I don't need an URs anytime soon. And then I can attack the list of other cards I want to do, LOL.

CIC/CIU
Citi AA (personal)
Hilton Amex (free)
Hyatt? (I never stay at them)
Get back into Bonvoy?

Do you mind sharing your Aviator stats? Not sure if that is better question for Reddit. I was thinking of a Aviator Biz card but not clear on when it is ok to go for another. Last one was over a year ago. Do you need to wait 2 years? Thanks.

 

[elgerber]

This was going to be a terrific travel year for me. I had 4 major domestic trips I had to cancel. And the trip that is booked for Jan/ Feb to Hawaii is going to be cancelled. I must say it took until just this month to be at peace with it. It was really depressing. I don’t think I’ll be getting on a plane in 2021 either. Right now I am planning to look at road trips, even long ones to Glacier if need be. And I will probably stay in cabins or VRBO properties to further distance. Good news, I’ve found some really cool places to visit in some neighboring states.

Yeah, the 3 cancelled that I mentioned were just the Disney. That didn't include the South Carolina trip with friends that got cancelled in 2019 because I got laid off, then got cancelled again in 2020 due to Covid and the death of my dad, or the 30th Anniversary Hawaii trip. I'm not even going to attempt to redo Hawaii until at least 2022.

 

[wanderlust7]

I have Citi Premier points but no plan on what I'll be using them for. What is the 1.25 benefit that will be going away? I'm wondering if I should use them for a few Disney tix myself for DH and the kids for next June. Thanks!

Your points are worth 1.25 cents per point when booking through the Citi portal or calling to use your points. For Disney tickets, I think you have to call and choose the Cruises and Tours option since they function more as a regular travel agency.

 

[elgerber]

Even with no change fees, you won’t get you URs back. Cancelled AA flight this summer and got a voucher for full refund. But as others pointed out it is non-transferable and it has a deadline of using by 12/31/21. The deadline isn’t too bad A bit longer than they normally give. Mine shows up in my AA account so I don’t have to go back through Chase to use it.

Wow, you are right, mine is in my AA account also! My email from Chase said I had to call them to use it. Glad to know it's in AA. Not that I can use it, but at least it's there.

 

[LB002]

That looks great so I actually consulted with a family member who is a contractor and DIYd his own deck, and he actually recommended we replace the whole thing with composite or a concrete patio given the state of the understructure (ie rotten and improperly put together) and how close it is to the ground. So our new deck is on hold until we can get quotes to do that and we will probably pay cash not points

In the meantime I am redeeming a few points to buy cute rugs on sale and some other small items to prettify the deck as is. Hoping to have it all done in time for an outdoors Thanksgiving dinner with family ❤

We also were intending to fix up our old deck and outdoor kitchen (which was even larger but not well laid out), but the frame was too close to the ground and rotted. We ended replacing the entire thing. The fact that we hadn't budgeted for such a large project also played into choosing the less expensive Trex over the Timbertek. It's only been 1.5 years, but we are VERY happy with it.

While we didn't use points to PAY for the deck, we did have some promos to get some of the materials cheaper and earned plenty of points! I used Chase PYB to purchase the new patio set featured in my photo, as well as these Adirondack chairs In this picture (DH re-did the patio himself this past spring). It's not the AK cruise we had planned to use the points on, but we've gotten a lot of use out of the deck and yard this year!

2 years ago we had a kitchen leak which turned into an entire kitchen reno (insurance paid) and 1st floor refresh. This year's house project that became bigger than initially planned is painting the house, which then turned into needing to replace $10k worth of cedar shingles (in addition to painting cost), so we said NOPE and are doing siding early next year instead. Always something with a house!!!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Might there be some renewed interest in a Cap1 biz card??

https://www.doctorofcredit.com/capi...rsonal-reports/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

 

[StephPlum]

Wow, you are right, mine is in my AA account also! My email from Chase said I had to call them to use it. Glad to know it's in AA. Not that I can use it, but at least it's there.

I got an email from chase as well. Said something about They were checking to see what the expiration date would be and they would let me know. Well they never did let me know. I just was looking in my account and saw the info there on the expiration date.

 

[jimitrout]

am I correct that if I want to book a universal hotel and ticket package and use chase sapphire UR points. I should book the trip through universal then call chase to use UR's. Since I cant find the package when looking through the portal. Thanks in advance for the help. This trip is another byproduct of this board. Using points for hotel, tickets, airplane and rental car. Grateful to all on here for getting me started five or so years ago and we have enjoyed a couple of vacations that we otherwise would not have been able to afford..

 

[ten6mom]

So here is a dumb question. I know I should not have done this without a plan.

I just bought a Visa Gift card (from one of the office store... Office Max I think?) and it's apparently being mailed to me so I hope to have it in a few days.

I honestly have no idea what to use it on. Just anything? Groceries? Online purchases?

Can I pick up a few more Disney GCs with it at Frys (Kroger) or is that a no-no?

 

[havaneselover]

So here is a dumb question. I know I should not have done this without a plan.

I just bought a Visa Gift card (from one of the office store... Office Max I think?) and it's apparently being mailed to me so I hope to have it in a few days.

I honestly have no idea what to use it on. Just anything? Groceries? Online purchases?

Can I pick up a few more Disney GCs with it at Frys (Kroger) or is that a no-no?

I have been told at my Kroger that I can't do it so I use self check out and it works fine.