I love credit cards so much!

[AmyAnne]

DH and I visited a few airport lounges the past two weekends so I thought I'd share a few thoughts as I know there are others who, like us, are wondering about the value of the lounges as they relate to the cost of the credit cards. We have both the CSR and the AmEx Business Platinum and will likely be canceling at least one in the coming months.

First, DH was traveling for work weekend before last and had connections in Houston (going) and Dallas (returning). He visited the PP (Priority Pass) lounge in Houston and actually had several good things to say, including that everything was self-serve (he hates asking a bartender for a Diet Coke) and there was a decent selection of snacks, including deli sandwiches and soup. So at this point +1 for the lounges.

Returning through Dallas, he arrived at the PP lounge at 8 pm and discovered that it closes every day at 7:30 pm. -1 for lounges, because we often travel Friday - Sunday late afternoons/evenings.

On my trip (both connections through Dallas) I had a relatively long connection on Friday morning, so I headed to the PP lounge that DH hadn't been able to check out. No problem getting in at about 10:30 am. I agree with DH that it was nice to be able to grab a Diet Coke without having to find a bartender; however, the selection of snacks was pretty dismal in my opinion. Several kinds of pastries, and tubs of yogurt, and that's it. No fruit and nothing that even resembling "real food." At best a 0 for lounges.

As I was looking for the PP lounge, I noticed signs for the AmEx Centurion lounge, so after about 5 minutes at the PP lounge I decided that if the AmEx lounge was close, I had enough time to also check it out. It turns out it's pretty much right next to the PP lounge. I did have to ask the bartender for a Diet Coke, but on the plus side, there was a much better selection of food. But back to the negative side, it was not very good. The oatmeal, frittata, and peach cobbler were all seriously overcooked.

If I had been traveling with my kids, or if I had a very long layover, the wifi and abundance of electrical outlets would have been a plus. But for "normal," domestic travel, we have concluded that the lounges are probably not going to be a big benefit for us.

 

[gottalovepluto]

DP for anyone adding an AU to a new CSP for the bonus: requested AU be added about a week and a half ago, statement closed a week later and my 5K UR posted! I don't even have the AU's card yet, much less used it. I'll still use it once (because I thought that was a req) but wow, those points post fast!

On the downside the charges for meeting my minimum spend on the card posted 1 day before my statement closed so I did not get my 50K bonus UR points this month...

 

[belle1986]

Would the Aadvantage world elite MasterCard be a good card for me? I live close to an AA hub. The current offer is 50k points for first purchase and $95af. So essentially $95 for 5k points right? I already have all the Chase cards I want and I have the Citi aa card as well.

 

[Ngwira]

I have 2018 vacations planned and (mostly) booked. Taking a cue from @calypso726 i want to start planning 2019 travel. Would still like to squeeze in a Disney vacation, assuming DS doesn't think he's too old by then. 2019 will be our 30th anniversary so I'd love to do an Alaskan cruise. I've looked at the Disney 5 night plus maybe 2-3 nights in Vancouver before or after. I'd love to do a longer cruise but doubt we could get that much time off work.

We're Costco members, so I looked at their cruises. So I could pay with a Costco gift card, maybe? Or Disney gift cards. How else to pay with points? Does Chase book Disney cruises?
I plan on getting Barclay Aviator to cover airfare (we already have about 100k AA points). Have SPG card with some points for hotel in Vancouver or could try something else. Vancouver hotel recommendations anyone?

Hyatt Regency Vancouver is a great redemption. 12,000 Hyatt points transferred from Chase or use of your free night certificate.

 

[havaneselover]

Hyatt Regency Vancouver is a great redemption. 12,000 Hyatt points transferred from Chase or use of your free night certificate.

Now I want a chase Hyatt card!

 

[CyndiLouWho]

Hyatt Regency Vancouver is a great redemption. 12,000 Hyatt points transferred from Chase or use of your free night certificate.

Will have to investigate that. A quick look shows it's not far from Chinatown, which we'd definitely want to see. It also looks relatively close to the port. We don't have a Hyatt card, so I'll have to look into it. We have SPG, Marriott & Hilton.

Now any ideas on paying for the cruise??? Anyone?

 

[AmyAnne]

I'm wondering what all of you credit card-savvy people have as far as store credit cards. I have a Kohls and Target and am thinking about getting a JCPenney card - I was at my sister's this weekend and she says that she gets a lot of $10 off a $10 purchase from being a card holder. It's definitely not a big bonus, but $10 a month is $120 worth of free socks and underwear at least.

 

[Ava]

I'm wondering what all of you credit card-savvy people have as far as store credit cards. I have a Kohls and Target and am thinking about getting a JCPenney card - I was at my sister's this weekend and she says that she gets a lot of $10 off a $10 purchase from being a card holder. It's definitely not a big bonus, but $10 a month is $120 worth of free socks and underwear at least.

I have Kohl's, Old Navy, and Target. All of which I've had for a long time.

 

[Ngwira]

Will have to investigate that. A quick look shows it's not far from Chinatown, which we'd definitely want to see. It also looks relatively close to the port. We don't have a Hyatt card, so I'll have to look into it. We have SPG, Marriott & Hilton.

Now any ideas on paying for the cruise??? Anyone?

You can use Chase UR to pay for Disney Cruise. You can also use Citi Thank you points in the same way. You have to call in to Chase travel and Citi concierge to do so. Outside of that, Barclay Arrival plus sign up bonus erased $560 of my 2018 DCL cruise.

 

[Ngwira]

I'm wondering what all of you credit card-savvy people have as far as store credit cards. I have a Kohls and Target and am thinking about getting a JCPenney card - I was at my sister's this weekend and she says that she gets a lot of $10 off a $10 purchase from being a card holder. It's definitely not a big bonus, but $10 a month is $120 worth of free socks and underwear at least.

I have target and kohls. DH has JC Penny, and yes we love the $10 off $10 and the free kohls cash from Discover each month.

 

[CyndiLouWho]

You can use Chase UR to pay for Disney Cruise. You can also use Citi Thank you points in the same way. You have to call in to Chase travel and Citi concierge to do so. Outside of that, Barclay Arrival plus sign up bonus erased $560 of my 2018 DCL cruise.

So cruise would be 400,000 points, which I won't be able to accrue. So can you pay part with Chase CC, then Barclay card for part, etc? How about buying gift cards, will any work if you buy thru Chase?
I have no idea how cruises work as we have never done one before.

 

[havaneselover]

So cruise would be 400,000 points, which I won't be able to accrue. So can you pay part with Chase CC, then Barclay card for part, etc? How about buying gift cards, will any work if you buy thru Chase?
I have no idea how cruises work as we have never done one before.

I believe if you book a cruise through ur, they are your TA effectively. So you couldn't erase the cost with more than one card. I'm not sure you can pay with gift cards either when using UR. For me it made more sense to book through Costco and pay with gift cards and save my ur points for other stuff (plane tickets, etc.)

 

[GlamMistress]

For anyone who remembers my few posts on using points for a trip to France, figured I'd toss a quick update out here. We are booked for June 2018! Two of our three flights were free using Flexperks (US Bank cards). We booked 5 nights in Paris at the Hyatt Regency Etoile (one of the only places in Paris that you can redeem points for a room that allows more than 2-person occupancy) - all free, due to our Hyatt cards! 2 nights at the Waldorf Astoria Trianon Palace at Versailles for free, thanks to our Hilton cards (and we still had another 3 free nights we're using next weekend in Nebraska for the eclipse...and still 15K more points left to use). We'll spend 4 nights at the Disneyland Hotel to enjoy DLP - used the UK Buy 2/Get 2 Free early booking offer. The Disneyland Hotel is definitely a splurge (we are value resort people usually), but all of our other freebies/savings allows for it. We paid the deposit on Disneyland Paris with DH's CSR and it DID code as travel and the credit applied, which is great, as we were just charged the annual fee. Still working on the CSR spend, so when we have those points, we'll attempt to book our other 4 nights in France...we know the general areas, but are not picky on exact hotels, so I THINK we can stretch the bonus points far enough to get those 4 nights free. Also, I'll probably get a Barclaycard Arrival + before the trip and use that for our rental car to erase the cost. And we'll probably put the remainder of our DLP on DH's Arrival + once we hit the spend and get that bonus (also in progress).

Our goal is to really only pay for food, admissions, entertainment, incidentals, etc. on this trip (well, and half of the DLP hotel and tickets, plus the one flight). This boggles the minds of most people we know IRL, but figured you guys would understand. People can't grasp that this is even possible, then I tell them we are really just novices dabbling in this CC reward world...I mean, all of this was done slowly with around a $2K spend per month...we are not exactly churning it up. Just being strategic about which cards we get and when, then using them. Last year, we got the Flexperks AmEx cards for the bonuses that we used for flights. Then, last March, we got the Hilton cards when they had the big bonuses. When we finished those, we started on the Hyatt cards (all two-player mode, thus far). After we hit that spend, we got a Barclay Arrival Plus and a CSR - both under DH, as I'm at 5/24 - and are working on those spends now. It's not rocket science, but it's getting us 2+ weeks in France on the cheap! Thanks for all the advice in this thread to guide us!

I do need to figure out what cards to use after we finish the current two, though. We are both at 5/24 now, but my oldest should fall off on December 1st. So, I really should hold off on applying until then and get a CSP at that point (to transfer points to DH's CSR). But it's making me crazy to have a few months with no bonus to hit! But I guess we can get something else under DH (he'll be 5/24 for a long time) and I can direct most spending to that, as I am now with his A+ card. Hmmmm, decisions, decisions. I could also use one of our hotel cards for spend and save for future travels. I don't know. My small bit of crazy is that we are flying Icelandair and I see they have a credit card - I'm thinking we both get those early next year and get the bonus (for using card once!) and it should be enough to redeem for free meals/snacks on our flights!

Happy (and free) travels, all!

Great job! Loving this redemption. I'm going to look into the US Bank cards myself, probably around the first of the year. I'm working on the Arrival+ spend myself and then I'll grab one for my husband next. Remember to check out the Capital One cards - they have the signup bonus like the Arrival so its good for random travel expenses.

 

[afan]

I signed my Hyatt card up for this offer that was posted by various blogs today - Hyatt Credit Card: Get $20 Statement Credit with $50 Purchase at Whole Foods.

I don't shop there, the closest one is 25 min early on a Sat/Sun morning if I'm lucky with traffic. Does anyone know if they sell gift cards like other grocery stores do? I can't find any info if they do. The terms doesn't say gc don't work it just says it has to be at least $50 in one purchase. Not sure I'd go all the way for food but I would for a gc.

 

[calypso726]

Would the Aadvantage world elite MasterCard be a good card for me? I live close to an AA hub. The current offer is 50k points for first purchase and $95af. So essentially $95 for 5k points right? I already have all the Chase cards I want and I have the Citi aa card as well.

I am assuming you are referring to the Barclay Aviator Red World Elite MC. I'm close to an AA hub too. I have both the Citi AA card and the Barclay AA card. I only need one though. I keep not cancelling the Barclay one every year because they offer me a really easy 15,000 bonus AA miles for spending right before my AF hits

I'm wondering what all of you credit card-savvy people have as far as store credit cards. I have a Kohls and Target and am thinking about getting a JCPenney card - I was at my sister's this weekend and she says that she gets a lot of $10 off a $10 purchase from being a card holder. It's definitely not a big bonus, but $10 a month is $120 worth of free socks and underwear at least.

I haven't applied for any since I started travel hacking. I do have an old Macy's card and use it about once a year. They send 20% off coupons all the time.

 

[belle1986]

I am assuming you are referring to the Barclay Aviator Red World Elite MC. I'm close to an AA hub too. I have both the Citi AA card and the Barclay AA card. I only need one though. I keep not cancelling the Barclay one every year because they offer me a really easy 15,000 bonus AA miles for spending right before my AF hits

Yeah that one!

 

[belle1986]

So far I've had luck getting aa awards flights for the times I want in the 15k range roundtrip. Not so much for my quick solo trip to wdw in dec. I'm guessing it's like this around the holidays?? Anyhow like I said above I'm probably going for the Aviator red card for more Aa miles but I was thinking of going for the Barclays arrival that I can use to "erase" the flight cost for that trip. Right now the days/times I want in dec are close to 80k aa miles. Wouldn't I be better off paying oop for the flight and then using the arrival card to cover that? If so should I apply for both at the same time?

 

[Albort]

@calypso726 When do u fly ur Singapore F class?

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/08/14/singapore-new-suites-class-first-route/

 

[wendow]

I'm wondering what all of you credit card-savvy people have as far as store credit cards. I have a Kohls and Target and am thinking about getting a JCPenney card - I was at my sister's this weekend and she says that she gets a lot of $10 off a $10 purchase from being a card holder. It's definitely not a big bonus, but $10 a month is $120 worth of free socks and underwear at least.

I have Target, Home Depot and Kohl's. All of these were opened years ago. I'd have trouble opening a store card while I am still under 5/24 but once I get so far past that, there is no turning back, I'm interested in a JCP card too.

 

[calypso726]

So far I've had luck getting aa awards flights for the times I want in the 15k range roundtrip. Not so much for my quick solo trip to wdw in dec. I'm guessing it's like this around the holidays?? Anyhow like I said above I'm probably going for the Aviator red card for more Aa miles but I was thinking of going for the Barclays arrival that I can use to "erase" the flight cost for that trip. Right now the days/times I want in dec are close to 80k aa miles. Wouldn't I be better off paying oop for the flight and then using the arrival card to cover that? If so should I apply for both at the same time?

For me it would depend on award availability and number of miles for the award vs number of points to pay for the flight. Barclay generally only approves 1 card every 6 months. If you want to go that route, I'd suggest the Aviator card and a Cap One Venture card.

@calypso726 When do u fly ur Singapore F class?

http://onemileatatime.boardingarea.com/2017/08/14/singapore-new-suites-class-first-route/

May 2018, so it is possible we might get to try the new product! SQUEEEE!