I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

Any good hacks and secrets pop up in r/burningbutter yet?

Lots of talk of MS strategies. I don’t really read much of it because that’s not my thing.

 

[tink1970]

She says, "well why does it matter? we are going on a disney cruise this month. I'm sure you can pay the tuition."

The good news is she's young and you can educate her. A lot of people assume if you vacation with Disney (via WDW/DL/ABD/DCL) you are made of money. As the popularity of this thread indicates, no, you can be strategic and have your money work for you. I have no doubt we have a budding churner on our hands once you do some 'splainin'.

 

[Lain]

A little r/churning observation in light of the recent change to ban flair outside of preselected choices - namely IATA airport codes and 5/24 counts. (you can only have 2 pieces of flair and it can be any combination of the two it looks like. hence a little office space humor about counting pieces of flair ) The point of it was to eliminate the "Referrals in profile" type flair that the sub voted for. Rather than just turn flair off entirely, at the urging of some in the sub, the mods came up with this compromise so that people can see location information.

It's kind of fun to see the different combinations of airport codes you can get creative with. Of course FAT popped up a bit yesterday, I think one was FAT BOY. The one I think that is going to get the most play in the long run is Fukuoka, I see many people moving to Japan at various points (to save you the lookup, the IATA code is indeed FUK, and as we know reddit does not subscribe to the same G rated language we tend to keep on the thread here, hehe)
In fact, I see someone already commutes between Fukuoka and NC's Pine Island Airport, aka DUF... coincidentally, I'm sure, also the shortened username of one of the mods on the sub

Some other fun ones I liked:

CIP PLZ
ERN BRN
LAZ BOY
EAT PIE
DIP SHT (side note, little sad that's "taken" already, I'd have probably considered it)
TPG SUX

and a couple others that may stray from G ratings But it only took a couple of hours for someone to find this combination -

RFR ALL

and just like that the plan shatters...

What do you expect from a subreddit of 151k people who have a shared interest in finding loopholes to rules and exploiting them?!

 

[gottalovepluto]

DoC highlighted article today- Android PayPal Trojan. Article published yesterday. PayPal has been “contacted”. I know nothing about Androids but if you have one & use the PayPal app I would certainly read this. https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/12/11/android-trojan-steals-money-paypal-accounts-2fa/

 

[AmyAnne]

Quick question for those who have bought park tickets through the Chase UR page -- do you get an email with vouchers or actual paper tickets in the mail? I need Universal tickets (was hoping for a Black Friday deal but didn't see anything) and am worried that I might have left it too late if they send paper tickets through the mail . . .

 

[miztressuz]

What do you expect from a subreddit of 151k people who have a shared interest in finding loopholes to rules and exploiting them?!

Yeah I kinda saw that one coming Not entirely sure how the mods didn't. It seems they made a cursory search, like JonLuca said they verified "REF" wasn't a code before making the site live "in case some users tried to skirt the rules", but I guess didn't really comb through the 6000 codes for alternatives (go figure). I also like the "in case" someone tries to skirt the rules... um... yeah... that totally wasn't anyone's plan to find the loophole... nope.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Quick question for those who have bought park tickets through the Chase UR page -- do you get an email with vouchers or actual paper tickets in the mail? I need Universal tickets (was hoping for a Black Friday deal but didn't see anything) and am worried that I might have left it too late if they send paper tickets through the mail . . .

I did this last month. They do not mail you anything, but you get a confirmation page with the number on it. It says at the bottom that it is "not a voucher," and you should not go to the "Voucher" area when you arrive at Universal. Instead, go to the Will Call area where they have the computer to type in your confirmation number. My number wouldn't work, but I just walked over to the attendant and handed the paper to him and my ID. He was able to print mine and DH's tickets out no problem. Took less than 5 minutes.

 

[gottalovepluto]

A little r/churning observation in light of the recent change to ban flair outside of preselected choices - namely IATA airport codes and 5/24 counts. (you can only have 2 pieces of flair and it can be any combination of the two it looks like. hence a little office space humor about counting pieces of flair ) The point of it was to eliminate the "Referrals in profile" type flair that the sub voted for. Rather than just turn flair off entirely, at the urging of some in the sub, the mods came up with this compromise so that people can see location information.

It's kind of fun to see the different combinations of airport codes you can get creative with. Of course FAT popped up a bit yesterday, I think one was FAT BOY. The one I think that is going to get the most play in the long run is Fukuoka, I see many people moving to Japan at various points (to save you the lookup, the IATA code is indeed FUK, and as we know reddit does not subscribe to the same G rated language we tend to keep on the thread here, hehe)
In fact, I see someone already commutes between Fukuoka and NC's Pine Island Airport, aka DUF... coincidentally, I'm sure, also the shortened username of one of the mods on the sub

Some other fun ones I liked:

CIP PLZ
ERN BRN
LAZ BOY
EAT PIE
DIP SHT (side note, little sad that's "taken" already, I'd have probably considered it)
TPG SUX

and a couple others that may stray from G ratings But it only took a couple of hours for someone to find this combination -

RFR ALL

and just like that the plan shatters...

Omg this is hilarious.

As someone who flies FAT- it ain’t something I’d advertise!

 

[AmyAnne]

I did this last month. They do not mail you anything, but you get a confirmation page with the number on it. It says at the bottom that it is "not a voucher," and you should not go to the "Voucher" area when you arrive at Universal. Instead, go to the Will Call area where they have the computer to type in your confirmation number. My number wouldn't work, but I just walked over to the attendant and handed the paper to him and my ID. He was able to print mine and DH's tickets out no problem. Took less than 5 minutes.

Thanks!

 

[Lain]

Fun story time.

We were watching The Holiday this past weekend (love Nancy Meyers movies!), and my budding little flyer was stunned at the scene where Cameron Diaz's character is on her flight from LA to London in a lie flat first class seat. "Wow, her airplane seat is so big she can lie down and sleep in it," says my 43" little lady who never fails to curl up in her own seat and sleep on one of her parent's laps.

So my wife tells her, "That's why you need to study in school, work hard, and make lots of money so you can afford a big seat on the airplane."

And I say, "Or just be very clever with your credit cards."

Some backstory. My wife calls our kiddo my "accomplice" because she swears something's not right with all this churning. I've taken my daughter on gift card runs since she was an infant. She's been an AU on my oldest credit card since she turned 2. She's been with me on Target gift card runs during the heyday of the gift card churn; flipped GCs at Target, Best Buy, Gamestop, Walgreens, BB&B, etc. and helped me "cash out" thousands of dollars into Disney. And more recently, I bring her along to redeem Amex and Chase offers, do Chase Pay and Swagbucks deals, and buy VGCs/MCGCs on sale. If we weren't in such a MS desert, I'd probably take her to buy MOs too. Now that she's older she asks a lot more questions, but I hesitate to tell her too much because she has no self-censor and talks waaay too much!

Anyway, my kiddo gave me a curious look.

My wife hesitated for a moment, looked at me and said, "You can't book first class seats with points."

My jaw dropped a little, "Uh, yeah you can."

I've told her this hundreds of times!

So she says, "Then why don't we?"

And I say, "Because domestic first class isn't a good value. Pick something international, and I'll work on the first class tickets."

Now, I personally have no interest in flying first class. Back when I was flying United a lot more and earned status with them, I was upgraded to business class a few times. It's nice. But I'm an economy guy. I prefer to stretch out my points and miles and don't mind suffering coach seats for an hour, five hours, or even twelve hours. But apparently, my ladies are quite taken by first class travel.

I think we'll have a reverse @calypso726 situation where I voluntarily sit in coach while my ladies are up in first.

As for Cameron Diaz's character in The Holiday, I doubt she booked her flight with miles but you never know.

 

[DisneyMandC]

I don't suppose Guitar Centers sell gift cards since I have the $20 off $100 deal, do they? Lol you never know.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Personally, I would never sacrifice URs to stay at a Hilton property. For a one week stay you are looking at $8568 roughly as most nights are $1224 per night. With a CSR that is 571,200 UR and with a CSP or CIP it is 685,440. In my head 500K+ UR represents something like first class airfare in ANA via Virgin Atlantic for 4 people which would cost over $100,000 in real money. I can't get the same value for HH points that I can for UR points. Now that is just the hotel stay. Then I am looking at $560 per person for the sea plane transfer which is charged to the hotel, so that's a straight .01 pp UR statement credit. If you don't currently have gold or diamond status with Hilton then everything is going to be OOP in terms of food during the stay.

I know I recently stated I'd use just as many, if not more UR points to pay for Ashford Castle. That is because there is no hotel loyalty program option to pay with points.

I know the Aspire card has a high AF, but it is the only card I can think of that has benefits that cover the AF and then some. A $250 resort credit can go towards a sea plane transfer and can be double dipped by pre-payment like we did. The $250 airline credit can purchase airline GCs, the free weekend night will cover a $1200+ OWB. Staying on points will get you 5th night free. The diamond status will get you free breakfast, afternoon tea, snacks, happy hour etc. Food is crazy expensive in the Maldives from what I've read and makes food in Iceland look cheap by comparison.

If I were under 5/24 and were planning a Conrad Maldives stay, I'd give up a slot for the card in a heartbeat and have P2 give up a slot. IN your shoes, I'd pick up the Aspire and a Hilton business card. Just my opinion.

This is PERFECT! I'm going to apply for the Aspire. Will a Hilton business card count toward my 5/24?

Dh has a Hilton points account. Can my name be on the account? I might get my own as he has his Hilton points automatically put into his Aeroplan account (he stays mostly at Starwood properties -- we have the Starwood card and have for years). Dh is not a willing P2 as he uses his AmEx Platinum for everything (except Starwood stays) and doesn't want any other cards (dd uses the Disney Visa as an AU on his card). When I met dh he didn't even have a credit card as he didn't think he needed one.

I have the final payment for our Japan trip in early February so should be able to make the MSR on the card (I have accumulated a mass of Disney GCs at a discount to pay down the balance as well lol).

 

[jen7233]

Opinion on which card between these two, AMEX Platinum or CSR, to get if the goal is for airfare and hotels? TSA precheck not really a factor as DH can already get TSA precheck for us. He is leaning towards the Plat because of the lounge access, he travels a lot for work. We aren't going to add me as an AU (he's AU on my Southwest, AMEX Everyday, USAA rewards, hopefully that doesn't matter. Will not do AU again). He'll have to apply as I'm over 5/24 for at least another year. I appreciate any opinions between these two cards AMEX Plat and CSR.

Current cards:
Southwest Plus
Chase Freedom

 

[wendow]

Do ‘gold’ au’ers on my plat still get free tsa precheck? I’ve made appts for my dh (using his csr), myself (using my plat) and both dd’s (gold au’ers) to get tsa precheck on Thursday. All the options for appts were so far away but they have a pop up location at our mall for two days. So I jumped on it!

 

[gottalovepluto]

Just want to confirm no one here has a $100 support link for Varo Bank? (Only select Varo customers were emailed links, and only some of the links were $100).

 

[AmyAnne]

My wife hesitated for a moment, looked at me and said, "You can't book first class seats with points."

My jaw dropped a little, "Uh, yeah you can."

I've told her this hundreds of times!

Haha I've had this moment with my husband several times -- not specifically about first-class seats but about using cc points (and about how we accumulate them, by using certain cards for certain things . . .).

 

[Lain]

Do ‘gold’ au’ers on my plat still get free tsa precheck? I’ve made appts for my dh (using his csr), myself (using my plat) and both dd’s (gold au’ers) to get tsa precheck on Thursday. All the options for appts were so far away but they have a pop up location at our mall for two days. So I jumped on it!

Gold AUs from your Plat? Yes. Just be sure to charge the fee on each AU card.

 

[Lain]

This is PERFECT! I'm going to apply for the Aspire. Will a Hilton business card count toward my 5/24?

Dh has a Hilton points account. Can my name be on the account? I might get my own as he has his Hilton points automatically put into his Aeroplan account (he stays mostly at Starwood properties -- we have the Starwood card and have for years). Dh is not a willing P2 as he uses his AmEx Platinum for everything (except Starwood stays) and doesn't want any other cards (dd uses the Disney Visa as an AU on his card). When I met dh he didn't even have a credit card as he didn't think he needed one.

I have the final payment for our Japan trip in early February so should be able to make the MSR on the card (I have accumulated a mass of Disney GCs at a discount to pay down the balance as well lol).

Don’t jump the gun on any application just yet! There’s a few finer points I want to touch on to get you the most points out of this process. I’ll circle back to you in a bit, and hopefully @calypso726 can chime in again too.

 

[speedyfishy]

I’m back. I had a long weekend at Disney and I’m exhausted. Before I left I did a crazy app o Rama for both SO and I. Here are the results:

SO:

Southwest priority- Approved

Hyatt- was at two weeks changed to 7-10 days.

Barclays arrival plus- denied for excessive credit applications

Barclay AA denied but said to send in documents for verification. Will probably do this.

Us bank altitude- nothing yet from them.

BOA denied- had like three reasons one of them being not having a relationship with BOA

Citi AA personal denied. Didn’t get a letter I think this is verification too.

Amex Gold- popup.

SO was not successful.


My Apps

CSP- approved

Hyatt- two week message still

Barclays Arrival plus- approved.

Barclay AA- approved

My second Citi Biz- approved

Us Bank altitude pending

Citi AA personal- pending.

BOA- instant denial no letter in the mail yet.

 

[afan]

DoC highlighted article today- Android PayPal Trojan. Article published yesterday. PayPal has been “contacted”. I know nothing about Androids but if you have one & use the PayPal app I would certainly read this. https://www.welivesecurity.com/2018/12/11/android-trojan-steals-money-paypal-accounts-2fa/

Thank yoy for this. I don't use the paypal app but it made me realize I hadn't seen anything from avast on my phone in months. Found out after I got my phone back from being repaired I downloaded the app but never set it up to scan etc. Thankfully there weren't any issues.