elgerber
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2000
I was thinking maybe it meant you can’t cash out on just referral dollars or something?Glad to hear it's not just me, I couldn't figure out what that meant either.
I was thinking maybe it meant you can’t cash out on just referral dollars or something?Glad to hear it's not just me, I couldn't figure out what that meant either.
Ahh...that would make sense!I was thinking maybe it meant you can’t cash out on just referral dollars or something?
Ahh...that would make sense!
I have been watching if for a little bit and every now and then he does give bad advice.I saw a new blog (to me, I don’t follow many blogs I’m sure our vets know it) to watch out for today- Ask Sebby. Operated by the same team that does TPG. Someone on Reddit mentioned some bad advice they got from this blog so FYI (they thought it was good advice, it wasn’t).
You popped into my head this weekend as DH and I were talking about showing dogs. We were curious as to whether people sell their show dogs like we sell our show horses? I'm sure many people might gasp at the thought of selling their dog (I could never sell mine!) but I was just curious. While I love my horses, they are "investments" for us. We sold mine this weekend and were able to buy one for DH and one for me. I've probably owned 8 horses over the last 15 years and have only kept one who was permanently injured and has no value.
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.
I love this story! Funny, my DS10 pays attention A LOT and always comments when I get another credit card in the mail. He often asks me what the points from THAT card will be used for, lol! He knows that I recently booked us LIE FLAT seats for our trip to Europe next summer (LAX to Amsterdam on Delta via Virgin Atlantic points, check out TPG's post here https://thepointsguy.com/guide/book-delta-one-39k-amex-points/. I know, not the most popular site, but occasionally there's some really good info). We are all very excited...first time lie flat seats, woohoo! We visit family in the UK every year and are usually squished into economy. Last year I was able to get us premium economy and now business class is a big step up for us! You don't need to fly in first class to get the lie flat seats...international business class will probably impress your ladies just as much!
So there's a lot to parse through here, and I dug up some of your old posts for background to better help with a strategy. I'd really appreciate if @calypso726 can look this over, too!
1. You mentioned DH has a Hilton Honors account. You should sign up for a Hilton Honors account too (or you'll be assigned one when you sign up for your first Amex Hilton card). Hilton makes it super easy for you to combine points with your husband for a big redemption like the Conrad Maldives.
Hilton lets you do Points Pooling, where several members contribute points to a pool, or direct person-to-person transfers. Both are subject to a limit of 500k points sent and 2 million points received per calendar year, no fee.
When you log into DH's Hilton account, in the side menu under My Points, click More Ways to Use Points, then click Transfer Your Points. Select the number of points you want to transfer, in 1,000 points increments, up to 500k, enter your first name, last name, HH number, and email (or transfer vice versa). That's it.
Here's the fine print:
Hilton Honors Members can transfer Hilton Honors Points to another Hilton Honors Member through Points Pooling or 1-to-1 transfer in increments of 1,000 Points and up to 500,000 Points. Each Hilton Honors Member is limited to sending no more than five hundred thousand (500,000) Points and receiving two million (2,000,000) Points via Points Pooling or Transfers combined per calendar year. Each Hilton Honors Member is limited to making six (6) transfers to other member accounts and six (6) Hilton Points Pooling transactions per calendar year. Invitations to join a Points Pool is not considered transactional. Transactions refer to the transfer of Points to another member account either through 1-to-1 account transfers or through Points Pooling.
Any points beyond these limits will not be posted to any Member's account. Limits are at the sole discretion of Hilton Honors Worldwide L.L.C., subject to change.
A new Hilton Honors Member can pool, transfer, or receive Points 30 days after enrollment providing they have activity on their account. After 90 days of enrollment, a new Member is eligible to pool, transfer, or receive Points regardless of their account activity.
2. As I mentioned, Amex has 4 Hilton credit card offerings: (1) the Hilton Honors (Personal) Card; (2) the Hilton Ascend (Personal) Card; (3) the Hilton Aspire (Personal) Card; and (4) the Hilton Honors Business Card. See All Four American Express Hilton Cards Compared (Signup bonuses are a bit dated. Because Amex’s welcome bonuses are generally once per lifetime, per person, per card product, it’s always in your best interest to research what is the highest offer historically for a card, compare that highest offer to the current offer, and try to apply only for the highest and/or best offer you can get on that card).
The Hilton Honors Business Card ("Hilton Biz") will not add to your 5/24 count. The 3 other Hilton Personal cards, including the Aspire, will add to your 5/24 count.
3. The Hilton Aspire currently has a signup offer of 150k Hilton Honors points after $4k MSR in 3 months, which DoC says is the best ever. The Aspire has a $450 AF. You mentioned you don't want a high AF card, but the Aspire has some really compelling benefits that pay for themselves, like complimentary Diamond status, a $250 Hilton resort statement credit per membership year, a $250 airline fee credit per calendar year, and a free weekend night on account opening and every anniversary.
@calypso726 can probably speak to the Aspire's benefits, and how you'd use them towards the Conrad Maldives in Spring 2020.
4. The Hilton Biz currently has a signup offer of 125k Hilton Honors points after $3k MSR in 3 months, which I think is the best offer on that card. (You may be able to trigger the same offer with a statement credit by going through a dummy booking on Hilton, but this would mean no referral bonus.) The Hilton Biz has a $95 AF.
5. Since your DH has an Amex Platinum card, you can generate a referral link from DH's Platinum card through Amex's Refer A Friend website worth 15k MR per approval, copy and paste that referral link into an incognito window or another browser, then click through all other cards with referral offers to find either the Hilton Aspire or Hilton Biz (whichever card you want to apply for first), then apply for the Hilton card you want through DH's link. DH's gets a 15k MR referral bonus, you get a new card.
6. When you're ready for your next Hilton card, either generate another link from your DH's Platinum card for a 15k MR referral bonus to DH (max 55k MR/yr.), or generate a referral link from your first Amex Hilton card for a 20k Hilton Honors points to your Hilton account (max 80k Hilton Honors points/yr.). MR points usually transfer to Hilton at a 1,000:2,000 ratio, so DH's 15k MR = 30k Hilton Honors to DH's Hilton account, which he can then transfer to/pool with you. There's currently a transfer bonus from MR to HH until the end of this year, which is something Amex runs periodically.
7. If DH is willing to sign up for Hilton cards, always remember to have him apply through referrals.
@Lain and @calypso726 I got an e-mail a while ago that I was approved for the Hilton Aspire! Also got an 3-mail from Hilton to set up my account (which I've done).
Next step is to start hitting the MSR (which will be covered by the ABD payment due late January / early February for Japan).
@wendow Costco has the Atom $100 gift card pack for $69.99 instead of $74.99 through 12/16
Funny you mention that. I was just talking to my mom about that on thanksgiving. I was scared of my parents, esp my mom, but my kids did not inherit it. And I’m no pushover, so I’m not sure where I went wrong.Sounds like you were raised like me I was raised with a very healthy fear of my mother...
I saw a new blog (to me, I don’t follow many blogs I’m sure our vets know it) to watch out for today- Ask Sebby. Operated by the same team that does TPG. Someone on Reddit mentioned some bad advice they got from this blog so FYI (they thought it was good advice, it wasn’t).
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'.
Funny you mention that. I was just talking to my mom about that on thanksgiving. I was scared of my parents, esp my mom, but my kids did not inherit it. And I’m no pushover, so I’m not sure where I went wrong.
I’m glad she took the initiative to register for class early and without prodding. Small victories.
Itis a math class to stay on track. Can’t remember which one.Exactly! This is better than her sitting around waiting until the last possible second to register and then she cannot get the class she needs. What will she take while in her CP?
Do you have shell or Best BuyAny ideas of good places to use Chase Pay for the use 5x bonus? I've been locked out of DH's online account twice from trying to use it at Walmart on DH's card and it's getting old! I remember WM was sensitive but this seems crazy! I bought a $25 gc two days ago, then tried again this morning and it locked me out (again)! I only need two more transactions to get the 3k UR points. Thanks!
Do you have shell or Best Buy
Any ideas of good places to use Chase Pay for the bonus (after using Chase Pay 5 x for > $25)? I've been locked out of DH's online account twice from trying to use it at Walmart on DH's card and it's getting old! I remember WM was sensitive but this seems crazy! I bought a $25 gc two days ago, then tried again this morning and it locked me out (again)! I only need two more transactions to get the 3k UR points. Thanks!