I love credit cards so much! v6.0 - 2023 (see first page for add'l details)

[FreeDiningFanatic]

@elgerber Have you seen these award seats in biz class? A bit clunky with 2 stops, but the price is good and United has free cancellation/changes, I believe. Pointsyeah is free. Some earlier availability on 5/21 and 5/22 as well. Good luck.

 

[elgerber]

@elgerber Have you seen these award seats in biz class? A bit clunky with 2 stops, but the price is good and United has free cancellation/changes, I believe. Pointsyeah is free. Some earlier availability on 5/21 and 5/22 as well. Good luck.

View attachment 806074

Thanks. If it was me flying I might do two stops but no way he will LOL.
I will look at Pointsyeah!

 

[jujubiee4]

I checked United, but goodness they are REALLY expensive both cash and miles.

They are expensive. Need 2 tickets to Europe and I have been looking the last couple of
months. I must have missed the good deals but I'm kinda inflexible on dates. Lot of Airlines
are crazy high on prices and miles. I just looked at Virgin site free dining posted. There were
some good deals just not the dates I was looking for. lol Hope you have better luck.

 

[leeniewdw]

Curious about thoughts. I know conventional wisdom is to never xfer pts during a bonus as a speculative xfer...always have a specific trip and confirm seats are available before xfer.

What about the reverse? Has anyone waited it out to see if a bonus xfer shows up (especially if there hasn't been one in awhile?).

I'm eyeing these RDU-FRA flights (1 way) for 70k in J for Sept '24. Given that this is my home airport (literally 10 mins away)...no positioning pts or expense/time..... and it's direct to Europe. I feel like I need to jump on it. I looked at the Aeroplan bonuses and there hasn't been one since last fall....

 

[jujubiee4]

@elgerber Have you seen these award seats in biz class? A bit clunky with 2 stops, but the price is good and United has free cancellation/changes, I believe. Pointsyeah is free. Some earlier availability on 5/21 and 5/22 as well. Good luck.

View attachment 806074

That looks like a good site. I saw things on there that I didnt see when directly searching. Do they
ever have phantom availability ? thanks

 

[wanderlust7]

Curious about thoughts. I know conventional wisdom is to never xfer pts during a bonus as a speculative xfer...always have a specific trip and confirm seats are available before xfer.

What about the reverse? Has anyone waited it out to see if a bonus xfer shows up (especially if there hasn't been one in awhile?).

I'm eyeing these RDU-FRA flights (1 way) for 70k in J for Sept '24. Given that this is my home airport (literally 10 mins away)...no positioning pts or expense/time..... and it's direct to Europe. I feel like I need to jump on it. I looked at the Aeroplan bonuses and there hasn't been one since last fall....

Such perfect flights at a decent price, I would grab them! I've had a transfer bonus start soon after I booked and I kicked myself. But I would kick myself more if I lost the flights!

 

[Judique]

Good for her! That's not an easy program to get into. I love hearing about later in life career changes.

She went from being a prosthodontist for almost 40 years. Lots of cancer reconstructions.
I can see the appeal of getting into the travel industry and maybe having some fun and freedom along the way.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

That looks like a good site. I saw things on there that I didnt see when directly searching. Do they
ever have phantom availability ? thanks

I'm sure. I think they are just scraping from individual program sites, so just as there will sometimes be phantom availability there, it will pull over to these third party sites. Plus, who knows how often these third party sites are refreshing? Best bet is to always check at the site you plan to book and for extra diligence, call and confirm with that program's customer service agent that there's actual award availability before transferring points.

 

[LynnTH]

This is killing me I don't hit 24 months till Feb

Me too... In the meantime, just got another INK. Always have to have a SUB I am chasing...

 

[LilSweetPeaPhoto]

So I used my 9 Chase cards to do a pick up Saturday night for my GoPuff credits! I'm so happy someone shared the hack to do this. For Nov, I'm going to refer my BF, and add in his 3 cards and my mom's 2 cards, LOL. The pick up location is about 30 min away. But for multiple orders, it's worth it.

So we have 2 tickets for DUB in March booked. My mom is mad that there were only 2 seats open. I've read a few time that people have been able to book economy and ask for the upgrade and get it (w/ points). She thinks one of us should give up our seat. She said yesterday "you two wouldn't be here without me". Ummm, you wouldn't have the points to do this, without me! Also she's flown to Europe 10+ hours several times in economy. She's all of 5'2! And I have to teach the day after we land (late) and I have to drive when we land there. I haven't booked any hotels, because I'm waiting on her to decide if she's coming. This is getting annoying! UGH. Any suggestions? She has 100k in Avios from our cancelled flight last year. I feel like I had hotels and stuff booked last year at this point.

Does anyone here fly Delta? Keep your eyes open for a gorgeous blonde Flight attendant who just graduated! She was my SIL before my divorce. A few years ago she retired from a professional practice, and I guess she's looking for something else to do! She's not quite my age but eligible for Medicare.

I'm quite proud of her.

Congrats! I applied when the posting opened last month. I got to the online test and didn't pass. I have to laugh because I passed the Delta pilot test which is way harder. TBH, I can't do it (w/ my kids, I can't leave my 18yo or she falls off the rails). But still was kinda shocked I didn't make it further. I mean, I have 3 degrees...you can't say I'm not capable. The questions they asked were insane though. It was a personality inventory and very much 2 ends of the spectrum and no middle ground. Stuff like I'm 100% happy every single day of my life vs 100% of my life I'm upset and hate life. I always love going to work every single day and working long hard hours vs I enjoy my time off and never want to go to work. I figured they wanted people who were honest...I guess not, LOL. Delta is a whole lot of kool-aid drinking which I really can't handle, LOL.

 

[reliev]

That's first class you are thinking of. Business class seats are released consistently at the beginning of the booking window, then again close to departure (route depending). Lots of award space on the RDU <> FRA route next year (hoping to snag some for December myself). I think it's roughly $75 USD for a change and $100 USD for a redeposit of miles (ie cancellation).

Sometimes you can find the same route on lifemiles for cheaper, but I hear they are atrocious to deal with.

airfrance/klm flying blue just lowered their thresholds too for business and economy not that the lower thresholds are readily available but its cool to me that they have done this.

 

[reliev]

It’s way too far out of the way from all the main Tokyo sights. Definitely move.

yep it took me over an hour by taxi.. i didn't want to do the 2 hours the concierge told me to get there (i didn't want to get up early).

 

[leeniewdw]

Such perfect flights at a decent price, I would grab them! I've had a transfer bonus start soon after I booked and I kicked myself. But I would kick myself more if I lost the flights!

I think I will pull the trigger soon. We had been thinking of a Italy/Switzerland trip for awhile, but I feel like I want to Italy on its own -- it's a big country. Then I stumbled on the RDU/FRA direct and our eyes got wide. Just need to shift gears mentally on the Germany/Swiss trip. So far they are still showing 7 J seats for the date we're eyeing.

 

[reliev]

just to rant I might have posted it before here (I'm pretty sure I did) my county here in Florida used to waive cc fees and give 4% early bird discount, now they are charging 2.25% fee (they have a new payment processor surprise) for cc payments, (still giving you 4% discount) I went ahead and did it this time because it still beats 4% and I'm chasing aa status, but other then that I don't know if ill do it next year, also Costa Rica was awesome regardless of the four seasons resort being closed we had a blast was a good 4 day escape that I wish was a little longer.

 

[elgerber]

Another stupid international question. I have only flown nonstop, and dh is at work, so can't ask him how he did it last time.
If he connects in Toronto or Amsterdam, for his final destination in Munich, where does he go through customs?

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

So I used my 9 Chase cards to do a pick up Saturday night for my GoPuff credits! I'm so happy someone shared the hack to do this. For Nov, I'm going to refer my BF, and add in his 3 cards and my mom's 2 cards, LOL. The pick up location is about 30 min away. But for multiple orders, it's worth it.

So we have 2 tickets for DUB in March booked. My mom is mad that there were only 2 seats open. I've read a few time that people have been able to book economy and ask for the upgrade and get it (w/ points). She thinks one of us should give up our seat. She said yesterday "you two wouldn't be here without me". Ummm, you wouldn't have the points to do this, without me! Also she's flown to Europe 10+ hours several times in economy. She's all of 5'2! And I have to teach the day after we land (late) and I have to drive when we land there. I haven't booked any hotels, because I'm waiting on her to decide if she's coming. This is getting annoying! UGH. Any suggestions? She has 100k in Avios from our cancelled flight last year. I feel like I had hotels and stuff booked last year at this point.


Congrats! I applied when the posting opened last month. I got to the online test and didn't pass. I have to laugh because I passed the Delta pilot test which is way harder. TBH, I can't do it (w/ my kids, I can't leave my 18yo or she falls off the rails). But still was kinda shocked I didn't make it further. I mean, I have 3 degrees...you can't say I'm not capable. The questions they asked were insane though. It was a personality inventory and very much 2 ends of the spectrum and no middle ground. Stuff like I'm 100% happy every single day of my life vs 100% of my life I'm upset and hate life. I always love going to work every single day and working long hard hours vs I enjoy my time off and never want to go to work. I figured they wanted people who were honest...I guess not, LOL. Delta is a whole lot of kool-aid drinking which I really can't handle, LOL.

Would your mom be willing to fly BA to LHR, LHR to Dublin and meet you there? It’s usually pretty easy to get biz seats on BA (though you have the high cash fee). Personally I wouldn’t put my mom in economy, but that’s just me. But my mom was also tall and dd is only (for our family) 5’6”.

I think I will pull the trigger soon. We had been thinking of an Italy/Switzerland trip for awhile, but I feel like I want to Italy on its own -- it's a big country. Then I stumbled on the RDU/FRA direct and our eyes got wide. Just need to shift gears mentally on the Germany/Swiss trip. So far they are still showing 7 J seats for the date we're eyeing.

I don’t want to rain on your Germany / Switzerland trip, but if I had to choose between Germany and Italy, Italy would win every.single.time. I flew from Milan to Frankfurt today, easy 1h flight. You can book biz class on Lufthansa between the cities for 15k AP pts. That’s of course just me. Avoid Florence airport — it’s a windy airport and flights are very often re-routed to Pisa, then passengers are bused to Florence.

I am heading home from a quick NYC (1 night), London (1 night), Florence (4 nights), Milan (2 nights) and Frankfurt (1 night) trip tomorrow. I hope to write up a brief TA when I have a bit of time. Trip had highs (Florence — LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about Florence) and lows (the worst flight of my life —I legit thought we were going to crash on our aborted landing to Pisa during a terrible thunder storm — half the plane was sick, thankfully I wasn’t, I just thought my time on earth was up).

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

I don’t want to rain on your Germany / Switzerland trip, but if I had to choose between Germany and Italy, Italy would win every.single.time. I flew from Milan to Frankfurt today, easy 1h flight. You can book biz class on Lufthansa between the cities for 15k AP pts. That’s of course just me. Avoid Florence airport — it’s a windy airport and flights are very often re-routed to Pisa, then passengers are bused to Florence.

I am heading home from a quick NYC (1 night), London (1 night), Florence (4 nights), Milan (2 nights) and Frankfurt (1 night) trip tomorrow. I hope to write up a brief TA when I have a bit of time. Trip had highs (Florence — LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about Florence) and lows (the worst flight of my life —I legit thought we were going to crash on our aborted landing to Pisa during a terrible thunder storm — half the plane was sick, thankfully I wasn’t, I just thought my time on earth was up).

I second the suggestion of Italy over Germany. I like Germany, particularly Bavaria, but Italy is just amazing.

Wow, that sounds like a really scary flight experience. Noted: never fly into Florence!

 

[leeniewdw]

I don’t want to rain on your Germany / Switzerland trip, but if I had to choose between Germany and Italy, Italy would win every.single.time. I flew from Milan to Frankfurt today, easy 1h flight. You can book biz class on Lufthansa between the cities for 15k AP pts. That’s of course just me. Avoid Florence airport — it’s a windy airport and flights are very often re-routed to Pisa, then passengers are bused to Florence.

I am heading home from a quick NYC (1 night), London (1 night), Florence (4 nights), Milan (2 nights) and Frankfurt (1 night) trip tomorrow. I hope to write up a brief TA when I have a bit of time. Trip had highs (Florence — LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about Florence) and lows (the worst flight of my life —I legit thought we were going to crash on our aborted landing to Pisa during a terrible thunder storm — half the plane was sick, thankfully I wasn’t, I just thought my time on earth was up).

Oh -- we definitely plan on Italy but my DH really wants to go to Switzerland and since our first int'l trip (this June) was my choice, Ireland, I definitely want to get to Switzerland. I can't quite figure out how to structure Italy/Switz. We've never been to Italy so it seems like we have to do a few days in Rome, but I think it would be easier to do N. Italy + Switz (not that we couldn't fly to Zurich).

So was thinking Germany/Switzerland this go 'round then 2 weeks in Italy next.

We're also trying to really hone in on how we want to travel in Europe. Both transportation wise (planes, trains, automobiles) as well as experience. We are experienced in the American West and enjoy hiking and being outdoors. We LOVED our trip to Ireland where we avoided big cities (literally were only in Dublin to land and get our rental car, we flew out of SNN on the way home). We did some hiking, enjoyed small towns and pubs, loved being outdoors, did a boat/bike trip in Killarney and took a ferry to Inishbofin where we rented bikes (and as luck would have it, were there during the most sunny month on record.)

But boy that direct to FRA is sooooo tempting. So currently we're thinking a loop from Frankfurt down into Switzerland to the jungfrau region then perhaps back to Frankfurt via Salzburg and Munich. OR we'd just fly home from Zurich. Admittedly I hadn't thought of the RDU-FRA flight as the positioning one, lol!

 

[elgerber]

If you find availability, you can transfer your points to your own VA account and book a flight for your DH.

DUH, why didn't I think of that!

 

[Sheree]

airfrance/klm flying blue just lowered their thresholds too for business and economy not that the lower thresholds are readily available but its cool to me that they have done this.

still stalking daily for j in oct 24 !! still over 900l pp each way