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Post by fuzzylogic on Aug 9, 2023 9:28:18 GMT -5
We are all dealing with the high cost of travel these days, but are you also seeing a similar glut of points to be gotten? I'm finding companies are trying really hard to get my business because (presumably) with costs up, travel is down:
Disney gave me a 30% (gasp!) bounce-back offer for 2024 which we promptly booked for next summer. Best part is it did not exclude POFQ.
Chase cards give triple points on travel which is perfect for most Disney stuff.
Amex gives 4X on restaurants and grocery -- categories that are pretty valuable to me.
Everything else... like gas & home improvement, are typically weak point-earners, but a couple mo ago Chase put out 2x on "everything" (every $5K spend would get an extra 5K points). I managed to hit this up for 10K. Now that offer ends, and Amex is running a bonus 10K points to spend $7K by the end of Sep, so I'll switch my spend there for that bonus. This is after Amex gave 100K to upgrade my card to the next level. Then Chase put up a 40K referral bonus on my biz card, so I referred my wife... I'll get 40K, she'll get 100K, and these can all transfer to my Southwest account.
It's so much fun playing the game and getting free stuff. :-) Chase ran a promo to cash out points for a statement credit at +25%... ~80,000 points got just over $1000 cash on my statement. That's substantial free money. The points gotten here will cover ~3 round trips to Disney for the family in our 24-25 AP year. Anyone else have good tricks?
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Post by brp on Aug 9, 2023 10:34:24 GMT -5
Our main trick, and not that much of a trick, is to put everything on points-earning credit cards. That includes federal, state and property taxes. Yes, there is a feww, but we can get far more value from the points than the fee. We don't cash in as using the points (Hyatt, in our case) for hotels is worth more than the $$ we can generate with a cash-in. But all about maximizing points and then using for them for otherwise- expensive hotels. We pay for flights for our status, so don't use them there, reserving them all for hotels.
Oh, and no "glut" as we put them to use  Cheers. |
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Post by dlwdwdvc on Aug 9, 2023 12:27:09 GMT -5
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Post by bakerworld on Aug 9, 2023 13:05:09 GMT -5
What I have noticed is a decrease in $ for first class seating on AA. Our last two flight I've been putting us in first class because it's dropped from 1200/seat to 625 or once 529. Sure it makes flying more expensive by $200 I think it's worth the comfort, and getting off the flight faster upon destination.
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Post by brp on Aug 9, 2023 13:18:34 GMT -5
What I have noticed is a decrease in $ for first class seating on AA. Our last two flight I've been putting us in first class because it's dropped from 1200/seat to 625 or once 529. Sure it makes flying more expensive by $200 I think it's worth the comfort, and getting off the flight faster upon destination. Agreed. We fly AA and AS primarily and do first class for long flight. Also make sure to periodically check the flight prices. Since there are no change fees, if there is a drop, you can get a voucher for the difference.
Cheers.
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Post by Adelard of Bath on Aug 9, 2023 13:23:33 GMT -5
I bought first class on Delta months ago, and I've been watching it creep down and down. I thought I did okay at $850, didn't want to pay that but that seemed to be what it was. Now it's in the low-mid $600s for the same flight, bouncing up and down a bit.
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Post by disney54us on Aug 9, 2023 22:41:43 GMT -5
bakerworld don’t you fly out of PHL? That’s really good on AA for FC. The prices for flying from PHL to MCO the past year have become ridiculous for a 2 plus hour flight. Glad son is out of school so the flying back and forth was no big deal Per se when he was in school. Could fly him and gf in for sisters 30th bday dinner. Could fly him for Tday which usually is outrageous and book the next day when he screwed up schedule and couldn’t leave Tuesday. I thought it was going to cost me big time but didn’t. Last year when we went October into dab and February MCO. All I know was I used to fly four to five of us what it cost for two. brp wow, never though of it for property taxes etc. damn those are points I could have added to. I don’t know why I never told my husband put it on this and just go in and then pay the card. I do that many times with my charges. When I paid off some DVC contracts I was at first going to use our checking/debit. Then I’m thinking no, cards points and once the post would pay it. But never thought doing that for property taxes. Since you live in CA no wonder you have access to those lounges if you use your card to pay property taxes and taxes. So I went from having barely a card or two to, not to the extent I’m reading here but having cards for points. With chase. I got the Disney card which really does nothing much but did have a good interest rate. When TIW was around I would redeem my points to buy that. When son went to collage in central Fl I thought we would be using mostly SW to fly, so got that. Again back then good interest rate. Ended up with a lot of flights on Frontier (before they became the greyhound of flying, recently) they had new airbuses good prices and when you can get 60,000 pt and 5,000 bonus for filling it out on your flight I’m in. Those points came into good use and helped me out when I messed up my flight home from MCO. They didn’t care I was at the time a discount den member etc. because I had the card, they didn’t charge me the change fee. Same with AA bonus if you sign up in flight. Marriott because we would stay there when we visited son. So I use them for where I’m staying or who I’m flying. The credit card points game is fascinating but can become exhausting. Will say Apple Card offers cash back, I received a great interest rate as in this climate chase has risen their rates. I was surprised at the rate given the climate. I admit apple products always appealed to me the Apple Card and not busy logo stuff does too. Yea I’m a sucker. But its pretty with a good interest rate and cash back. So there. If I could multi quote… but haven’t figure that out, happy I figured out quote.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on Aug 10, 2023 6:11:57 GMT -5
I have a question for you savvy CC holders. I am looking to take a new credit card out for my 2 week Hawaiian cruise. Currently I hold two cash back CC with Amex and Capital One. I just don’t know which way to go to get the most bang from a new card. How do the points work and what does one feel is the best points card out there?
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Post by fuzzylogic on Aug 10, 2023 10:25:52 GMT -5
How do the points work and what does one feel is the best points card out there? The Chase Ink Business. 3x points on travel + business and they transfer directly to Southwest and Marriott. Keep in mind Comcast, Verizon, etc code as Business so just paying my regular cable and phone bills earns a ton of points. Cash back cards are typically around 1.5% right? Unless you can find one with a good bonus category on your big spends. I use a base value of about $.01 per point. So 12,000 points for a $4K cruise I would ballpark at $120. 1.5% cash back would only be $60. I'd rather earn 12,000 Southwest points than $60 cuz the 12,000 points is a free flight that's worth ~$170. Transferring them to a partner is usually a better value. A Marriott point is worth about $.01. A Southwest point is more like $.014. Right now tho Chase is doing +50% to transfer to Marriott, which makes going that way actually a good deal. If you're not into Marriott or Southwest (or United / Jet Blue) then that's not the card for you. I know people who are really into the Delta game and love it. Our main trick, and not that much of a trick, is to put everything on points-earning credit cards. That includes federal, state and property taxes. Unfortunately my state would charge 3% to pay my property taxes by cc so I can't do that. The credit card points game is fascinating but can become exhausting. Definitely. It's a lot of work and thinking about when and where to use each card. |
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Post by brp on Aug 10, 2023 12:51:20 GMT -5
brp wow, never though of it for property taxes etc. damn those are points I could have added to. I don’t know why I never told my husband put it on this and just go in and then pay the card. I do that many times with my charges. When I paid off some DVC contracts I was at first going to use our checking/debit. Then I’m thinking no, cards points and once the post would pay it. But never thought doing that for property taxes. Since you live in CA no wonder you have access to those lounges if you use your card to pay property taxes and taxes. Sad, but true.
Fortunately the remaining few years on our mortgage are at 2.125%.
Cheers.
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Post by BWV Dreamin on Aug 10, 2023 13:13:09 GMT -5
How do the points work and what does one feel is the best points card out there? The Chase Ink Business. 3x points on travel + business and they transfer directly to Southwest and Marriott. Keep in mind Comcast, Verizon, etc code as Business so just paying my regular cable and phone bills earns a ton of points. Cash back cards are typically around 1.5% right? Unless you can find one with a good bonus category on your big spends. I use a base value of about $.01 per point. So 12,000 points for a $4K cruise I would ballpark at $120. 1.5% cash back would only be $60. I'd rather earn 12,000 Southwest points than $60 cuz the 12,000 points is a free flight that's worth ~$170. Transferring them to a partner is usually a better value. A Marriott point is worth about $.01. A Southwest point is more like $.014. Right now tho Chase is doing +50% to transfer to Marriott, which makes going that way actually a good deal. If you're not into Marriott or Southwest (or United / Jet Blue) then that's not the card for you. I know people who are really into the Delta game and love it. Our main trick, and not that much of a trick, is to put everything on points-earning credit cards. That includes federal, state and property taxes. Unfortunately my state would charge 3% to pay my property taxes by cc so I can't do that. The credit card points game is fascinating but can become exhausting. Definitely. It's a lot of work and thinking about when and where to use each card. We fly Southwest pretty much exclusively unless we are flying to Europe. Is there an annual fee for that Chase Ink business? I am trying to get the best bang for this bucket list trip. Cash back really isn’t enticing me. Points for Southwest would be awesome. Should I look at a Southwest card? |
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Post by brp on Aug 10, 2023 13:52:16 GMT -5
Our main trick, and not that much of a trick, is to put everything on points-earning credit cards. That includes federal, state and property taxes. Unfortunately my state would charge 3% to pay my property taxes by cc so I can't do that. As I mentioned, we have a fee also. And we can get more than 3% value out of the points we earn, so it is well worth paying the fee. Cheers. |
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Post by a1000monkeys on Aug 10, 2023 14:23:13 GMT -5
My guess is that rising interest rates are padding credit card company profits which is increasing competition to get more sign ups. hence the deals.
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Post by fuzzylogic on Aug 11, 2023 8:00:42 GMT -5
Is there an annual fee for that Chase Ink business? I am trying to get the best bang for this bucket list trip. Cash back really isn’t enticing me. Points for Southwest would be awesome. Should I look at a Southwest card? Annual fee - yeah $100. Southwest card? Depends on your goal. Southwest card(s) are good for getting a Companion Pass. Not so much for earning via daily spend. I'd do the Ink if you have travel spend and bills to pay and if that's a significant part of your expenses. If it's companion you seek I'd wait and do the Southwest in December so you can get the Companion in Feb to get an extra year of the benefit. |
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Post by bakerworld on Aug 11, 2023 8:30:36 GMT -5
bakerworld don’t you fly out of PHL? That’s really good on AA for FC. The prices for flying from PHL to MCO the past year have become ridiculous for a 2 plus hour flight. Ended up with a lot of flights on Frontier (before they became the greyhound of flying, recently) they had new airbuses good prices and when you can get 60,000 pt and 5,000 bonus for filling it out on your flight I’m in. Those points came into good use and helped me out when I messed up my flight home from MCO. They didn’t care I was at the time a discount den member etc. because I had the card, they didn’t charge me the change fee. Same with AA bonus if you sign up in flight. Marriott because we would stay there when we visited son. So I use them for where I’m staying or who I’m flying. The credit card points game is fascinating but can become exhausting. Will say Apple Card offers cash back, I received a great interest rate as in this climate chase has risen their rates. I was surprised at the rate given the climate. I only started using AA when SW dropped the mid-week NS flights out of PHL. Now that SW is back to offering one NS flight every mid-week day, I am back to using SW. When we first started using AA I was flying SW NS on the weekends, because it was all the SW NS offered to MCO at that time, and then I'd one-way back on AA. Twice I had to use AA both ways because we were flying mid-week to mid-week. It was during this time that I found the low fares link on AA's site. I anchored this link: www.aa.com/en-us/low-fares to my favorites. Then I noticed that AA's first class many times was practically half their normal price. I do like AA better than SW and once we use all the SW points we acquired during COVID we might switch to AA permanently. Basically I'm waiting to see how SW one NS offerings go delay-wise. I've flown Frontier a few times with my daughters. DH flew Frontier in December to MCO. He didn't care for the 'trick' with the luggage - we combine into one case and I use large sized 'personal' bag. He didn't like that I wouldn't pay for the $40+ seats, which placed us further back in the plane, and he didn't like how Frontier boarded. Consequently Frontier is in the same category as OKW, BWV and BR/CC. LOL I don't know if it's because I found the Low Fare on AA but I do think the $ of flights is decreasing. So far I've resisted acquired another card. |
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