Lost_in_the_HTTP
Lifer
- Nov 17, 2019
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cheap and fast.I do NOT understand how people can eat that 'stuff'. I haven't been in an FF slop hole of any brand in more years than I can remember.
I do NOT understand how people can eat that 'stuff'. I haven't been in an FF slop hole of any brand in more years than I can remember.
So you understand my pain... There's only so much pool, beach, fish, and beer man can take before he goes crazy.I feel your pain bro...there are only so many Pina Coladas and Margaritas you can drink while burying your toes in the sand or seeing one more sunset over the water.......before you just have had enough.
So you understand my pain... There's only so much pool, beach, fish, and beer man can take before he goes crazy.
I'm going to have to suffer through another generic steakhouse dinner tonight. Wish me luck!
how do you manufacture spending to earn the bonuses?I used to do a lot of churning and manufacture spending to earn bonus (AE Platinum and Chase Reserve) and cash back. Used to earn over $1K USD per month from the 2% cash back from Citi. Not year, but per month.
Not into points but Chase is temping me with the 100K Reward for the Preferred card. Thinking about it.
I pay $450 for the Hilton Honors Aspire Amex. It provides $250 Hilton Resort credit, $250 Airline Incidentals Credit, a free weekend night anywhere in the world, Priority Pass membership, Hilton Diamond status, and roughly 34 points per dollar spent at Hilton Properties for food/lodging.
When covid was in full force, they pushed the resort credits to apply to any restaurant purchases. They bumped the normal 3% cashback at grocery stores up to 12% for 3 months. There have been other perks, including $20/month back on restaurant purchases this year if you enroll in the promo. Additionally, they extended the free weekend night's expiration date to 2022.
I feel like Amex or Hilton, or both are serious about keeping people happy with the card. I used it to go to Hawaii last year and all of my lodging was comped. We're going back to do Maui in September and I'm going to be racking up sweet points at the Waldorf Astoria for 10 nights. Having Diamond status there is huge and worth $50 in food credits per night...so $500 off our bill, not counting the $250 resort credit we'll be able to use.
The reason I went with this card was because I was travelling for business and exclusively staying at the Roosevelt in NOLA and another expensive stay at a Hilton weeks later with flights on the same airline. I just wanted to enjoy the trip, so I ended up getting free food, drinks, room upgrades, and the points that funded my Hawaii venture. It's been a pretty decent deal and I'm on year 3....currently have about 600k points in my account, but will likely have 1M by the end of the year.
how do you manufacture spending to earn the bonuses?
ie: spend $3k in 3 months to get $500 bonus
I stayed in the Waikiki Hilton (2 rooms) and did a week on the Big Island on the Kona side. All the nights in Hawaii were around 50-55k points/night in 2020 (pre-pandemic). I booked them September 2019 and stayed in March 2020.Where do you end up using your HH points? I have like 400K and have never used them other than trading for other points etc. Like the Wailea is 95K a night sometimes if you book at the last minute and 200K+ if you don't (was looking at a weekend trip last month when we were on Oahu and only seems to have gotten worse). Agree the Aspire is great for getting your moneys worth for the annual fee though.
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Ouch, that sounds and looks rough. I wish you luck enduring such an obstacle because you're going to need all the help you can get. I totally understand how great locations, good food, and good company can really takes its toll on ones mental and physical health.So you understand my pain... There's only so much pool, beach, fish, and beer man can take before he goes crazy.
I'm going to have to suffer through another generic steakhouse dinner tonight. Wish me luck!
Thanks all. Great discussion. Lots to think about. I’ll definitely keep my aspire
Which Marriott card is this?It definitely seems worth it based on the benefits you listed.
Like I mentioned, I'll do the same with my Marriott cards. My status there has been very important - just late check out alone is a godsend when bringing the wife + kids.
It's a bit of a rabbit chasing a carrot kind of game, but it's one I'll make sure I finish with lifetime Platinum status at minimum. Keeping the cards open at minimum gives me:
-Free Night @ hotel
-15 "Nights stayed" by default every year (x2 for having a personal + business card) = 30 nights "stayed" for just having the card.
-Marriott Points for any purchases
-Global Entry
-$300 credit yearly for any Marriott charges yearly
-No foreign transaction fees
+More.
You get 2 of their credit cards early in the year with bonuses and get 125k points as quickly as possible, and then you have 125k+ points and you earn the companion pass which allows anyone you designate as your companion to fly with you for free for the rest of the calendar year and the entire following year.
You can do this every 24 months.
My wife and I have been alternating years with this since about 2013 or around there and have saved thousands upon thousands of dollars because of this. The only thing that sucks is right now we're both having companion passes expire at the end of 2021. One of them was extended a year due to covid. But right now we have 70k in my account and 200k in her account. Once it hits Jan 1st 2022 I will have a new Southwest card that I will start using to get a bonus. Once I get that, I will get another southwest card and get that bonus, and we'll hopefully have another companion pass until the end of 2023.
You do have to pay taxes still though and it varies depending where you go. If you fly nationally, it's about $11/person round trip. We've flown down to Florida to go to the keys like 5x with points and it costs us $33 for the family of 3 (1 lap baby too now). But I'm going to book a trip to Aruba for November and those taxes are like $75 or something a person. Bahamas was the most I believe it was like $125/person in taxes but I doubt I'll go back there.
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant is the one that gives the benefits I mentioned. There are others that are ~$100/year that give the free night and other benefits - but not the others such as $300 incidental creditWhich Marriott card is this?
Why did you choose Southwest? Do other nicer airlines like JetBlue do anything comparable? I've always just done the safe 2% cashback cards, but free family travel has been more and more enticing since we've realized it costs ~$1k out of pocket and that's why we never fly anywhere for vacation.
Cause I have a SW hub near me and 2 other airports that also fly SW if need be.Why did you choose Southwest? Do other nicer airlines like JetBlue do anything comparable? I've always just done the safe 2% cashback cards, but free family travel has been more and more enticing since we've realized it costs ~$1k out of pocket and that's why we never fly anywhere for vacation.
Which card is it? https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/southwest
Any 2 of the SW cards that will help you get the points. One business one regular. And no there is no way to absorb the annual fee. The $200 or whatever for 2 years worth of free flights is worth it.Which card is it? https://creditcards.chase.com/travel-credit-cards/southwest
Also for the annual fee, the $149 for example gets applied to first billing statement, but there's no way to absorb it?
A couple things that stood out:Any 2 of the SW cards that will help you get the points. One business one regular. And no there is no way to absorb the annual fee. The $200 or whatever for 2 years worth of free flights is worth it.
A couple things that stood out:
1) While the initial 65k points gifted is nice, the subsequent points you earn - 1 per $1 spent, don't seem all that worthwhile. For example, on the SWA website, it costs 13.4k points or $202 for a 1-way trip to CHI. If I spent $13,400 (amount needed to earn those 13.4k points), that would've netted me $268 with my 2% credit card instead which would have paid for the flight and a few bucks extra. Am I missing something? Are these only worth it if you qualify for bonuses, because 1pt for $1 spent seems unworthy.
2) It takes either 100 flights or 125k points to earn a companion pass. Am I mistaken or is that needing to spend $125k in a calendar year? We don't even spend half that on our CCs. EDIT> I suppose you use the 65k bonus to get it closer to 125k points, but still, that's a lot of money to spend on a CC in a year, especially because mortgages don't qualify.