Post: #1176

Gotcha, it makes sense now. Kind of a "that's what I saw a while ago but lets check" thing. Thanks man!

Post: #1177

(12-13-2016 03:15 PM)elcidcampeador Wrote:  The Uber driver will not get paid. The question is whether the driver noticed it come out of their pay or not.

If the driver is taking the long way, tell them instead of being sleazy and indirect and writing to Uber begging for a refund of $2 on your $6 fare

Look, I've done this less then three times and I was dissatisfied with my ride everytime. The driver still gets paid for his time and I have confirmed this. For them to do a job and not get paid is illegal sir.

So if you don't like what I said in that post just look over it and read all the other gems that I posted.

Post: #1178

(12-18-2016 12:26 PM)NewDayNewFace Wrote:  

(12-13-2016 03:15 PM)elcidcampeador Wrote:  The Uber driver will not get paid. The question is whether the driver noticed it come out of their pay or not.

If the driver is taking the long way, tell them instead of being sleazy and indirect and writing to Uber begging for a refund of $2 on your $6 fare

Look, I've done this less then three times and I was dissatisfied with my ride everytime. The driver still gets paid for his time and I have confirmed this. For them to do a job and not get paid is illegal sir.

So if you don't like what I said in that post just look over it and read all the other gems that I posted.

Quote: There has been times I've Ubered a chick back to her place and got charged a ride of 50$. I complained and said I wasn't in the Uber and they give the money back.

Ok Champ.

Post: #1179

Here's something that may be of interest to those of you looking to top off your MR points balance. You can get the Green and Gold cards with 25k points each for minimum spending requirements. The AMEX Gold is a different product then the PRG or Ameriprise Gold, and the 25k bonus is nearly impossible to find. AMEX doesn't limit the number of charge cards you can own, so you can apply for multiple charge cards in the same day and combine HPs. You can even snag the AMEX Everyday, which gives you 25k points and a good way to maintain your MR points as there is no annual fee. These bonuses are much higher than what are typically available using public links.

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/commen...ffers_the/

Quote: I. Steps:
Clear the cookies of americanexpress.com in your browser. Then open a new window in Incognito Mode.
Go to https://www.baidu.com (a search engine, the Chinese equivalent of Google). Search keyword “American Express” and go to the official site (https://www.americanexpress.com ).

Click View All Small Business Cards.

Find The Enhanced Business Platinum Card among all business cards and click it

Choose View All Personal Charge & Credit Cards option at the top, you might see big AmEx offers in the new page.

You should see all personal cards with the higher bonus amounts

Post: #1180

Can't we all just get along?

Post: #1181

My buddy is a full-time Uber driver and he always complains to me about drivers complaining about their rides being too expensive. He says they often take the money out discreetly from his pay and he has to write Uber to get it back.

What's up with riders complaining about subsidized rides anyway?

Post: #1182

``What's up with riders complaining about subsidized rides anyway?''

They are not used to having to actually pay for something, so when they do, they want someone else to ``chip'' in.

Post: #1183

I have a Chase Sapphire Prefered card. So far so good, got the bonus, been checking out how to use them well.

My question: It says it will give me a bonus of $100 USD if someone signs up for a card using my link but Im not sure if they need to actually use the card or just sign up. Anyone know? Otherwise Im going to have my parents and a couple friends sign up and get $500 USD easy money.

Post: #1184

They need to be approved. That said, once approved, its kind of crazy to end up paying the annual fee and not getting the signup bonus points, which of course requires that the card be used. Otherwise, this isn't a very good deal economically.

You can also get points for referring other people, as opposed to money. I'd prefer 10,000 UR points to 100 USD, because i'll get (just using hyatt) at least 200 USD value for 10,000 UR points, and if I use them for Singapore miles or BA miles, probably 300-400 USD of value. Look around for the link providing points rather than USD if you prefer. Or the link you're seeing might be a points link, showing the value of the "pay with points" option with UR - the lowest value option those points have in general.

(12-20-2016 08:33 AM)ball dont lie Wrote:  I have a Chase Sapphire Prefered card. So far so good, got the bonus, been checking out how to use them well.

My question: It says it will give me a bonus of $100 USD if someone signs up for a card using my link but Im not sure if they need to actually use the card or just sign up. Anyone know? Otherwise Im going to have my parents and a couple friends sign up and get $500 USD easy money.

Post: #1185

(12-22-2016 10:54 PM)Global Entry Wrote:  They need to be approved. That said, once approved, its kind of crazy to end up paying the annual fee and not getting the signup bonus points, which of course requires that the card be used. Otherwise, this isn't a very good deal economically.

You can also get points for referring other people, as opposed to money. I'd prefer 10,000 UR points to 100 USD, because i'll get (just using hyatt) at least 200 USD value for 10,000 UR points, and if I use them for Singapore miles or BA miles, probably 300-400 USD of value. Look around for the link providing points rather than USD if you prefer. Or the link you're seeing might be a points link, showing the value of the "pay with points" option with UR - the lowest value option those points have in general.

(12-20-2016 08:33 AM)ball dont lie Wrote:  I have a Chase Sapphire Prefered card. So far so good, got the bonus, been checking out how to use them well.

My question: It says it will give me a bonus of $100 USD if someone signs up for a card using my link but Im not sure if they need to actually use the card or just sign up. Anyone know? Otherwise Im going to have my parents and a couple friends sign up and get $500 USD easy money.

OK. I wouldn't have them pay them fee. I believe that's at the one year mark. So I would send them an email after a few months and tell them to cancel the card and be sure not to pay the yearly fee. To be honest, Im not sure that even I want to pay the yearly fee, not unless I sign up 5 people and get those $500 in cash/points and find out how to use the points well.

I need to learn more about Hyatt because I keep seeing this again and again, that Hyatt is the best points use for Chase points.

Post: #1186

This is a similar post to what I recently posted in my GoldMoney thread, but it is worth repeating here for all of the manufactured spenders out there.

A primer on GoldMoney

/thread-59663.html

I wanted to update this thread with some information that may be valuable to those out there who are interested in hitting credit card spends for the purpose of acquiring certain signup bonuses. While there are a number of ways to hit these spends, one of the most common ones is the gift card -> money order -> bank deposit -> pay off credit card sequence. Between the time it takes to facilitate all of this and the fact that gift cards will run $6-10 per $500 card (plus money order fees), there are some costs (in both time and money) that begin to add up. GoldMoney can make this process much more efficient.

Deposits can be made with bank account transfers AND with CCs, (amongst a few other methods) with only a .5% processing fee. Withdraws can be made to bank accounts also at a .5% clip. So, one can open an account, deposit the necessary amounts required to hit spends via CC, wait for the gold/deposit to post, cash out, and use the previously deposited funds to pay off the card. With a total of 1% fees (plus or minus the fluctuations of the gold market), one can easily hit a spend of $1-10k with under $100 in fees and never have to leave the house.

NOTE: At this time, GoldMoney does NOT allow CC deposits via Amex. This might change in the future, but please consider this if you are considering opening an account an depositing via Amex.

I can vouch that this has worked for me and saves a lot of time and hassle. Let me know if I can explain further or if you’d like a referral link.

Post: #1187

Gents,
The Chase Sapphire Reserve, arguably the best card with definitely the best sign up bonus, will see the signup reduced as of Jan 11, dropping from 100K Chase UR points, to 50K.

Time to apply, if you've not gotten 5 new cards (from any issuers, mostly not including business cards however) in the last 24 months.

And if you would like to support the effort, please PM me, and I'll send you link. Compensation on the card isn't great as its such a good card (3x points per dollar on travel), net 150 USD per year after flight credit (no gift card purchase necessary), but its something, and I appreciate it. Thanks to Menace, Tokyo Joe, Male Defined and Direct Danger, amongst others who have used my links.

Post: #1188

(01-05-2017 10:49 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  Gents,
The Chase Sapphire Reserve, arguably the best card with definitely the best sign up bonus, will see the signup reduced as of Jan 11, dropping from 100K Chase UR points, to 50K.

Time to apply, if you've not gotten 5 new cards (from any issuers, mostly not including business cards however) in the last 24 months.

And if you would like to support the effort, please PM me, and I'll send you link. Compensation on the card isn't great as its such a good card (3x points per dollar on travel), net 150 USD per year after flight credit (no gift card purchase necessary), but its something, and I appreciate it. Thanks to Menace, Tokyo Joe, Male Defined and Direct Danger, amongst others who have used my links.

Yo G -- no no, thank you for all the credit card/airline/hotel points, programs, booking, and other stellar "Travel Game" advice over the past year.

Thanks to Global Entry, 2016 was far and away my best travel year ever.
Some highlights included:
-- All Nippon Air, First Class, round trip Tokyo-Chicago (for less than $2300, after all the machinations were done)
-- SAS, business class, round trip Tokyo-Copenhagen ($1500 total).
-- R/T in business class with Global from HK to Jakarta through KL, with First Class lounge access. $500 total
-- Some great nights at the Hyatt Regency and Grand Hyatt Hong Kong; Grand Hyatt Jakarta; Grand Hyatt Shenzhen. All with suites and club lounge access, for an average of ~$120/night. Insanity.

Not to mention plumbing the depths of Malate in April with the G, and many other stops along the way (that spa in Shenzhen) ...

Here's to 2017, onward and upward --

Post: #1189

(01-05-2017 10:49 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  Gents,
The Chase Sapphire Reserve, arguably the best card with definitely the best sign up bonus, will see the signup reduced as of Jan 11, dropping from 100K Chase UR points, to 50K.

Time to apply, if you've not gotten 5 new cards (from any issuers, mostly not including business cards however) in the last 24 months.

And if you would like to support the effort, please PM me, and I'll send you link. Compensation on the card isn't great as its such a good card (3x points per dollar on travel), net 150 USD per year after flight credit (no gift card purchase necessary), but its something, and I appreciate it. Thanks to Menace, Tokyo Joe, Male Defined and Direct Danger, amongst others who have used my links.

Thanks for the head's up.

I just applied and got the Barclay's card, and regretted not getting this one first.

Just to add to that, I just read the following:

"...though people who apply at a bank branch will still be ble to get the bonus until March 12." from The New York Times

Post: #1190

In the 48 pages this has probably already been discussed. Just want to point out that my "personalized" offers from being members of frequent flyer programs are better than just applying for the card normally.

Be apart of a frequent flyer program, check e-mail, mailings, and online account information. American, Delta, and United are all offering me currently better sign up reward bonus than just the standard had I not been part of the frequent flyer programs.

Post: #1191

Anyone have experience booking AA awards with partner airline programs? I can never seem to find much (any) availability through BA or Qantas, and Etihad requires a notoriously unreliable phone booking process. Reason I ask is that the particular flight I'm searching (domestic, but over a busy weekend) costs 70k AAdvantage points, and was thinking a partner airline may charge less (for example I believe its 12.5k to book AA with Etihad points domestic), and I have a decent amount of transferable points (Citi, Chase, SPG).

Post: #1192

(01-06-2017 01:42 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Anyone have experience booking AA awards with partner airline programs? I can never seem to find much (any) availability through BA or Qantas, and Etihad requires a notoriously unreliable phone booking process. Reason I ask is that the particular flight I'm searching (domestic, but over a busy weekend) costs 70k AAdvantage points, and was thinking a partner airline may charge less (for example I believe its 12.5k to book AA with Etihad points domestic), and I have a decent amount of transferable points (Citi, Chase, SPG).

In my experience, there is no way around the phone booking process if the flight is not available on AA website (flights between US and Asia aren't as far as I know).

Pro tip: you can place a hold on an award AA flight over the phone for 5 days for free, then either call back and book it or just forget about it.

Post: #1193

Hey all, lots of valuable content here!
Does anyone have any idea / resource on how I could travel in a $600 budget?
I'd be okay with anything in South America, Eastern Europe or India.

Post: #1194

(01-06-2017 01:42 PM)nmmoooreland20 Wrote:  Anyone have experience booking AA awards with partner airline programs? I can never seem to find much (any) availability through BA or Qantas, and Etihad requires a notoriously unreliable phone booking process. Reason I ask is that the particular flight I'm searching (domestic, but over a busy weekend) costs 70k AAdvantage points, and was thinking a partner airline may charge less (for example I believe its 12.5k to book AA with Etihad points domestic), and I have a decent amount of transferable points (Citi, Chase, SPG).

I booked my 1st class Cathay flight using AA. At first I used BA's website to search for availability but soon learned that an AA agent appears to have more complete access to availability. The AA agent patiently looked through several months of availability and gave me lot's of options so I could pick the flight I wanted and I was also able to change the "dates" later on without a charge.

Post: #1195

(01-05-2017 10:57 PM)OneManWolfPack Wrote:  In the 48 pages this has probably already been discussed. Just want to point out that my "personalized" offers from being members of frequent flyer programs are better than just applying for the card normally.

I'll defer to Global Entry but the general answer to your question is that (1) the offers that members post are not personalized, and not any better than what you can get on your own. however, you can pay it forward by using a member's link because they get a small bonus for referring your. (2) the offers you get from the programs themselves are called targeted offers. you generally have to be a member of their frequent flyer program to get these. in addition to credit card offers, they'll have bonus opportunities that can be quite lucrative - for example, 50K points if you have 4 hotel stays in the next 3 months or something like that. A good website to track these is flyertalk. Often, but not always, there are offers in the market that you can take advantage of even if the program didn't send you an invite.

the targeted offers for sign up are generally the same as available to the public, maybe slightly better (Marriott's is slightly better).

Post: #1196

(01-05-2017 10:49 AM)Global Entry Wrote:  Gents,
The Chase Sapphire Reserve, arguably the best card with definitely the best sign up bonus, will see the signup reduced as of Jan 11, dropping from 100K Chase UR points, to 50K.

Global, thanks for the head's up.

Doesn't the 100K card have a $450 annual fee? So if you can spend $4,000 in 3 months, then you get 100,000 Chase ultimate reward points. How valuable are the Chase points? Apparrently you can transfer these on a 1-1 basis to some major programs, but certainly not all: British Airways Executive Club; Flying Blue AIR FRANCE KLM; Korean Air SKYPASS; Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer; Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards®; United MileagePlus®; Virgin Atlantic Flying Club; Hyatt Gold Passport®; IHG® Rewards Club; Marriott Rewards®
The Ritz-Carlton Rewards®. For example, I don't see Delta listed. And there are cheaper ways to get 100,000 points on those programs.

The Chase website says "Get 50% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards®.* For example, 100,000 points are worth $1,500 toward travel." How does that work?

I'm sure this is a good card if you are recommending it, I just want to make sure its a good card for me.

Post: #1197

Shocking how rarely I post on the forum these days, but I've got some time while I've got my legs stretched out flying EVA business class ORD-TPE.

Once you get the hang of this whole thing, the benefits pay off exponentially. Many friends and family thought that me posting pics of traveling in premium cabins or staying at incredible hotels was a brief phase that would expire after my initial credit card bonuses expired, however now that they see that the gravy train isn't ending, they're the ones asking me how it can be done A few pieces of advice and takeaways now that I'm a few years into the whole thing:

1. I do spend more on travel than I used to. Not by much though. However, I get way more than what I put into it. Again, it's all about value. Instead of saving $10-20 by booking independent hotels, I stay with major brands. Those stays add up. They add up into status. Status turns into free food, drinks, points and the wow factor when you tell women where you're staying or women see the suite you've been upgraded to. I spend more upfront, but probably save overall when you factor in the number of free meals, drinks, upgrades, and points I've used for free nights.

2. Travel should be fun. You know what's more fun than frugally traveling through a place hoping to bang some exotic poon? Traveling well and banging some exotic poon. The joy of flying business class or being upgraded to a suite, is exactly that. A joy. I love the fact that I can sleep on planes, be served champagne, and get upgraded to suites and serve the girl that slept over a 5 star breakfast spread the next morning.

3. Be aware of outsized offers. If you're a US citizen, it's not tremendously hard to take advantage of the hotel game just using credit cards. Hyatt's card gives you 2 nights anywhere in the world after spending $1000. IHG gives you one night anywhere in the world every year with their card. Starwood's points are invaluable because of their flexibility.

Continuing on with hotels, take advantage of earning status with stays and not nights. Ten minutes of homework might mean you can walk across the street with a laundry bag of clothes everyday, checking into a different hotel everyday. If I'm in a place for a week, I'll regularly walk across the street with a plastic bag of clothes, leaving my full luggage as storage at the hotel I've just checked out of, but will check back into the following day.

I take more of a free agent approach with airlines, using points from sign ups and spend, and liberally buying Avianca miles for long haul business travel.

Point is, this stuff may seem like a impossibility, but 20 hours of learning and you can travel like someone who clears $1MM+. Now, I do well for myself, but I could never afford to do what I do if I outright purchased it.

Post: #1198

Question about the chase reserve. If I apply for a preferred in addition, will I still get the sign up bonus? Will probably ditch the reserve after the first year, before the $450 fee kicks in again

I was very lucky, because I will have gotten the $300 travel credit twice, and only pay the fee once.

Post: #1199

(01-13-2017 03:20 PM)churros Wrote:  Question about the chase reserve. If I apply for a preferred in addition, will I still get the sign up bonus? Will probably ditch the reserve after the first year, before the $450 fee kicks in again

I was very lucky, because I will have gotten the $300 travel credit twice, and only pay the fee once.

I'm still a bit new to this game, but if I understand this correctly, you should be able to get both bonuses, since they are 2 different cards. I believe it was 100,000 UR for the Reserve (up until Jan 11) and 50,000 UR for the Preferred, provided that you can meet the minimum spend on BOTH cards.

One thing to watch out for, as has been mentioned, is that Chase has a 5/24 rule. If you have applied for more that 5 credit cards (no matter if it was with Chase or not (excluding non-Chase business credit cards)) within a 24 month period, Chase will automatically deny the application. It would be better to avoid that hard denial on your credit history.

Post: #1200

Here is a tip - if you get the Starwood or Hilton American Express, you automatically get gold status with the hotel. For Starwood, that transfers to Mariott. Gold status means you get more points for each spend, have priority on upgrades, and at Hilton get either lounge access (free drinks, snacks, and at some breakfast and light dinner) or breakfast. Some marriotts offer lounge access or breakfast, but this perq is less reliable than Hilton, but still better than a poke in the eye. If have a traveling companion, this benefit in some cities can be worth $50-/night, not counting the value of a better room or more points.