Author Topic: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?  (Read 983719 times)

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Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10600 on: August 30, 2018, 02:38:14 PM »
Climbing Kili and finishing with a safari through Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. Not planning on shooting any animals except with my camera. This trip has been high on my bucket list.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline mocat

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10601 on: August 30, 2018, 02:48:35 PM »
Climbing Kili and finishing with a safari through Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. Not planning on shooting any animals except with my camera. This trip has been high on my bucket list.

 :thumbs:

Offline steve dave

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10602 on: August 30, 2018, 04:07:06 PM »
Climbing Kili and finishing with a safari through Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. Not planning on shooting any animals except with my camera. This trip has been high on my bucket list.

Sounds incred, post pics here


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Offline 8manpick

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10603 on: August 30, 2018, 05:58:23 PM »
Climbing Kili and finishing with a safari through Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. Not planning on shooting any animals except with my camera. This trip has been high on my bucket list.

Sounds incred, post pics here


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Probably post in the vision quest thread instead. This sounds amazing!  Not as interested in the Safari part but Kilimanjaro is a dream
:adios:

Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10604 on: August 30, 2018, 06:18:57 PM »
Sadly, this trip is still a year away. It isn’t generally necessary to plan that far ahead, but it is if you want to stake out some of the more exclusive camps inside the national parks. I’ll def post pictures when I go, though. I’m probably more excited about the Kili trek portion, but we’re going to see some pretty amazing stuff (and sleep a lot more comfortably) on the safari after. It’ll be my first time to Africa.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline GoodForAnother

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10605 on: September 02, 2018, 10:41:27 AM »
V jealous. Wife and I are eyeing Greece and the islands for our next trip as I have 840k Marriott burning a hole in my pocket
emaw

Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10606 on: September 04, 2018, 05:43:40 PM »
Greece is gorgeous. You’ll love it. My favorite islands were Santorini (a must) and Naxos (its huge and laid back). Mykonos was ok, too. If you visit Santorini, I’d recommend staying somewhere around Fira, which is in the middle of the crescent. Oia is where you’ll find the blue church in all the postcards and it is a prettier town but it’s all the way at the tip of the crescent so doesn’t make a good home base.

Try to take some time touring the mainland. Athens is so much fun. Get a gyro or 12 from a street vendor. OMG they’re so good. Renting a car and driving through southern Greece was an absolute blast. Our visit to Monemvasia was totally worth it. If you’d rather head north, Meteora is not to be missed.

Beware the ferries between the islands. Rough seas make a very unpleasant voyage, if they aren’t cancelled altogether. You might even consider just flying to Santorini for your island experience and then spending more time on the mainland.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline mocat

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10607 on: September 06, 2018, 07:56:20 AM »
did we already talk about that the OG freedom (rotating 5% categories) is back? i may have missed that if so. mrs mocat has had hers for years but i may snag one now.

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10608 on: September 06, 2018, 08:45:07 AM »
did we already talk about that the OG freedom (rotating 5% categories) is back? i may have missed that if so. mrs mocat has had hers for years but i may snag one now.

i use mine all the time.  those 5x points deserve a lot of spend.
"experienced commanders will simply be smeared and will actually go to the meat."

Offline sys

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10609 on: September 06, 2018, 08:52:19 AM »
Greece is gorgeous. You’ll love it. My favorite islands were Santorini (a must) and Naxos (its huge and laid back). Mykonos was ok, too...

i just threw some miles at half of a trip to greece (next year).  have to get a ticket home and decide which islands to go to at some point.  i'm leaning towards avoiding the popular islands, because i hate crowds, but maybe i shouldn't (will be may, maybe early enough to avoid people)?



researching how to get a ticket home led me to united's excursionist perk and now i'm almost decided to burn some more miles next month just to use the free third leg.  thinking croatia and then somewhere.  hopefully istanbul if i can find the flights, but it's not looking good.
"experienced commanders will simply be smeared and will actually go to the meat."

Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10610 on: September 06, 2018, 02:20:02 PM »
Greece is gorgeous. You’ll love it. My favorite islands were Santorini (a must) and Naxos (its huge and laid back). Mykonos was ok, too...

i just threw some miles at half of a trip to greece (next year).  have to get a ticket home and decide which islands to go to at some point.  i'm leaning towards avoiding the popular islands, because i hate crowds, but maybe i shouldn't (will be may, maybe early enough to avoid people)?



researching how to get a ticket home led me to united's excursionist perk and now i'm almost decided to burn some more miles next month just to use the free third leg.  thinking croatia and then somewhere.  hopefully istanbul if i can find the flights, but it's not looking good.

Santorini is touristy but there's a reason. It's the best of Cyclades. Hands down. You have to go there. But if also want a more laid back island, definitely go Naxos. It's the biggest of the Cyclades but waaaaay less crowded. And you can still take the road all the way around the island on a moped in under a day. Naxos is cool because you're on a Greek Island, but you'll be chilling mainly with locals instead of tourists. I'm telling you man, don't spend your entire time in the islands. Rent a car and explore the mainland, too. The drive from Athens to Monemvasia was the trip of a lifetime. Man I love Greece.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10611 on: September 06, 2018, 02:31:02 PM »
Need some "Flyertalk" help from my GE brethren. Like I mentioned, I'm using signup bonuses to rack up a bunch of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. I want to use them to buy a ticket to Tanzania for my trip next year. I had planned to transfer them to Flying Blue at 1:1, which is KLM's frequent flyer program, and then redeeming them through Flying Blue for a ticket. KLM operates the best flight from New York to Tanzania. One ticket runs about 130k points.

But then I hopped on Ultimate Rewards to see how much ticket I could buy with that using the Chase Sapphire Reserve's 1.5 cent / point exchange rate. It looks like Ultimate Rewards doesn't mark up the price of the KLM ticket at all! So my 150,000 points could buy me $2,280 worth of airfare which might very well cover the cost of both my KLM tickets. Seems like I will get a way better return using Ultimate Rewards than redeeming through Flying Blue. Does that sound right or am I missing something?

I need to figure this out because I'm trying to decide whether to cancel my CSR before incurring another $450 annual fee (actually only $150 after the $300 travel credit). I can't book my flight until a few weeks after the annual renewal because it is so far out (timing sucks). If I'm gonna use Ultimate Rewards to buy the ticket, I'd lean toward keeping the CSR because of the higher 1.5 cent redemption rate.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline mocat

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10612 on: September 06, 2018, 02:34:04 PM »
yeah just keep the csr. you more than compensate for the fee when you use it as a daily driver

Offline sys

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10613 on: September 06, 2018, 07:35:11 PM »
The drive from Athens to Monemvasia was the trip of a lifetime. Man I love Greece.

i will look into this.  my wife is hyped for popping around islands, but i'm more of a mainland type person to start with.  it'd be nice to be able to convince her to spend a little non-athens, non-island time. 
"experienced commanders will simply be smeared and will actually go to the meat."

Offline sys

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10614 on: September 06, 2018, 07:49:50 PM »
Need some "Flyertalk" help from my GE brethren. Like I mentioned, I'm using signup bonuses to rack up a bunch of Chase Ultimate Rewards points. I want to use them to buy a ticket to Tanzania for my trip next year. I had planned to transfer them to Flying Blue at 1:1, which is KLM's frequent flyer program, and then redeeming them through Flying Blue for a ticket. KLM operates the best flight from New York to Tanzania. One ticket runs about 130k points.

i'm not a redemption expert by any means, but in my experience i get good value from miles going from minor city to minor city.  also using stopovers and open jaws and stuff like that.  just going hub to hub in coach on most competitive routes, i think you're going to usually come out ahead using the ur's as currency.  is there a reason you aren't trying to book a flight from wichita?  using miles, the cost on that is the same as booking out of ny.

premium seats also pay out better in miles.

booking miles, i almost always have to take some weird layover or weird hour to fly or pick a destination that has a lot of redemption openings.  like, right now looking for my euro flights, it's very hard for me to find a good flight back from croatia.  but if i book a (free) flight from croatia to some other euro city then it's just a matter of finding the city with availability on the date i want.

in my limited experience, star alliance has the best availability.  i'd be surprised if you couldn't get pretty good flights with them.  aa and delta's programs suck ass comparatively.  you can get good flights, but it's luck (or maybe some skill).
"experienced commanders will simply be smeared and will actually go to the meat."

Offline K-S-U-Wildcats!

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10615 on: September 06, 2018, 08:16:49 PM »
I need to look into Wichita. I have southwest points and companion pass so I figured I could get us to New York for free before catching the international flight. Of course, we have to shuttle between Newark and JFK but we’ve got like a six hour layover so it’s more just a pain than a time crunch.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, K-State fans could have beheaded the entire KU team at midcourt, and K-State fans would be celebrating it this morning.  They are the ISIS of Big 12 fanbases.

Offline sys

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10616 on: September 06, 2018, 08:47:21 PM »
i looked at united and they're lowest is 80k to africa round trip.  so at a min that's 160k for two which is less that what you were saying for the ur's.  and the flights aren't likely to be as convenient.

if you do want to look into it with miles, the way to do it with united is to look for your best african hub (lagos, cairo, dunno what it is).  book one leg of your trip to or from there with a stopover and then the free inter-africa trip to dar.  then at least one leg of your trip is relatively comfortable and you only have to books some weird ass 4 stop, long-lay over itinerary for other leg.

with aa, you have to look for availability of each flight individually then string them together yourself.  their search tool won't do it for you.  it'll tell you there's nothing even though there might be.  it's a huge pain in the ass.
"experienced commanders will simply be smeared and will actually go to the meat."

Offline TheHamburglar

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10617 on: September 14, 2018, 08:13:24 AM »
Is this AA 60k for a new card with a $90/yr fee a good deal?
I got a guy on the other line about some white walls

Offline IPA4Me

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10618 on: September 14, 2018, 08:29:36 AM »
IMO, it is. I don't fly enough to have status but the card gets me to group 5. I've never had to check luggage due to full bins. Basically, I get moved up in line for $15 a flight.

Offline steve dave

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10619 on: September 14, 2018, 11:03:02 AM »
Is this AA 60k for a new card with a $90/yr fee a good deal?

it's fine. if you don't care about 5/24 it's def worth getting

Offline TheHamburglar

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10620 on: September 14, 2018, 01:48:37 PM »
Is this AA 60k for a new card with a $90/yr fee a good deal?

it's fine. if you don't care about 5/24 it's def worth getting

What does "5/24" mean?

What card would you suggest for someone more interested in flights & not hotels?
I got a guy on the other line about some white walls

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10621 on: September 14, 2018, 02:04:20 PM »
oh man let's get this guy flyertalk style

Offline steve dave

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10622 on: September 14, 2018, 03:10:35 PM »
Is this AA 60k for a new card with a $90/yr fee a good deal?

it's fine. if you don't care about 5/24 it's def worth getting

What does "5/24" mean?

What card would you suggest for someone more interested in flights & not hotels?

chase's rule that you can only have 5 applications every 24 months. they won't let you get another card if you're over. The UR cards (Ink, Sapphires) are still the best for flights. then the airline specific cards if you've run through all the UR cards. that AA one is fine. pretty standard for them.

Offline sys

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10623 on: September 15, 2018, 04:50:51 PM »
i'm almost ready to discard keeping myself 5/24, what with the sapphs going to 48.  48 is a slap in the face.
"experienced commanders will simply be smeared and will actually go to the meat."

Offline steve dave

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Re: How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?
« Reply #10624 on: September 15, 2018, 06:14:17 PM »
As soon as a big reserve bonus appears I’ll get it and then also abandon 5/24.


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