How Many Credit Cards Do You Have?

[Tobias]

my employer unexpectedly added an extra week for employees of 2-5 years a couple of months ago.  surprised the hell out of me for a medium large-ish corporation

[michigancat]

Does "PTO" include sick time?

[sys]

why is points guy dot com so high on them? on the take? in the pocket?

it wouldn't surprise me a bit.  there's no ethics in the points game anymore.

[GoodForAnother]

Does "PTO" include sick time?

yes mine includes sick time and goes up with experience.  I'm in year 5.  technically I get 24 days of PTO and a floating holiday, and can roll over 5 each year, so that's why I have 30 this year.

[GoodForAnother]

in 5 years I have only used 2 days for actually being sick and it was because the doctor told me I couldn't go to work

[mocat]

i recently got the SW premier card for the 50k signup bonus. i feel like i fudged up and probably should have gotten the business one at the same time, because now the offer is down to 25k. will it be back to 50k before the year is out? that companion pass is one hot POA

[michigancat]

i recently got the SW premier card for the 50k signup bonus. i feel like i fudged up and probably should have gotten the business one at the same time, because now the offer is down to 25k. will it be back to 50k before the year is out? that companion pass is one hot POA

What about the plus?

[Dr Rick Daris]

i recently got the SW premier card for the 50k signup bonus. i feel like i fudged up and probably should have gotten the business one at the same time, because now the offer is down to 25k. will it be back to 50k before the year is out? that companion pass is one hot POA

yes it should and yes it is 

[mocat]

i recently got the SW premier card for the 50k signup bonus. i feel like i fudged up and probably should have gotten the business one at the same time, because now the offer is down to 25k. will it be back to 50k before the year is out? that companion pass is one hot POA

What about the plus?

they're all 25k now

[steve dave]

I have never worked at a job long enough to get over two weeks. Although I now get the two weeks plus a floating holiday every quarter. 30 days, wow.

I get 30 days plus the usual holidays and a floater. In ~3 years I'll get 35 days. I have the option to sell up to 5 days but I always end up using all of them so I don't ever do it.

[michigancat]

I have never worked at a job long enough to get over two weeks. Although I now get the two weeks plus a floating holiday every quarter. 30 days, wow.

I get 30 days plus the usual holidays and a floater. In ~3 years I'll get 35 days. I have the option to sell up to 5 days but I always end up using all of them so I don't ever do it.

and I bet it's separate from sick time

[ksupamplemousse]

A good friend of mine got a CSP with his wife, and she uses it for her photog business. He told me proudly today that they cashed out their UR points to buy themselves iPhone 6 + devices. I almost cried. Then I delicately told him that what he just did was incredibly stupid.

[mocat]

[steve dave]

sometimes I feel bad about telling people how much they mumped up but it's best that they know. like, they may as well hear it from their bud steve dave so they don't continue being complete dumbasses over and over.

[puniraptor]

whats the best thing to do with UR points that isnt disneyland?

[michigancat]

whats the best thing to do with UR points that isnt disneyland?

It depends on your needs. First class to Europe is probably the best dollar:point ratio most of the time, but not everyone has 8 weeks of vacation to make that work.

[steve dave]

whats the best thing to do with UR points that isnt disneyland?

It will always be transferring to a partner. There are a lot of high value reward opportunities no matter what kind of travel you do. Most bang for your buck will probably come from Hyatt/BA/United/Singapore/Korean/etc. You can easily get 2+ cpm redemption with Hyatt. The Hyatt Wichita is probably the best or near best in Wichita and is only 5k Hyatt points. So, if a room is going for only $100 you are getting 2 cpm. Like Rus pointed out your best bang for buck redemptions are going to be upper class international flights. Like, a $2k biz class flight from San Fran to Paris would run you 50k United miles on a saver award. that's 4 cpm. Even if you got a steal and got a $2k RT biz class flight you are getting 2 cpm. But, if you are just flying to MCI to ORD you can use 4,500 avios on BA (9k RT) so a $150 ticket ($300 RT) would get you 3.3 cpm. Even SW miles are a better redemption than cashing them out or doing some awful product redemption. A SW mile is currently worth ~1.67 cpm and you can get even better cpm redemptions if you look around.

[steve dave]

like, I love calling the chase UR line because the person on the phone will always tell you what your points are worth if you just cashed them out. the other day I called about something and the guy was like, your 270k points are worth $2,700! and I was like, "yeah, ok  "

[sys]

jeffey would be mad about not negotiating a cash discount, but who has the time?

According to the Chinese website of China Merchants Bank which issued the card, the conversion rate is one point per 20 yuan, meaning Liu should qualify for about 18,750,000 miles, including bonus awards.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-12/billionaire-flies-on-amex-points-to-pay-45-million-for-artwork

[puniraptor]

do the partner transfer deals change all the time? like you have to be on top of it to snipe the right scoop at the right moment?

[michigancat]

do the partner transfer deals change all the time? like you have to be on top of it to snipe the right scoop at the right moment?

All the transfers I've done have been 1:1

[puniraptor]

do the partner transfer deals change all the time? like you have to be on top of it to snipe the right scoop at the right moment?

All the transfers I've done have been 1:1

doesnt that kind of blow?

[steve dave]

what free/almost free travel do you dudes have booked? I've got:

-March Vegas trip with ma'boys. First class US flight there on points, direct SW flight back on points. Three nights at Aria at ~$150 a night with my status I got from Hyatt.

-Taking the fam to disney world in May. First class flight there on United with points. direct flight back on SW on points/companion pass. 6 nights at a 1,200 sq ft suite at the Swan on points.

-Taking mrs. dave to Maine in June. First class flight there on US on points. flight back on SW on points/companion pass. 2 nights at the HGI Portland on garbage Hilton points and 2 nights at the Hampton in Bar Harbor on garbage Hilton points (FINALLY EXHAUSTING THESE 200k HH I HATE).

-Taking the fam somewhere in November. will almost certainly use SW miles/companion pass combo.

[michigancat]

do the partner transfer deals change all the time? like you have to be on top of it to snipe the right scoop at the right moment?

All the transfers I've done have been 1:1

doesnt that kind of blow?

no, it's not 1 UR point=$0.01, it's 1 UR point = 1 travel partner point

When you book travel through the UR portal it's 100 UR point = $1.25, but the redemption on actual airline miles is often better.

[steve dave]

do the partner transfer deals change all the time? like you have to be on top of it to snipe the right scoop at the right moment?

All the transfers I've done have been 1:1

doesnt that kind of blow?

not at all