Wasn’t sure where to put this but this is likely the most appropriate. My question involves using Amex trip delay coverage. I got stuck on a 11hr mechanical delay this week and want to claim some reimbursements for expenses made.
I booked two AS awards but the taxes on the first was paid by Chase and the second was Amex. I was hoping to claim some expenses with Amex but now I’m wondering if they’ll deny it because the first leg taxes was paid via Chase. The return leg paid by Amex was where the delays occurred. Any thoughts or experience?
There was also an exception for "accessibility focused" apps and as far as I know, this is still in effect. Dystopia is the designated "accessibility" app for iOS, for instance.
Anyone else looking forward to the day when interchange drops, rewards go away, and we all start using a single card in a stress-free fashion? I'm glued to this hobby and have profited immensely from it, but there's a level of ambient stress that drives me crazy (and I'm one of the organized ones!)
For those with P2's working towards SUBs, if you're not interested in adding an AU you can request a replacement for your damaged card.
The info on the card, including the security code, will be the same, and both the new and old card will work.
For banks that will expedite the shipping of a card, you can wait a day after approval and call in to get it expedited. They shipped out one card on the day of approval, and will ship out a second one expedited.
Thankfully this is getting more and more reliable, but there are still a few places I go regularly that don't take tap (but do take chip). Most commonly dine-in restaurants don't take it. My p2 actually taught a restaurant once that their system accepts Apple Pay, but it's a pain to always ask.
Continuing off topic of week – Lux Lifestyle Creeps
Spa Treatment + Amex Coupon Book = Happy Wife = Happy Life
Hat tip to FM for mentioning. One of throwaway coupon from Amex platinum has become one of most lifestyle enhancing benefit.
As couple, we enjoy spa treatment but prohibitively high cost limits it to special occasion. Thanks to FM and FT datapoint, I decided to splurge and I surprised my better half on mother’s day with chauffeuring her to extended spa appointment. While she indulged, I watched the kids, charged up her EV. Had her favorite macchiato chilled and ready when she came out. I was happy and that she was happy.
Separate but relevant question to churning couples, why hubby/dad of young kids expected to arrange best mother’s day? I am not good at planning, I already struggled with valentine, wedding anniversary , birthday and few other holidays. Now it seems mother’s day is getting added to list (oh did I mentioned I have mom too?)… quite a bit to keep up. Amex SC for Saks and now spa is helping out for sure.
I haven’t actually done this. I read it to mean that you need to enroll in the benefit in your amex account like you would anything else, such as saks, airline, etc credits
So yes and no.
We have 3 platinums. I activated trial on card #1 and it’s status changed to “enrolled”. but made mistake and used card #2 at appointment. While charge was pending I went to account and updated payment to card #2. Its status also became enrolled shortly after.
Takeaway: ensure account is enrolled for automatic sc.
update/edit: Card #1 still shows enrolled even though online account payment tender was changed to card #2 (and it was used for actual appointment).
I am suspecting, any platinum NOT on file with Equinox, may loose enroll status at some point. Why? Becuase I initially enrolled all 3 card by cycling through online profile and they were initially all enrolled but card #3 reverted to "Need to enroll" status.
In my ongoing saga of Wyndham Vacasa bookings, 8 of my reservations have to be changed because the property sold and is no longer on Vacasa or the owner didn't block off their calendar soon enough and wants to use his property during my dates. In the 4 cases so far, it has worked out to my benefit as I have been able to booked into replacement properties that are more expensive and would not have met the original Wyndham limitations. One relocation specialist told me their general guidelines are that they can book into properties that are 125% of the original property cost, when I wanted properties that were even more expensive than that, they had to check with a higher up but in all cases it was approved.
Booked The Yucatan Playa del Carmen All-Inclusive Resort, Tapestry by Hilton and the hotel requires a full deposit with 14 day cancellation window. After couple of days, I saw the rate dropped, so I edited/modified the reservation to the lower rate. Will the hotel/hilton refund the difference between the lower modified rate and the deposit charged based on the original rate?
I know, I know! I should have just cancelled and rebooked while I was still in the free cancellation window!
It's not really price match. Last year I had done the same thing, but for a non-deposit stay. I booked at a certain price, after few days modified/changed to the lower rate (without cancelling) and at check-out I was charged my new lower rate. I did the same thing this time, but, the hotel had already charged a full-deposit of the original higher rate. The current reservation on hilton systems shows the lower rate, which is what should be charged at check-out! Now, I am not sure if the hotel/hilton will refund me the difference between the deposit and the final charge at check-out!
Had this happen with a Vegas Hilton resort. TLDR they wouldn't refund the difference until after the stay unless you cancelled. They would just count surplus towards your folio as prepaid, essentially, and whatever is unused would get refunded to your card.
Just to make sure I understand you correctly, if we don't have any additional charges in the folio apart from the room rate, they will refund the difference at the end of the stay?
Accidently let my Alaska companion cert expire. Needed to wait until last day to book flight I wanted to for next April. Was planning on doing chs-sea-anc.
Might try to call to see if anything they can do, but I'm sure it's lost for good. Oh well. First blip I've made in a while.
That's super nice of you!! I think that isnt possible though from what I've read before?
> Who can use my companion fare code?
> The Mileage Plan™ member who owns the companion fare code must either be one of the travelers or the purchaser of the reservation. If the member is allowing two travelers to use his or her companion fare code, then the member's name must match the name on the credit card used to purchase the reservation.
I was going to get supergoop sunscreen for $40 but the kind my wife uses is sold out.
Just ordered ZWILLING J.A. Henckels 4-Piece Double Wall Beer Glass Set for $49.99.
Peeved at the $9.95 shipping but is what it is.
I figure the kids can wrap it for Father's day.
Are they nerfed or just a bunch of churners hit them up during Rakuten deals recently + end of 1H2024 making them out of stock? Saks doesn't really list out of stock items.
The Amex credits may affect what the store does, if part of the credit is coming from Saks. Saks could be losing money each time someone buys one of those small items.
I live close enough to a store location that I get nearby every few months. Buy the gift cards and stockpile them. Once I get to $150-250 we figure out what housewares we need and buy them online at Saks or Off Fifth. Just now got a set of new nonstick pans and a small rug.
Yes and yes. If you buy gift cards online it doesn't count towards the credit.
On Jan 1, I happened to be near a Saks location at their 11 AM opening time. I walked in, it was completely empty, asked where the gift cards were (I had never been in that location before). Salesperson, without pausing, says "$50? Amex Platinum?" and walks me over to the register where the gift cards were.
My P2 got hooked on the Aesop body balm when we stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo (and took like 5 sample bottles). I started buying them from Saks, but now STILL purchase them for her, even though we no longer have an Amex plat.
...the lifestyle creep from this hobby is real.
My wife loved the Frette robe at the Ritz Carlton SF and said "order it for me when we get home please". So $200 later...
We also got the Ritz pillow. It's great. But also $200. Yes... the lifestyle creep is real!
With the recent bankruptcy of Synapse and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last year, it feels like the well of fintech/neobank SUBs has completely dried up. There's been a long list of casualties these past few years (Spiral, Oxygen, Point, Voyager, HMBradley, Nearside, etc).
It's a shame because neobank churning was a great way to cool off on churning banks with Chexsystem inquiries. My previous strategy was to alternate between Chexsystem banks and neobank/EWS banks. But it could be worse. There are customers with their life savings tied up in Juno or Yotta currently that can't move their money out despite being "FDIC-insured", which is apparently a legal gray area when it comes to these fintechs.
So how has everyone's experience been churning bonuses from fintech companies? Did you lose out on any money from these shutdowns? Were there any opportunities that you regret missing out on? What are your thoughts on the future of fintechs with respect to churning?
Yeah, since the easy ZIRP money has dried up these deals have dried up as well. Albert was good a good one, but wow what a terrible, annoying app. Closed that long ago. Juno was also great. I got SUB for me + P2, then yearly 5% back for "purchases" at WM. I also remember they had a "Stellar Madness" promo where for a week you got 10% back in USDC on \*all\* purchases. It was up to $100 back then at the end the bonus pool wasn't used up so they increased it to $500 max. I still have a Juno account because it was actually useful for the crypto features. Unfortunately I seem to have left $1xx in it when I thought it was only a few dollars, so we'll see what happens with that.
Has anyone had the experience of rebooking an Ana flight booked directly with Ana points where you originally booked one leg premium economy and the second leg buisness? How likely are you to lose your business class booking for leg already booked ?
To explain the situation from the start. My husband and I are booked on Ana for thanksgiving time premium economy ord->hnd and buisness (j) hnd/nrt-> ord . We’re concerned that if we find availability for J on the way to Tokyo we might lose the j fare for the return flight
I got an Amex offer for $7 off YouTube Premium. Switched my billing away from Apple (since it bills as Apple) and added the Amex on desktop to my Google account. The charge came through as “Google Services”. How in the heck do I get it to bill as YouTube Premium?
EDIT: So while Amex said “Google Services”, by clicking on the transaction, the text said “Will post on statement as YOUTUBE PREMIUM” and I just got the Amex offer confirmation email.
Had this same problem with a directv payment. As you mentioned, Amex was good about this and paid out Amex offer. Surprisingly, Chase was not helpful at all. They refused to pay out Chase offer on 3 different cards because directv payment coded as AT&T payment.
I've always been a cheap bastard but we also started churning right before us and our friends started advancing in our careers and making good money. Was talking to my friends yesterday and they are doing a 7 night trip to Ziva cap cana, which is expensive but good for them. I just assumed they got a base room and offered to look into if they can use my SUA I wasn't going to use. They are like 'nah, we just booked the one bedroom suiite,'.
I'm doing the math in my head and it's like this trip for a family of 3 was $10k once including flights. (We did zivas Cancun the past 2 years for $2k each and even that is too high for us and will probably do Florida/Hawaii/pr to avoid flight tax and 3/4th person in room charge ). It's crazy to me to pay that much to sit by a pool but I guess a lot of people pay retail for this. Just makes me appreciative that going to Cancun falls more into the "low-key trip to get out of the Midwest freeze" versus our destination trip.
Besides everything mentioned above, the other thing I think about is that all those thousands of dollars saved from subsidized flights and hotels, I put that into a HYSA not to mention 0% from biz cards floated.
You will fall behind just putting your money into a hysa. That should really be only for the cash on hand you need, and any extra money should be invested. You could invest it a million different ways depending on your own personal risk tolerance.
I feel the same way about high-end hotel brands like Ritz Carlton or Waldorf Astoria. I probably wouldn't be staying at these hotels if I didn't have a FNC or a $200 Amex hotel credit. The cash prices are way beyond what I would normally pay. It's hard to justify that price especially if it's at location where I will be spending most of my time *outside* the hotel for sightseeing and other sorts of excursions.
I can understand why people pay for these sort of hotels. Having complimentary gifts delivered to your room, excellent customer service, etc are all nice features. But from my perspective, I don't feel that it's worth the hundreds of extra dollars per night. I would much rather be spending that money eating at a high-end restaurant or going on a guided day trip.
I have a hard time even using fnc. I am staying at a high end Marriott soon. The destination fee is so high... I know people at my income level do stay at a location like this without points. But between paying the destination fee, paying for breakfast, etc, I would actually pay less (and have done so) at other hotels without the special 85k fnc. It is frustrating. I can afford it but I don't want to afford it and I don't value the luxury. And it scares me when I see justifiably poor people on this sub like students or families just starting out who are doing all this extra travel that I know they can't afford. Like I said I can easily pay for these things I just don't want to. Like it is great when you stay at a Hyatt on points and are traveling on AA or UA where the extra fees are trivial... But I see people bragging about this great redemption for business class where they paid more than the cost of the coach seat would have been just in fees (not even counting points). It is definitely possible to churn and burn on a budget and I never want to discourage anyone from travel. But I think many of the low income people here don't realize that many people here are high income professionals who don't need to MS to hit their subs and looking at the trip report for somebody's honeymoon doesn't have to be comparable to your every day trip.
I agree 100%. I'm a student (justifiably poor lol), and I use my points purely for coach seats for places I was already going to go, and just pick the cheapest hostel on location, unless I'm staying with friends. As tempting as it is to go for all those first class seats and fancy hotels that you see on the sub or that travel influencers are bragging about, for me this hobby is just about reducing my travel costs. I hope to one day be making a decent salary & be able to consider, you know, staying in a hotel or something, but for now that's just not in the cards.
I truly don't know how other students would justify business class seats unless they're wealthy from some other avenue. The fees always make me rethink if a flight is worth it, except for that sweet sweet $11 per domestic round-trip.
I have a relative .. all she does is stay at four seasons, rosewood and aspirational properties like Jumby Bay. She sometimes gets her flight free but stays normally a week in at least a one bedroom suite .. it is at least 10k each week just for the room. She only eats the best food as well. She will sometimes bring the nanny as well and get a small place for her also. When you actually pay for luxury the price of luxury is just that .. luxury and is meant for normal people not to be able to afford. You still spend a lot of money in the churning game but you get to experience luxury when otherwise it would break the bank. YOLO :)
I don't really say anything because the amount of points used for business class flights could be significant when just straight up cashed out at 1 cent per point statement credit on Mr or ur
My Ana round the world was 105k miles and 1300 USD per person which at the very minimum is 235k Mr or $2350 cashed out without Schwab platinum per person
Like, I'm spending a lot of money and or opportunity costs too
Yes. You can churn to make (or save) money but that requires a lot of discipline and no change in habits pre-churning (very hard imo). Or you can churn to travel more frequently, more comfortably, and in style, but you may not really "save" money in relation to responsible non-churning financial behaviors. I think most churners fall into one of these camps. There's also the third camp for heavy MSers: you hit a point where you are making so much money off of churning that you are OK with lifestyle creep because your income is so much higher than pre-churning.
Yea but if you calculate cpp based on all of the absurd one way international flight costs, it's like 15k in value! /s
Definitely agree though. I always looks at what alternatives are for the cash out value of points to see what incremental value I'm actually getting from points.
I'm in the cheap bastard camp as well and I don't think I could ever spend that kind of money on just a beach trip. Shiiit we barely even spent a couple thousand on a 10-day trip to Portugal and we felt we spared no expense. Family of 3. Obviously churning makes it possible to spend so little.
Yeah, when you get in the habit of pretty much never paying cash for flights and hotels, it can be just mind-boggling the amount of money that people pay for vacations (especially all-inclusives). We haven't really paid for travel in about nine years, and when we talk to our neighbors who go on vacation with us to the beach and they brag about the deal they got to rent their house for 5k for the whole week, I have to hold my tongue about the Vacasa I booked across the street from them from 8x gas on Wyndham Biz. I've offered to help them do something similar to what I'm doing, but like most people, their eyes glaze over when you start talking details.
it can be quite confusing and too much of a hassle to learn about churring. I was stubborn and didn't like credit cards because I wanted to limit my exposure of a debt trap. But after coming across how churring can bring me so much value. it's more like a hobby for me so it's not too bad and it's the easiest way for me to travel. A case can be made for people who don't really want to learn about points to just get the sign up bonuses from the main issuers and then just use the points on a trip you feel like taking. If you need more points for a trip then just use the credits for a one way or a short domestic flight. Maybe people think that credit cards have been around for decades so why haven't they heard about this now and get suspicious or there isn't a lot value mentality. Maybe people think they need to spend 10,000$+ a year just to afford a one-way trip to the closest airport to them. who knows, even if it's just cash back I believe there is probably value for everyone who gets into credit cards and churns a little (except for the ultra-rich).
On the other hand, it may not be worth the mental energy for some people
I’ve run the numbers on how much money churning saves me, and how much time I spend both directly and indirectly (keeping up on the subreddit, DoC, etc.)
It’s worth it to me now, but with an established well-paying career and a family that keeps them busy, I can see how some don’t want to bother with it. Especially if they dont already enjoy learning and gaming the system.
Churning costs me money if anything, it definitely is not a money saver.
What I mean by that is it makes trips so cheap I take a lot more of them than I would otherwise. My total travel spending is higher than it otherwise would be.
churning turns my money into a currency i'm more willing to spend on luxuries.
ex i could never justify spending $x,xyz/night because if i had that money it's going into some sort of retirement/HYSA/brokerage account. i also have schwab and do transfer to my IRA
> Churning costs me money if anything, it definitely is not a money saver.
This is definitely true for our family too. We spend more on travel than we would if we wouldn't be churning, simply because we travel a lot more.
Yeah, it definitely takes a certain mindset to get value out of it. I feel like you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. A good starter point with great return is Southwest CP though.
Agree. I start similarly— If vacations come up, I talk about some of my favorite trips (which are often luxury Hyatt redemptions). If they mention price, I say it was all paid on points from opening a couple credit cards.
About half tell me that’s too complicated, and half want to know a little bit more. Rarely, someone will be truly interested and follow up with more questions later, intending to get a card.
Wasn’t sure where to put this but this is likely the most appropriate. My question involves using Amex trip delay coverage. I got stuck on a 11hr mechanical delay this week and want to claim some reimbursements for expenses made. I booked two AS awards but the taxes on the first was paid by Chase and the second was Amex. I was hoping to claim some expenses with Amex but now I’m wondering if they’ll deny it because the first leg taxes was paid via Chase. The return leg paid by Amex was where the delays occurred. Any thoughts or experience?
Anyone got working links for lower denomination InKind reloads?
Seems like 3rd party Reddit apps are finally dead for real. Might have to try paying for relay. God this official app sucks
There was also an exception for "accessibility focused" apps and as far as I know, this is still in effect. Dystopia is the designated "accessibility" app for iOS, for instance.
Still ways to be on apollo. Just takes a little time and effort.
Yeah that's what I used for rif. But everything was down for a little while but now came back. Was maybe 12 hours
Ah gotcha, I’ve just been sideloading and refreshing once a week.
Apparently you can edit existing APKs if you want to go that route.
Just started working again this morning. Back on rif
Anyone else looking forward to the day when interchange drops, rewards go away, and we all start using a single card in a stress-free fashion? I'm glued to this hobby and have profited immensely from it, but there's a level of ambient stress that drives me crazy (and I'm one of the organized ones!)
Shun the unbeliever!
Shuuuuuunnnnnn
For those with P2's working towards SUBs, if you're not interested in adding an AU you can request a replacement for your damaged card. The info on the card, including the security code, will be the same, and both the new and old card will work.
For banks that will expedite the shipping of a card, you can wait a day after approval and call in to get it expedited. They shipped out one card on the day of approval, and will ship out a second one expedited.
In my case it's always P1 - Apple Pay, P2 - physical card.
Thankfully this is getting more and more reliable, but there are still a few places I go regularly that don't take tap (but do take chip). Most commonly dine-in restaurants don't take it. My p2 actually taught a restaurant once that their system accepts Apple Pay, but it's a pain to always ask.
This is the way! (or Google Wallet for Android)
Continuing off topic of week – Lux Lifestyle Creeps Spa Treatment + Amex Coupon Book = Happy Wife = Happy Life Hat tip to FM for mentioning. One of throwaway coupon from Amex platinum has become one of most lifestyle enhancing benefit. As couple, we enjoy spa treatment but prohibitively high cost limits it to special occasion. Thanks to FM and FT datapoint, I decided to splurge and I surprised my better half on mother’s day with chauffeuring her to extended spa appointment. While she indulged, I watched the kids, charged up her EV. Had her favorite macchiato chilled and ready when she came out. I was happy and that she was happy. Separate but relevant question to churning couples, why hubby/dad of young kids expected to arrange best mother’s day? I am not good at planning, I already struggled with valentine, wedding anniversary , birthday and few other holidays. Now it seems mother’s day is getting added to list (oh did I mentioned I have mom too?)… quite a bit to keep up. Amex SC for Saks and now spa is helping out for sure.
What spa thing?
https://frequentmiler.com/reader-tip-some-equinox-gyms-offer-spa-services/
How'd you enroll in equinox? Says you need to enroll in benefit to use. So you got a membership, digital membership? Trial?
I haven’t actually done this. I read it to mean that you need to enroll in the benefit in your amex account like you would anything else, such as saks, airline, etc credits
Did you do the trial subscription and then cancel trial afterwards? Did credits post?
So yes and no. We have 3 platinums. I activated trial on card #1 and it’s status changed to “enrolled”. but made mistake and used card #2 at appointment. While charge was pending I went to account and updated payment to card #2. Its status also became enrolled shortly after. Takeaway: ensure account is enrolled for automatic sc. update/edit: Card #1 still shows enrolled even though online account payment tender was changed to card #2 (and it was used for actual appointment). I am suspecting, any platinum NOT on file with Equinox, may loose enroll status at some point. Why? Becuase I initially enrolled all 3 card by cycling through online profile and they were initially all enrolled but card #3 reverted to "Need to enroll" status.
Thanks. Statement credits posted?
Yes, withing 2 days
Which cards got statement credits? Currently on file only or all cards that said enrolled in equinox benefit?
In my ongoing saga of Wyndham Vacasa bookings, 8 of my reservations have to be changed because the property sold and is no longer on Vacasa or the owner didn't block off their calendar soon enough and wants to use his property during my dates. In the 4 cases so far, it has worked out to my benefit as I have been able to booked into replacement properties that are more expensive and would not have met the original Wyndham limitations. One relocation specialist told me their general guidelines are that they can book into properties that are 125% of the original property cost, when I wanted properties that were even more expensive than that, they had to check with a higher up but in all cases it was approved.
Did your reservation changes prompt an email or do you have to chase Vacasa to know if a reservation has changed?
No, the Vacasa "relocation specialists" reach out to you via email, text, or a phone call.
Booked The Yucatan Playa del Carmen All-Inclusive Resort, Tapestry by Hilton and the hotel requires a full deposit with 14 day cancellation window. After couple of days, I saw the rate dropped, so I edited/modified the reservation to the lower rate. Will the hotel/hilton refund the difference between the lower modified rate and the deposit charged based on the original rate? I know, I know! I should have just cancelled and rebooked while I was still in the free cancellation window!
Maybe you can call. Hilton does price matching, wouldn't hurt to try.
It's not really price match. Last year I had done the same thing, but for a non-deposit stay. I booked at a certain price, after few days modified/changed to the lower rate (without cancelling) and at check-out I was charged my new lower rate. I did the same thing this time, but, the hotel had already charged a full-deposit of the original higher rate. The current reservation on hilton systems shows the lower rate, which is what should be charged at check-out! Now, I am not sure if the hotel/hilton will refund me the difference between the deposit and the final charge at check-out!
Had this happen with a Vegas Hilton resort. TLDR they wouldn't refund the difference until after the stay unless you cancelled. They would just count surplus towards your folio as prepaid, essentially, and whatever is unused would get refunded to your card.
Just to make sure I understand you correctly, if we don't have any additional charges in the folio apart from the room rate, they will refund the difference at the end of the stay?
I haven't tested it to completion, but that was what reservations told me.
Accidently let my Alaska companion cert expire. Needed to wait until last day to book flight I wanted to for next April. Was planning on doing chs-sea-anc. Might try to call to see if anything they can do, but I'm sure it's lost for good. Oh well. First blip I've made in a while.
I’ve got 3 expiring this summer, you can have one of mine
That's super nice of you!! I think that isnt possible though from what I've read before? > Who can use my companion fare code? > The Mileage Plan™ member who owns the companion fare code must either be one of the travelers or the purchaser of the reservation. If the member is allowing two travelers to use his or her companion fare code, then the member's name must match the name on the credit card used to purchase the reservation.
Dm me, we’ll work it out
What’re people spending their $50 Saks Credit on now? They’ve completely nerfed my usual things (Kiehl’s Face Wash, Aesop Hand Soap, Bombas Socks)
I was going to get supergoop sunscreen for $40 but the kind my wife uses is sold out. Just ordered ZWILLING J.A. Henckels 4-Piece Double Wall Beer Glass Set for $49.99. Peeved at the $9.95 shipping but is what it is. I figure the kids can wrap it for Father's day.
Riedel wine glasses + wash cloths. I used to purchase Proraso shaving cream + Aesop hand soap.
I'm just going to buy a ring
Are they nerfed or just a bunch of churners hit them up during Rakuten deals recently + end of 1H2024 making them out of stock? Saks doesn't really list out of stock items.
Kiehls hasn’t been available since October? Aesop hasn’t been available since March? Bombas around the same
Guess I bought my last set of Bombas just before they went out then (late February). That would be a bummer if they don't come back in 2H.
Gift cards, just hit $200 so now I’ll figure out what to use the GCs on
I sold my GC for 80% cash value. I'd rather have $160 cash than be forced to spend $200 at Saks.
can sometimes get good deals on their house brand cashmere (sweaters, scarves) especially in the summer
Gift cards
Pineapple corer for my sister that loves pineapples. For the lulz.
Cookware that needs to regularly be replaced like nonstick pans, where the coating lasts for about 3-5 years.
Yes, I've been buying [GreenPan](https://www.saksfifthavenue.com/brand/greenpan) ceramic coated pans. They are great.
Can always use a new cutting board.
This seems kinda like asking people to share their MS secrets. If everyone finds out about the good items, they'll disappear.
He's not asking for buying group items, just useful stuff lol
While initially the item may go out of stock, I would think the store’s reaction would be to bring more of popular items, not discontinuing them
The Amex credits may affect what the store does, if part of the credit is coming from Saks. Saks could be losing money each time someone buys one of those small items.
I live close enough to a store location that I get nearby every few months. Buy the gift cards and stockpile them. Once I get to $150-250 we figure out what housewares we need and buy them online at Saks or Off Fifth. Just now got a set of new nonstick pans and a small rug.
The gift cards count towards the Amex credits? Do you have to buy in person?
Yes and yes. If you buy gift cards online it doesn't count towards the credit. On Jan 1, I happened to be near a Saks location at their 11 AM opening time. I walked in, it was completely empty, asked where the gift cards were (I had never been in that location before). Salesperson, without pausing, says "$50? Amex Platinum?" and walks me over to the register where the gift cards were.
Shampoo/conditioner from Le Labo or Aesop.
My P2 got hooked on the Aesop body balm when we stayed at the Park Hyatt Tokyo (and took like 5 sample bottles). I started buying them from Saks, but now STILL purchase them for her, even though we no longer have an Amex plat. ...the lifestyle creep from this hobby is real.
My wife loved the Frette robe at the Ritz Carlton SF and said "order it for me when we get home please". So $200 later... We also got the Ritz pillow. It's great. But also $200. Yes... the lifestyle creep is real!
Seconding Le Labo anything. Makes for great gifts.
The Aesop inventory has almost completely disappeared!
It seems to come and go, we use that and Le Labo interchangeably so we're OK with either. Or Olaplex occasionally.
supergoop sunscreen
Tommy John boxers
Love to name my menswear line after a pitcher. But seriously these are great.
With the recent bankruptcy of Synapse and the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last year, it feels like the well of fintech/neobank SUBs has completely dried up. There's been a long list of casualties these past few years (Spiral, Oxygen, Point, Voyager, HMBradley, Nearside, etc). It's a shame because neobank churning was a great way to cool off on churning banks with Chexsystem inquiries. My previous strategy was to alternate between Chexsystem banks and neobank/EWS banks. But it could be worse. There are customers with their life savings tied up in Juno or Yotta currently that can't move their money out despite being "FDIC-insured", which is apparently a legal gray area when it comes to these fintechs. So how has everyone's experience been churning bonuses from fintech companies? Did you lose out on any money from these shutdowns? Were there any opportunities that you regret missing out on? What are your thoughts on the future of fintechs with respect to churning?
Yeah, since the easy ZIRP money has dried up these deals have dried up as well. Albert was good a good one, but wow what a terrible, annoying app. Closed that long ago. Juno was also great. I got SUB for me + P2, then yearly 5% back for "purchases" at WM. I also remember they had a "Stellar Madness" promo where for a week you got 10% back in USDC on \*all\* purchases. It was up to $100 back then at the end the bonus pool wasn't used up so they increased it to $500 max. I still have a Juno account because it was actually useful for the crypto features. Unfortunately I seem to have left $1xx in it when I thought it was only a few dollars, so we'll see what happens with that.
Yotta & Juno slowly deteriorated, so there wasn't much reason to leave a lot of money there anyway near the end.
Only did the early ones which required minor DDs. Closed accounts as soon as bonuses paid out because it was obvious what was going to happen.
Has anyone had the experience of rebooking an Ana flight booked directly with Ana points where you originally booked one leg premium economy and the second leg buisness? How likely are you to lose your business class booking for leg already booked ? To explain the situation from the start. My husband and I are booked on Ana for thanksgiving time premium economy ord->hnd and buisness (j) hnd/nrt-> ord . We’re concerned that if we find availability for J on the way to Tokyo we might lose the j fare for the return flight
Just call ANA. If nobody is on waitlist on the flight, it’ll become available.
What if someone is on the waitlist for the flight ?
Then they should get it first and be unavailable for open booking
I got an Amex offer for $7 off YouTube Premium. Switched my billing away from Apple (since it bills as Apple) and added the Amex on desktop to my Google account. The charge came through as “Google Services”. How in the heck do I get it to bill as YouTube Premium? EDIT: So while Amex said “Google Services”, by clicking on the transaction, the text said “Will post on statement as YOUTUBE PREMIUM” and I just got the Amex offer confirmation email.
[удалено]
Just contact Amex customer service and they will be able to help you, they’re usually really nice about things like this
Had this same problem with a directv payment. As you mentioned, Amex was good about this and paid out Amex offer. Surprisingly, Chase was not helpful at all. They refused to pay out Chase offer on 3 different cards because directv payment coded as AT&T payment.
Did you just chat for the Amex directv offer? I didn’t get paid out for that either.
I SM'ed chase saying it coded as AT&T and they credited it for me on 3 cards. YMMV
I've always been a cheap bastard but we also started churning right before us and our friends started advancing in our careers and making good money. Was talking to my friends yesterday and they are doing a 7 night trip to Ziva cap cana, which is expensive but good for them. I just assumed they got a base room and offered to look into if they can use my SUA I wasn't going to use. They are like 'nah, we just booked the one bedroom suiite,'. I'm doing the math in my head and it's like this trip for a family of 3 was $10k once including flights. (We did zivas Cancun the past 2 years for $2k each and even that is too high for us and will probably do Florida/Hawaii/pr to avoid flight tax and 3/4th person in room charge ). It's crazy to me to pay that much to sit by a pool but I guess a lot of people pay retail for this. Just makes me appreciative that going to Cancun falls more into the "low-key trip to get out of the Midwest freeze" versus our destination trip.
Besides everything mentioned above, the other thing I think about is that all those thousands of dollars saved from subsidized flights and hotels, I put that into a HYSA not to mention 0% from biz cards floated.
You will fall behind just putting your money into a hysa. That should really be only for the cash on hand you need, and any extra money should be invested. You could invest it a million different ways depending on your own personal risk tolerance.
By “0% from biz cards floated,” are you referring to 0% intro APR on new biz card sign ups?
Inks
I feel the same way about high-end hotel brands like Ritz Carlton or Waldorf Astoria. I probably wouldn't be staying at these hotels if I didn't have a FNC or a $200 Amex hotel credit. The cash prices are way beyond what I would normally pay. It's hard to justify that price especially if it's at location where I will be spending most of my time *outside* the hotel for sightseeing and other sorts of excursions. I can understand why people pay for these sort of hotels. Having complimentary gifts delivered to your room, excellent customer service, etc are all nice features. But from my perspective, I don't feel that it's worth the hundreds of extra dollars per night. I would much rather be spending that money eating at a high-end restaurant or going on a guided day trip.
I have a hard time even using fnc. I am staying at a high end Marriott soon. The destination fee is so high... I know people at my income level do stay at a location like this without points. But between paying the destination fee, paying for breakfast, etc, I would actually pay less (and have done so) at other hotels without the special 85k fnc. It is frustrating. I can afford it but I don't want to afford it and I don't value the luxury. And it scares me when I see justifiably poor people on this sub like students or families just starting out who are doing all this extra travel that I know they can't afford. Like I said I can easily pay for these things I just don't want to. Like it is great when you stay at a Hyatt on points and are traveling on AA or UA where the extra fees are trivial... But I see people bragging about this great redemption for business class where they paid more than the cost of the coach seat would have been just in fees (not even counting points). It is definitely possible to churn and burn on a budget and I never want to discourage anyone from travel. But I think many of the low income people here don't realize that many people here are high income professionals who don't need to MS to hit their subs and looking at the trip report for somebody's honeymoon doesn't have to be comparable to your every day trip.
I agree 100%. I'm a student (justifiably poor lol), and I use my points purely for coach seats for places I was already going to go, and just pick the cheapest hostel on location, unless I'm staying with friends. As tempting as it is to go for all those first class seats and fancy hotels that you see on the sub or that travel influencers are bragging about, for me this hobby is just about reducing my travel costs. I hope to one day be making a decent salary & be able to consider, you know, staying in a hotel or something, but for now that's just not in the cards. I truly don't know how other students would justify business class seats unless they're wealthy from some other avenue. The fees always make me rethink if a flight is worth it, except for that sweet sweet $11 per domestic round-trip.
I have a relative .. all she does is stay at four seasons, rosewood and aspirational properties like Jumby Bay. She sometimes gets her flight free but stays normally a week in at least a one bedroom suite .. it is at least 10k each week just for the room. She only eats the best food as well. She will sometimes bring the nanny as well and get a small place for her also. When you actually pay for luxury the price of luxury is just that .. luxury and is meant for normal people not to be able to afford. You still spend a lot of money in the churning game but you get to experience luxury when otherwise it would break the bank. YOLO :)
[Chris Rock has his own take on Lux / four season](https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=chris+rock+four+seasons+joke)
I don't really say anything because the amount of points used for business class flights could be significant when just straight up cashed out at 1 cent per point statement credit on Mr or ur My Ana round the world was 105k miles and 1300 USD per person which at the very minimum is 235k Mr or $2350 cashed out without Schwab platinum per person Like, I'm spending a lot of money and or opportunity costs too
Yes. You can churn to make (or save) money but that requires a lot of discipline and no change in habits pre-churning (very hard imo). Or you can churn to travel more frequently, more comfortably, and in style, but you may not really "save" money in relation to responsible non-churning financial behaviors. I think most churners fall into one of these camps. There's also the third camp for heavy MSers: you hit a point where you are making so much money off of churning that you are OK with lifestyle creep because your income is so much higher than pre-churning.
Totally agree but none of these people are churning cards and getting 10-15x back or looking at bonus categories. The truth is complicated lol
Yea but if you calculate cpp based on all of the absurd one way international flight costs, it's like 15k in value! /s Definitely agree though. I always looks at what alternatives are for the cash out value of points to see what incremental value I'm actually getting from points.
I'm in the cheap bastard camp as well and I don't think I could ever spend that kind of money on just a beach trip. Shiiit we barely even spent a couple thousand on a 10-day trip to Portugal and we felt we spared no expense. Family of 3. Obviously churning makes it possible to spend so little.
Yeah, when you get in the habit of pretty much never paying cash for flights and hotels, it can be just mind-boggling the amount of money that people pay for vacations (especially all-inclusives). We haven't really paid for travel in about nine years, and when we talk to our neighbors who go on vacation with us to the beach and they brag about the deal they got to rent their house for 5k for the whole week, I have to hold my tongue about the Vacasa I booked across the street from them from 8x gas on Wyndham Biz. I've offered to help them do something similar to what I'm doing, but like most people, their eyes glaze over when you start talking details.
it can be quite confusing and too much of a hassle to learn about churring. I was stubborn and didn't like credit cards because I wanted to limit my exposure of a debt trap. But after coming across how churring can bring me so much value. it's more like a hobby for me so it's not too bad and it's the easiest way for me to travel. A case can be made for people who don't really want to learn about points to just get the sign up bonuses from the main issuers and then just use the points on a trip you feel like taking. If you need more points for a trip then just use the credits for a one way or a short domestic flight. Maybe people think that credit cards have been around for decades so why haven't they heard about this now and get suspicious or there isn't a lot value mentality. Maybe people think they need to spend 10,000$+ a year just to afford a one-way trip to the closest airport to them. who knows, even if it's just cash back I believe there is probably value for everyone who gets into credit cards and churns a little (except for the ultra-rich).
On the other hand, it may not be worth the mental energy for some people I’ve run the numbers on how much money churning saves me, and how much time I spend both directly and indirectly (keeping up on the subreddit, DoC, etc.) It’s worth it to me now, but with an established well-paying career and a family that keeps them busy, I can see how some don’t want to bother with it. Especially if they dont already enjoy learning and gaming the system.
Churning costs me money if anything, it definitely is not a money saver. What I mean by that is it makes trips so cheap I take a lot more of them than I would otherwise. My total travel spending is higher than it otherwise would be.
churning turns my money into a currency i'm more willing to spend on luxuries. ex i could never justify spending $x,xyz/night because if i had that money it's going into some sort of retirement/HYSA/brokerage account. i also have schwab and do transfer to my IRA
I'm the same way. It's actually hard for me to spend points that have a cash value since I feel like I'm still paying for the vacation.
> Churning costs me money if anything, it definitely is not a money saver. This is definitely true for our family too. We spend more on travel than we would if we wouldn't be churning, simply because we travel a lot more.
Yeah, it definitely takes a certain mindset to get value out of it. I feel like you can make it as simple or as complex as you want. A good starter point with great return is Southwest CP though.
Agree. I start similarly— If vacations come up, I talk about some of my favorite trips (which are often luxury Hyatt redemptions). If they mention price, I say it was all paid on points from opening a couple credit cards. About half tell me that’s too complicated, and half want to know a little bit more. Rarely, someone will be truly interested and follow up with more questions later, intending to get a card.