coastieexpat

Tonrob, could Bink just apply for a new high bonus rewards card, then using the pool bill to offset the minimum spend ? Perhaps then it would be worth the fees.

BTW. Just spent my first free night at the Dublin Westin.

Bink

I could I guess, I hadn't really thought of getting another card. Perhaps a chase ultimate rewards card would be good for me. I will hit some bonuses on this purchase though (if it goes ahead). If I use my United card it will smash me through $25k which I will probably hit quite comfortably anyway which is a 30k mile bonus. If I use my BA card I'll be over $30k for the year and will get the 2-for-1 pass. United miles are the easiest for me to use as they pay for me to go back home with the family and see my Mum.

Bink

Thanks Geoff, think I might get bored of topping them up though!!

And this is why I asked you!

I don't know, I need to find out exactly what the fee is going to be and if he's willing to eat any of it. If I can't do it, I can't do it, it's just including bonus points (assuming I did it on my United card) it's worth something like 75,000 miles to me.

Thanks Tonrob, I'll look into where I stand with the fees. As I said above, it's worth enough miles for me to look into doing it but only if I can do it without it costing me more money (I'm spending more than enough as it is)

tonrob

But then there are cheaper ways to meet the spend without having to pay the pool guy the credit card fee, so I wouldn't go down this road.

tonrob

The Chase UR business cards all have slightly increased sign-up bonuses this week only as part of a small business week promotion.

INK Bold and Plus are up from 50K to 60K, INK Cash and Classic up from 20K to 25K.

tonrob

Woke up early this morning, so did a round of credit card applications before work as it had been over 3 months since my last lot:

Chase Sapphire Preferred Mastercard (40,000 points)
Chase INK Cash (25,000 points)
Barclays US Airways Mastercard (35,000 miles)
Bank of America Virgin Atlantic AMEX (50,000 miles)
Citi American Airlines Mastercard (40,000 miles)
US Bank Club Carlson Platinum Visa (60,000 points)

Result: 4 instant approvals and 2 "wait and see" (latter both Chase).

Fingers crossed!

Bink

Nice! Do you ever pull your credit report? Does it make a big deal that you have so many hard inquiries?

tonrob

I do keep an eye on it. Score takes a hit with the apps and tends to bounce back in about 3 months.

I make sure I keep some fee-free cards to help maintain average age of credit, and I actively manage utilization by paying off balances before startements are created. Been doing this for a few years now and seems to work.

tonrob

Update:

Callsed the Chase Automated Application Status line and found out the Sapphire is approved. This is my second Sapphire. I had the Visa version a while ago, but sacrificed it to get another card approved. The (more elusive) MasterCard version is considered a seperate product by Chase so I was not constrained by their "once in a lifetime" bonus stipulation.

Called the business lending department regarding the INK Cash, but they said they have a backlog of applications in light of the recent promo and cannot review my application yet. They asked me to call back in a week.

5 out of 6 so far!

tonrob

Points Guy covers this here.

Provides some new opportunities for those with Delta or Virgin Atlantic miles, or AMEX Membership Rewards.

tonrob

Just a little post about a weekend jaunt I just did on a bit of a whim as I'm on my own temporarily while Mrs tonrob and the Sproutlet are visiting her parents in Germany.

I had 5 states left to visit in the lower 48:

South Dakota
Nebraska
Missouri
Kansas
Oklahoma

Given that I doubted whether I'd be crafting any meaningful vacation in these states any time in the near future, I figured I'd at least attempt a weekend trip to mop them up given that it wouldn't cost me much.

Firstly I purchased a Delta First Class award, open-jaw from my local airport of Hartford, via Minneapolis to Sioux Falls, SD - returning from Oklahoma City, via Atlanta to Hartford. This cost me 80,000 miles and $5 in total. Horrendous price if you earn Delta miles by flying, not so much if you get them via... ahem.... other means.

I left Friday evening after work, and smooth flying saw me land at Sioux Falls at around 11pm local time. That night was spent at the Sheraton Sioux Falls for a meagre 4,000 Starpoints from the sizeable stash I've built up using the AMEX Starwood Preferred Guest card.

Sioux Falls was nicer than I'd imagined, and before I left the next morning I grabbed a free breakfast at Starbucks (they'd been offering a free $5 credit for new users of their iPhone app - it's amazing how many people live at my house when I count them all) followed by a visit to Falls Park.

Not my pics, but I took similar:





I paid, shock horror, for a rental car from Avis (my only significant expense of the weekend apart from beer) - where $161 got me a 2-day one-way rental to Oklahoma City in a Nissan Altima with barely 800 miles on the clock, a figure which I added to considerably during the weekend.

Next stop was Omaha, NE for lunch, via scenic back-roads which included a pit-stop at a casino-cum-laundrette on an Indian reservation...

Old town Omaha was nice, where I availed myself of a veggie Philly Cheesesteak ("Fireball" version with lots of pickled jalapenos and jalapeno sauce). Those of you who are friends with me on Facebook have seen the pic. Very nice and certainly did the job.

Onwards south on I-35 to Kansas City, where I arrived at about 5pm. I'd booked a night at the slightly historic and centrally-located Hilton President using HHonors points. When I originally searched for availability there was none showing. However on a hunch I searched again for 2 nights (more than I needed) and sure enough a room was available. They'd obviously stuck a 2-night minimum into the system for award nights. I booked 2 nights, and then immediately phoned the front desk, apologizing and saying that I'd just made a booking but my wife had told me I'd made a mistake and it should have been for just one night. They willingly obliged, changing my booking to the one night out of the two that I really wanted.

Not much seems to happen in downtown Kansas City. Apart from drinking. And partying. A whole lot of drinking and partying. Think rooftop nightclubs pumping out tunes so loud I could hear them in my 9th floor room with the double-glazed windows shut. At 6pm. I therefore spent an engaging few hours bar-hopping, drinking some great craft beer and generally soaking up the surprisingly-debauched atmosphere. Remarkably I had a good night's sleep. The beer may have helped. Breakfast was free again courtesy of free Gold status having (just) spent $20K for the year on my AMEX Hilton card.

Yesterday I set off again and stopped for lunch at Witchita. I made for the old 'Bricktown' which looked good on paper (internet) but turned out to be a deserted shit-hole full of closed businesses. One place open was the local brewpub, so I pulled in there for a pint and some fish and chips.

By the time I left, there was not much time left to see anything of Oklahoma City before my flight, but I did stop in at the Oklahoma City Museum and National Memorial, at the site of the horrible 1995 bombing. Seeing all the names and pictures, and realizing how many had been children, even babies, made for a very sombre end to the road-trip. I found this even more upsetting than I'd imagined once I was there - but I'm glad I went.

The last hop was to OKC airport to turn in my car and check in for my flight. All was going smoothly (good, given the 35 minute connection Delta has given me at ATL). The flight showed on time, we boarded early and I'd settled into my First Class seat with Bloody Mary in hand and iPad ready to watch a movie.

Bugger.

I heard one of the FAs mutter to the other about a "problem". Apparently the door to get into the plane has some kind of little wheel on it. And that little wheel was now lying on the tarmac due to the jet-bridge having met the plane a little too enthusiastically on its arrival. After a few minutes of faffing it was everybody off and back into the terminal.

In the end I was impressed about how quickly they found someone to glue it back on (having been sat earlier in the year at Heathrow on board a BA 747 with a minor mechanical problem that took 3 hours to fix), but alas we arrived in ATL at the same time the Hartford flight was due to leave.

Delta ponied up a $25 food voucher (duly spent at Fridays - best of a bad lot that time of night = 10pm) and a night at a nearby Holiday Inn Express. They also gave me a washbag containing a Delta T-shirt (shit), toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, shaving kit and deodorant (also all shit). The 15 other people on the shuttle bus with me were also clutching a similar bag, as was everyone else arriving at the hotel that night I suspect.

Good night's sleep, shuttle bus back to the airport and a First Class seat home arriving at noon today. Could have been worse I suppose. They might have sent me in coach...

Total out of pocket cost for transport and hotels (inc. gas) = approx. $220.

Bink

Very nice! And total spend?

tonrob

Let's not go there.

Funny afterword.. I say "funny" but... Having diced with death driving through tornado alley, there was a confirmed tornado this afternoon at Windsor Locks, CT (where Hartford airport is located) less than an hour after I passed though... eek...

tonrob

Update #2 - finally got round to calling Chase's business lending dept. yesterday. They still hadn't looked at my Chase INK Cash app due to the backlog, but the guy agreed to call it up and approved it on the spot with no further questions.

End result: 6 out of 6 cards approved = 250,000 miles/points. Not a bad haul.

lizzyq

After what time scale do you cancel your cards? Is there an optimal period to hold them for?