Which credit card do you use the most?

[irvinehomeowner]

You also get extra offers from Costco.  Like they give extra rebates for tires last months.

Well, since I'm looking at TVs, I like their 2 year + 2 year extended warranty on TVs when using their Visa.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

You also get extra offers from Costco.  Like they give extra rebates for tires last months.

Well, since I'm looking at TVs, I like their 2 year + 2 year extended warranty on TVs when using their Visa.

Make sure you compare apples to apples...Costco has a lot of "exclusive" model number that are repackaged model from the year before.  So while the price may look cheap, the models are not the same.

 

[Liar Loan]

I just booked six round trip tickets to Hawaii for Spring Break using only Amex Points.  That to me is the reason to manage the spreadsheets and juggle credit cards, although actually I enjoy it as a hobby. 

I find that it helps if you have a goal in mind to work towards.  For my family, that is taking semi-annual trips to Hawaii since our kids are still young.  Eventually, we plan to go to Costa Rica and other more far flung, adventurous locales.

If you have a specific goal in mind, it helps you optimize which cards to sign up for to get bonuses, and which cards to keep in your wallet for everyday spend.  My two daily spenders are the Amex Business Blue Plus (2x MR on all spend) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x Dining/Travel and anywhere else Amex isn't accepted).

The reason I don't upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is because the marginal benefit of higher points on Dining/Travel (3x points vs 2x/CSP) doesn't offset the higher annual fee by enough for my liking.  I always build in a risk premium when paying an annual fee because cash is worth more now and holds its value better than points, which get devalued on a regular basis.  In effect, you are buying points with that higher annual fee, so the incremental ROI needs to be high enough to justify the immediate loss of dollars or I won't do it.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I just booked six round trip tickets to Hawaii for Spring Break using only Amex Points.  That to me is the reason to manage the spreadsheets and juggle credit cards, although actually I enjoy it as a hobby. 

I find that it helps if you have a goal in mind to work towards.  For my family, that is taking semi-annual trips to Hawaii since our kids are still young.  Eventually, we plan to go to Costa Rica and other more far flung, adventurous locales.

If you have a specific goal in mind, it helps you optimize which cards to sign up for to get bonuses, and which cards to keep in your wallet for everyday spend.  My two daily spenders are the Amex Business Blue Plus (2x MR on all spend) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x Dining/Travel and anywhere else Amex isn't accepted).

The reason I don't upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is because the marginal benefit of higher points on Dining/Travel (3x points vs 2x/CSP) doesn't offset the higher annual fee by enough for my liking.  I always build in a risk premium when paying an annual fee because cash is worth more now and holds its value better than points, which get devalued on a regular basis.  In effect, you are buying points with that higher annual fee, so the incremental ROI needs to be high enough to justify the immediate loss of dollars or I won't do it.

How much overall spending are we talking about though?  I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

This is a problem for me when it comes to airlines because the best deals aren't always on the cards we carry.

For hotels, SPG, Marriot and Hilton (or Hyatt? I forget) usually covers lodging and we know what to expect as the hotel experience is usually consistent at almost every place we visited. I'm sure there may be better deals on other brands but then that's another unknown you don't want to find out about once you get to your destination.

On a side note, for us 99%ers who fly economy, Hawaiian Air was the best airline we've used out of AA, United, Southwest and flying out of Long Beach was a pretty good experience too.

 

[Liar Loan]

How much overall spending are we talking about though?  I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

Well, the six tickets to Hawaii during a busy spring break week probably saved me $5-6k right there.  I have two other cards with 'travel' points balances that can apply about $1,100 towards hotel/condo bookings, which I haven't done yet for this trip.

The airlines that fly to Hawaii are almost all transferable from either Chase or Amex.  The key is having the flexibility of transferable points currencies so when you go to check flight availability, you can transfer the points to whichever frequent flyer program(s) have the open seats.

It does take a lot of research, dedication, and tracking which I understand is not for everybody.  Like I said, it's a hobby for me because I enjoy it.  If you don't enjoy that kind of stuff, I would focus on carrying a couple of cash back cards.

The Costco card plus a Citi Double Cash for non-bonused spend is a nice one-two punch.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

This is a problem for me when it comes to airlines because the best deals aren't always on the cards we carry.

For hotels, SPG, Marriot and Hilton (or Hyatt? I forget) usually covers lodging and we know what to expect as the hotel experience is usually consistent at almost every place we visited. I'm sure there may be better deals on other brands but then that's another unknown you don't want to find out about once you get to your destination.

On a side note, for us 99%ers who fly economy, Hawaiian Air was the best airline we've used out of AA, United, Southwest and flying out of Long Beach was a pretty good experience too.

Southwest is restart Hawaii flights but they are flying out of Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Diego first.

 

[Liar Loan]

I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

This is a problem for me when it comes to airlines because the best deals aren't always on the cards we carry.

For hotels, SPG, Marriot and Hilton (or Hyatt? I forget) usually covers lodging and we know what to expect as the hotel experience is usually consistent at almost every place we visited. I'm sure there may be better deals on other brands but then that's another unknown you don't want to find out about once you get to your destination.

On a side note, for us 99%ers who fly economy, Hawaiian Air was the best airline we've used out of AA, United, Southwest and flying out of Long Beach was a pretty good experience too.

Southwest is restart Hawaii flights but they are flying out of Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Diego first.

Yeah, I saw that.  Too bad it's not out of LA, but on the bright side this should help depress airfares to Hawaii across the entire West Coast.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

This is a problem for me when it comes to airlines because the best deals aren't always on the cards we carry.

For hotels, SPG, Marriot and Hilton (or Hyatt? I forget) usually covers lodging and we know what to expect as the hotel experience is usually consistent at almost every place we visited. I'm sure there may be better deals on other brands but then that's another unknown you don't want to find out about once you get to your destination.

On a side note, for us 99%ers who fly economy, Hawaiian Air was the best airline we've used out of AA, United, Southwest and flying out of Long Beach was a pretty good experience too.

Southwest is restart Hawaii flights but they are flying out of Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Diego first.

Yeah, I saw that.  Too bad it's not out of LA, but on the bright side this should help depress airfares to Hawaii across the entire West Coast.

I would hate for it to come out of LAX.  LGB and SNA...even Ontario or Burbank but not LAX.

 

[Cares]

I just booked six round trip tickets to Hawaii for Spring Break using only Amex Points.  That to me is the reason to manage the spreadsheets and juggle credit cards, although actually I enjoy it as a hobby. 

I find that it helps if you have a goal in mind to work towards.  For my family, that is taking semi-annual trips to Hawaii since our kids are still young.  Eventually, we plan to go to Costa Rica and other more far flung, adventurous locales.

If you have a specific goal in mind, it helps you optimize which cards to sign up for to get bonuses, and which cards to keep in your wallet for everyday spend.  My two daily spenders are the Amex Business Blue Plus (2x MR on all spend) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x Dining/Travel and anywhere else Amex isn't accepted).

The reason I don't upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is because the marginal benefit of higher points on Dining/Travel (3x points vs 2x/CSP) doesn't offset the higher annual fee by enough for my liking.  I always build in a risk premium when paying an annual fee because cash is worth more now and holds its value better than points, which get devalued on a regular basis.  In effect, you are buying points with that higher annual fee, so the incremental ROI needs to be high enough to justify the immediate loss of dollars or I won't do it.

How much overall spending are we talking about though?  I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

Chase UR can book anything you could with Priceline or Expedia. If a hotel is not listed on their search you can call to have someone assist you. Disney as an example isn't in Chase. I got a week long Disney World Grand Floridian stay booked by my friend for 50% off. Then called Chase to apply my 1.5x redemption on the booking. So not sure which airlines or hotels you're talking about but I've never had an issue.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I just booked six round trip tickets to Hawaii for Spring Break using only Amex Points.  That to me is the reason to manage the spreadsheets and juggle credit cards, although actually I enjoy it as a hobby. 

I find that it helps if you have a goal in mind to work towards.  For my family, that is taking semi-annual trips to Hawaii since our kids are still young.  Eventually, we plan to go to Costa Rica and other more far flung, adventurous locales.

If you have a specific goal in mind, it helps you optimize which cards to sign up for to get bonuses, and which cards to keep in your wallet for everyday spend.  My two daily spenders are the Amex Business Blue Plus (2x MR on all spend) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x Dining/Travel and anywhere else Amex isn't accepted).

The reason I don't upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is because the marginal benefit of higher points on Dining/Travel (3x points vs 2x/CSP) doesn't offset the higher annual fee by enough for my liking.  I always build in a risk premium when paying an annual fee because cash is worth more now and holds its value better than points, which get devalued on a regular basis.  In effect, you are buying points with that higher annual fee, so the incremental ROI needs to be high enough to justify the immediate loss of dollars or I won't do it.

How much overall spending are we talking about though?  I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

Chase UR can book anything you could with Priceline or Expedia. If a hotel is not listed on their search you can call to have someone assist you. Disney as an example isn't in Chase. I got a week long Disney World Grand Floridian stay booked by my friend for 50% off. Then called Chase to apply my 1.5x redemption on the booking. So not sure which airlines or hotels you're talking about but I've never had an issue.

But both of those are not great valuewise...especially because you can get packages/offers directly from the hotels.  So we almost always get dining credits or waived fees.  Expedia/Priceline also tack on their own fees and I don't really like booking through third party sites.

 

[Cares]

I just booked six round trip tickets to Hawaii for Spring Break using only Amex Points.  That to me is the reason to manage the spreadsheets and juggle credit cards, although actually I enjoy it as a hobby. 

I find that it helps if you have a goal in mind to work towards.  For my family, that is taking semi-annual trips to Hawaii since our kids are still young.  Eventually, we plan to go to Costa Rica and other more far flung, adventurous locales.

If you have a specific goal in mind, it helps you optimize which cards to sign up for to get bonuses, and which cards to keep in your wallet for everyday spend.  My two daily spenders are the Amex Business Blue Plus (2x MR on all spend) and the Chase Sapphire Preferred (2x Dining/Travel and anywhere else Amex isn't accepted).

The reason I don't upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is because the marginal benefit of higher points on Dining/Travel (3x points vs 2x/CSP) doesn't offset the higher annual fee by enough for my liking.  I always build in a risk premium when paying an annual fee because cash is worth more now and holds its value better than points, which get devalued on a regular basis.  In effect, you are buying points with that higher annual fee, so the incremental ROI needs to be high enough to justify the immediate loss of dollars or I won't do it.

How much overall spending are we talking about though?  I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

Chase UR can book anything you could with Priceline or Expedia. If a hotel is not listed on their search you can call to have someone assist you. Disney as an example isn't in Chase. I got a week long Disney World Grand Floridian stay booked by my friend for 50% off. Then called Chase to apply my 1.5x redemption on the booking. So not sure which airlines or hotels you're talking about but I've never had an issue.

But both of those are not great valuewise...especially because you can get packages/offers directly from the hotels.  So we almost always get dining credits or waived fees.  Expedia/Priceline also tack on their own fees and I don't really like booking through third party sites.

If you want to maximize value then you transfer to UR travel partners. Redeem for business class flights. Don't buy flights directly with points.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

If you want to maximize value then you transfer to UR travel partners. Redeem for business class flights. Don't buy flights directly with points.

Sure that is true but since we are a family of four...economy is going be the way for now.

 

[Cares]

If you want to maximize value then you transfer to UR travel partners. Redeem for business class flights. Don't buy flights directly with points.

Sure that is true but since we are a family of four...economy is going be the way for now.

You can also do interesting things like UR -> Jetblue -> Hawaiian even though Hawaiian is not a partner of Chase. I've been in the churning game for 15+ years now. I can't remember a time I've paid for a flight for my family yet.

 

[Kings]

I like to book my own trips and the miles/reward points may not apply to the airlines/hotels I pick.

This is a problem for me when it comes to airlines because the best deals aren't always on the cards we carry.

For hotels, SPG, Marriot and Hilton (or Hyatt? I forget) usually covers lodging and we know what to expect as the hotel experience is usually consistent at almost every place we visited. I'm sure there may be better deals on other brands but then that's another unknown you don't want to find out about once you get to your destination.

On a side note, for us 99%ers who fly economy, Hawaiian Air was the best airline we've used out of AA, United, Southwest and flying out of Long Beach was a pretty good experience too.

Southwest is restart Hawaii flights but they are flying out of Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and San Diego first.

Yeah, I saw that.  Too bad it's not out of LA, but on the bright side this should help depress airfares to Hawaii across the entire West Coast.

british airways avios has the best mileage deal i've seen for flights to hawaii.  avios flights are calculated based on distance and cabin, and LA to hawaii is a sweet spot where you can still get in at the 12.5k one way (25k round trip) price point.  UR points are transferable 1:1.

https://www.milevalue.com/award-space-picture-to-hawaii-right-now-on-12500-avios-flights/

 

[Cares]

Can't wait for Southwest to get some Hawaii flights from southern California so I can abuse my companion pass.

 

[Irvinecommuter]

I am sure that the points make sense at some point but we don't take enough trips and I like shopping around more than anything else.  I like getting the checks from Costco. 

I used to travel a lot for work so we took a lot of trips on SW points before they changed it.  Obviously, nice to use the points but I wasn't paying for the travel.

I think this guy is well known: https://thepointsguy.com/

 

[Cares]

I am sure that the points make sense at some point but we don't take enough trips and I like shopping around more than anything else.  I like getting the checks from Costco. 

I used to travel a lot for work so we took a lot of trips on SW points before they changed it.  Obviously, nice to use the points but I wasn't paying for the travel.

I think this guy is well known: https://thepointsguy.com/

Any points you earn, Chase, Amex, etc, you can get checks at face value of 100:1. It's just always more valuable to use it on travel.

And TPG is a shill. He was good early on but now I can't stand his posts or site.

 

[woodburyowner]

british airways avios has the best mileage deal i've seen for flights to hawaii.  avios flights are calculated based on distance and cabin, and LA to hawaii is a sweet spot where you can still get in at the 12.5k one way (25k round trip) price point.  UR points are transferable 1:1.

https://www.milevalue.com/award-space-picture-to-hawaii-right-now-on-12500-avios-flights/

It's an excellent value, but keep in mind that availability has gone downhill the last few years.  I've been monitoring Avios for Hawaii for 5 years and had to use UR -> Skypass and book Delta last 2 years.  I had no issue the previous 3 years in using Avios.

 

[woodburyowner]

The reason I don't upgrade to the Chase Sapphire Reserve is because the marginal benefit of higher points on Dining/Travel (3x points vs 2x/CSP) doesn't offset the higher annual fee by enough for my liking.  I always build in a risk premium when paying an annual fee because cash is worth more now and holds its value better than points, which get devalued on a regular basis.  In effect, you are buying points with that higher annual fee, so the incremental ROI needs to be high enough to justify the immediate loss of dollars or I won't do it.

The real difference in AF is $55 ($450-$300 travel credit).  That is easily offset with the additional 1x in Dining/Travel over the course of a year.  The additional benefits also add in some additional value - 1.5c redemption vs. 1.25, PP membership and free roadside assistance.