re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

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The US Air card is going to convert to an American Airlines Aviator card issued by Barclay's so that won't "go away" until you want it to.

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Yeah, me and the wife got the Red Aviator mailer yesterday. I've had my AA MC so long that I'll keep that one and cancel the US Air, then have my wife keep the Red Aviator and get rid of the AA MC as she just got it last year.

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80k point and $50 statement credit for the IHG card just popped up on the IHG website fyi.

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Wtf, man?

I am on the site now and it says 70k. How are you seeing this shite?

ETA: Send me a link if you get a chance, please

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but I even went so far as to try and book those 4 nights in March and it would've let me.

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Now you're just pissing me off

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The thalasso only has the over water bungalows.

How was the Maldives by the way?

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I know, that's why I only want Thalasso. Maldives is awesome. We went twice and stayed with Anantara. I met my now wife living in Thailand and we both worked at Anantara so we used the employee discount to stay in a $1,500/night bungalow for $250

But you should go as it is so nice and the people are awesome. Although, I haven't been to Bora Bora yet so maybe no need to go to the Maldives after that.

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No. You can buy and cancel. I'll explain later on a desktop.

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One can only lead the horse to the water.

I'll try to.remember to type up explanation on how to get the points later. There's a few bloggers on boarding area who have written about it if you can find it.

Finally am starting to figure out all of my Bora Bora bookings. Here is what I am thinking (since I know a lot of people here are interested in this trip).
My Points and sources:
AA points: 200,000 (US Airways X2; Citi AA X2)
IHG: 200,000 (IHG Card X2 + 60,000 Chase transfer)
Southwest: 50,000 (SW Card)
Barclay: 40,000+ (sign up + I am about to use this as my primary card)
Amex: 50,000 (Gold Card sign up)

My Trip:
Flight to LAX X2 - 50,000 SW points ($500 value)
LAX - PPT - LAX X2 - approx 150,000 - 200,000 AA points (atleast $4000 value) (not sure how we will fly class wise)
PPT - Bora Bora - $750 (will pay/reduce with Barclay points)

Hotels:
1 night in PPT - contemplating using SPG points via Amex or just paying for a cheaper hotel since will only be at hotel approx 6 hours.

5 nights in IHG Thalasso Overwater - 200,000 points + $350. ($4,100 value)

This will get me to Bora Bora for approximately $500-$700 cash after airline fees and IHG pay. With food and tours, hopefully we will do bora bora for around $1000 - $1500. This is a little more expensive than before, and I could definitely do better if I waited another year (IHG nights), but where is the fun in that. Still a $10,000 trip for 10% cost. Let me know if you see any major flaws, point wastes, or other problems.

Impressive - I need a gameplan like that for a Park City ski trip.

Yeah. We did. We both applied for the US Airways, Citi AA, and Ihg cards. I will add the Barclay's in a couple of months.

Question for the people that have done this before. Do the Tahiti to Bora bora flights need to be booked well in advance, or can I book these closer to time (a few months out)?

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Do the Tahiti to Bora bora flights need to be booked well in advance, or can I book these closer to time (a few months out)?

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The directs booked up faster than I expected them to. I think I booked them about 6 months out and I didn't get my preferred time.

AA does fly out of my airport, but I was not positive if I would be able to get the first leg under the same reward. Some sites were stating would have to pay for the leg to lax. I will see once I call in to book.

Thanks for the info for the boat transfer. I forgot about that. I am looking at going mid to late April. That gives me about a month to get my points in order to claim reservations, and then I will book the AA flight the first day the award flights become available.

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AA does fly out of my airport, but I was not positive if I would be able to get the first leg under the same reward.

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Are you trying to fly business or coach?

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Some sites were stating would have to pay for the leg to lax.

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Nah. It's the same price regardless of where you're coming from in the US, the issue could be the availability. Coach availability on some of the domestic legs doesn't always offer great availability. I had to do a lot of my own research and found a way home that didn't populate on a regular award search even though it probably added 3 hours on to our trip.