re: Credit Card Rewards and Points Discussion

It seems to be a pretty decent city. Not downtown Chicago but not bad at all.

I'm definitely jealous, I think it will be 2017 before we can make the bora bora trip. Keep us updated on your trip planning.

It might be nice for people to summarize what they've gotten from rewards and what they are working on. All trips are for two. I'll begin.

RT economy and first class return in May to and from Seattle

RT First class to and from Italy in August/September
Three nights at Rome Marriott Grand Hotel Flora

RT First class to and from St Croix in November

RT to and from Indianapolis for B1G Championship game
Two nights at downtown Hilton in Indianapolis in December

RT First class to and from St. Kitts next May

Working on:

Hawaii, South Pacific (Cook Islands or Bora Bora), African trip including photo safari (established for 2017 with friends) and Argentina and Patagonia trip. We also take a few trips to the Caribbean each year and will use miles for most of them.

Have about 1.2 million points and miles accumulated at this point with the above trips except St. Kitts already paid for with rewards.

Hey guys I lurk on this thread on and off and had a few questions about manufacturing spending by using the Square app. I just ordered one using a link provided in an earlier post.

Its my understanding that you can use your own credit card to swipe with the Square app and pay yourself. Is that correct? If not, hows the best way to go about using it?

Just curious, how much total manufactured spending have y'all had through Square?

TIA

Having been to 90% of the central American countries, I can't reccomend panama enough. It is less developed that some of the others but in a good way. If you can hit up san blas and bocas del Toro. Just Google san blas images.

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Have about 1.2 million points

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If you have to spend $3K in 3 months to get a bonus points, how do you calculate that into your award redemption?

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None of my spending is manufactured. I own a business and will put the minimum spend on business purchases. Most of my points and miles are from signup bonuses but I also spend a lot each month in the business.

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It might be nice for people to summarize what they've gotten from rewards and what they are working on.

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I've been at this for a little while now. I was hesitant to post, but I figured why not and it was fun thinking back on the trips...Here are some of my favorite redemptions. All trips are for two:

Cathay Pacific First class MSY-ORD-HKG (two times). Both first class flights were perfect. I've also flown CX Business class, and it is fantastic. Cathay may be my favorite airline.

Singapore Airlines Suites class (A380) SIN-LHR. SQ is right there with Cathay for my favorite. SQ business class is also great.

Qantas First (A380) SIN-SYD. Really enjoyed QF. Also have redeemed for QF Business.

Etihad First AUH-JFK. Really good, but not as nice as the first three. Business class is nice too.

Malaysian Air First (A380). Phew, we survived. It was actually pretty good. We flew this before all the MH issues.

Lufthansa First (748i). Flew through Frankfurt to Washington Dulles...I was really not that impressed with LH. To me, it was a noticeable step down from the Asian carriers.

Thai Airways First and business. It was their old first class. Soft product was better than the hard product.

I've also used points for numerous economy flights. One award I had booked that we had to cancel was Emirates First Class through LAX to South Africa, then South African Airways business class to Buenos Aires, then AA business back to the US...but I got the wife got pregnant and she didn't want to be trucking around Africa 6 months pregnant - not that I blame her.

On the docket now is US/AA business to Rome returning from Venice this fall - with a lap infant. I'm also working on rebooking that EK First trip to South Africa.

Hotel Redemptions...Park Hyatt Maldives (with a cash upgrade to an OWB) for a week is probably our favorite. Other notable redemptions...Park Hyatt Tokyo Suite, Park Hyatt Sydney, Park Hyatt Paris, Hyatt Regency London suite, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong suite, Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Grand Hyatt Singapore suite, Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur suite, Park Hyatt Melbourne Suite, Park Hyatt Highlands-Carmel Suite, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Hyatt Regency Kyoto, Hilton Queenstown, Auckland Hilton, Embassy Suites Napa, Le Meridien Chiang Mai.

As of right now, the points warchest is at about 2.4 million between the Mrs. and myself. That is 1.5 million miles, 400k hotel points (Hyatt/SPG), and 500k bank points (AMEX, UR, TYP).

My advice to accumulating a ton of points is to sign up for credit cards every couple months (husband and wife if married) above all else. 3 credit cards every 3 months is not too aggressive and will lead to 12 sign up bonuses a year. At roughly 50k a piece, that is 600k miles a year per individual and 1.2 million per couple. Miles will add up pretty quick that way. Also, I think mortgage concerns are somewhat overplayed (as long as your overall credit is fine). We've signed up for probably 80+ credit cards over the last 4 years. In that time we have refinanced, bought a new home, then refinanced again without issue.

It's looking like I will be traveling quite a bit for work coming up in the next few months, so I was looking at which airline I should go with and set up an account?

Anyone have any input on airlines? Or if its already been discussed on what page?