What points system were you in? All Air Can?
That’s a great flight upgrade!
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For AF was in flying blue, so now i have a crapload of those sitting around lol. Aeroplan for united and alaska for aa.
I also just recently snagged 4 J seats jfk-cairo direct for spring break next year through aeroplan !!
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I don’t know about points, but British Airways is having an incredible sale right now. I got a family of 4 from Boston to Munich for $2500!
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A relic of the before times!
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I really couldn’t believe it. Obviously we have to connect in London, but direct BOS-VIE was going to be $5,500-6000.
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Updated the spreadsheet with a southwest and Ink link. Oddly, when I try to generate a link for Marriott it pushes a Sapphire. Will the the Marriott later.
DW got another deal on the sears card, that lives on top of the others, to spend $1k online and get $150 back. Trying to research if buying Disney gift cards through Disney gift card.com qualifies.
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Was the Google sheet sending you to the Marriott card or just when you paste the link directly in a browser?
If in Sheets, often when you paste a link over a previous one it will just use the new link as the text of the cell, but keep the old link if you click it. You can either delete the whole cell and start over, or use in the cell to edit the link and make sure it is the right one.
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Generating the link in the chase app shows a sapphire card, and pasting the link directly in browser brings up a sapphire page.
Exited the app and then retried and a southwest app pops up! 
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That is super, super weird.
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Fixed!
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Getting ready for this big trip and planning to use the united biz card for all transactions, including rental car. Glad I checked the details as it turns out I’m better off using the sapphire.
In the United States, this coverage is primary if the Rental Vehicle is for commercial and/or business purposes. Coverage is secondary when renting for personal reasons.
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Yes, have to watch out for that with biz cards!
I don’t use them for personal travel insurance protection at all. Glad you caught it.
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Yesterday I learned that although Costco only allows Visa payments - you can still buy Costco Shop cards (their gift cards) online using a MasterCard!
I thought they killed that possibility years ago.
Useful to me since I’m working on my Venture sign up bonus - so I was able to grab $150 in Shop cards for my upcoming Costco run and move that card’s spend needle along.
Other similar info for those who were unaware:
The other way to use a MasterCard that I have used over time is to buy $200 gift cards at Staples when they are selling them free-free (which is often.) Even though Staples alternates that sale between Visa and MC gift cards, if you have the MC version you can use them as DEBIT cards at Costco and they work.
See Travel on Points blog post for a rundown.
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Or maybe not. Just received an email that my order could not be processed.
Will have to follow up later!
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So, the Costco site suggested I double check my credit card and shipping info and try again - which I did.
But the info was 99.99999998% likely correct on the order because I have not changed my Costco account address in 27 years AND I copy and pasted credit card numbers from my encrypted database just so I don’t fat finger anything.
2nd order: CANCELLED.
Started Help chat, rep contacted internal team, they sent a text message verification code.
He told me it was something in their system and the code cleared the flag.
Which is 100% stoopid, because I do NOT have a mobile phone on my Costco account because, why? So, I could easily have been a scammer who obtained my login info and had them send the code to their own phone. But, OK.
Told me to re-order, should be good. Third times a charm, I guess.
I was hoping to have the Shop cards in hand today or tomw because I like going there right after the weekend. Almost always emptyish then since everyone’s still gnawing away at all the stuff they bought at the end of the last week.
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3rd order: CANCELLED.
I see the charges go through to my CC and sit in pending each time, but I called Cap One anyway just to make sure their system wasn’t fraud barfing and bouncing back to Costco. They say no.
Costco support AGAIN said their system had an error and they cleared it.
That I should wait 15 minutes and order again.
I waited 4 hours, order confirmed.
I strongly suspect that in another 2 or 3 hours it will cancel again.
Now it is just a matter of principle - I have been a Costco customer for 28 years, I have never changed my address, email address, or phone on the account (well, phone until yesterday when they couldn’t send a code to my Google Voice number.)
They haven’t actually said their system is coming up with a “fraud” alert - just that there is an “error in the system” - which as an IT guy I know is very likely a catchall for “I have no idea what just happened.”
I wonder if it doesn’t like my Venture Mastercard?
If this one fails I’m going to call instead of chat just out of curiosity, but only because I have a lot of down desk time to make calls while I work on other things this week.
If a call doesn’t work, I’m probably going to just wait for the next time Staples is selling no fee $200 GCs and use use my Chase Ink Cash on those for 5x points.
This was all just a test to try using the Venture MC at Costco after reading I could.
So far: FAILURE. 
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I am new to the maximizing credit card points game, and I have a couple of questions.
- My wife has the United airlines card, and I have a card with my name under that account. I just received an offer from United with miles if I sign up. Would I need to be taken off my wife’s card before applying for the card to receive the offered miles?
- The card has an annual fee. After I receive the miles and have them in my frequent flier account, can I cancel the card right away or do I have to wait and pay the fee then cancel?
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I haven’t gotten any United cards yet so can’t speak to any specifics on those cards, but this info covers any CCs:
- Basic Answer: Being an AU on a card will not prevent you from getting the bonus on a card.
Caveat: Personal AU cards will usually appear on your credit reports, so if that bumps you over Chase’s 5/24 it could lead to a denial.
HOWEVER, if not counting AU cards drops you below 5/24 you can call Chase recon line and explain which cards you are AU on and tell them that you are NOT responsible for those balances or payments. That should open up an approval. (If rep isn’t amenable: HUCA: Hang Up Call Again, hope the next rep has a different outcome. I’ve done this in the past, worked with little issue.)
- Due to federal banking rules, you NEVER want to cancel a card or try to product change it to another card within the first year. Consider the first annual fee as the price to pay for the bonus, almost always easily worth it. Some cards worth holding even with fee in following years: I pay $95 for my mostly meh Marriott Boundless each year, but the annual free night certificate is easily worth $150 or much more…
If it is a card where you do not think the benefits of the card outweigh the annual fee, the basic tactic is to wait until the annual fee hits in year 2, then call or message to cancel the card within 30 days of the fee hitting - they will refund it.
(Don’t take my word for it with all banks and check that is the case with the bank you are using just in case. I have done this with Amex and Chase and it is a common tactic; I do not know of any bank that will not refund, but I can’t say I’ve tried it with Barclays, Wells Fargo etc.)
Advanced tactic: Since you have 30 days to cancel the card, you can squeeze in any extra credits that card gets with a new card year.
For example, people like to open Amex Platinum cards in December to triple dip: They’d get the end of year credits like annual $200 airline, 6 month $50 Saks, etc immediately. Then on January 1st they could get each again. When fee hits December/January following year, you can wait until Jan 1st and get credits again ASAP. Wait for credits to appear, then cancel card.
You’ll find more details if you Google “Triple Dip Amex Platinum”.
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