Author Topic: Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo  (Read 4165 times)

aceyou

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Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo
« on: May 11, 2015, 05:50:41 PM »
Never seriously credit card churned before.  Here's my plan, but it could have huge problems that I am ignorant of.  Hopefully some of you can let me know if I'm going about this the best way possible:

Goal: Short 4 day trip to Cancun next February

Purpose: Fun all all kinds

Ways to get free airline tickets: I think these are the two best options.  I've already have the southwest card, so that isn't an option.

    Option 1: Chase Sapphire Preferred https://applynow.chase.com/FlexAppWeb/renderApp.do?SPID=FDHV&CELL=6H8X&AFFID=27pXCeFyR_A-bc.MupsDeSaOtytc0HqrEA&pvid=A10006662046&jp_cmp=cc/296429/aff/3-10002373/na 

     Option 2:   Capitol One Venture http://www.capitalone.com/credit-cards/venture/?Log=1&EventType=Link&ComponentType=T&LOB=MTS%253A%253ALCTMMQC4S&PageName=31&TargetLob=MTS%253A%253ALCTMMQC4S&TargetPageName=Venture+Card+Details&referer=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.capitalone.com%252Fcredit-cards%252Fgateway&external_id=CJA_ZZ11412970_USCCJ_K7184510_A10006662135

Current plan to get free hotel stay while there: IHG Rewards Club https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/ihg/ihg70naep?CELL=6H8X&AFFID=27pXCeFyR_A-3.4ZHHtOEV_eS.qkG00IJw&pvid=A20006804778&jp_cmp=cc/355863/aff/3-10002352/na

So, here's the specific questions I'm looking for:
-  Are their better cards I could be looking at to get me to my goal?
-  Are there any problems associated with these cards that you've experienced that I may not be aware of? 
-  Anyone been to Cabo AND Cancun who could make a recommendation for one over the other? 

Thanks!!!

kpd905

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Re: Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo
« Reply #1 on: May 11, 2015, 06:15:15 PM »
The Barclay Arrival will get you $440 toward any travel expense after spending $3000.  It can be easier than trying to find award flights or nights sometimes.

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus/

Clean Shaven

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Re: Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo
« Reply #2 on: May 11, 2015, 06:15:56 PM »
If you live in/near a city that Southwest Airlines serves, you can fly to Cabo on Southwest/Airtran.

Look up the combo 2 X 50,000 point Southwest Chase credit card offer -- in short, if you can get it done in time for your trip, you end up earning 106,000 points (50K for each card, plus 3K min spend per card); if you spend another 4K (total of 110K points), you then qualify for Southwest's companion pass, which means free travel for your companion for (a) the remainder of the calendar year in which the pass is issued, and (b) for the entire next calendar year.  Try to time this so that the companion pass is generated early in a calendar year, so that you end up with a companion pass for as close to 2 full years as possible.

aceyou

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Re: Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo
« Reply #3 on: May 11, 2015, 06:30:44 PM »
The Barclay Arrival will get you $440 toward any travel expense after spending $3000.  It can be easier than trying to find award flights or nights sometimes.

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus/

Thanks kpd905!  This interests me.  How does the redemption work?  And when you say ANY travel expense, what counts as ANY. 

I'm interested in seeing if I can first do an airlines card for the flight, then a hotel card for the room, and then something like this to cover restaurants/other fun adventures on the trip.  Could this be the right card for that?  If I could find a system for getting a completely free trip each year, that would be really sweet:)

kpd905

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Re: Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo
« Reply #4 on: May 11, 2015, 07:19:28 PM »
The Barclay Arrival will get you $440 toward any travel expense after spending $3000.  It can be easier than trying to find award flights or nights sometimes.

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus/

Thanks kpd905!  This interests me.  How does the redemption work?  And when you say ANY travel expense, what counts as ANY. 

I'm interested in seeing if I can first do an airlines card for the flight, then a hotel card for the room, and then something like this to cover restaurants/other fun adventures on the trip.  Could this be the right card for that?  If I could find a system for getting a completely free trip each year, that would be really sweet:)

It won't count restaurants.  But airfare, hotels, car rentals all count.  For redeeming, you just charge the expense to the card and then use the points to erase that charge.  You get 10% back when you redeem points, which makes it $444.44 toward travel.

aceyou

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Re: Travel Hack to Cancun or Cabo
« Reply #5 on: May 11, 2015, 07:41:37 PM »
The Barclay Arrival will get you $440 toward any travel expense after spending $3000.  It can be easier than trying to find award flights or nights sometimes.

http://www.findmybarclaycard.com/barclaycard-credit-cards/arrival-plus/

Thanks kpd905!  This interests me.  How does the redemption work?  And when you say ANY travel expense, what counts as ANY. 

I'm interested in seeing if I can first do an airlines card for the flight, then a hotel card for the room, and then something like this to cover restaurants/other fun adventures on the trip.  Could this be the right card for that?  If I could find a system for getting a completely free trip each year, that would be really sweet:)

It won't count restaurants.  But airfare, hotels, car rentals all count.  For redeeming, you just charge the expense to the card and then use the points to erase that charge.  You get 10% back when you redeem points, which makes it $444.44 toward travel.

Thanks.  Well that's interesting.  So, if I want to take a road trip with my family in a couple years when the little ones get a little bigger, I could rent a vehicle for a trip and save on the wear/tear of our already very old cars.  That could be a fun option to pair with a hotel rewards card in the future.