calypso726
Escaping reality one Disney vacation at a time
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2006
I have enough Reserve points for flights to Hawaii so I thought about adding 5-6 days in China. My husband already has the SW and Preferred card- can he also get the Reserve card? Or should he transfer his Preferred rewards to SW account and close Preferred account then apply for Reserve? My goal for flights would be:
NY to LA (or some west coast city)- SW points
LA to Bejing- husbands new Reserve points
Bejing to Singapore- ? (probably through a tour company)
Singapore to Hilo- husbands new Reserve points
Hilo to Honolulu- my Reserve points
Honolulu to NY- my reserve points with some to spare
That sounds like an awesome trip!!!
If he isn't at 5/24 my suggestion would be to get the reserve card. Yes, he can get it as well. DH, my mom and I all got the Reserve card while also having the Preferred card. Personally, I would never close both the reserve and preferred as one of them is needed to transfer points to airlines. In our case, DH and I already had the preferred and we knew we'd be keeping the reserve permanently. Our travel and spending habits justify keeping the CSR over the CSP. I downgraded my CSP card to a Freedom Unlimited and DH downgraded his CSP to a second Freedom card a few weeks after we got our reserve cards. My mom on the other hand, also has the CSP and then got the CSR. Her spending habits don't justify keeping the CSR after the first year. So, she is leaving her CSP as is and then when the AF is due next on the CSR she will close it or downgrade.
For our travel hacking we need the collection of Chase UR cards. We were extremely lucky to even get the CSR since both DH and I were at 10/24. Now even that avenue that we used has been closed off by Chase. We use the Ink+ to get 5 UR points/$ via gift cards, we tend to maximize the 5 UR points/$ with the Freedom category bonuses, and I also have the Freedom Unlimited for non category bonus spend and of course the CSR for the 3 UR/$ on dining and travel. With the 5/24 rule I am unable to churn Chase cards as I tend to pick up 5 or more cards each year.
Anyhow, I know that is more than you asked for but I thought I'd write my thought process on what we do and why for anyone else who may be learning how to play this game.