Originally Posted by belynch (Post 13898741)

WWBD

I need help with some FT math.

I have 135,XXX HHonors points. To finish MLE hotel bookings, I need three more nights either through free night certs or points. The Conrad is 50,000/night or has a point stretcher deal of 4 nights for 170,000.

If I get the HHonors AmEx Surpass card, I can close out my MLE hotels and redposit one of my free night chits to use in Paris, DXB, or SIN. That card has a $75 annual fee (not a big deal), but the dumbed down HHonors affinity card is free and has 20,000 points attached to it, which would bring me to the needed threshold for the three remaining nights (but won't maximize the usage of said points).

Other variables: I need three more nights to hit Diamond, which I'm absolutely going to do before the honeymoon for the benefits (so the Gold that comes with the AmEx fee card is worthless). One more stay beyond those three and I get another free night. So I'm banking on at least 10,000 more points, plus another free night, from stays between now and the end of May when I'd like to have the entire honeymoon buttoned up.

I carry the SPG AmEx card which is kind of :rolleyes:'ing me with the amount I've been staying at Hilton's recently. I'm not one to carry loads of cards in my wallet. I have the PPlus (:rolleyes:) and SPG AmEx and these two cover my needs. I'm not interested in ditching the SPG card because it's a far superior program and card to Hilton.

I also hate churning cards as a matter of practice, so if I end up going the AmEx Hilton route I'll probably hold onto it for a few years. Despite my better judgment.

Thoughts?

Originally Posted by Lurker1999 (Post 13898760)

I'm thinking about it. B fares on CO to PVG are still somewhat expensive on CO though. I started reading through some of the FT threads on the China visa. Apparently getting your multi-entry visa through the Houston consulate will be best.

Originally Posted by FT Lurker (Post 13898522)

I have read this post three times and cannot stop laughing.

:-:

Originally Posted by Hartmann (Post 13895794)

Good point. I guess the trick now will to be find somewhere cheap to stay.

Originally Posted by FT Lurker (Post 13898808)

You could also book the B-fare to HKG and book the intra-China trip via the baglady endorsed ctrip.com

Originally Posted by gbryan84 (Post 13898782)

Churn baby churn.

Originally Posted by belynch (Post 13898989)

Yeah, but which card.

Originally Posted by COFlyerCLE (Post 13897788)

Thanks, smb12 - that is pretty much what I was thinking as well. The investment has been well worth it to date.

Originally Posted by FT Lurker (Post 13899095)

Race you to 9k.

Go!

Originally Posted by tjtenor4 (Post 13897960)

Well hello there, Box.

I have been poked and prodded by mwg25 to introduce myself to y'all, given both the personal and airline-related engagements that occurred a couple of days ago :p

Not going to lie - I am vaguely daunted / intimidated by this thing y'all have going on over here, and I can't promise I'll be able to keep up with it, but I do look forward to meeting many of you, either in the NJ/NYC area next time I'm there with mwg25 at one of your shindigs, or at the We-DO in BKK :D

Regarding the *other* merger that's scheduled to happen... I know some of you have mixed feelings about it, and I've been known to exhibit UA-apologist qualities with the best of 'em... but I promise we 1Ks aren't ALL entitled... and almost none of us bites :) We just really like our E+, CR-1s, and three-class planes... but I'm sure something we can all hope for is that StarNet blocking goes the way of Ted. (rar!)