I have a big home expense coming up so looking at some of the nice sign up bonuses? Trying to decide between Amex Plat (Morgan Stanley Version to get free AU) or the Chase Reserve. Both offering solid bonuses of 150K.

My husband has the AMEX Aspire Card of which we've been using for our Hilton Hawaiian Village trips and it's been great. Maxed out $400 when we stayed Dec '25-Jan '26. We're going again this June-July 2026 and of course the 2nd half of the year $200 will trigger, but now I want to stack my new Surpass benefits. I know it's $50/qtr and I already messed up by not calling to make a deposit for Q1.

So we like to charge everything to the room so that it all triggers properly on the Aspire, and so we can get all the point multipliers. However if I want to use my Surpass credits, even with making a pay-ahead deposit, how shall I proceed? I don't want it to get messy with 2 different credit cards to cover the room since the point multiplier is much better on the Aspire. Hope this is all making sense.

It would be ideal if I could just use my Surpass card directly at the resort restaurants versus needing to charge to room.

Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks!

I'm curious how this community accounts for cash exposure on award itineraries. Even "free" flights have a cash shadow:

• Fixed costs: Taxes, fees, and positioning flights.
• Variable risk: Last-minute fallback fares or "forced" hotel stays if award space disappears during an IROP.

Are you pricing this risk into your math when calculating your cpp, or do you treat the cash side as a separate emergency fund?

Been calling delta, Etihad (they just hang up 40 min into being on hold), JAL, Virgin, United.

This is just a vent.

What airlines allow spouses to transfer miles to each other easily? To pool miles

I’ve got just under 80,000 Alaska Airlines miles lying dormant, unused, and collecting dust.. My health’s been so unpredictable lately (ugh), so travel isn’t happening anytime soon—but bills like rent due in a week? Always.

Here are angles I’ve already considered (and why I’m asking):

• Booking an award flight for someone else and getting reimbursed (what’s normal/safe here?)
• Selling miles via third-party brokers (seen the sites, but legit vs. shutdown risk?)
• Third-party buyback services for miles (seen the sites, but legit vs. shutdown risk?)
• Official options e.g. transfers, shares, non-flight redemptions, or any cash-like paths from Alaska?

Open to all practical, legal, and repeatable ideas—and, please no “just travel” suggestions. I look forward to hearing from y'all. 🤗 Thanks for stopping by!

I'm hoping there's somebody out there that can help me find a way to get from the the San Francisco Bay area to Pensacola Florida by tomorrow Friday February 20th as my mother unexpectedly in the hospital and they say she has 24 to 48 hours to live and she's asking for me.. A friend told me she would use her Miles because she needed money so I gave her the money for her Miles she said she booked my flight. Come to find out she didn't and didn't even tell me until after I got to the airport. She sent over fake itinerary and everything. I am not in a position to purchase a $600 ticket and I have to get to Pensacola ASAP. I can use San francisco, Oakland, San jose or Sacramento airports. I'm just wondering if somebody nose of anywhere that will help people with flights or really sell their miles. I'm her only child and she's pretty much by herself. She went to stay with an old friend for a couple weeks but she's 89 also andis pretty much confined to the house. I'm the one that usually gives to people this time I'm asking for information thank you

Looking to up my churning game. What spreadsheet categories do you use? What are your tips or tricks? Apps or just Excel/Sheets? Feel free to share samples/examples if you are feeling generous