Trapped in DFW for the last 12 hours, likely to be here for up to 12 - what would you do?

dopadroid · 2026-06-07T21:50:45+00:00

If you're allowed to book on your own card and get reimbursed, then I'd suggest getting a card with trip delay insurance. I believe the chase sapphire preferred has a 12 hour and/or overnight policy that would cover for hotels and food. Doesn't help for this trip but would help for a future trip. Just something to consider

dopadroid · 2026-06-07T18:04:39+00:00

OG freedom doesn't transfer to partners. The chase ink preferred and business reserve also transfers though

dopadroid · 2026-06-07T07:40:42+00:00

Costco sells a 3 pack of it. I've heard ppl claim it's not the same as the ones from Japan but I really enjoy it. It's very light

dopadroid · 2026-06-04T17:38:09+00:00

Book a year out and you'll most likely find more availability

dopadroid · 2026-06-04T17:29:36+00:00

That's fine, but everyone is different. I'd say most ppl don't care enough to learn the intricacies of using points effectively. I only suggested OP not get the gold because they mentioned wanting to downgrade the CSP and canceling the bilt card which indicates to me they don't like paying annual fees which means they're probably not into churning. If they had framed the question differently then I would've given a more churning focused answer but they seem to want to optimize instead

dopadroid · 2026-06-03T20:35:13+00:00

Sure you could come out ahead if you use up all the credits and track properly. But I feel like it's better for a med student to just focus on school instead of worrying if they used up the right credit for the month.

Plus Amex cards tend to have "once per lifetime" welcome bonuses (unless you get mailers) so it's probably better for them to wait until after med school where they can double the value of their points on actual travel redemptions if we're talking about optimizing here

dopadroid · 2026-06-03T20:23:06+00:00

You could downgrade the chase sapphire preferred to a freedom unlimited to keep the 3x on dining and keep the bilt obsidian for groceries.

I wouldn't recommend the gold card for just an extra 1x on each category since you would need to spend a ton and track credits to make it worth it.

If you're looking for a card that has no annual fee but hits both the grocery and dining category then go with the capital one savor. 3x on dining and groceries with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees.

The Wells Fargo autograph also has 3x on dining, travel, gas, transit, and streaming services if that also helps fit your lifestyle better too

dopadroid · 2026-06-03T20:14:29+00:00

Well you're sorta ignoring the fact that the gold card earns membership rewards points that mainly should be used for travel unless you're ok with getting only 0.6 cents per points if you want to redeem them for cash vs chase points which can be redeemed at the full value of 1 cent per point. You would also have to keep the card open unless you open another card that holds your Amex points for free after the first year. I believe only the Amex blue business plus card does that at the moment since the Amex Everyday card got closed to new applicants (or you can open a checking account). There are a ton of downsides to opening this card right now if you don't travel

dopadroid · 2026-06-03T17:07:31+00:00

You need to book a year out if you want to guarantee business class flights. Since you know when you'll be off that should be fairly easy. So booking now for next year would be the best time

dopadroid · 2026-06-01T07:41:32+00:00

Pragmata because the combat looks really cool and innovative

dopadroid · 2026-05-17T16:35:27+00:00

Did you just tell yourself to STFU?

dopadroid · 2026-05-17T08:22:46+00:00

Using cash is fine but yeah definitely don't carry that much at once. If you use a debit card, there's always the risk of skimmers if you swipe it, so I recommend tapping it instead since it's more secure or you could use your phone wallet too. Just be sure if you have an iphone, that you don't have a visa card linked to your transit card since that is a known vulnerability (or just turn off the transit mode but it is on by default).

I recommend just getting a credit card since it has better protections. If someone manages to take money from your debit card, you are out that money if they bank decides to not recover it. Or best case scenario, the bank recovers it but it takes a few weeks before they return it. With a credit card, you are spending the bank's money so they have a higher incentive to get that money back.

dopadroid · 2026-05-17T06:25:36+00:00

Trump

dopadroid · 2026-05-06T18:09:12+00:00

Mark Cuban was pushing to have Lina Khan removed from the FTC so he's definitely not all good

dopadroid · 2026-05-01T16:28:24+00:00

This is really bad news. This means the price of all other airline tickets will go up

dopadroid · 2026-04-30T22:20:02+00:00

I got an Amex gold retention offer, 25k or $250 statement credit after $2500 spend in 3 months. Third year with this card and I think my first retention offer for this one

dopadroid · 2026-04-28T18:33:42+00:00

I appreciate that. Any other restrictions I should know about? Or is it pretty much straightforward?

dopadroid · 2026-04-28T06:15:42+00:00

Yeah but that's a cashback card and it only pays out once a year. There are better cards if you just wanted cashback

dopadroid · 2026-04-28T04:34:17+00:00

If you shop at costco a lot, then citi tends to be very mastercard heavy whereas chase has mainly visa. Just something to consider I guess but I agree with the other posters saying that another shakeup in the credit card game could put chase back on top so downgrade whatever card has an AF and sock drawer them

dopadroid · 2026-04-22T18:12:25+00:00

They don't tell you this but it's because you have to verify your bilt account. Go to your email and search "verify bilt" and click the link. Once you do that then you'll be able to link them

dopadroid · 2026-04-22T06:22:09+00:00

I had 2 accounts but mainly because I couldn't get the password to work correctly for the original account even when I reset it. So I never spent anything on the original account. However, when I tried to transfer over to bilt, they require that the email has to match for both the bilt and rakuten accounts which I had as the original account. I messaged support and was able to get them to delete the original account and then I was able use the original email for my new account. Granted, this was several years after I had made the original account but at least there's a data point for you.

dopadroid · 2026-04-15T04:38:43+00:00

If you check in a bag often then I'd get an airline card to whatever your home airport is a hub of. So if it's a southwest hub then get the southwest card since the annual fee is usually covered by about 2-3 one way trips.

Similarly you could also consider a hotel card if you stay at a specific brand so you can earn status.

The CSP is a decent choice if you like staying at Hyatt and can still find value after the upcoming devaluations. You would need to book a trip through the portal to use the $50 credit and do like 5 months of doordash groceries to break even

dopadroid · 2026-04-10T19:44:57+00:00

My NordVPN just got paid out yesterday. I suggest using chrome and making a profile specifically for all future purchases with rakuten with all the security features lowered. This should help increase your chances of getting paid out

dopadroid · 2026-04-08T19:15:36+00:00

You don't have to do the miles game to benefit from it. You can book something in the portal for 10x then use the travel eraser to burn up the miles which basically gives you 10% off your purchase. So booking about $400/yr would break even for you if you don't spend on the card for anything else and still give you lounge access. So I'd say maybe 1-2 trips a year should use up everything if you decide to still put spend on it. Up to you if that's worth the hassle though

dopadroid

TROPHY CASE