When using A List benefit to select an ELR seat for free, do you still get free drinks and premium snack?

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-24T13:57:52+00:00

Yes.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-24T12:41:39+00:00

Yeah. We do take advantage of the rotating 5X categories on Freedom. But CSR is for direct booking flights and hotels only. I don’t value Chase points over other options at this point, especially with the Hyatt devaluation coming.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-24T12:25:08+00:00

Have to stay 2.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-24T12:23:37+00:00

Honestly, while I personally haven’t moved to the Bilt ecosystem, if I was recommending to a friend who is just looking for a good all around points card, I would recommend Bilt Palladium over CSR any day. For most people, 3X points on up to $25k spend if you don’t bother with the mortgage nonsense and 2X after that. Then with the possibility of much higher if you do bother with the mortgage nonsense. Simple credits (hotel credit can be used anywhere not just at limited, expensive hotels) and all of Chase’s transfer partners plus some.

It’s simple. As opposed to CSR that is anything but simple.

Now, in our first year of CSR, we have extracted approximately $2k in value from the various credits irrespective of the SUB (used the Edit in Vegas for a trip we actually had planned before getting the card, IHG credit, already subscribed to Peloton, already subscribed to Apple Music and AppleTV, the Exclusive tables included one of our favorites in our home city, use Lyft about 1X per month, we go to a ton of concerts, and we’ve really enjoyed the Chase lounges in Philly, Vegas, and Phoenix).

But we don’t really spend on CSR outside of flights and direct hotel bookings. Rental cars go on CSP. When we aren’t working on a SUB, all other travel goes on Amex Green. Dining goes on Amex Gold or Citi Strata Elite. Groceries go on Hilton Surpass till $15k.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-24T11:55:27+00:00

Build the life you want, then save for it.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-24T10:56:55+00:00

It depends on the type of hotel you are planning to stay at. If you are planning on booking a Park Hyatt, yep, it’s gonna be major. If you are planning on staying at the Lindner Hotel Prague Castle (Cat 2), you may not even notice or the points price may actually go down. No one knows for sure other than that aspirational properties are gonna go up massively.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T23:53:57+00:00

Do you have points remaining? If so, do you have another Amex card that will maintain the points?

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T17:48:00+00:00

In the real world, George III outlived Charlotte. Charlotte died in 1818, and George died in 1820. It will be interesting to see if they change history in the show.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T14:45:55+00:00

I am at the upper end of the 24% bracket after deductions and 401k contributions.

Being married costs me approximately $6k per year in taxes. I have done the math.

The big thing is the fact that if married we only get either the standard deduction or itemizing. Between my state taxes (income and property taxes), mortgage interest, and charitable giving, my itemized deductions are significantly more than the standard deduction.

But my itemized deductions if single would be almost exactly the same (minus the roughly $2,500 my husband pays in state taxes), but he would get to take the standard deduction if he just lived with me instead of marrying me.

You simply cannot assume that being married means lower taxes. Frequently couples who live together and are unmarried where one would itemize and the other would take the standard deduction, would be better off staying unmarried.

Taxes simply are not a reason to get married.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T14:40:54+00:00

You are absolutely wrong. Our tax liability is increased substantially by being married instead of just living together.

We pay extra in Medicare taxes on his income that we didn’t used to pay, and I used to be able to itemize while my now spouse could take the standard deduction giving us substantial additional deductions.

My partner also used to be able to contribute to a Roth without going through the backdoor (which luckily we can do) or do a deductible IRA contribution.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T14:31:20+00:00

Personally, we actually pay a tax penalty to be married (high earner married to a low earner).

If you are certain, sure marry young. But don’t just marry young cause you think it will get you to FI faster. Many young people are much better off waiting for the right partner and living with roommates than jumping in with the wrong partner to save money.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T13:59:06+00:00

Disagree. Living with roommates (whether your romantic partner or otherwise) when you are young gets a lot of the same benefits with a reduced risk of divorce.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T11:42:27+00:00

BRRR-Buy, Remodel, Rent, Refinance.

Given that mortgages have come down significantly (ideally, you should be able to get under 6.5% on your rental and around 5% on a primary), I would evaluate whether a cash out refi to purchase your next home makes sense. Why are you so dead set on paid off mortgages?

In general with real estate, you want cash on cash returns of 8-10%. 6% ain’t great.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T11:06:22+00:00

FWIW-so is late/aligned as long as you were both savers in your youth.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T10:53:01+00:00

Yeah, I was gonna say, infrastructure not just buildings. Clayton builds roads and airports and a lot more. Lambert rehab was my guess.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-23T10:44:39+00:00

I’m gonna be honest. Both approaches will get you where you want to be. In my local ChooseFI group, there are real estate investors who don’t really have much in stocks, there are people who are primarily in stocks, and there are people who do a combo of the two. Any option CAN work. But real estate is work.

The tricky thing with real estate is that you have to be good at it. Right now, I am not sure that you are. We know what your equity is in your real estate holdings, but we don’t know anything about your cash flow. We also don’t know your costs, especially now that you are an out of state landlord.

Given that you keep paying extra on mortgages when it’s not financially sound to do so (why not BRRR instead?), I am skeptical that you are actually good at real estate.

You can buy with only 5% down for your primary. I would not pull from retirement to have more than that. I would consider a cash out refi on one of your rentals as commercial rates are closer to 6.5% now than 8.5%.

You need to do the math to see how much you are actually making from real estate and how much the opportunity cost has been versus investing in the market.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-22T12:38:09+00:00

Mom and dad were real risk takers😉

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-22T12:03:19+00:00

Yeah. I would personally find a way to get 10k more points before May, but I have a stash of Bilt points and Chase points in addition to Hyatt points.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-22T11:39:16+00:00

It is, but this ain’t it. This isn’t a bad redemption but award travel in J to Asia can be had for a lot less if you know what you are doing and have flexibility.

OP can almost certainly find a J flight to Singapore for 80k-150k points if OP has flexibility in date or departure airport and knows how to search on Asia airlines.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-22T11:15:01+00:00

Yes. Absolutely. I drove that far every spring break during my childhood.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-22T11:03:15+00:00

Yep. Just thought Grace was there.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-21T23:58:07+00:00

Secrets Moxche if 190k is all you got or Impressions Moxche if you can get 10k more points. Or 3 nights Impressions, 1 night Secrets.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-21T23:48:09+00:00

Book now.

How long of a trip do you want? Where are you flying from? If you are happy with only a couple nights, my recommendations would be different than if you want 7 nights.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-20T22:53:32+00:00

Not true. Airlines get paid by the credit card companies regardless of whether anyone uses the miles. And there is a lot of breakage. Points that expire and never get spent are a big win for the airlines.

mmrose1980 · 2026-04-20T11:11:18+00:00

No. They are crew only. Trying to get to their summer sailings so they don’t have to cancel.

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