Weekly News Roundup Archives

May 26, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

The Weekly Travel News Roundup is a collection of headlines from around the internet that caught the attention of the Tagging Miles team. Content on these blogs do not necessarily reflect the positions of Tagging Miles, and should not be considered endorsements. Have a great story we should read? Contact us now and let us know.

Travel:

Hyatt takes Suite Upgrades seriously, generally speaking the representative will put you on hold so they can confirm with the hotel. In the off chance that the hotel does not honor that upgrade upon check-in, good things can still happen, just see FQF’s account.

Miles, Points, and Credit Cards:

Doctor of Credit reports that MSing is now causing shutdowns for other US Bank cards, not just the brand new Altitude.
Don’t try maximizing your Discover 5x at Costco.com – apparently it’s not showing as a warehouse club.
If you’re available in early June, why not fly the new Qatar Airways Q Suites between London and Doha. Gary Leff reports that it’ll be available starting 10 June.

Miles and Points:

Frequent Miler and a whole slew of others are covering a United Airlines Prepaid Card. It will be a partnership with Netspend, which gives us an idea of how it will play with manufacturing spend. But there is so much more that is still unclear.

Tagging Miles:

PSA: Cancel, don’t change Southwest Flights
Observation Deck: Frustrating Customers or Frustrating Customer Service?
Credit Card Primary Car Insurance is not Equal

http://saverocity.com/taggingmiles/8012-2/

Electronics Ban Expansion, Qantas Heritage, Travel Scholarships, Singapore Long Haul

May 19, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Travel:

More Basic Economy fares from American, are any routes you might fly, impacted?
Did you know that you could transfer Hyatt points to anyone?
The expansion of the Electronics Ban to flights from the European Union is still unresolved.
More unofficial news about Singapore Airlines restarting the EWR-SIN and LAX-SIN routes. Not the best news.
A tour of the Qantas Heritage Collection in Qantas’ Domestic Sydney terminal.
The Gate has an interim joint statement between the EU and the US about what has been called the “pending electronics ban expansion.” Short answer – nothing yet.
Lucky flew the Etihad A380 Residence last week; here are 10 photos. I have to admit, it does look pretty cool.
I’ll be heading to the Westin Playa Conchal for my third time. But before we go to the Westin, we’ll be staying a night or two at the Andaz Papagayo – this is post is making me lean more toward the two nights.
Scott awarded the first Travel Codex scholarship – I think its an excellent idea. Travel breaks many biases.

Tagging Miles:

Diamonde the Giraffe appears with Delta SkyMiles and Lyft
Review: The Castle Hotel Orlando
Travel is Changing, Specifically the Passenger Experience

FT4RL Recap, Meet-ups, AMEX Platinum, Noise Cancelling Headphones

May 14, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Travel:

A recap of FT4RL 6 — I cannot highlight enough, the importance of networking, you may not realize it, but it will completely change how you travel!
GeekyPizza5! Join Us For The Next DC Frequent Traveler/Travel Meet-Up On May 30th. You know what I think of meet-ups!
A post from The Gate that I had in my queue to read for quite some time – How to be happy. I find Richard Branson to be very insightful normally, so this was a worthwhile read.
Delta and Aeromexico have inked a joint cooperation agreement; the value for consumers is dubious though.
Do you use noise cancelling headphones? Do you notice any discomfort?
A huge warning. Cancel, don’t change fully refundable itineraries with Southwest. Historically, Southwest has been very customer friendly with their policies, but moving to Amadeus, apparently has been a net loss for the customer.

Industry:

Jeff Zidell is leaving Hyatt! He has been the face of World of Hyatt, Gold Passport, and has really been about as great a face of a loyalty program as you can get. I think he even came up with the “But I’m a Diamond” video.
Unaccompanied Flyer, who sounds awfully like a college student, had the chance to interview Doug Parker, CEO of American Airlines. I’m pretty impressed with American being cool enough to accept such a student and writer in. The first segment is cool.
Interesting news in in loyalty programs. Air Canada, which had spun off Aeroplan, will be dumping the idea in 2020.

Miles, Points, Reselling:

Frequent Miler reports that CVS has stopped selling paypal cash cards. This was an important tool for many manufactured spenders, although, to be honest, I never really utilized them.
Another perspective on the American Express Business Platinum card and whether it’s a keeper. Especially meaningful considering American Express killed the 50% pay with points rebate.

Tagging Miles Posts of the Week:

Southwest Rapid Rewards Program
3 times when it makes sense to buy miles
Ebates Birthday Week – 15% cashback at tons of stores including Staples!
Southwest’s Reservation System Upgrade

747 Refresh, Premium Travel Card Madness, Milwaukee

May 5, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Travel:

The Queen of the Sky is still getting the occasional cabin refresh – in this case, one of Qantas’ 2 remaining 747’s got a sporty new look!
There’s a new credit card out (maybe you’ve heard about it ), and Joe has an alternative view on Premium Travel Cards.
Always garden your reservation, to avoid nasty surprises like P.F. Digest found.
Travel to Milwaukee – the hidden city of cool things to see and do. So many of them sound like great ideas, like kayaking to a brewery and hammerschlagen!
If you were crediting your American Airlines flights to Cathay Pacific, it’s just not as rewarding as it used to be. But View from the Wing has some other options for you.
Airlines are announcing in droves tighter pitches in Economy. American first, United is considering the same on their 737MAX. More important than the pitch though are the questions that Seth raises with respect to the impact on loyalty. Of course the Basic Economy fares don’t help that discussion either.

Tagging Miles:

Celebrating Star Wars Day AvGeek Style
Amazon Seller Support Associate Shares Insight
My Worst Reselling Mistake
AMEX Business Platinum is killing 50% rebate – Get some extra points!

Melbourne, Alitalia, End of Punitive Loyalty Era?

April 28, 2017 By Trevor 2 Comments

Travel:

Another excellent installment from J. M. Hoffman that just leaves me yearning to return to Australia. Impressive how well he characterizes Melbourne (which is by far, my favorite big city outside of the US).
How to book LATAM (that’s the combined airline of Chile’s LAN and Brazil’s TAM for those keeping track at home) Awards with Alaska Airlines Miles.
Alitalia, an airline that has had its ups and downs over the past few decades, may be entering the final months of its existence. Employee owned may not have been in its moniker, however, the employees may be the ones to have put the final nails in the coffin, in voting down a deal that an 8% paycut, some amount of jobs cut, but the opportunity to refinance debt. I’m not sure this is the end of Alitalia, but, I’m awfully curious how they’ll get out of this one!

Miles, Points, and Reselling:

A no brainer from Oren – if you haven’t turned Two Step Verification on for your account, you really should.
JetBlue’s VP of Loyalty states that this is the era of punitive loyalty. I tend to disagree, having looked briefly at JetBlue’s loyalty program, but more on that next week.

Tagging Miles:

Pareto Principle in Reselling
What is the Worlds Best Business Class?
Last Chance! Remove or Sell Amazon Meltable Inventory
Is @FakeUnitedJeff banned forever?

Entrepreneurship, Etihad Guts Brussels Air awards, #Bumpgate

April 14, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Travel

I totally missed this one last week. Great Disney World on property hotel hack. If you’re going to Disney, please stay on property (my recommendation), and this hack makes it a whole lot more affordable!
Etihad has gutted Brussels Airline Awards. This was previously a huge sweet spot.
Nick, writing for Frequent Miler has a cool post on spending Chase Ultimate Rewards points.
Another installment from the Girl and Globe takes on Vietnam. Before reading this, I couldn’t even find Hoi An on a map, now I’m curious enough to look.
Last call to earn and redeem Alaska Airlines miles on Delta, from Travel Codex.

Hotels

Hyatt is awarding free nights, but they aren’t necessarily telling you when you’ve earned them. This is why AwardWallet is so great!

Miles, Points, Reselling and Amazon

Hobbies and side businesses, perhaps an apt article as we approach tax day.
Shawn follows up on his post and the concerning trend of sellers that are purely fraudulent.
Ariana talks about why she’s not manufacturing spend as much lately. I think her post really underscores how important various bank relationships are, and how we should treat them more than just transactionally.

Tagging Miles – #Bumpgate and more!

More Progress for a DC to Baltimore MagLev
#Bumpgate:
- Airlines Respond to United
- Over Covered in the Blogosphere?
United Takes Safety Seriously
Welcome to April! Q2 5x Opportunities

Lavatory Ettiquette, Cheaper Disney Hotels, Amazing Vietnam experiences

April 7, 2017 By Trevor 2 Comments

Latest Saverocity Observation Deck Podcast Episode:

An in depth discussion of the Electronics Ban.

Travel:

From Becky – This spa just went on my list, when I finally get to Vietnam. But not just that, this was really well written – something I think we don’t necessarily think of now a days when we read trip reports or most blog posts.
Do you lock your deadbolt when in a hotel room? If you don’t, you should!
A great way to make that Disney vacation more affordable and stay on property (which makes the experience a whole lot better, even without kids!)
The curious query of airplane lavatory toilet seat etiquette. As I’ve grown older, I’ve become a bit more of a germaphobe myself, so I tend to agree with Gary’s assertion.

AvGeek:

Buzz Aldrin becomes the oldest person to fly with the US Air Force’s Thunderbirds. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Miles and Points:

What information is public, and what shouldn’t be, when it comes to manufactured spending? Is this the golden age of travel hacking?

Credit Cards:

PF Digest reports that the Upromise credit card is no more.
FQF loves US Bank almost as much as TPG loves Chase. But I think FQF may have a point with this one..

Tagging Miles:

Virgin Atlantic Continues to Innovate with the Dreambird 1417
The Lifetime Hotel Status Conundrum
Review: Grand Hyatt Taipei

SQ A380 New Suites, #Legginggate, Amazon Woes, Washtubs, not Teaspoons in Manufactured Spending

March 31, 2017 By Trevor 1 Comment

Travel:

The Australian Business Traveller reports that Singapore is moving its A380 Suites to the upper deck, essentially creating a premium upper deck. Interesting analysis to how folks arrived at this.

This whole legging thing was all a buzz on Sunday. Its amazing how uninformed individuals can pass judgement over others and companies’ values. I love social media, but Sunday proved how dangerous it truly can be, by having an individual with an MO selectively reporting information. Its a shame how facts somehow get lost.

Two contributors of The Points Guy flew following the Electronics Ban. Here is one of their experiences, flying Etihad from Abu Dhabi to Dallas. I had heard through other avenues of similar experiences. This is definitely an example of doing things poorly.

Hotels:

Hyatt’s new Miraval Brand is now visible online, but so many details still remain un-announced.

Miles, Points, and Profits:

FQF highlighted a time that you want washtubs, not teaspoons for a deal. This is an excellent deal that combines miles, points, and profits (reselling). Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to jump on it. Did you?

Shawn highlights a growing trend that we’ve been talking a lot about in the Mile High Reselling Club, an influx of low ball “Just Launched” sellers on popular products. Its a huge risk to consumers and resellers alike.

Tagging Miles Posts of the Week:

My Top 4 Funny Amazon Reviews – If you’re looking for a laugh, definitely take a read!

Review: EVA Air 777-300ER Houston to Taipei – an excellent flight, that has propelled EVA Air to one of my favorite business class airlines, but somehow I missed out on Hello Kitty, and its all my fault! (more on that to come)

ResellingDO 5 Tickets are on sale now! August 12th in Orlando, we’ll have new speakers as compared to ResellingDO’s 1-3. I’m very excited for it, I know many others are too!

Targeted – Earn Bonus World of Hyatt Points with your Chase Hyatt Visa. Its not great, but every little bit helps!

Electronics Ban, 2.5% Cashback is the new floor, Farewell to Virgin America

March 24, 2017 By Trevor 5 Comments

Travel and The Electronics Ban:

The biggest news is the electronics ban (my link), which has the US and UK banning large electronics from the cabin for flights departing from a variety of Middle East and North African airports. Airlines are already hurting, and trying to alleviate the inconvenience, like Emirates who will allow passengers to keep their electronics right up until boarding.
Richard Branson’s farewell to Virgin America, after Alaska announced it will kill the Virgin America brand, is a great, if nostalgic read. I have to say, there have been some airlines that really have character, and Virgin America is one of them. There aren’t that many left. And if you want a parody from another era, here is singleflyer’s offering
Dia succeeded in getting her jump to Marriott Rewards Platinum, which gets her United Silver and a bunch of other benefits. Have you jumped on this yet? If you have SPG or Marriott Gold, its a phone call, and 9 stays in 3 months. I’m 2 stays in myself.

Credit & Gift Cards and Miles and Points:

Joe has a public service announcement – always keep your receipts when buying gift cards!
Cashback Credit Cards are getting more competitive, check out this 3% cashback in the first year card coming soon nationwide. Or, USAA also has a 2.5% cashback card. No longer is the “floor” 2%.
Ya’ll know I love shopping portals – well Doctor of Credit shares a way to get even more miles when shopping via the AAdvantage Shopping Portal.

Tagging Miles Posts of the Week:

Uber gone bad, A new type of Stowaway, Q1 5x ending soon

March 17, 2017 By Trevor Leave a Comment

Travel:

Uber Drivers doing bad things… Don’t cancel your uber ride at the request of the driver
National is rolling out BMW X3’s – They will be in the Executive Aisle as a free upgrade until the end of May. Here’s hoping you see one next time you rent!
Heathrow T5 Transit is now easier with self-service gates. Apparently its helped ques significantly.
The curious case of an extra passenger.

Credit Cards:

Joe shares an interesting and important perspective on credit card annual fees; how many do you pay?