I’m still catching up on things, and after a late-night Reselling Podcast (to be published on Tuesday), I thought I’d share some of the things that I’m fighting through jetlag to read.

Travel

There is now a connector between LAX’s Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), and Terminal 4. Ed shares why this is such a big deal. I vaguely knew about it happening at some point, but for me, the real question is whether Ed planned his flight through because of it, or if this was a nice coincidence.

Stefan asks: is it time for him to bring a shower puff with him. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a shower puff (clearly I don’t frequent Sheratons), but I did use a luffah (sp?) at the Grand Hyatt Bali this past week – I think I’ll stick with bar soap. That said, I have noticed some hotels not providing bar soap, and having such a “puff” would be significantly more efficient.

The Flight Deal shares a great deal – New York to the Seychelles for $852. I was recently chatting with a friend about my trip a few years ago, and still remember in awe, of how awesomely clear the water was.

American releases some (but not terribly enticing) award space in 2017. I realize I should feel this is a bigger issue, but considering American only releases 11 or so months out, I’m not terribly concerned. That’ll change in about 14 days though…

More from Stefan – Buy local, save big, this time on Royal Air Maroc. I love this stuff, not because its easy, but because sometimes having the same price for everyone may not be the greater good. I don’t view tickets only sold in a home country as any more discriminatory than an airline funded or subsidized by a nation state. In fact, providing what is usually a lower rate for home country purchasers may be the difference between people making a once in a life time trip or not. Second lesson: Always check the local site.

Gary shares a good reminder – burn your American Airlines SWU’s and Hyatt Suite Upgrades today! Since we are in a leap year, technically you have until tomorrow, but why wait? Btw – if anyone is flying on Leap day, I may have a SWU for you.

Vinh has been sharing a bunch of premium cabin trip report posts. I got a few chuckles reading his post on flying the Etihad A380. I’ve done it twice (second report forthcoming), and tend to agree with his assertion: Fly it once, then choose for yourself.

Miles and Points

Oren shares that the Mileage Plus X app is a great way to quickly replenish your United Mileage Plus miles nearly immediately. The bottom line is – buy gift cards through the app, get the points very quickly. The other lesson? for 510,000 miles, I’m expecting Oren to be sharing his thoughts on the Lufthansa First Class Terminal…. or at least I hope he’s flying up front for that!

From Angelina, possible big changes coming to Chase Freedom and soon. If you don’t have the Freedom, now may be the time to consider applying or product changing. I’ve seen a bunch of other folks covering this (or at least titles with exclamation points about it – remember, still catching up), but Angelina was who I saw first.

Vinh asserts that we should stop calling Reselling a form of Manufactured Spending. I’m on the bubble here – Make no mistake: Reselling is a business. But, can you earn miles and points from it? Yes. Can you earn miles, points, and profit? Yes? Just know the risks. I even wrote a guest guide for Frequent Miler on it. I still believe that miles and points collectors can add to reselling. So often, I hear of long-time resellers that aren’t focused on which card to use, or going through a portal. I would assert that we all bring different perspectives and can help build the collective knowledge base. Just remember, always aim to make money, breaking even more often breaks one.

Perhaps contrary to some of the other discussion (and my own anecdotal experiences), Frequent Miler believes he should have bit bigger on Discover Deals. Still, it is hard to argue against a quintuple dip.

Doctor of Credit reports – American Express has incorporated once in a life time verbiage for business cards too. There are some links that still work, but churning credit cards seems to be getting tougher and tougher. This really makes it hard to decide whether to keep the AMEX Plat, I like the Centurion Lounge, but, is it worth $250? (after airline fee credits)?