The Weekly 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:

• Gary shares one of the timeless pieces of advice — His words: “You don’t get if you don’t ask,” my words: “You never know if you don’t ask.” It has worked since I was a child, in fact, my mother reminds me to this day, that my first First Class flight, from Tampa to New York, was merely because I asked for a Window seat and an Aisle seat for my mother.
• Adventurous Kate reminds us to be thankful for the freedom to travel. I’ve had to provide bank statements for visas in the past, but they were to fairly out of the way countries. For Phillipines residents, it sounds like it is a fairly regular occurrence, which is unfortunate to say the least.
• The Pope is in town (or at least was, I think he’ll either be in New York or Philly by the time you read this), so Gary Leff’s post about how Pope Francis will be flying an American 777-200 domestically between Joint Base Andrews, New York and Philly is interesting. Of course Gary is more focused on the outfit of the aircraft (its not yet been retrofitted with the lay flat business and no first class). I on the other hand am thinking that its a pretty short flight for a 772, however it looks like 80 miles is the current shortest length scheduled length (OGG-HNL), however 33 miles is the shortest chartered length (IAD-Andrews-ADW)
• The Thai Junta readies its “Great Firewall” – This highlights that the need for a reliable VPN is increasing for travelers.
• BBC reports on two studies that identify the highest rated places in the world to be an expat. Having just returned from Singapore, I could see how that would be highly rated, assuming commensurate salary, what with Singapore Changi airport and all, too..

Miles and Points:

• The Devil’s Advocate  is back with another entertaining post. Personally, the biggest lessons in this post from my perspective are timing the market (something I’ve written about), and the law of diminishing returns.
• Freequent Flyer talks about timeshares… You probably already know the answer on whether or not they are a good deal, but it is always interesting to see some hard thought being put into topics we assume we already know the answer to.
• Eric, writing for Travel Codex shares an award calculator for manufactured spenders. There’s a cost, and it might not be as dynamic now as one might like, but Eric notes he’s working to eventually get it web-based. I suspect that will help a lot, considering how dynamic some award charts can be.
• Of course, Economical Excursionists, via Freakin Flyers also has a cool tool to compare award charts of common programs.
• Oren shares the impact of returns when reselling, and highlights the different type of returns.

#AvGeek:

• Could it be possible to fly on the Concorde? This group is trying to make it a reality, but it is likely to cost a pretty penny.