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

• Take a look inside how American Airlines treats VIP flyers. Interestingly enough, you can pay for this service, it starts at $250 over and above your ticket.
• True Pizza in Motion, from, Pizza in Motion… Of course, the New Yorker in me feels that it’s debatable to refer to Domino’s as true pizza.

Miles and Points

• Chasing the Points talks about the one–credit card–that he let get away.
• Doctor of Credit shares why he blogs. He probably has the greatest justification to have credit card affiliate links of most any blogger in the space, but he doesn’t. If you ask me, that really speaks to his character.
• Lucky seems to be having an issue with his BA Avios account. I suspect this is very specific to him, rather than a larger issue.
• Nick at PF Digest runs the numbers on Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Starwood. There are some really surprising things, like Hilton only having 2 domestic category 1 hotels. What’s the point, Hilton?
• Freequent Flyer experienced a shock to his travel budget. Luckily, this was a positive shock, but, his thought process is an interesting one.
• Another from Chasing the Points – Talking about the Thousand Dollar Gig. No, he’s not talking about a specific one, but rather the tools necessary, and more importantly, the frame of mind you need to have. Its a great read, although I think I’ll probably read it through at least once more to get all the gold from it.
• Via FrequentMiler, Sears does count as a department store for Discover’s 5% category bonus. Double cashback here we come! I’ve already made my purchases, just waiting for my statement to close, to confirm I’m golden, but FrequentMiler’s already has so, we can be fairly confident here. If you haven’t maxed out your $1500 worth of 5% now and 5% later, now is the time.
• Money Metagame offers the IRS Implications of our hobby.
• Topcashback gives us what we want, but not really, with the latest AMEX Gift Card portal bonus. But, Oren’s Money Saver reported that BeFrugal was still working for 1.5% AMEX Gift Cards up to $2,000, until just shy of 7pm Thursday night.

#AvGeek

• The last US Airways flight is set for October 16/17. Here’s the itinerary.
• From World Airlines News – ANA Announces 3 new Star Wars themed logo jets! Soon you can fly on an R2-D2 themed 767, or a BB-8 (?) themed 77W! Oh, and if that isn’t enough, Disney announced 2 new Star Wars themed lands.
• Perhaps the Singapore Air longest flight will return sooner than expected, but, until then, Emirates is still poised to take over the mantle.
• Airline Reporter tours the Four Seasons Boeing 757.
• American Airlines is cancelling its Philly to Tel Aviv route. It’s a shame, because I was hoping to fly it, after enjoying a quick mileage run to Dublin on a similarly equipped aircraft (the A330).

Tagging Miles Posts of the Week

• We’ve been doing some site updates to Tagging Miles, and are trying some new things, like this! Please, do share any opinions you have.
• Are Chase Ultimate Rewards Points worth giving up all the bonuses you could get from churning?
• Managing your credit cards, annual fees, and cancellations.
• Five Manufactured things that I’m grateful for as a Weekend Warrior. — The comments on this one are pretty impressive, many folks are not only thankful, but using so many different strategies.
• We re-launched Ask Tagging Miles, This one could be worth subscribing to. I’ll keep answering questions as often as I receive them, so please, if you’ve got a question about Miles and Points, don’t hesitate to ask.
• Finally, I offered a case study for shopping portals, and looking at the bigger picture.