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!

Planes, Stays, and Hotels

• Matthew on Live and Lets Fly has the first pictures out of Qatar’s inaugural A350 Doha to Frankfurt flight. He even got a shot of Richard Quest, who flew the flight (along with Airbus’ CEO, Qatar’s CEO, and Lucky). You can see Richard Quest’s video here.
• Speaking of Richard Quest: This month’s CNN Business Traveller is really one to see for Mile and Point enthusiasts. The first segment features the Godfather of Miles, Randy Peterson. They also talk about mileage running, a segment on Kimpton Hotels, and the Airbus Beluga. Truly a must see.
• In case you missed the e-mail: Protea Hotels joined up with Marriott. Now you can book hotels in Africa on Marriott Rewards points!

What was your point again?

• Chasing the Points shares what he’s been up to lately. There are some great nuggets here that you want to check out.
• BigHabitat is on a tear with his Jet Ranking. He’s already at #98, and we suspect he wants to make it to the 100,000,000,000,000 share level so he can conduct a hostile take-over after it debuts – which, strangely enough, we’re okay with. Trevor signed up, but doesn’t have nearly the pull, at a rank of 82,623 – feel free to support his cause and sign up with his link too.
• Oh, and BigHabitat reminds us that Sears VIP Benefits were unveiled today. Unfortunately all the generators were taken when we looked, but there are a couple of things worthy of reselling (like a Keurig B45).

Speaking of sensitive topics…

• One Mile at a Time shares the interesting hierarchy of airline pilots. Because this is totally a thing.
• Also a thing: the mile high club. One Mile at a Time also talked about that last week. You’re welcome to draw your own conclusion.

Dancing in the Moonlight

• Trevor wrote a guest post at The Free-quent Flyer presenting a case against USBank’s FlexPerks. Why? Because US Bank is just too hard. (Everyone has their limits!)
• Over at his day job, Joe explains why Cuba is still unlike anywhere else you’ll ever visit. Even though the loosened travel restrictions go into effect today.