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!

Is There a Point To This?

• Chasing the Points highlights two frequent flier program changes. It’s probably not relevant if you only play the US frequent flier game – but if you’ve earned miles with Qantas or Malaysia (or play international frequent flier program roulette like Joe), you’ll want to check this out.
• Although you’ve probably already read it, it’s worth mentioning again: Avios are devaluating in April. But there may be a silver lining after all. Maybe.
• As a result, Wandering Aramean continues to improve his Avios Award Price Map tool.
• Because it’s not official until it’s a meme: Head for Points reports everyone seems to be outraged by the Avios realignment.
• In other related news: Aer Lingus is backing takeover bid from IAG, the group that owns British Airways and Iberia. Its unclear as to whether this will happen because of significant percentages of the company are owned by Ryanair and the Irish government. None-the-less, this could be an attempt to get more take-off/landing slot pairs at Heathrow, where Aer Lingus has quite a few.

Fifty Shades of Gray Areas

• Angelina of Just Another Points Traveler shares the dark side of hidden city ticketing, specifically, how leveraging hidden city ticketing for international travel could go wrong due to visa requirements for your primary (or interim) destination. For what it’s worth, Joe is still undecided whether or not hidden city ticketing is good or bad.
• Doctor of Credit asks the question – can you hide your manufactured spending from your credit report? What he finds is interesting.
• Have the words “Do you know who I am?” ever come out of your mouth? Joe sometimes uses them – but often in reference to his past life. Carolina Travel Girl discusses her experience using DYKWIA as a leverage point.

Can We Have Some Plane Talk?

• John Walton from Runway Girl Network discusses the challenges United faces with a decision to go for the 777-300ER. Will they emulate Emirates and American and go 10-abreast in Economy? Will they keep that horrible pre-merger Continental business class seat that you can’t get both feet in? Will there be a first class? (we doubt that last one).
• Airways News’ Vinay Bhaskara analyzes the future of the A380. They make some interesting assertions.
• Hail to the…747? The United States Air Force has identified the Boeing 747-8 platform as the next Air Force One – and neither of us were surprised. The real question remains: once Boeing has the contract (and that will still take a lot of time), will they start really talking about the future (or lack thereof) of the 747 production line?

To Everything, There is a Season…

• Everyone at TaggingMiles (all two of us & our fuzzy children) would like to congratulate Summer of Mommy Points on the announcement of the newest addition to her family! We wish for many months of good health and joy ahead!
• The godfather of miles, Randy Peterson is retiring. The print edition of Inside Flyer is also retiring. We’re not sure that there’s anyone that deserves the option to “slow down” more than Randy. Congratulations – and thank you for your contributions to the community.