Travel

• Last week, I mentioned that Dia the Deal Mommy was having some Culture Shock in Hanoi (or rather, her little ones), here’s how she bested it, and made a great memory for her kids.
• Dia also shares her Vietnam Visa on Arrival experience. Vietnam is on my list. Can’t wait to go, and I may just follow her experience, because, it seems like it works!
• Nick, who writes for One Mile at a Time, shares a review of Virgin Atlantic’s Upper Class on the A340. I think he was aiming for something akin to The Worlds Best Complaint Letter also from a Virgin flight, but I think he missed the mark. This is one where the comments may be more entertaining than the actual post itself.
• Becky shares places that she is afraid of visiting. It’s important to remember, that while the world can in fact be our oyster (so to speak), there are some places, that even if you can make it there, you might be better off not. Of course, everyone’s situation is different. A quick read, and worth it.

Miles and Points:

• Pizza in Motion reminds us that we should water and feed our reservations, especially as American is on the verge of moving to one system.
• United put out a bounty for white hat (assumingly) hackers to find bugs in their latest website. Wandering Aramean reports that they are starting to pay out, and in some cases, big ways.
• Matt offers how you should value an annual fee offer.
• Travel is free poses the argument for United still being the best Ultimate Rewards transfer partner. There are pluses and minuses here, but I still find myself transferring to United.
• Point Hacks points out that Qantas has loaded their Sydney to San Francisco flight (or as I like to put it, San Francisco to Sydney — kidding!), and even had premium awards available to Qantas and Asia Miles frequent flyers. I hear there’s availability to AA and BA miles holders, but I haven’t had luck myself.
• Wandering Aramean confronts a difficult question with the SkyDrachma question.
• Milenerd reminds us that you can earn 3,500 American Aadvantage miles or Southwest Rapid Rewards points for going through the respective portal.
• In case you didn’t see it earlier in the week, I opened the kimono, so to speak on how I work my financial strategy, in response to a post by Money Metagame.

Manufactured Spending

• Freequent Flyer reports on what he calls a “Rube Goldberg contraption” – Citi Double Cash’s Purchase Tracker. As a result, he gets this week’s award for getting “Rube Goldberg” into a post without it sounding too outlandish…. which may devalue that award, as I think of it.
• The Devil’s Advocate (writing for Frequent Miler), shares 3 ways to automate multiple twitter accounts for Amex Offers. I need to get around to doing this, now that Wandering Aramean’s SyncAssist is no more.
• File this under: Wow! Chasing the Points writes how you can get up to $2,000 in cash bonuses, for opening up small business accounts at Bank of America. Its worth repeating, bank branches can be your friends, so you should make friends with the folks there.

#Avgeek

• Gary Leff informs us of where we can have dinner on a Southwest 737. It sounds like the hushpuppies may even be better than those I found at the Grand Hyatt Doha.
• There was an explosion at the Zodiac facility in Washington State (in the US). It’s not clear what caused it. It resulted in the injury of 5 employees. Also relevant is that it is likely to impact Airbus and Boeing aircraft completion/delivery rates, especially considering that the interior is what has delayed a number of deliveries already.
• Gary Leff responds to an article arguing that the US Airline Market is becoming less competitive. I tend to enjoy reading both sides of the issue; its interesting how little words like “airports” vs. “cities” make a difference in validity of the argument.