Welcome to my weekly credit cards, points, miles news from the blogosphere. Here are some topics:
- AA negative changes
- IHG Free Night Certificate
- Capital One improves transfer rates to partners
- 20% Citi transfer bonus for transfer to Qatar
- Qatar Airways World Cup 2022 packages
- Europe’s best walking cities
- Who scams the scammers?
- And more
To access publications hidden behind the paywall, I have three words for you: Firefox. Bypass. Paywalls (no relation 
).
Planes
AA negative changes are coming soon (supposedly), by DoC.
Air New Zealand tells unvaccinated passengers not to bother, by Bloomberg.
Singapore is “reopening” for vaccinated passengers, but you’ll be required to jump through so many hoops that I’d rather wait. A negative 48-hour PCR test; additional tests on arrival, day 3, and day 7; AND you’re only supposed to fly on Singapore Airlines (from the U.S.). Why? They allow Lufthansa to fly from Germany, British from the UK, KLM from the Netherlands, Asiana from Korea, but they don’t trust United to fly from the U.S.?
Well, not that I’m a United fanboy (trust me!), but this provision looks like a pure money grab. Suffice it to say, Singapore is not making to my Updated List of Countries Where Vaccinated Americans Can Travel Without Restrictions just yet.
If you want the JetBlue Mosaic status, you can “buy” it by spending $15,000 on the JetBlue Plus credit card, by DansDeals. I honestly don’t see the point. The Mosaic status used to be worth something in the past, but after a series of major devaluations it doesn’t look pretty anymore. However, you might be able to use it for status-matching at some point (you can match it to Air Canada Aeroplan 25K right now, but there is a small matter of spending $15,000). 🙂
Hotels
This can be interesting for some. IHG is offering new members a Free Night Certificate (up to 40,000 points) for two stays, by Loyalty Lobby.
Remember there was that thing, Daily Getaways? Well, it’s happening right now. Tomorrow is IHG for 5 cents per point; on the 12th it’s Choice for slightly more. Actually, Choice points for ~5 cents per point is not a bad deal, but I’m not into buying travel currencies. Here is the calendar.
And here are two pieces of my own.
- Wyndham Hotels has added two new upscale All-Inclusive resorts in Cancun and Play del Carmen
- Best Hyatt values for Category 4 international hotels
Credit cards
This is big and good! Capital One has increased transfer rates to 1:1 for most partners, by DoC.
Citi is offering a 20% bonus for transfer to Qatar, by MilesTalk. While most of us would probably skip this offer, it’s actually a great deal if you are going to fly on Qatar in the near future. Qatar and American charge the same 70,000 miles for a Business Class award in awesome Qsuites, so with this offer you’re getting it for 58,000 Citi points. Also:
- You’ll probably have better availability booking on Qatar than American.
- Who knows what “surprises” American is cooking for us? (See the first line at the top).
The 100,000-point bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred is officially over, but it’s still available for now with referral links, by Miles to Memories.
If you have been axed by American Express, read the comments too, by Frequent Miler.
Covid-19
This is a very short and very old 2015 Lancet article, but, my goodness, it’s so relevant today when Pfizer’s vaccine is about to be approved for kids over 5 and it’s become increasingly clear that we won’t stop the pandemic without vaccinating kids!
Anti-vaxxing: a privilege of the fortunate
At this stage in the fight against vaccine-preventable diseases, responsible governments should not allow such efforts to go wasted on the altar of freedom of choice. Although vaccination programmes should not take their relevance for granted, legal frameworks placing the health of the community above the individual choice should be established or clarified. Just as parents cannot choose to not educate their children for whatever reason, they should not be given the choice to opt-out their children from vaccination. The most successful public health intervention of all time should be more vocal than anti-vaxxers.
Other tidbits
Qatar Airways has World Cup 2022 packages starting at $3,800, by God Save the Points. The packages will include games, lodging, and airfare, and they might be a good deal considering the huge PITA it is to buy World Cup tickets on your own. And if anyone’s interested, the tickets for the last World Cup in South Africa ranged from $105 to $1,100 according to FIFA News.
If you ever wanted to see people who scam you over the phone, you can now thanks to scambaiters, by The Guardian.
Six Europe’s best walking cities, another piece by The Guardian, and I’ve only been to two. 🙁
TBB
- Best of Web: Forever Virus, Investing Experience Lessons, Michelin Guide Inspector Confessions, Gatorade History, Bird Photography
- Best Fall Hikes, Gambling Traders, Bird Migration Maps, Hyatt Business Card
My favorites:
Confessions of a Michelin Inspector
Why the University of Florida gets a ~$20m cut of Gatorade profits every year — totally fascinating!
Traders phone up gambling helplines as game-like broker apps spread — Ditto!
American Express Scramble — more on AmEx shutdowns
And now just for fun
Scambaiters from The Guardian link are luring their “victims.”
