Welcome to my weekly miles, points, credit cards plus other travel news from the blogosphere. Here are some topics:
- 32,000 miles for Business Class to Europe
- Aeroplan Elite Status Guide
- American and JetBlue reciprocal award redemption
- New York passes a consumer-friendly credit card points law
- Covid medical repatriation insurance
- How to Spend 36 Hours in Las Vegas (without gambling)
- And more!
To access publications hidden behind the paywall, I have three words for you: Firefox. Bypass. Paywalls. Seriously, no need for any kind of trickery (beyond that 
).
Planes
Save 30% On Turkish Airlines Award Flights, by Frequent Miler. You have until New Year’s Eve to book travel through May 15, 2022, and these are truly remarkable, Unicorn-grade values (or almost Unicorn, since Turkish adds moderate “fuel” surcharges. Still, getting to Europe for 32,000 miles in Business Class is kind of insane, and Turkish has pretty decent Business Class availability, which greatly adds to the value of this promo.
Delta won’t let you earn miles for flying in Basic Economy anymore — a good write-up by VFTW. I personally wouldn’t give any airline a chance to squeeze me in a middle seat, so I couldn’t care less anyway. However, if you’re not a big fella and do care about earning Delta miles this old-fashioned way, well, you won’t be happy. Gee, Delta? I’m shocked, I tell you.
American & JetBlue reciprocal award redemptions, by OMAAT. To be honest, I’m a little surprised it hasn’t drawn more attention from the Web. I would honestly pay slightly more to fly JetBlue rather than American, so to me this is a welcome development. Unfortunately, though, both airlines are merrily fleecing poor souls who’d rather not arrive at their destination at ungodly hours.
OK, I almost never care about revenue deals, but this one I like. You can fly between Rio and Lisbon with a free stopover in Madrid for $945 in LATAM Business per round trip, by Loyalty Lobby. Now, all you need is to find a deal between the U.S. and Rio and you’re set for a fabulous vacation.
Since the new Chase card comes with the entry-level Aeroplan 25K Elite status (and a spending option to achieve higher levels, too), here is the Aeroplan Elite Status Guide to Qualifying and Privileges, by Prince of Travel.
And this is my detailed review of the Air Canada Aeroplan program: Are Air Canada Aeroplan Points More Valuable Now? A Fresh Look!
Hotels
New York Hilton Closed, Won’t Honor Reservation, by Loyalty Lobby. Absolutely outrageous, and I would make it into a little project. Fire off a few emails to Hilton execs, then a few snail mails; if it still doesn’t work, book on your own and sue in SCC (although you’ll probably have to go to an arbitrator). I mean, seriously, for them it’s a numbers game. Stiff a hundred customers, and only one or two will sue. Huge savings!
Hotel Rates Among Biggest Price Hikes in the U.S., by Skift.
Credit cards
Awesome Credit Card Combos — interesting round-up from Frequent Miler.
This is potentially huge: New York Passes Law That Credit Card Companies Must Give 90 Days to Use Points After Account Closure, by MilesTalk. Although I didn’t like the loophole language like “misuse” or “improper.” Corporate lawyers are pretty good at loopholes, you know.
Covid-19
This is the first time I’ve heard about anyone who provides Covid medical repatriation insurance with no geographical restrictions, by TPG. The service is certainly pricey, but might be totally worth it if you can’t miss your flight home under any circumstances.
‘Science is flawed’: COVID-19, ivermectin, and beyond: a great interview with Gideon Meyerowitz-Katz, Australian epidemiologist.
Here is a CNN interview with a scientist who accurately predicted the number of Covid deaths after 1.5 years of the pandemic.
Other tidbits
Believe it or not, but my last visit to Sin City was over 10 years ago. If you, like me, could use a refresher, here is a good start: How to Spend 36 Hours in Las Vegas (without gambling).
Croatia To Join the Schengen Zone, Which Will Create Easier Travel, by Running With Miles.
AmEx buried Greg, the Frequent Miler. I laughed so hard that I was thinking about putting it in my Just for fun section, but decided on the Tidbits instead: Becoming undead and grabbing over 250,000 points.
To all mad rocket scientists out there: DARPA AND NASA SCIENTISTS ACCIDENTALLY CREATE WARP BUBBLE FOR INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL.
TBB
- Google Flights Price Tracker, Boeing Disaster, Poverty of Riches, Escape from Omicron Europe
- Best of Web: Many Worlds of Enough, Excel TikToker Excels Online, Covid-19 Future, 52 Things I Learned in 2021, Eyes
My favorites:
- The most dangerous woman in San Francisco
- The Depths She’ll Reach
- The Many Worlds of Enough
- 52 things I learned in 2021
And now just for fun
But it’s still in the United Kingdom!
