Windbag Miles

I was curious when 2018 bookings would be available for Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts properties, so I did some poking around online. On the one hand, it’s annoying that FHR bookings cut off on 12/31, since many of those same hotels are booking into 2018 through other channels, leaving less overall inventory available forContinue reading “Pulling back the curtain on Fine Hotels & Resorts (very slightly)”

I’ve said multiple times that the plane I most want to fly is the A380. As someone who hates turbulence, I’m intrigued by its gigantesse and supposed smooth ride. I always get excited when I see the Emirates A380 that sometimes comes into view near my house en route to SFO. (Why it seems to beContinue reading “Bloviating about which plane to choose, or why I keep avoiding the A380”

I’ve never been more on the fence with a credit card as I am with this one. I got a lot of use out of the sign-up bonus (35,000 points, since I got it during the increased bonus last spring). However, I’ve barely spent any money on it since originally hitting the minimum spending requirement. InContinue reading “I can’t decide whether or not to keep my SPG Amex”

As someone whose travel goals are mostly transatlantic in nature, I’ve had to go out of my way to avoid British Airways. Why avoid them? One, I don’t like the look of their business class cabin. A commenter on this blog said they’re really not that bad, and another said they are. It seems like there’s aContinue reading “Leaning in to British Airways”

Okay, one more #bump-a-lago post today. I know this issue has already been done to death by everyone from points and miles bloggers to CNN to people in my Facebook feed who want Oscar Munoz’s head on a stick. I did want to say a little about the round of victim-blaming that came out today, though.Continue reading ““HE’S NO ANGEL” – How victim blaming saves us from our terrifying reality”

First of all – let’s make “-A-Lago” the new default scandal suffix, instead of “-gate.” I mean, it’s only a matter of time before a generation-defining scandal takes place there, right? With that out of the way, let’s get to it. All day, the thing that has bummed me out the most isn’t anything toContinue reading “[Sigh] I guess I’ll give my take on #Bump-A-Lago…”

I was about to list the Korean Air lounge passes that I received with my new US Bank Skypass Visa card on eBay, but then I realized that they’re more restrictive than, say, the United Club passes that come with Chase’s United card. For instance: you need to put your Skypass number on the pass,Continue reading “Does anyone want my Korean Air lounge passes?”

Delta raised the cost of partner redemptions without warning – let the shock subside and let me know when you’re ready to keep going.  This is something that has been theoretically possible ever since they got rid of award charts, and it’s also something they’ve done in the past, so you know that we shouldContinue reading “Delta’s devaluation is worse than the Trump Muslim Ban, Neil Gorsuch, and the Dakota Access Pipeline put together”

Last Friday, I flew from SFO to EWR in United’s new Polaris cabin, so naturally I have a bunch of thoughts to share about it. Just to clarify, this wasn’t the full Polaris service — United marketed it as a standard p.s. flight. (That’s what they call their transcon service, which includes elevated service andContinue reading “More thoughts on Polaris after sitting in it (on it?) for 6 hours”

Not much needed here beyond the title. I guess I could have just tweeted this, instead of making an entire blog post about it. Anyway, since I have two Amex Platinum cards (a standard one and a Mercedes Benz one), I added both of them to my Uber account and instantly saw $30.00 in creditContinue reading “Quick hit: Amex Uber credits will stack across multiple cards!”