News and notes from around the interweb:

• The perils of Airbnb: “Teman said his apartment was trashed by a group of nearly nude, overweight people”

• Citi Prestige card improvements: Apparently Citi Prestige will still offer to match ‘flight points,’ meaning that the card can earn 2 points per dollar, and redeeming those points for American or US Airways travel can be worth 1.6 cents apiece. A bit convoluted, but that means it’s possible to get an effective 3.2% rebate towards travel. The $450 card offers $200 in airline fee reimbursements.

  

  Far more straightforward, the Barclaycard Arrival PlusTM World Elite MasterCard® provides an effective rebate of 2.2% towards travel on all spending. (HT: A reader who emailed me on Sunday and asked to remain anonymous.)

• Hack My Trip compiles several hotel booking bonus offers from Rocketmiles.

• Musicians face a new risk entering the U.S.: having their instruments confiscated, because because the tips of string instrument bows can contain (legal-to-own and legally acquired) African elephant ivory.

• US Airways mechanics and fleet service workers are talking strike. They want a raise to get compensation equal to what American pays those same workers before negotiating a joint contract, rather than as the result of that joint contract. The whole reason of course that US Airways labor was so excited about the merger was that they’d get higher American Airlines wages. But they want the higher wages and then to start negotiations. I predict no strike, that this is posturing.

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