News and notes from around the interweb:
- Michigan Couple Sues Ritz-Carlton After Alleged $425,000 Armed Robbery on St. Thomas The property is allegedly not hard to access from the condo next door, and the security guard reportedly has a criminal record (perhaps suggesting collaboration here).
A member of the hotel’s security team transported them to the building where they were staying. Upon arrival, the pair realized they did not have their room key. The complaint states that Mr. Sullivan specifically asked the security guard not to leave them alone. The guard, however, departed to obtain a replacement key.
“Within seconds of the security guard’s departure, multiple armed assailants emerged from nearby bushes in the immediate vicinity of the Plaintiffs’ building and robbed Plaintiffs at gunpoint,” the lawsuit alleges.
The complaint states that the assailants stole custom jewelry, a luxury watch, a designer bag, and other items with a combined appraised value exceeding $425,000. Mr. Sullivan also alleges that he was pistol-whipped during the robbery and suffered “excruciating pain and a pronounced black eye.”
Credit: Marriott - This is cool. I’m sure the route is subsidized, and it lasts only two and a half months. It’s part of the American Airlines – Qantas joint venture, which they did promise would support more new routes…
Qantas to commence flights to Las Vegas (LAS).
A new route from Sydney (SYD) to Las Vegas (LAS) begins December 29.
Flights to operate 3 weekly using 787-9 until March 12, 2027. pic.twitter.com/fx6cuWfWZU
— Ishrion Aviation (@IshrionA) February 25, 2026
- 60,000 aircraft engine components had forged authenticity certificates, done by one guy operating from his garage
- Qantas double points or status credits for bookings mae by March 2 and travel March 3, 2026 – February 12, 2027
- 25% bonus on points transfers from Citi to Wyndham through March 21. Meh.
- Air India’s Aircraft Safety Inspection Reports Make For Genuinely Horrifying Reading (HT: Paul H.)
- Amex is folding Tock into Resy which should be great for Platinum dining credits – more restaurants.
Who travels with nearly half-a-million dollars worth of anything? Still, that’s a decent Ritz-Carlton in STT. Ironically, it’s pretty close, geographically to… Little Saint James. Time for accountability, folks. Start at the top. The very top. Never forget. 249 days to go.
A lot of expensive jewelry to wear at a resort.
The article about fake parts is spot on. Anyone buying from a relatively unknown source has to do due diligence in making sure the parts are genuine and cannot only rely on the paperwork. I have worked in acceptance testing before and know it can add quite a bit to the cost of an item. Some items did not live up to their specifications.
@jns — Now that diamonds can be made in factories, only precious metals really hold value. Even those who are into numismatics know that it’s basically tied to the cost of gold, silver, platinum, etc., and less so the rareness of that particular coin, year, etc., unless you’re a real freaky fella.
Although diamonds can be made in the factory, they are not the same as the ones found in the ground and aren’t priced anywhere near as much. Maybe in the future the fakes will get so good that De Beers will collapse and not just lose value as they have been doing for a while. I suppose that fake diamonds are a threat to the economies of several countries.
@jns — Eh, probably will be fine… *nervous sweating in Russia, Botswana, Angola, DRC*
Huh. Insurance ( with a rider for each individual item) can be purchased. To rely on a random guard seems rather suspicious.
Did the couple not insure their valuables back in the US sufficiently to cover theft of the reported stolen valuables? While many people with high-value personal jewelry self-insure, those are often the kind of people who don’t lug around high-value items when going to a hotel for a vacation..
1990 asks the kind of question I do too: who travels from Michigan to St Thomas with $425k of valuables for vacation. Even sensible billionaires don’t commonly travel with that much in valuables when going to stay at a hotel resort. And if it’s high-value jewelry for a wedding or something, you ought to first think about arrangements that are more secure and insured than the not-so-safe room safes.
About insurance riders for jewelry, a family friend who was a major honcho in the European insurance industry told lower net worth acquaintances that he wouldn’t’ seek to insure most personal jewelry, when asked about personal insurance costs for jewelry. We were talking about items in the $10k to $200k range for people who were making at least $200k+ per year in their mid- 20s or early 30s.
@1990 – Let me know when we can get manufactured diamond windshields. My windshield took a debris hit the other day while driving to the airport. Again.
Factory-manufactured diamonds can be identified as distinct from natural diamonds, and the former have a much lower market value than the natural ones even as otherwise the traditional quality distinctions under GIA grading would otherwise make the factory-manufactured ones are quite good and a non-professional/non-trained individual wouldn’t know the difference if not told.
TIP: When going to a resort: Casio Watch, Walmart purchased handbag, and costume jewelry.
@GUWonder — Technically, St. Thomas is the US… it’s one of our territories, US Virgin Islands…
@Denver Refugee — Glad you’re alright! Colorado remains one of the states where I’ve repeatedly had issues with windshields. Brutal. Have you guys finally gotten some real snow yet?
As 1990 properly noted, St Thomas is part of the US territory, but it is not a state. And give the sort of US territory St Thomas is, people leaving St Thomas for the US (states) are subject to US CBP customs when leaving STT to the US50 and some other places under US jurisdiction.
Gary you’re off by a factor of ten. He sold 5,627 parts for which he forged more than 60,000 certificates.