News and notes from around the interweb:
- Yikes: Mt. Everest guides poisoning climbers so they’ll need medical evacuation, as part of a $20 million insurance scam.
Guides with the trekking agencies allegedly poisoned tourists by putting baking soda in their food to trigger severe gastrointestinal distress that mimicked altitude sickness or food poisoning..Police in Nepal have charged 32 individuals for organized crime and fraud
JUST IN: Mt. Everest guides accused of “poisoning” climbers to trigger helicopter rescues as part of an insurance scam.
The guides have allegedly been lacing hikers' food and pressuring them into taking expensive rescue helicopter evacuations.
"Guides with the trekking agencies… pic.twitter.com/pd71ARinUt
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 1, 2026
Featured image credit Rdevany via Wikimedia Commons
- 20% rebate on Hyatt points redemptions in Las Vegas through July 31 Registration required.
- $1 million feasibility study for 20,000 square foot Minneapolis-St. Paul Delta One Lounge
- Yikes: Mt. Everest guides poisoning climbers so they’ll need medical evacuation, as part of a $20 million insurance scam.
JUST IN: Mt. Everest guides accused of “poisoning” climbers to trigger helicopter rescues as part of an insurance scam.
The guides have allegedly been lacing hikers' food and pressuring them into taking expensive rescue helicopter evacuations.
"Guides with the trekking agencies… pic.twitter.com/pd71ARinUt
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) April 1, 2026
- American Express loses Etihad Guest as a Membership Rewards transfer partner June 30, 2026. Etihad isn’t a very good program anymore, so I’m not really lamenting this too much, but it’s a way to access Etihad’s own flights with better availability than is offered to partner airlines.
- United’s business class wine program is actually insanely good and a big investment compared to what most airlines pay per bottle. This is a legit $150 bottle at retail.
Polaris serving $150 bottle VIK’s wine
by
u/thestoryoframen in
unitedairlines - They respected the thief’s privacy by blacking out their name and email.
— Orwell & Goode (@OrwellNGoode) April 2, 2026
- Cool.
Passengers from this commercial flight caught Artemis II on camera from this view. Insane pic.twitter.com/VtJlym3nhN
— Dudes Posting Their W’s (@DudespostingWs) April 2, 2026
$1 million for a 20,000 foot addition *feasibility* study? No wonder taxes are high! Something like that could be done for about $100k-$150k.
Follow the money on this one!
Gary, Everest article is dated April Fools day. You may not want to spread this story.
@bensage – see https://www.occrp.org/en/news/poisoned-trekkers-and-phantom-flights-nepal-charges-32-in-massive-himalayan-rescue-scam not dated April 1
The amount spent on a Mount Everest climb is very high. A person that is deliberately made sick to benefit others should be reimbursed for the entire cost of the trip but it will never happen. The only solution is to cross off a Mount Everest climb.
Not sure I’d want Nepal on my travel list anytime soon. They did burn down that Hilton in Katmandu last year during the overthrow of their government, lots of earthquakes and not the best infrastructure, and a lot of small aircraft accidents, too. More like, KatmanDONT.
@Jon: the MSP airport is self sustaining. While the Metropolitan Airports Commission is a quasi governmental agency, it gets no taxpayer funding.
The feasibility study is because the club would be built on the roof of a gate area that was first constructed in the 1960s and wasn’t initially designed to carry a third level (at MSP, the gates are on level 2, but most people don’t realize this).
For the credit card scam- 99% sure the person travelling on the ticket was not the person who hacked the credit card (otherwise, the credit card holder could have just had the police show up at the ramp). Rather, it’s an “innocent” 3rd party, trying to save a buck by buying a flight through a broker- thus the email.
Isn’t that climb enough to deal with