News and notes from around the interweb:
- Many years ago I was sitting with the then-President of the AAdvantage program at the time. It was a session on points conversions and merchandise redemption. And she leaned over and said to me (1) “our members aren’t interested in that” and most importantly (2) “these low value redemptions don’t drive accrual behavior.” Why spend money on redemptions that don’t create member engagement?
The new American Airlines AAdvantage Exchange marketplace lets you redeem miles for dreck and poor value. Value per mile varies, and depends on your elite status, but is generally less than2/3rds of a cent apiece – and sometimes much worse than that.
More options are o.k. I guess. This new option is a tax on stupid people. And it’s sad this is what they’re prioritizing.
- Trapped inside a metal tube is not the place to advocate positions of any kind, especially targeting specific passengers.
Jewish passengers on an Iberia flight from Argentina to Spain were served kosher meals labeled with the words “Free Palestine.”
Writing “Free Palestine” on a kosher food tray does nothing to help Palestinians, but it sure does intimidate Jewish passengers trapped on your plane… pic.twitter.com/sMPSNOR40v
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) August 5, 2025
- This may be satire, and most people probably do this for the breakfast, but it’s not the worst idea tbh
The elites don't want you to know that you can just show up and work at the luxury business center in the lobby of the Comfort Inn pic.twitter.com/aDelUhPkTk
— Chase Passive Income (@chasedownleads) August 3, 2025
- The best food to be found at US airports, according to frequent travelers the truth is, there is only one: Tortas Frontera. Everything else (including One Flew South) is just pretending.
- Disney has gotten so expensive they caused one company unwittingly covering an employee’s trips to go bankrupt
- The 18,105 square foot Chase Sapphire lounge by gate D35 at DFW Airport is on track to open ‘this year or next’.
- Spirit Airlines pilot removed from duty after being arrested on stalking charges
- How Does Bilt Know What Credit Cards Are in Your Wallet before you even link them? (NYT)
Yikes. That ‘protest’ on the kosher meal is not cool. At all.
This says all you need to know about AA’s “premium pivot”.
@1990: Unfortunately, that’s what happens when the MSM and irresponsible Western governments launder Hamas propaganda for them and pump out these outlandish lies every single day.
@Common Sense — Didn’t the Arab League literally just recently call for Hamas to end the war and release the hostages? I mean, it’d be better if those 22 member states actually accepted refugees from Gaza, you know, to help those people in-need. Why would Egypt, Jordan, and/or Saudi not want to help the Palestinians? And, doesn’t Egypt literally share a border with Gaza? Hmm. Odd.
*cough* feigning ignorance *cough*
Though, if you decide to abandon AA, what do you do with the miles than will expire?
@1990: Don’t forget the only reason they’re “refugees” 80 years later is because the Arabs wanted them around as a stick to beat the Jews with. No one calls all the Mizrahi Jews ethnically cleansed from the Middle East during the period after 1948 refugees.
@Common Sense — Yes, and it seems the ‘beatings will continue…’ unless enough is enough!
It’s not the same, but it feels similar to the atrocities faced by the Armenians and Greeks displaced (and murdered) in the 1920s by the Turks; they still waiting for an acknowledgment and apology from the Turkey as well. I doubt Erdogan would ever allow it.
The Armenian Genocide is barely acknowledged by Western countries, either. Israel recently acknowledged it, but is one of the few Western countries to stand up to the Turkish bully.
Not a torta fronteira fan, better heavy carb options elsewhere.
@Common Sense — Exactly. Which is why it’s disappointing to see Cypriots (of Greek descent) ‘protesting’ the Israeli tourists visiting their country (or so most media is promoting). Like, do those ‘protestors’ not realize that Israeli is friend, no foe, to their cause as Greeks, Cypriots, Armenians, and other free peoples of the world? At the very least, it’s no way to treat your visitors. Besides, tourism is practically their economy on that island. There’s a cognitive dissonance, for sure.
A. I’m not sure if it’s actually natives or migrants.
B. Antisemitism was always self harming to the people propagating it. It really is a mind virus.
There are tons of OPM flyers that accrue miles and don’t have anything to spend them on.
Youre not redeeming on flights when you have 2 weeks vacations a year, and barely make 50k like most OPM flyers flying for their corporate overlord
That Disney fraudster photo: Is that David Carr or David Cross?
Tortas Fronterra is good. I ate at Anita’s Lebanese Kitchen DTW and thought it was good.
I haven’t eaten at the PDX Country Cat, but have eaten at their closed (2019) Portland city location. It was pretty good.
Not a very strong company if the loss of 300,000 GBP over 8 years caused it to fall into administration.
If you do evil because evil was done onto you, you are still evil.
Pestinians are still refugees because Zionists are evil.
To the topic at hand, there is no reason for a person eating a Kosher meal to feel offended by a Free Palestine message… unless they are Zionists. Most Jewish people will agree with the message.
If you’re a Zionist, well, maybe you shouldn’t feel comfortable in your airplane seat while supporting genocide.
Really, Gary?
A picture of someone starting a fire onboard an airplane? And with a restricted liquid lighter?
Not cool at all
@Christopher Raehl – Your swastika is showing. And most Jewish people are Zionists.
Israel should be treated as the pariah nation they are. They’re apparently fine with genocide, as long as it’s not their own. It’s not anti-Semitic to oppose genocide, just because it’s being committed by Jews, grow up.
No one ever went broke, betting on human stupidity.
A tax on stupid people?
In the US, Guaranteed to bring in billions , because we have an overflow of stupid. Starting with the prez and working our way down.
@Doug — I get your point, but I thought maybe a different ‘Doug’ was very pro-45/47 on here, so are you being sarcastic? If not, I’d’ve said ‘corrupt,’ because ‘stupid’ implies that these guys don’t intend to do whatever horrors their doing because they don’t know any better… No, they know, and some day they should be held accountable. Ignorance cannot be an excuse. As for most folks, we’re just kinda ‘trapped’ here while the ‘crazies’ run the asylum. Good luck out there!
I checked out that AA marketplace. I have 500,000 AA miles and their trade value via Amazon is awful. What a waste of miles!
@jeffk — Please don’t waste 500K AA points at Amazon… then again, this is the internet, so… wow, I now have a bagillion points! ‘Imagination…’