News and notes from around the interweb:
- Earn miles for doctor visits. This could either tax the health care system, or really incentivize cost-saving preventive care..
- Grocery stores that sell $500 gift cards
- Skift takes an interesting approach to valuing miles: averaging the values assigned by me, Lucky, and The Points Guy. I think that’s wrong-headed of course, as I believe my valuations to be correct (or else they wouldn’t be my valuations). Nonetheless, interesting..
- United wasn’t very nice to this dog and their social media team passed the buck to a third party. I can’t imagine turning my little guy over to an airline, having to trust them…
- Democrat Senators focusing on Uber and Lyft privacy policies and technologies
- US airlines don’t compete in the same markets with Gulf carriers. Thus, arguably, there’s fertile ground for partnerships beyond American-Qater, American-Etihad, and Alaska-Emirates. (HT: Idir A.)
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The P0ints Guy is one useless blog.
“geolocation data can be used to create intimate profiles of customers, such as where they live, work and socialize,” the senators wrote to Uber.” What about all the other apps that do the same thing – or the NASA? My location services are turned off except for the few minutes that I need to summon Uber or use a map – and that might not even be good enough.
Nothing new about miles for medical care. We have a high-deductible HSA policy and we pay all of our medical bills (and health insurance premiums) with points-earning credit cards. This year I had major surgery and my surgeon gladly took my Amex card for the $20k+ pre-deductible amount.
All Boarding Area bloggers make a big deal of the UAE carriers. But, there is a problem, many Americans will not fly Emirates, Etihad, or Qatar. Many employers forbid travel on these carriers. Some have religious reasons. Many Americans have ethical reasons for not flying these carriers. So while you bloggers are always going goo,goo,ga,ga! Most of us are yawning. Americans who can afford the Etihad Residence, can also afford flying private. I agree with American carriers attitude that the UAE carriers don’t really service places that US carriers do. So for India it’s great to have the UAE carriers. If India’s USA business rises to the level of China’s, then maybe US carriers need to fly more to India. I have been over the UAE carriers “over the top” offerings because there is a very small chance I will fly them. I think most Americans agree.