Behind The Scenes Of The New Mileage-Earning Bank Account

calculating money via paper and calculator
Feb 03 2020

I was able to get some time on the books to speak with Matt Quale who is the President of Bask Bank to get the backstory on this new mileage-earning savings account and also put some questions to him about how he feels about people registering for a free account just to earn the miles – and how he plans to convert those customers into long-term savers.

He’s an American Airlines Platinum member and a Marriott Platinum rounding towards lifetime status (he’s over 7 years of Platinum and 500 cumulative nights with the program). So he gets what we’re after.

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Special Restaurant Reservations For Chase Cardmembers

man cooking
Feb 02 2020

A year ago Capital One launched a relationship with dining reservations site Resy, setting aside tables at great restaurants for cardmembers. American Express went and acquired Resy and now American Express has a much weaker Resy partnership. Capital One quickly went out and partnered with OpenTable.

Yet somehow I didn’t even realize that before these things happened – a full 19 months ago – Chase launched a partnership with restaurant booking site Tock, which sells tickets to restaurants (top end restaurants with limited seating charge you in advance for pre fixe meals through the site).

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A Coronavirus Treatment May Be Working

morgan freeman in movie outbreak in hazmat suit
Feb 02 2020

With a ban on non-U.S. citizens and permanent residents entering the country within 14 days of having been in China going into effect, China Eastern has announced a suspension of its U.S. flights.

Coronavirus has claimed lives, infected many, and led to worldwide panic and turmoil in markets. If we’re looking for a bit of good news, though, Thailand may be seeing some success treating the virus with a mixture of anti-flu and anti-viral drugs.

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Very Cool Science: Airplanes Landing In Chicago Are Causing It To Snow

Feb 02 2020

With temperatures below freezing and saturated air (high relative humidity) aircraft descending to land can cause snow. It’s a very localized event, not widespread snow, but snow can form and then fall as a result of planes descending under the right conditions.

This requires “supercooled atmosphere interacting with exhaust” and “water vapor [that is] below freezing but [that] couldn’t entirely transition into ice crystals because of a lack of particulates upon which to freeze.” Then the plane descending through the atmosphere causes snow to form.

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Connecting to American Eagle In Chicago? Expect Wet Bags

american airlines planes
Feb 01 2020

According to Department of Transportation statistics American Airlines is number 8 out of 8 airlines in baggage mishandling. They view this as a competitive disadvantage in the Chicago market where they lag United (#4 of 8). So they’re working to improve their baggage reliability statistics. Whether the bags make it to you dry seems like it may be another matter.

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