Behind The Scenes Of The New Mileage-Earning Bank Account

by Gary Leff

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

by Gary Leff

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

by Gary Leff

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

by Gary Leff

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

by Gary Leff

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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Here’s The New Business Class Seat American Airlines Will Select

by Gary Leff

airplane bed
Feb 01 2020

American Airlines is testing new business class seats. This week they’re even testing new coach and premium economy seats with customers. Next week they’ll test new seat options for business class. And once that happens the leaks will, presumably, start pouring out.

However we don’t need to wait for leaked word on the seats American is trialing to know not just what they’re considering but to make a strong educated guess about the seat they will actually select.

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