No ‘The Real Reason’ Dogs Are Dying on United Doesn’t Excuse More Dogs Dying on United

by Gary Leff

petsafe van
Apr 06 2018

There has been a lot of buzz about a Washington Post piece suggesting that high risk dogs are the ‘real reason’ more dogs die onboard United. But that is a substantial overclaim of what is actually in the data.

Understanding which breeds constitute the greatest risk is a good first step in reviewing the pet shipping program. 18 of the 24 cargo pet deaths in 2017 were on United, while United carried about one third of pets. Drilling down into what’s going on with different types of animals may help to identify some of the problems, but it isn’t the entire story and doesn’t begin to excuse United’s poor performance in this area. And it doesn’t speak to the instances of lost/mis-routed dogs either.

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New Chase Miles for Mortgages Offers: 25,000 – 75,000 Points for Cardholders

by Gary Leff

chasebank
Apr 05 2018

Last year Chase offered 100,000 points for a home mortgage. That offer was stackable with a fee rebate that required signing up for automatic monthly payments, and Chase Private Client customer discounts also.

One thing we learn about the Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmember population — in addition to average credit scores (785) and annual income ($180,000) Chase has shared before — is that “[t]he average Reserve customer has … more than $800,000 in deposits and investments.” So they figure a down payment shouldn’t be a problem.

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An Odd Place to Put a Hotel Bible

by Gary Leff

hotel bathroom
Apr 05 2018

Your hotel room probably has a bible, because the Gideons distribute them for free. They started doing this in 1908 at the Superior Hotel in Superior, Montana. And they give away bibles also to hospitals, jails, and medical offices. Worldwide they reportedly give out 80 million bibles per year. The Gideons were formed by two men sharing a hotel room in 1898.

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How Much Banks Pay For Miles, and How You Can Now Beat the Banks

by Gary Leff

credit cards
Apr 05 2018

There’s an upper bound to what banks can possibly pay to reward customers. That’s based on their revenue which comes from interchange (merchant swipe fees when using the card to pay) and revolve (APR when customers don’t pay off their cards each month).

And we’re pretty much at a place where banks are paying as much as they possibly can at current rates for the rewards and benefits they’re handing out.

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