A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
An American Airlines passenger reportedly got off her flight and realized she left her iPhone behind. She wanted to get back on the aircraft, but a flight attendant told her to continue down the jetway and and “she’d look and bring it to her.”
However the flight attendant is said to have claimed she couldn’t find the phone. Days later though the passenger says that selfies of the flight attendant began showing up in the passenger’s iCloud.
The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 provides penalties for financial institutions who allow themselves to fund illegal online gambling activities. However fantasy sports, state lotteries, and horse racing are not clearly included activities in the law.
Most financial institutions have stayed well on the ‘safe side’ of the law and prohibited customer activity that isn’t actually illegal under the Act.
Amtrak’s train 2150 from Washington Union Station to New York Penn Station broke apart between the first (first class) and second (quiet) cars this morning and “sparks and smoke went everywhere.”
There have been four fatal Amtrak incident since December. Fortunately no one was walking between cars when this incident occurred today or we’d be looking at a fifth.
Ricardo Vidal and his family landed at Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport. He was stopped by security “as he tried to return airside after discovering baggage handlers were on strike and attempted to return to pick up his luggage.”
He wasn’t having any of it.
American’s award availability has been quite poor over the last couple of years, so when space opens up I’ve frequently made note of it. One area that’s been especially bad are the transcon domestic flights between New York JFK and Los Angeles and San Francisco operated by a specially configured three-cabin A321 aircraft.
Right now though award availability is much-improved.
You can fly oneworld airlines Finnair, Iberia, American, and British Airways — carriers that are part of a transatlantic joint venture — from 929 Euros roundtrip between Europe and the U.S.
Share this with all your European friends but this is useful for US-based travelers. Book an award ticket to get to Europe to position yourself and then your trips across the Pond start in Europe for this super cheap pricing.
There’s an amazing $266 roundtrip fare right now for September and October travel between New York (JFK) and Turin, Italy.
That’s really all-in, including taxes. And it’s on Meridiana, the Italian airline that’s 49% owned by Qatar Airways. Who needs 5th freedom flights, the kind that Qatar says they aren’t currently interested in operating (between Europe and the US even though they’re based in the Mideast) when they can charge $266 through their Italian proxy?
Every Valentine’s Day shopping portal offers get pretty big for Valentine’s-related gifts like flowers. It’s been true almost forever.
The usual ‘big boost’ is earning 30 miles per dollar, which is a pretty good rebate for miles often worth about 1.5 cents apiece (a 45% rebate on the base price of flowers, but not really that big when you factor shipping which doesn’t earn miles).
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
