Over 100 Cockroaches Found on 2 China Eastern Planes

by Gary Leff

Oct 15 2017

More than 100 cockroaches were onboard two international flights bound for Kunming, China. The China News Service reported on the incident on Friday while refusing to reveal where the planes were flying from, the date this occurred, or the airline.

The South China Morning Post doesn’t identify the airline either, but does share a photo from the aircraft that was reportedly taken by quarantine inspectors and concludes that it must be a Chinese airline because of Chinese characters on the headrests.

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United Cracking Down on Sale of Chase Club Passes Starting Next Month

by Gary Leff

Oct 14 2017

The change will make passes easier to use, customers won’t have to remember to bring them and won’t lose them.

It will also make them harder to sell, although no doubt some will print them and try. That’s riskier to the seller, since a pass is tied to a specific account. And that’s riskier to the buyer since there’s no way to know if a given pass being purchased was already sold and used by someone else.

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Citi Scored the Costco Deal — and Their Card Business Hasn’t Recovered

by Gary Leff

costco
Oct 14 2017

American Express would only let go of the Costco business when there was no way to make a profit at the numbers Citi was talking about. It’s the perfect example of winner’s curse. Everyone knows what the business is worth, the one who wins the auction is the one that overpays.

Citi got a huge portfolio — over 11 million American Express cards across more than 7 million accounts. But they didn’t get the same card exclusivity Amex had, Costco will accept any Visa — even those of competitors.

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