Chase Acquires The Infatuation, Will Deliver More Dining Benefits To Cardmembers

man cooking
Sep 09 2021

Chase created Chase Dining with Tock offering special restaurant reservations at top places set aside for cardmembers. This was part of a continued assault on American Express as the category leader in travel and entertainment. Amex, by the way, didn’t stand still. They traditionally offered a special reservations program but double down by acquiring reservations platform Resy. The American Express Gold is my favorite card for dining spend, earning 4 Membership Rewards points per dollar. Chase’s premium Chase Sapphire Reserve® has offered 3 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar since card launch. Recently Chase revamped its Sapphire cards and made them even more rewarding on dining. The $95 annual fee Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card improved its earning to 3 points per dollar on restaurant spend, and added a getting a 10% anniversary bonus on spend during…

Continue Reading »

Viral Flight Attendant Video Offers 3 Secret Tips For Scoring An Upgrade On Your Flight

Sep 09 2021

There’s a certain genre of travel article that gives advice on how to upgrade your flight, with advice that’s nearly always wrong or at least highly misleading.

It usually begins with how you dress, but one Bloomberg piece took the art form to a new level telling you just to mention the words “revenue management” and airlines have to give you a business or first class seat. You’d be better off trying to upgrade by gifting the pilot of your flight a dependable work mule, or dressing up as a mimosa (because alcohol is free up front).

Continue Reading »

Entire U.S. Terrorism Watch List Leaked Online

Sep 08 2021

The US government maintains a “No Fly List” and airlines are required to check passengers against it before allowing them to fly. They maintain other lists that trigger increased security screening and potentially harassment.

The lists are pre-crime profiling. Not even based on science. And it’s also done very very poorly. People get on the list by mistake, because they’re related to someone who is on it (or just have a similar name), or because they visited the wrong country in the wrong year. .

Continue Reading »