News and notes from around the interweb:
- Samsung Galaxy Ring swells and crushes user’s finger, causing missed flight and hospital visit (HT: Hans)
Ahhh…this is…not good.
My Samsung Galaxy Ring’s battery started swelling. While it’s on my finger . And while I’m about to board a flight
Now I cannot take it off and this thing hurts.
Any quick suggestions @SamsungUK @SamsungMobileUS? pic.twitter.com/LOO1kSlQUw
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) September 29, 2025
Closeup. You can see the battery expanding. Not great for something that’s now stuck to my finger pic.twitter.com/A6qGt9O79M
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) September 29, 2025
Update #2
Finally got home after way over 50h of flying/travelling
Samsung reached out to me:
– refunded me for my overnight hotel
– booked me a car to get me home this morning
– collected the ring from me, for further investigationMy finger is also doing well, aside from… https://t.co/40c7l6MASV pic.twitter.com/xSSDc7Dz7J
— Daniel (@ZONEofTECH) September 30, 2025
- Korean Air agrees to allow Asiana members to keep points in their account for 10 years and redeem on Korean at existing rates. Conversion at any time means moving points to Skypass at 1:1 for flight miles, and 1:0.82 for credit card and other non-flight miles. Partial conversions won’t be allowed.
Full integration of the airlines is expected in December 2026. Asiana’s program has been generally better than Korean’s, but the sticking point on mileage conversion has been that Asiana was more generous not just with redemption but also earn, where Asiana’s cobrand card racked up points with less spend. (HT: Steve E)
- Delta has refinanced and extended its mortgage on the SkyMiles program
- Americans pretending to be Canadian while acting badly.
- United Club Philadelphia shut down by Department of Health
- I actually don’t want to pile on. I’m excited by the prospect of American Airlines finally getting better. But there’s a lot of work to do.
@AmericanAir This is gross. Shame on you. Clean your aircraft before you put people on it for 11 hours!! So glad I paid $300 to upgrade to filth!! pic.twitter.com/Ifn9N5rc1p
— Laury Corrao (@lolo_coco) September 30, 2025
Hey @AmericanAir, we need to talk about your incredibly gross food. My chicken tasted like spoiled chicken. I couldn’t even eat it. pic.twitter.com/WmPQobhZGE
— Hilaria Alexander (@hilarialexander) September 29, 2025
- Bask Bank savings account mileage earning drops from 2 to 1.75 AAdvantage miles per dollar saved annually when the product launched five years ago, earning was 1 mile per dollar. Interest rate trend is down.
Seeing the false Canadian/Americans is not unusual. I’ve seen them in Spain, Mauritius, England, France, Malta etc. etc. The funniest was in Mexico, which is filled with Americans. I could not figure out why they wanted to be Canadian. Then it hit me. Magic number 47.
@Steve M. — Those imposters! Magic number(s) 45 and 47, and before that, 43, due to the whole Iraq (2003). Yeah, Canada’s been making better decisions…
Personally, I’d be embarassed to be from Canada. Being led by little lord Carney and his “elbows up” douchebaggery. And, worse yet, this guy will probably stay in power because Canada is so pro socialism that they don’t care about being weaker than Honduras. Not a flag I’d want to display. Then again, I didn’ t vote for Tampon Tim either.
Asiana is a real loss to the miles game. Probably the Asian airline that has been most available, even using Lifemiles. A bit shambolic on the ground, and a solidly mediocre cabin product, but often a great resource. Korean is better in most every way except that I’ve never been able to score an award and have only flown them on paid tickets – though many years ago they were very good for Amex’s long gone BOGO program. Asiana will be missed.
@1990
Now you got me thinking. 43, 45, 47. Odd numbers. Odd Presidents.
Wait, you’re supposed to put the ring on your finger? Be right back.
BTW Obama was the 43rd, Biden was the 45th, and the 47th isnt until Trump’s replacement’s replacement.
@AlanZ — Well… 37 Nixon (Watergate), 31 Hoover (Great Depression), 17 Johnson and 15 Buchanan (botched before and after the Civil War), 7 Jackson (Trail of Tears)…yeah, bit of a pattern, but it’s probably nothing.
@AngryFlier — Thank goodness you aren’t Canadian. Good riddance to you.
@This comes to mind –
What are you talking about? Trump was 45, Biden was 46, and Trump is 47. When Presidents serve non-consecutive terms, they’re counted twice. Grover Cleveland was 22 & 24.
I have not put my miles on Asiana’s mileage program but rather on an American airline partner’s. I have found the coach accommodations quite reasonable and I like to be able to buy a coach seat upstairs on the A380 for a reasonable fee. Having flown both, I prefer Asiana’s meals to Korean Airline’s but they are not far apart. I will have flown six flight segments on Asiana this year by year’s end with two more at the beginning of next year. I hope the decision to quit flying the A380 after the merger is complete gets rescinded.
“Grover Cleveland was 22 & 24.” A person can’t be the 22nd and 24th president. It’s not physically possible. He was the 22nd person to become president.
@This comes to mind — Nah, yes they can. Semantics. Tomato, tomato.