News and notes from around the interweb:
- Merrill Lynch Visa Signature 50,000 point signup offer still available
- Borgata Hotel & Casino joins MGM M life Rewards June 7
- Airport security can be awkward for scientists like the time TSA “found a Scientist’s 3-D-Printed Mouse Penis”
- 1Password adds a ‘travel mode’ to remove key items from your phone while you’re crossing the border (HT: Paul H.)
- United is apologizing after falsely accusing a man of molesting his 5 year old son during a flight.
Henry Amador-Batten of Durham said he was detained at RDU on Friday, May 19, after a member of the flight crew accused him of placing his hand and arm “too close to the ‘child’s genitals.’” At the time, Amador-Batten was traveling with his husband, Joel Amador-Batten, and their son Ben, aged 5.
- UBS is introducing a Visa Infinite card to compete in the premium rewards space (HT: @IadIsGr8)
- “Helsinki Airport adds a Star Trek touch with holographic tech”
- A United flight from Newark to San Francisco was evacuated onto the tarmac in Newark after an engine caught fire. There were 3 minor injuries after passengers went down the slide.
Just had to evacuate my @united flight using the slide and everything @EWRairport pic.twitter.com/0YhAAPeoFF
— Lo Toney (@lo_toney) May 24, 2017
The UBS card looks particularly interesting, given the lounge credit that can be used on any airline. Not much detail on Priority Pass although, from the T&C, there’s no indication that it’s good for anyone other than the cardholder. Otherwise, this is a strong card.
Be interesting to see if UBS does any fee waivers for account holders like Morgan Stanley.
UBS did previously waive annual fee for their best card for private banking customers so I would assume that will be the case with this one as well.
The term “tarmac” is overly misused. Tarmac is the trade name of a coating produced by a British company that’s applied to roads and airfields. What you describe – the parking area for planes and ground vehicles – is officially called the “apron” or, in the US at least, colloquially known as the “ramp.”
Even though it is an apron. And tarmac may be a trade name that is what people know it as. Like Kleenex and tissue. Whether I buy the Kleenex brand or Wal-Mart brand it is still tissue. But when you ask someone for one, most people call it a Kleenex.
Now where I get annoyed is when they say a bomb went off. If it went off that mean it went from.ctive mode to where it can be detonate to inactivate to where it cannot be detonated. Now if it exploded or was triggered and detonated that is one thing but something went to OFF it cannot explode because the explosive part is no longer functions. Like a fire alarm goes off that mean it is no longer sounding or is not working. If a fire alarm sounds then it is engaged,triggered or activated.
The UBS card peaked my interest, but do beware that the club membership statement credit requires $50,000 in spend each year:
“Airport club day pass or annual airport club membership must be purchased using your UBS Visa Infinite credit card. You are eligible for a statement credit of up to $500 if your total spending on your card was $50,000 or greater during either the current calendar year-to-date or the prior calendar year. You may claim the credit only once for each year in which you qualify for a credit. If you do not claim the credit in a year, it will not carry over into subsequent years. You must claim the credit during the same calendar year in which the fee posted to your card account.”
And also the redemption for a $900 ticket for 50,000 pts is wonky. You get 1.8 cents/pt in value for the first $900, but anything over that charges you at 1 cent/pt in increments of 5000 pts at a time. Weird:
“Redeem 25,000/50,000 rewards points for one ticket up to $350/$900 on any commercial airline. Tickets must be booked through UBS and charged to your UBS Visa Infinite credit card. Once your purchase is complete, applicable rewards points per ticket will be deducted from your account and a credit posted to your credit card account for the ticket price. For tickets costing more than $350 or $900, you must pay the difference using additional rewards points at a rate of 5,000 points for any additional cost of up to $50 of ticket value. Additional payments may be made only in increments of 5,000 points. You must cover the full cost of ticket with rewards points.”