Heebie stomps on herself as well as the underserved women of Texas.
Josh Barro seems rather well-suited to this beat.
"(He was being sarcastic.)" Thanks for clerking that up, nyt.
Is there a way to donate Starwood platinum-for-life status to refugees? They could probably use 4:00 check-in.
2, 4: You know, just this morning I was thinking, "Isn't Josh Barro a douchebag? How did he get into the circle of not-liberal people whose analysis liberals feel obligated to take seriously?"
On a related note, Drum posted something or other about the United Healthcare plan/threat to leave Obamacare, and at the end he directed readers to John Cohn and McMegan, and I would have swallowed my gum, if I'd been chewing gum.
I used to have a ton of Starwood points. Then I lost them. Then I didn't find five dollars. Still, Marriott, fuck that. I'm not saying this issue matters more than global warming, but I'm not not saying it, either.
Do the points expire or does Starwood have penalties that cost you points?
Between Starwood and Ameican Airlines, it's a real sad week in the points community. I have to figure out whether to stick with American or go elsewhere. Last week's cuts amount to $500/year for me.
If you really want to know, they counted as community property, and went to my ex in a divorce settlement, we traded and she got the hotel points and I kept the airmiles. She got a very nice resort vacation as a result, which was fine by me.
I'm so glad about the American news, because it retroactively vindicates my incredibly stupid decision years ago to switch from AA miles to Delta skypesos.
I actually found the article entertaining, and somehow not infuriating. These days I stay about 50 nights/year in a hotel, which is an order of magnitude more than I ever have, but I still haven't joined a hotel rewards program.
Amtrak Guest Rewards, though, is the best. Every few months (more often these days) I get to cash in points for $100 to spend, often at stores where it is great fun (Staples) or where I would otherwise resent having to spend it (Macy's, for shoes*).
*I just realized that my newish working arrangement this last year means I've been walking through way fewer pairs of shoes. I hate buying shoes.
I've only managed to redeem air miles once in my whole life.
The thing about airline loyalty programs that I don't understand is that I have been on dozens and dozens of flights in my lifetime and there has been maybe two times that I had a choice about which airline to take.
What does it matter what loyalty program you're part of if there isn't a flight from Point A to Point B in the time frame when you have to fly? And it's not like I live in nowheresville, either. Do the people who do airline loyalty programs live in one of the 4 larger cities in the US? Do they have much more discretion about when and where they fly? Or do they just fly the same route at the same time often enough that they're always using the same airline? Inquiring minds want to know.
Pretend I put the paragraph break into the logical place.
And it's not like I live in nowheresville, either
Not at all, but (I believe) you live in the former hub of the worst airline that has ever existed in the history of time, which still maintains a zombie-like existence that haunts the earth. If you're at the hub of a hub-spoke system, you usually only have one airline choice that makes any sense. Otherwise, you usually have 3-4 choices to take you around, except to really small destinations.
I mean, each one of those 3-4 choices is unlikely to be absolutely equally convenient, but they'll get you there for business travel and will give you MILES.
Not at all, but (I believe) you live in the former hub of the worst airline that has ever existed in the history of time
This I cannot deny.
14. Two answers: a) At some companies, it's possible to tell admin staff "please book flight OK123." b) The benefits of the programs are basically jujubes to the airlines-- the value of the loyalty program is to the airline's accountants, reluctantly giving the passengers an occasional lounge or first class upgrade is a cheap palliative for people who travel frequently, the travelers care much less about enrolling than the airlines do. Actually, that said, now that DOB is part of buying a ticket, I think that the airline's incentive to have good mileage benefits has gone down sharply-- they can get the info by other means.
What's the collective assessment here about the travel and anomie film Up in the Air? I liked it a lot, nicely photographed and slow.
I have Air Canada points through a credit card. I've used them to buy flights, but the cost of redeeming them is so high that it's better to fly Porter. Now I use them to buy Fairmont gift cards.
Our blood bank instituted the equivalent of a rewards program, and a couple years ago switched to making one of the options simply a debit card (which means that it's just an inconvenient version of junkies getting cash for plasma), which is a nice perk for something I'd do anyway.
I don't really have the cash to be charitable, but I've given blood (or platelets or plasma or double reds) 83 times in the last 25 years. I know blood banks are a semi-scam, but whevs.
There are hotels that don't offer falconry? For shame. I'll bet the quality of fox hunts and vintage car shows has collapsed, too.
Also it's much more lucrative for airlines to sell miles to credit card companies than to give them to their passengers.
I'm not at a hub, so usually I'm transferring and so can fly any of the major 4 airlines. I fly internationally enough that Southwest isn't a good choice, but any of the other three is reasonable. I'm considering doing 25K at each of American and Delta. Or switching to Delta for their 75K level, but I'm not sure I'll fly 75K every year. Or staying at American until I can spend off my miles and reconsidering.
I just taught a guy who could be an Eritrean* refugee the difference between Budweiser and Bud Light. I was very patient considering that I had to drink two Buds Light to avoid complaining to a manager.
* Probably Sudan.
American Airlines changed their miles system???!?? After I got the American Airlines Miles credit card and have been using it for everything???!??
- OK, it looks like as someone who flies back and forth to the same small airport which costs a ridiculous amount for less than a thousand miles, this will actually benefit me.
Did we already talk here about Emirates policy: "Animals are not permitted in the cabin of Emirates flights, with the exception of falcons between Dubai and certain destinations in Pakistan, and Guide Dogs for the Blind."
Yeah, if you have short expensive flights you're fine unless you're Platinum (huge cut in bonus miles) or were planning on redeeming for first class.
Of course, before last week if you wanted AA miles, you'd have been better off earning Starwood points on that Amex and then turning them into AA points with a 25% bonus. Hence the SPG sadness.
The existence of airline miles and similar drives me nuts. The kind of attention you have to pay to them is something I find disproportionately annoying and unpleasant, and I just refuse to deal. But then I feel like a complete chump, because they're really quite valuable. So I seethe, and try not to think about it.
Or switching to Delta for their 75K level,
It's a trap! Say no to Sky Pesos!
Seriously. That's like such supreme patience.
Up in the Air ... nicely photographed and slow
It's a completely different movie, but the same could be said of The White Ribbon. It's a good movie plot and acting wise, but the cinematography is like Seven Samurai-level sublime. I just watched it again last week and I'm still excited.
I confuse "Up In The Air" with "Air Bud."
You could be a waiter at a restaurant that used to be owned by a guy who would later be a senator.
I'm holed up in a Nassau hotel right now. It's kind of got this shitty high-end thing going. Well, not actually high-end. Mass-market lower-upper class, I guess is what it is. But the sauvignon blanc is served warm and my fucking sink won't drain.
12: "I stay about 50 nights/year in a hotel, which is an order of magnitude more than I ever have, but I still haven't joined a hotel rewards program"
Why not? I stay in hotels much less, maybe 10 nights a year, and tend to sign up for rewards programs anywhere I stay. Someday it might accumulate into something useful! Until then, the Country Inn and Suites will continue to welcome me by name and have a snack bag of Cheez-its when I check in (Low-end rewards programs are hilarious).
my sister has been entertained by both the bazooka vespa and the emirates flight policy in 26, which has convinced her after a few milliseconds deep reflection that even if your princeling from dubai was a total asshole, flying emirates first class to pakistan with a falcon would be pretty rad. do you think he's meant to keep it on his own arm the whole time with the jesses short to prevent any attacks on the crew, or does asshole princeling #104 naturally just bring a falconer guy along? I mean, luxurious ease points one way and manliness the other.
35 sounds like the premise of a good warren zevon song.
Did we already talk here about Emirates policy: "Animals are not permitted in the cabin of Emirates flights, with the exception of falcons between Dubai and certain destinations in Pakistan, and Guide Dogs for the Blind."
Yes, when Barry had his great falconry adventure. There was even a video, IIRC.
The kind of attention you have to pay to them is something I find disproportionately annoying and unpleasant, and I just refuse to deal.
Attention in what sense? I don't really pay attention, I just always book United and use their credit card. I'm not willing to take extra trips for status, so some years I get to Gold, others only Silver.
So far this year only about 35,000 air miles, so I won't make Gold. It feels like any year when I fly to Asia should hit Gold status, but I guess not. Only one trip to Europe this year.
Falconry liveblogging starts here, but the video doesn't seem to be linked in that thread.
Ah, here we go. (From this comment on an earlier thread.)
I had frog legs for lunch. Because I hadn't seen them on a menu in over a decade.
46: how do you mean? Do you dislike them? I could easily eat an entire box. I think they're great.
I too endorse the Its of Cheez.
I collect miles on Delta, the wife on United. SLC and MSP are so so much better than DEN for the first leg. I was making silver or gold for about 15 years, but dropped out last year. I think I'm going to just squeak into silver this year though. I'm sure you don't get upgraded with silver much anymore.
I have about 25,000 miles on American that I have to figure out how to keep from expiring in January without actually flying anywhere before then.
For a long time American consistently came up cheapest for me, and since I only flew a couple times a year, if that, I enrolled in their rewards program. I've only claimed miles once and that was to make a high season flight more affordable, not anything great.
Delta is now showing up more often as cheaper, so maybe I should join their program too. But now that I live in California again, I don't fly as much because I can drive to see my family. My travel tends to be one, maybe two, conferences per year and 2-3 trips to see family. I've tacked on a few days off here and there to conference travel to approximate vacations.
For a long time American consistently came up cheapest for me, and since I only flew a couple times a year, if that, I enrolled in their rewards program.
Delta is now showing up more often as cheaper, so maybe I should join their program too.
If you sign up with Alaska you can get both, except for certain Delta routes where Delta is actively competing with Alaska.
Anyway, I of course fly mostly on Alaska, where I currently have the second tier of elite status. For now I'm mostly accruing miles rather than spending them. Alaska has individual partnerships with airlines rather than belonging to any of the major international alliances, so the options for spending those miles are eclectic but fairly extensive.
Sadly, the last flight I was going to claim for American points was an Alaska flight I had to cancel because of a leg injury. I wasn't healthy enough to walk through airports, but the trip was short enough for me to be able to drive, so I drove.
I don't have a lot of latitude to choose airlines for work if the difference between flight options makes a big difference to how much work will end up reimbursing me for.
42 Falconry adventures should resume soon. Emirates isn't the only carrier in the region which allows falcons on board.
28 LB gets how I feel about air miles rewards programs exactly right. I find it exceedingly difficult to figure these kinds of things out in the first place, not to mention keeping track of them. And the idea that I would willingly take unnecessary flights or add legs or layover time for points is bizarre to me. But maybe I don't fly enough and somehow it's worth it.
Air miles used to matter to me because every Japan-UK return flight yielded enough miles for a return domestic flight within Japan, which we used for our yearly ski trip. Now I'm in the UK, though, they're useless. Neither of the frequent flyer programs I belong to has an affiliate offering UK domestic flights, and European flights (a) require either several intercontinental trips or more credit-card shopping than I'm likely to do in a decade to accumulate enough miles, and (b) charge more in taxes and surcharges for trips paid for with miles than the cost of flying with a budget airline. All my miles have either expired or are about to, which feels like a terrible waste.
I did the thing where you get miles for using the realtor they pick when you buy or sell a house when we bought, and then 8 years later sold, our house in Maryland. The realtors thus selected didn't charge any different fees, and had all the same incentives to buy/sell at good prices, so it was pretty easy mileage. That's a fair number of flights right there.
I think the airlines dropped that dealio a few years ago. Or maybe there just wasn't anyone here signed up when we bought this house . . .
The lady in front of me at the breakfast bar took a huge heap of smoked salmon and didn't leave any form me. The break-down of society is what that is.
62 She took the last of it? How rude. Did you at least fake sneeze in the direction of her plate?
German hotels have the worst guests, present company excluded.
I got, and am getting, miles for the kids' college tuition by running it through a card. I should probably arrange to have my monthly lexisnexis charge go through a card too. I don't travel much anymore -- it'll be a real squeaker if I do make silver this year -- but still end up with a free domestic flight every year.
This year will be my all time record for most flights, unless you count the year when I took more flights because I lived in Ohio and my wife lived in North Carolina. I'll be up to six round trips, four to Nebraska. I'm very concerned about global warming plus I don't like going places except by train.
The cheapest way to keep points active is to make a very small redemption through their shopping portal (an iTunes song is a popular one). What I did to keep my usairways miles unexpired before the merger was a small points donation to one of their charities. AA charities are here: http://hub.aa.com/en/ju/donate
I don't know why I wasn't able to use miles when I was flying twice a month to North Carolina. Possibly the fact that the airline involved hasn't existed in a very long time is relevant.
She took the last of it? How rude.
Even worse, she left a tiny sliver that was just barely enough to plausibly claim that she didn't take the last of it.
I just took out a stand-up paddleboard and they made me stay within the roped-off swimming area. That's bullshit.
Also, one of the paddleboard attendants asked me to use my all-inclusive privileges to score him a free cheeseburger for his four-year old daughter, who was hanging around, so I reported him to management and had him fired scored him a free cheeseburger.
Ok, fuck the cloud. All the shit we need for our report is on Dropbox, and Dropbox is "under maintenance" and so all that shit is not available. I might have to go back to the beach.
My Delta miles just expired. I must have the special crappy ones. They offered to redeem them for some magazine subscriptions I didn't want.
25, 40, 62: Send Drano, miles, and salmon
Unfogg'd get me out of this.
This is the worst trip
Spike's ever been on.
50-52: I've always hated Cheez-Its, and pretty much every other "cheddar"-flavored cracker. To me they don't taste anything remotely like cheddar, and whatever the hell they do taste like is something I don't like.
I would have to get seriously hungry on a flight before eating complementary Cheez-Its. I would probably pay $5 for one of those ridiculous 0.875 oz. bags of a decent snack first.
All that said, I totally get that it's a widely-loved flavor. I just don't get it, and have never gotten it.
I just hate the texture. If I want a salty, cheese-flavored snack, I'm getting cheese curls. Some flavor, wonderful sense of crushing foam as it melts on your tongue.
Prawn cocktail sauce flavored Skips were the best snack in England or I was drunk the whole time I was there.
I've always hated Cheez-Its, and pretty much every other "cheddar"-flavored cracker.
I'm choosing to believe that you make a special exemption for Better Cheddars, otherwise you may be dead to me.
Bullitt is on. I've not seen the whole thing.
Really? The car chases are top notch. The DVD extras are great -- a paean to McQueen's fetish for accuracy/realism. (Never mind that the underlying plot is just as ridiculous as any cop movie until Turner and Hooch.)
Apparently, everybody is in it. Even Mr. Roper.
One day I'm going to sell hipsters artisanally crafted Emmenthaler cheetos for twenty-three cents each, and I will get away with it, easy.
You should just repackage Pirate Booty.
I like the hard cheeto style better than the puffy style (contra Moby). I bet I'd really enjoy them in a variety of cheese (or cheez) options. No bleu plz.
If you like the puffy style, you should totally try those water-soluble packing peanuts. They're basically unflavored, non-food-grade (but so what) cheese puffs.
Tings, by the Pirate Booty people. Teh Best.
I am also on team Hard Cheetos. None of my childhood friends were and I was always slightly icked out by having to eat Soft Cheetos at their houses.
I'm not sure I have any idea what this other kind of Cheeto is.
97 Me too but then again I think all kinds of Cheetos are to be avoided. (Fritos over Cheetos).
Aren't they all hard?
Crunchy, then? At least with Cheetos brand I think that's the official distinction: crunchy versus puff.
(It also used to bug me that people called them "cheesy poofs." The package says puffs! Puffs are not poofs!)
Admittedly, I haven't consumed a single Cheeto in decades, since I consider them all pretty vile.
Yes, I spoke of the crunchy Cheeto.
Or rather, it was the crunchy Cheeto I meant.
I agree with JRoth regarding the unpalability of bright orange "cheddar" flavored snacks. But Cheez-Its are the exception that proves the rule.
Cheez-Its are also vile. My perception of their vileness has a lot to do with "cheez-its" being what my family called that baby milk spew when my kid brother was an infant. "Ewww gross! Baby made cheez-its all over my shirt."
If McQueen had a fetish for accuracy/realism in Bullitt, he sure as hell didn't indulge in in the car chase continuity!
great soundtrack.
It is orange. At least with formula.
I love how the car chase keeps passing what appears to be the same VW bug. Also, I remember reading somewhere that the cars had very different top speeds so they kept having to keep one from going too fast.
I'd so much rather be watching Bullitt than getting ready to go to work right now. I did watch Mesrine pts 1 and 2 again last night.
Bullitt is over. I didn't get to see the end.
It also used to bug me that people called them "cheesy poofs."
Its a South Park thing. Cartman calls them "cheesy poofs", and I think the name caught on because its funner to say than "cheese puffs."
Was in the Army when Bullitt came out. Thought the car chase was entertaining, even though the plot didn't make sense. We laughed at the scene where he buys the whole stock of tv dinners, for some reason.
No idea anybody thought any part of it was realistic.
The ideal way to accumulate airline points is to arrange for a layover in Canada. That way, the airline calculates the distance in kilmoters, which means a higher number for points purposes.
I went through a phase of eating lots of Jalapeño Cheetos. I still have a weakness for them. Cheetos are the platonic ideal of cheese-like chemical crap.
115: Or so the hobos would advise you.
117: Right. And I don't know how to spell "kilometers" properly, because I'm not Canadian.
||
99% of "Political Correctness run amok" stories are just part of the "PC run amok" stories running amok trend. OTOH this is nuts.
|>
119: I think the reason I take the trend stories more seriously than most on this site is that my partner is a millennial who was a campus activist (she was in college 2005-2009), and we have it out on cultural appropriation, safe spaces, and related issues all the time. (Yes, sample size, etc.). I was thankful to the Timothy Burke piece that was linked here a week or so ago because it managed to communicate my general perspective on these things much more clearly than I have been able to.
got, and am getting, miles for the kids' college tuition by running it through a card. I should probably arrange to have my monthly lexisnexis charge go through a card too. I don't travel much anymore -- it'll be a real squeaker if I do make silver this year -- but still end up with a free domestic flight every year.
So, this is what I don't get. I've never really looked hard into airlines miles programs or miles credit cards, partly because I doubt I fly enough to make it worth it, but I do charge basically my entire life to my credit card, and of course it would be nice if some of the few times I did fly I could get tickets for free. But so, here's my question: compared to any other general rewards card, does an airline miles credit card actually end up giving you more for your dollar in terms of rewards? I charge everything to a general rewards card that gives a percentage cash back based on what exactly I'm purchasing, ranging from 1-3%, and based on my purchasing patterns probably averaging around 1.5%. I've actually redeemed those points for airline tickets A few times (which is an option), but there's really no advantage to doing that instead of just redeeming them for cash and then separately buying tickets. And obviously I'm free to book flights on any carrier, and not tied to one airline. But in terms of translating dollars spent on general purchases into free stuff, would an airline miles card end up allowing me to do much better than 1.5-ish%? I thought I looked into them at one point and they didn't seem to, but I could be misremembering or I might have misunderstood the benefits.
And of course the crunchy Cheetos are the only ones worth eating. The puffs are vile.
My approach to the latest glut of PC and anti-PC stories is to take refuge in a modified version of Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is trolling".
I guess 1-3% is about right, depending on where/when you fly.
116 last Cheetos are the platonic ideal of cheese-like chemical crap.
Or even:
Cheetos are the platonic ideal of cheese-like chemical crap.
I heard a very amusing interview a while ago with the author of "The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West" and unsurprisingly yoga has a hilariously sideshow funky past.
And for further Sunday morning amusement, here is a native of the internet on discontinuities in the Bullitt car chase: http://www.rjsmith.com/bullitt-locations.html
And the crib notes version in a map, but tho doesn't do justice to the truly demented mash up they created in editing these locations together:
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=zfYvmtiEwOb4.k9z1P6U6kxGk&ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&z=12
3% is high, 1% or less is about the right rate for Delta Sky Pesos. The miles only cards are only worth it (vs cash) if you're flying a lot on one of the airlines anyway to accumulate miles.
You know you can just buy that cheese-ish flavored powder they put on things on its own.* And then you could sprinkle it over anything at all! Or even just eat teaspoon's of it!
*Or make it yourself, I guess. I'm pretty sure it's mainly just salt, MSG, and lactic acid.
127 I wouldn't be surprised if your average plane ticket is quite a bit cheaper than my average plane ticket.
(I just looked at fly.com to compare ticket prices for my flight 10 days hence to Florida. 735 from MSO, 271 from LAX.)
|| Do we have any Duquesne alums? Anyone from any of the other 23 schools in the newly announced FCS bracket? |>
I could probably find one when I get back home.
http://i.turner.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/external/gametool/brackets/football_fcs_2015.pdf
FCS football: all the downside risks for players with little of little of the upside potential.
Traditionally airline miles are much more valuable than cash back if you want to fly international business or first, but not much better for coach unless you really pay attention to when there are good deals. In general you're better off getting a 1.5% to 2% card or just having a card for a few months to get the signup bonus.
Nowadays the reason to get the airline credit card is free baggage.
The nachos in this tapas bar are stale as shit and covered in cheeze wiz. On the other hand, I've discovered cervicha.
I'm not sure that a place that can't get nachos right is to be trusted with raw fish.
I'm not sure that matters for the rest of us.
Ironically, one of the minor joys of my mission to the white people is that there are cheap Mexican restaurants that give you a pile of hot chips and some salsa with an $8 meal. Pittsburgh has none of that.
If I get food poisoning, I won't have to work tomorrow.
On a lighter note, anyone else following the saga of Mallory Ortberg's dog on twitter? https://twitter.com/sarahjeong/status/667784204264980480
It is a source of ongoing and very transparently disguised resentment by the Princess Ludovika that Franz and I are completely and implacably dead set against allowing any of the Princess' dogs in the Hofburg. This despite the fact that she goes on at some length about one of them suffering from incontinence and the other is a demented and witless yapper. Basically, neither hund has anything whatsoever to recommend it and both come with major demerits. And yet we are the unfeeling ones.
If you don't have rugs or carpeting, incontinence isn't a big deal.
Related to the Bullitt thing, a guy from Philadelphia mag mapped out Rocky's training run from the 2nd movie. Via Slacktivist.
140: Some of the local places do, in fact, give you fresh, hot chips gratis, but I can't tell you which ones (because I don't recall). But it wouldn't surprise me in the least if Omaha has better mid-grade Mexican restaurants than Pittsburgh does. Just 15 years ago it was hard to find a place that was more than one step better than Taco Bell.
This summer, on the drive back from Boulder, we stopped at a Mexican place on the northern outskirts of Omaha for lunch (because the internet recommended it). Pretty solid quality.
I'm not even in Omaha. Omaha is better than Lincoln for pretty much all types of restaurants.
All incluseve means all inclusinve alcohol. So I had to celebrate the occasion of only two more nights in Nassau.