NowBoarding: The Official BoardingArea Podcast

Welcome back to the NowBoarding podcast.  This is your host, Ed Pizza.  It’s time to do a bit of construction, which means I’m going to extend the downtime for the show a couple of weeks.  I’m transitioning to a new platform for both of my podcasts and it’s proving to be a bigger task than I expected.  I want to get everything set up correctly and take a bit of time with my family to rest and regroup.   While NowBoarding is on sabbatical, I will have new episodes each week of the Miles to Go Podcast, where we talk with some of the best minds in travel on how to maximize your miles and points to see the world.  You can find a link to it in the show notes. Miles to Go on iTunes Miles to Go Website   I want to thank everyone for all of your support, and I look forward to talking with you again soon.  I can’t wait to join you again on a future flight! If you have topics you'd like to see us cover on a future episode you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com, or find me on social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And, you can find me blogging daily at pizzainmotion.com.

NowBoarding, your daily travel news in 7 minutes or less. This is your host, Ed Pizza, bringing you the latest travel deals and travel news you need to know Monday through Friday. Tune in daily so you don’t miss any of the best deals! Look for links to all of today’s stories in the show notes on whatever podcast platform you’re listening. And, please share the show with a friend! First up is a report that American Airlines will allow members to buy elite status in 2020. Right now you have to be targeted for the offer and it’s unclear how widely targeted it is. But, View From The Wing has at least two different examples of the qualification levels. At first blush, we’re looking at $5,000 in Elite Qualifying Dollars for Gold status, $10,000 for Platinum, $15,000 for Platinum Pro and $24,000 for Executive Platinum. Virtually all AA fares earn one EQD per dollar spent, expect for Basic Economy which earns half that. I’d love to hear your opinion on these American Airlines changes. Are you excited about being able to achieve status just from spending? Worried that you’ll be fighting with even more people Hit me up Twitter or Facebook A Next, we’re talking about 23:59. As God Save the Points says, the airline rule that allows you to stopover in a particular city for up to a day, is a perfect time for a short visit to a destination. Airlines will generally allow a connection that long on virtually any fare, which is a good excuse for a quick stop somewhere new, or a favorite you haven’t visited in a while. Another thing to consider here are airlines for destinations that have dedicated stopover programs. Many flights to Iceland allow multiple day stopovers. And, TAP Portugal allows up to five nights in Lisbon or Porto, two lovely cities. Make the most of your next trip and build in a stopover someplace awesome. One Mile at a Time walks us through the rules around transferring Marriott Bonvoy points between accounts. You can transfer 100,000 points to another account each year. I had no idea you could receive up to 500,000 points each year. This can be helpful if you have just a handful of points in a spouse or family member account and don’t want them to go to waste. If you’re really close to qualifying for JetBlue Mosaic status this year, you don’t have to worry about falling short or having to hop on a plane to earn those last few points. Status point purchases start as low as $45, which can be a lot cheaper and quicker than hopping on an airplane. If JetBlue is willing to sell you points in an increment as small as 250 points, it’s probably a really good indication that they aren’t likely to give you an exception if you miss by an amount that small. If status is important to you, you probably don’t want to leave it to chance. Finally, according to Miles to Memories, Samsung Pay has a ton of discounted gift cards right now. I don’t have any Samsung devices to check that these are still available, but the report is that you’ll find 20% discounts at places like Staples, REI and Legal Seafood (yum, one of my favorite seafood restaurants). There’s also 10% discounts on Lowe’s, Uber and Hotels.com. That’s a full wrap on today’s travel news. If you’ve got a piece of travel news that you think I should feature on NowBoarding, you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com, or find me on social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And, you can find me blogging daily at pizzainmotion.com. Lastly, I need your help, for just a minute. Reviews and ratings are a huge part of what helps us reach a larger audience. So take a minute and help us out, leaving us a review and a rating wherever you get your podcasts. And, please tell a friend. That’s your travel news in 7 minutes or less. I hope you’ll join us again on a future flight!

A quick note: For some reason this didn't publish yesterday. Most likely user error.  My apologies. NowBoarding, your daily travel news in 7 minutes or less. This is your host, Ed Pizza, bringing you the latest travel deals and travel news you need to know Monday through Friday. No more worrying about missing out on the best deals. Give us a couple of minutes every day and we’ll give you what’s going on in the world of travel. A quick side note, thanks to Daniel for sending some feedback my way last night. I’m going to try to make an effort to give you guys a bit more of each story as I share the news. I’m trying to balance keeping the show short so you can tune in easily every day with making sure I’m delivering enough valuable information. Please keep the feedback coming! Look for links to all of today’s stories in the show notes on whatever podcast platform you’re listening. And, please share the show with a friend! First up this week is word of a strike in France for transportation workers. This could obviously affect your airline travel, since Air France union ground crew workers are supposed to strike. Air traffic controllers are said to be a part of it, which would make matters much worse. And, this strike is also supposed to affect rail workers. Train is a great way to get from airports like Charles-de Gaulle to downtown Paris. And, I’ve taken the train to get to smaller cities outside of Paris. If you have a trip planned soon, it’s time to start thinking of backup plans. Next up is the news that BankDirect will start sending 1099s for the miles you earn with their banking product. BankDirect has been around for ages. It’s a way to earn American Airlines AAdvantage miles on your banking. The program is not as lucrative as it once was, but it’s still a reasonable way to earn a few miles. There are competing opinions on how bad the change from BankDirect is. One Mile at a Time thinks it’s not worth the hassle, while View From The Wing thinks this is a small cost and still a viable way to earn some miles. One of the more popular cash back apps, Dosh, is offering a $30 cash back bonus for hotel bookings right now. This is on top of the regular cash back you’d receive on a Dosh booking. Deals We Like has more details on this easy way to pick up cash if you’re planning a hotel stay in the near future. Richard Branson is no longer interested in selling his controlling stake in Virgin Atlantic to Air France-KLM. This was essentially a way for Delta to gain a majority control in the airline through a series of different transactions. It’s unclear how much this cost Richard Branson, or how mad Delta is. But, it’s highly likely this is better for frequent fliers than if Delta had control of the award charts. Finally, today is the first day of United Airlines new upgrade system, PlusPoints. The system offers more flexibility to elite travelers for the upgrades they receive. PlusPoints replaces the Global Premier Upgrades and Regional Premier Upgrades, also referred to as GPU and RPU for us nerds. This is likely to be a positive change, adding a bit of flexibility for travelers. However, unless United loosens their hold on inventory, this will likely end up as a non-event for most travelers. That’s a full wrap on today’s travel news. If you’ve got a piece of travel news that you think I should feature on NowBoarding, you can e-mail me at ed@pizzainmotion.com, or find me on social media, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. And, you can find me blogging daily at pizzainmotion.com. And, since we’re still getting started on this new format, you can do me a big favor and leave me a review on whatever podcast platform you’re listening to. Reviews and ratings are a huge part of what helps us reach a larger audience. And, if you’re enjoying the show, please tell a friend. That’s your travel news in 7 minutes or less. I hope you’ll join us again on a future flight!