The New Turkish Business Class Will Be Awesome, 5 Reasons Turkish Business Class is My Go-To, Paying $579 for Swiss Business Upgrade, Race of My Life, and More!

It has been a while since I did a weekly summary so this will be a round up of all relevant posts from the last couple/few weeks. In fact, I think this is the first of the new year – things have been pretty busy for me up to this point!

Miles, Points, and Deals

The posts below in italics are the ones in the title.

Travel

• My Experience Dealing with Ryanair’s Horrible Weather Handling – This was on the way home from my marathon in Israel and what should have been a simple 40 minute flight ended up taking me a whole 12 extra hours to get home. That happens, but it was the terrible handling by Ryanair during the weather issue that made it so bad. Incidentally, Ryanair is no longer going to be flying this route (Athens – Thessaloniki) after April of this year. That is a big withdrawal for them since they flew about 5-8 flights per day between the two cities.
• An Incredible Offer of the Southwest Companion Pass and 30K Points with One Card, But Is It For You? – This card offer has been flowing around for a little while now (and has been stirring up additional posts in the blog world as a result). It is a good offer, but certainly not for everyone.
• I Won 30,000 Aegean Miles – That is 2/3 of a Transatlantic Business Class Award – I ended 2018 with winning 30,000 Aegean miles – the only thing I have won for the last couple of years in all the things I have entered. 🙂 In fact, the last thing I won before was also from Aegean (but I had to fly a bit for that one).
• A New Garmin Watch that Offers LTE/Cellular Capability – Garmin is making a push to go more mainstream with their watches and this watch adds the cellular capability. But, it will only be with Verizon and it will cost an additional monthly fee.
• How Much Apple and Other Top Companies Spend Flying United Airlines – This was another thing that made its way around the blogs and even the mainstream media! Someone accidentally revealed how much Apple spends with United each year – and it is a good chunk of money!
• Get Enough Miles for a Business Class Ticket Anywhere in the World with the Latest United Business Card Offer – This is the richest this offer has ever been at publicly and it is a good one! If you ever wanted to fly top airlines like Thai, Swiss, Lufthansa, or others, this offer will give you enough miles for a business class ticket and no fuel surcharges!
• Southwest May Have Made a Very Smart Move for Hawaii and the Companion Pass – Southwest may have made a great move in clearing the decks of potential customers who could get the Southwest Companion Pass for 2 years with only cards. This Companion Pass is going to be expensive for them with Hawaii customers so this may be a good move!
• One Year Review of Bluffworks: Still My Favorite Clothes for Travel and Everyday – Bluffworks clothes are just amazing – even a year in with hundreds of days of wear!
• MasterCard Will Now Keep You From Being Surprised with Subscription Fees – This is a nice step for a card network! The next time you sign-up for a free trial, it may be a great idea to use a MasterCard.
• The Fastest I Have Ever Gotten Through Tel Aviv Airport Security – Tel Aviv airport security is legendary for its thoroughness. It can sometimes take passengers up to 3 hours to get through the processes. However, this time was the fastest I have ever experienced!
• How to Get the Swiss Business Class Throne Seats for Free – Swiss business class throne seats are pretty special seats in an already nice cabin. But, it will cost you if you want to select them too far ahead of time. Here is what you need to know to get them for free.
• Travel Agony: These Passengers Were Stuck on a Runway Over 15 Hours! – No matter what your travel delays have been like, they probably were not nearly as bad as what these passengers put up with.
• Bad News for Emirates Passengers Flying to Europe from the US – Emirates had been one of the only airlines that allowed economy passengers two bags from the US to Europe. That is about to change.
• Deal Alert: Hyatt Points on Sale as Low as 1.8 Cents Each – With the devaluation of the Hyatt Points+Cash program, sales like this are a great way to get back to some good values on the points.
• The New Turkish Airlines Business Class is Going to Be Awesome – Turkish Airlines already has a pretty good business class experience but their new seats are going to really elevate their business class offering.
• The New Mega Istanbul Airport Will Open March 3… Or, Will It? – The new Istanbul Airport is due to open in just over a month and it is going to be a great, huge airport. But, will it open on time?
• Would You Pay $579 to Upgrade to Swiss Business Class? – On a recent flight, this was the offer made to economy passengers. Would you pay for that upgrade?
• 5 Reasons Turkish Airlines Business Class is My Go-To Award Option – I really enjoy Turkish Airlines business class and here are the 5 reasons they are my go-to for transatlantic travel.
• The TripAdvisor Top 25 Hotels in the World – Want to see which hotels made the grade? Some of them are even bookable for under $100 per night!

Travel Tech

• Amazon Reveals “Best of Prime 2018” – What is Possible With Amazon Prime – Amazon had a good year for their Prime members. Believe it or not, the most purchased item was the Fire TV stick.
• Review: Official Google Fi on iPhone – A Great Combo for Travel – Now that we are about 2 months into the official Google Fi for iPhone, time to take a look at how it works for travel!
• Google’s Real-Time Language Translation Is Getting a Whole Lot Smarter – Great for Travelers! – Google is really getting good at making things simpler for people. This next step for Google Assistant is to make language barriers a much smaller issue – great for travelers.
• Coming Soon! Check in For Your Flight or Book a Hotel with Google Assistant – Yet another step for Google Assistant! You will soon be able to check in for your flight or book a hotel using just your voice and Google Assistant.
• This New Travel Tech Will Help You Never Forget Your Valuables on Trips Again – This new piece of travel tech is a great way to make sure you have all of your valuables with just the push of a button!
• A Very Cool Auto-Follow Suitcase – Here is another piece of travel tech, but is this something we want to see around a busy airport?
• Netflix Hikes Fees – After Taking Away the iTunes Discount Path – As one commenter pointed out, the amount of content Netflix has is second to none so this fee hike may not mean that much to you.
• These 33 Countries Are Getting Faster Data for Google Fi Phones – Google Fi offers some incredibly fast data for countries around the world and these 33 countries are about to get it even faster as well.

Running

• The Dubai Marathon is No Longer the World’s Richest Marathon – At one point, a runner could make over $1 million if they hit the right times in the Dubai Marathon! Now, the winner will share in a prize purse that is half of what it was before. This makes Boston the richest marathon in the world, by the prize purse numbers.
• Race Report: The Best Marathon of My Life – After years, I finally was able to break my goal in the marathon! Here is a detailed breakdown of what happened and how the race went.