We bring you an FAQ about the Amex Platinum fee & new benefits, visit Iraqi Kurdistan, learn awesome airport facts, ride the Moscow metro, look at awesome photos as always, fight by running away, get two great travel hacking spreadsheets, learn more about the new Hilton award scheme and more!
TBB Blog Mission: To Entertain. Educate. Inspire. In That Order!
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An FAQ about all the changes in the personal Amex Platinum card. I just have no idea what these guys at Amex are thinking lately. They are keeping the Business Platinum version annual fee at $450 and adding a few bennies to it. Just not following the logic here at all. But hey, if you see a blogger selling the 40k offer for this card tell them I think it should be a felony! Hey to all bloggers linking to these guys, YOU are part of the problem too!
5 Reasons to Visit Iraqi Kurdistan. By guest blogger Caroline Lupini who was one of the 8 Americans shut out of Iran during my trip so…she went here instead!
6 Things You Didn’t Know About Airports. Well, I sure didn’t.
Powerful photos by Reuter’s photojournalist of the year.
If you are going to wrestle, do it this way. Lol!
Your personal finance fix of the day: What if you know nothing about investing.
The best shots from Smithsonian’s 14th Annual Photo Contest.
The Subteranean Paradise of the Moscow Metro. Love this… 
BLOG BUZZ
This section is for advanced level hobbyists and veteran blog readers
What is wrong with Amex? So, they are keeping the Business Platinum annual fee at $450 it appears. Or did they get scared from the reaction after increasing the personal version’s annual fee to $550 and decided to hold off for a while?
Travel With Grant has two pretty good spreadsheets to keep track of credit cards and bank bonuses, check them out.
Loyalty Traveler took a deeper dive into all this new Hilton award structure change upon us. Note:
Under the new system of Honors Standard, Premium and Points & Money Rewards, I don’t know if it possible any more to get a redemption value approaching $10 per 1,000 points.
Looks to me with my initial analyses of Honors Standard Rewards, Premium Rewards and Points & Money Rewards that redemption value of Honors points are fixed within a narrow $4.00 to $6.00 range in this new system of reward pricing effective March 1, 2017.
Will this keep the credit card pumping bloggers from selling Hilton cards (or any other card for that matter) with less enthusiasm? Hell no!
You will not see this blog waste your time about the Freddies…
For the record, who cares about livery?
I had a really crazy Monday you guys. I have not been on Twitter wreaking havoc much therefore the ranty TBB side is mostly missing…just like your clicks lol. I am just focusing on knocking out clients’ tax returns before the scammers file on their behalf first. Or maybe I feel defeated seeing so many links of bloggers pumping the Amex 40k Platinum links…and here I am being yelled at for pumping too, PHUUUUUUCK! And I turned down another potential client today…Sometimes I wonder if I am insane or just stupid? Ok, don’t answer that. Please.
Let me know of worthy news in this blog space please.
And I leave you with this…
Check out my updated blog lists: Blogs I Love, Blogs I Like, Blogs To Ignore
TBB
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Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, hotel, airline, or other entity. This content has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of the entities included within the post.
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Proud silver. Fearing for Scottcastle
#StandWithScottCastle
Did this just happen? Is SC’s groupie okay? OMG!
I hope he didn’t get caught up sifting through the morning’s fake news headlines.
Peace to SC.
“And I turned down another client today… Sometimes I wonder if I’m insane or just stupid?”
A. Insane
B. Stupid
C. Both of the Above
D
🙂
Five (5) things for #TBB Tuesday:
1. The ONLY thing I care about the Freddies is: Where is Freddie Jr? Old-time FT’ers may remember.
2. Liveries: some of us are addicted to miles/points/shiny bits of plastic. Some of us are #avgeeks and liveries are VERY important in the scheme of things! Some of us should avoid Flor de Caña in the morning cafe!
3. My tax guy since 1995, Scott, is retiring after this season. He’s saved my a$$ for years and become my buddy as well. Asked him if I could give him a trip somewhere for his retirement gift and he said no, the tax implications were too convoluted! Flat tax flat tax FLAT TAX.
4. Found a way to use disAAdvantage miles. Biz class redemptions intra-Asia. Decent values but widespread AAvailability.
#TBBon
Weird… I know what “avoid” means and I know what “Flor de Caña” is but I’ve never seen those word grouped together like that.
Long long ago my tio Chico in Boaco appeared one morning with a quatro of FDC and asked if I wanted “cafe con cafe”. It has been downhill ever since!
GringoLoco, I enjoy your posts but…Flat Tax? That’s great for high earners. Wonderful for the filthy rich. But for someone living paycheck to paycheck, having to spend all their income each paycheck?
The Flat Tax proposal screws the poor the most, the middle class the second most, and works really well for everyone above that.
I’m all for a simpler system. But Progressive taxation is one of the things that made our country great. In my eyes that’s the only “fair” taxation system.
But then I’m also a huge proponent of Estate Taxes returning to what they used to be. Back when, before most people’s time, everyone really did have a shot at the American Dream.
I’d rather see us go to a consumption tax. Way better than taxing earnings.
Consumption taxes tend to be regressive.
Thanks for the intra-Asia tip! Anything to get some decent use out of those suckers.
I also turned down a gift yesterday. For referring a client t a new 401k plan person. Told her my gift is to take care of them so I can get them more coming their way.
Yeah, spend BA Avios to fly son from HKG to Tokyo on Business…he still raves about it, including his time in the HKG lounges!
@GringoLoco Ahhh remember FT Jr fondly… think he retired back to HOM. He joined me on Concorde back in the day and a few over both ponds trips using the glorious NWA zone certs!
@Buzz Get to Erbil, it’s a lovely place, been there a few times. Lots of historic sites, great city! UNESCO heritage site. They even had a go-kart track at one time. In and out via FRA is a breeze.
One day I will get to Erbil…when ISIS is long gone…may be a while
Freddie Jr. is retired and lives at the HOM.
Guess it was before my time there – who or what is Freddie, Jr?
He is still alive?
Taxes I have paid in my Lifetime include:
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges/IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
The current Federal (“just” Federal!) tax code is over 75,000 *seventy-five THOUSAND* pages and contains OVER 4,000,000 *four MILLION* words.
Our “progressive” tax system screws each and every one of us each and every day. Mostly sans Vaseline!
/soapbox
So what’s the point? You prefer to not pay taxes?? Join the club.
BTW, the proudest member of that club—the Freeloaders club–is Donald J.Trump…
Fortunately you now have a president extremely focused on this issue.
I have long been an advocate for simplifying the tax code…it is pathetically ridiculous and complex. Thank God we have a President committed to do just that and make the tax code small again…like his tiny hands…
Ok, I am lauging
@Gringo Loco, others,
Sure, our tax code is ridiculously bloated, but that has literally (the correct use…!) *nothing* to do with having a progressive tax. Our tax code is bloated primarily because of crony capitalism–the rich and corps bribing congress to get their pet aspects codified.
As for all the taxes you’ve paid, it seems you’re doing well in life. How well would you have done without all the advantages that the US taxpayer has provided?
To put Obama’s actual quote in context, you didn’t build the roads, ports, and misc. infrastructure that allowed you such great opportunity to build your net worth–American taxpayers did. Chances are you wouldn’t have been able to be as well off had you been born into the 2nd or 3rd world.
I don’t mind paying taxes, not one bit.
Fed taxes are at modern historical lows. That our tax funds have been stupidly spent is the citizens’ fault for not voting out idiots that spend them stupidly, usually on stupid wars, a ridiculously bloated military budget, and cutting taxes for the rich.
Imagine what our country could’ve done with taxes since 1980 if we’d been smarter in the way our government spent them! Yes, I’m looking directly at the freakin Republicans.
/soapbox, NEVER 🙂
A+!!
I don’t understand the latest on the Amex biz & personal sides either. The inmates must be running the asylum there.
Wonderful trip report on Iraqi Kurdistan! Looks and sounds like a very enriching place to visit.
Did the Freddies landing page ever change their icon for “English” – last I saw they were using the USA flag? Does anyone give two craps about the Freddies? The loyalty programs are in full-on Screw-U mode anyway.
Freddies are great for advertising revenue for BA, contacts/relationships with execs, more ad dollars, PR depts work and of course self-masturbating ceremonies celebrating “the best program”….and at the end….Marriott wins lol.
The FTA’s were more fun and had a MUCH better looking trophy! Freddie’s should have stayed retired IMHO
PSA: Dan has a nice post on AMEX personal versus business, and then he commits “The TBB Felony” of pointing to the 40K personal.
Not only that…but he never mentions the once per lifetime restriction as well…
And this is the guy who came here to pound me for adding one paragraph pimping my cc banner, WTF!
No, I did not leave a comment there….it would probably not last.
And then I check my haul and I see no credit cards sold this month and all this site brought in is $2.52 per day. And that totally depresses me, by far the most hideous part of blogging here 🙂
My wife said yesterday “if it depresses you so much, just stop”….Hmmm….
Ok, taking some time off, need to drive princess
Doing the right thing should be reward enough, honey!