Airline Timetables, Mount Athos, Psychic Scams, Life Lessons

We bring you an amazing library with old Airline Timetables, visit Mount Athos in Greece, warn you about Psychic Scams, important Life Lessons, show you how to get a PIN from the IRS to protect yourselves, more on the Hipmunk saga, best airplane movies, how to sleep on planes, visit the 2020 Dakar rally, an amazing couple helping families bring closure, Ebola is defeated, all the Roman emperors in one graph, an amazing taco resource, more Accor developments shelling out money and more!

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MILES & POINTS

Not much happening again over the weekend in the miles and points world. All kinds of crap as usual but nothing in my judgment you should know…Therefore, I will make it up with links in the TRAVEL section below.

I have been making lots of fun of Accor blowing a ridiculous amount of money on so many acquisitions in the past several years. Well, I guess they bought everything…so they now turned to buying their own stock LOL: Accor Launches 300 Million Euros Share Buyback. If they could only improve the now renamed loyalty program ALL.

I keep a sheet with miles/points outstanding/owed to me. It is handwritten inside a folder. Which I name, please sit down, Miles/Points. I also have screenshots of the promotions/card offers/etc. inside this folder in case the miles/points do not post by the promised date and I need to take further action. By calling up and raising hell. Ok, never do that, always be nice on the phone. Others keep complicated worksheets with way too much detail. I never did that. I adhere by the KISS rule: Keep It Super Simple. The only item I have not crossed off my list is the 10,000 CNB rewards points owed to me from a spending promo in the fourth quarter of 2019. This is by far the fewest outstanding items I have had on this list. Goes to show you how this hobby is going lately, sad!

Credit card offers that really stand out to me as of today: The 75k Southwest personal cards, the 100k Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card and of course the 80k Ink Business Preferred. Of course they are all from Chase and subject to the 5/24 restriction (will not get the bonus if you had at least 5 cards in the past 24 months). That just disqualifies almost all of you sad lol! And I personally would not waste any app on all things Marriott but it is hard for anyone in this space to avoid them because it is a Goliath! Ok, I feel dirty already, lets move on to what you came here for…

Wait, it gets better below, MUCH better as my blog turns into a curating magic machine. Or something like that. Sure it is not a conversion machine lol.

TRAVEL

What a wonderful gem I found for you guys! Airline Timetable Images. Yep, it is a website devoted to the collecting of airline timetables. Huge repository! I enjoyed looking at Northwest Airlines old timetables. Now watch some Boarding Area credit card sales blogger post about this without giving me a backlink and then all the ass kissers link to him…If I had a dollar every time this happened. No wait. If I had a conversion every time this happened.

The best airplane movies. Ok, there are some real dogs in the list. And of course Airplane is #1.

I need to make it to Mount Athos in Greece one of these days before I get too old. Soul Sanctuary: Visiting Mount Athos.

Actually, there was more drama behind the Hipmunk announcement that it was shutting down as the founders tried to buy it back. It was a no go, the brand will die shortly. Hipmunk Co-Founders Spurned by SAP Concur in Attempt to Buy Back the Company.

This is hilarious! How to sleep on a plane: 18 illustrations. The Peeping Tom LOL!

Amazing photos from the 2020 Dakar Rally which took place in Saudi Arabia.

PERSONAL FINANCE

I wish the death penalty (or life in prison) applied to phucking scammers like this taking advantage of vulnerable people. Ok, WTF were these people thinking falling for this crap? Psychic Zoe and the $740,000 Curse. Be careful out there and don’t go to these places, THINK!

If you are a resident of the following states you can OPT-IN to get a 6 digit PIN from the IRS to use when filing your 2019 Income Tax Returns. This will ensure no scammer gets to file on YOUR behalf using your Social Security Number before you do. It is a MAJOR problem. It was a living hell about 5 to 6 years ago when it skyrocketed. Measures since then have reduced the problem but it still goes on! Of course, in order to get your own PIN the IRS must identify your identity and the process is very thorough, hey this is what is about! I did this last year and it worked great as I had to extend the filing of my income tax return and could not take the risk some phucking scammer will file before me using my own SSN, ymmv, you have been warned. Here is more info:

The Identity Protection Personal Identification Number (IP PIN) is a 6-digit number assigned to eligible taxpayers. It helps prevent identity thieves from filing fraudulent tax returns with stolen Social Security numbers (SSNs). An IP PIN helps the IRS verify taxpayers’ identities and accept their electronic or paper tax returns for processing. The IRS issues IP PINs to confirmed identity theft victims once their cases are resolved. This process is unchanged. What is new for 2020 is the expanded number of taxpayers who are not IDT victims but who are eligible to opt into the IP PIN program.

IP PIN eligibility for taxpayers who want to opt into the program is expanding in phases. At the start of the 2020 filing season, you may opt into the program if you filed a federal return last year from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington. Additional locations will be eligible later in 2020

More info on this LINK.

ODDZ & ENDZ

This is one of those special reads: Bring up the bodies: the retired couple who find drowning victims. Imagine doing this macabre thing to help families bring closure so they can move on. And doing it all for free #respect.

Believe in science, we cured Ebola!

I love Twitter. Because once in a while you get some gems like this. “What’s your most important life lesson that you wish you learned ten years earlier?“. Lovely thread with amazing replies!

Guy goes on a taco run and rates in a Google sheet well over 660 taco places in California, EPIC!

All the Roman Emperors. In one epic pic. Click to enlarge.

BLOG BUZZ

We are now entering BLOG BUZZ, a section for advanced hobbyists and veterans of this fast imploding hobby and also a section where I go on and on about some stuff that happens in my life because it helps me feel better about myself.

We are in the Chinese New Year celebrations these days. My daughter has been performing in a Chinese dance group since she was a toddler. Bittersweet moment to watch her perform for the last time before all the girls split up to go to college later this year, so sad!

It’s been a long path to this point…

Still no post from our friend Rick/Ingy at Pointchaser, so sad! If anyone has any work for him, go ahead and contact him. Mention his old pal George is looking out for him 😉 Must suck to look for work after selling out so early…

Six conversions month to date! Did they convene an urgent meeting over at The Points Guy to deal with this TBB taking away so many conversions from them? No you say? Ok then. We may have a shot to hit ten this month to keep me from going on a two post per week mode (Monday and Friday). Come to think of it, with so many few miles & points posts on Mondays, maybe Monday and Thursday should be better?

To Brian S., yes I am keeping up the running. I am hooked! It is the eating I am having problems with lol.

And I leave you with this…

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.