That’s great, I ‘ll remember than and try to use it! Two other times I did this they ended up letting us go as the cases got settled. If not this time, I will demand the death penalty be administered the day after and no appeals allowed hehe

Agreed! i haven’t been back to a CVS since THAT day!

TBB — I’ll tell yah how I got out of it (many decades ago in the Navy… and I actually WANTED to be on a jury cause I’d never done it!). Being the bright young I-drank-all-the-koolaid officer I was (did I mention it was DECADES ago!?), when they asked if I thought they could be any mitigating factors for drug use in the Navy, I chirped: “No!” Did I think drug use should be punished harshly? “Yup!” The defense challenged me off!

Try being a “hang ’em’ high” type and the defense may chuck you…

@ Thanks for the offer. How about you do my trip reports and I enter your Amazon affiliate link in it, huh? 🙂

@desapri: It is!

@ Sam: Fantastic comment, thanks for taking the time to express what’s on your mind! I share your feelings too! What ticked me off the most was the tone of the email. I swear the person who wrote it must have been hired away by Delta PR. So hideously smooth aiming and expecting that recipients are mindless tools for the company.

@ lindy and ABC: I still do not have a suggestion what to use for newsletter. But the way stuff has piled up from my absence I doubt I will be getting to it anytime soon. I even got jury duty summons for a criminal trial in Federal Court!! Why me 🙂

@ Ramsey: I have a feeling AA is working on a whole brand new revenue based program and not even bothering combining US and AA miles. I also think it will get really ugly in the coming year for us miles enthusiasts. I mean, expect continued beatings 🙂
I liked the Fairmont more but that is because we got a real Deluxe Ocean View and not “Upgraded” to a “Full Ocean view” at the Andaz. Services is better at Andaz but WAY too much of it and you can tell staff are trained to overdo it. I dont like my coffee refilled every freaking minute, let me enjoy it damn it! Wife and kids loved the more modern feel to it. I thought the room was tiny and balcony furniture awful. I found the suite in the Fairmont much better and fantastic balcony! Andaz breakfast is indeed awesome, would never pay $45 for the buffet! Pools are better in Andaz, you know, infinity. Beach is better at Fairmont. Free canoe ride was great. Hated the mandatory valet parking at Andaz and having to tip those guys. I liked the self parking at the FKL. Both have $30 daily resort fees which sucks. Nicks Fishmarket at the FKL happy hour specials were indeed awesome, thanks. I have a Platinum benefit for an authentic local food dish for two at the FKL. WE had it at the Ko restaurant and I must say it was the BEST meal we ever had. Steak was better than in Buenos Aires. I am glad I experienced both hotels. Great deal with the credit cards imho. I would never ever pay such high rates! So, thank you Chase Bank lol.

@smittytabb: I had my eyes on the AA Explorer award too. And was in a way looking for a change to come and the notice to get my butt in gear. Ooops…I am pissed about this! I am missing Vanilla Reloads already. I will have more time now though, need to regroup. Hope to learn some more easy scores at the CLT meeting too.

@TWA44: I think burning the two nights at the FKL is a great use of them! Many hotels around. The Marriott down the coast from the FKL looked very fine. Find something decent and use Barclay Arrival points or Priceline it! See some comments on the FKL vs Andaz above in my response to Ramsey.

@ Steve: It will be ironic if the presentation at Chicago would be on “How to best use Avios?” 🙂

@ Anonymous: Hey, he is consistent 🙂 It still is mind boggling that bloggers feel they need to respond in such a manner instead of just ignoring me and my site 🙂

@ Andrew: Come on, name names 🙂 As long as my trip reports do not reach the excitement depths of MMS I think I am a winner as family and friends do love them I am told. So, I am keeping them as is but will take your input into consideration, thanks. Yes my photos do suck big time. But it is all real, no photoshop stuff or whatever you guys do. Mine is just….raw crap 🙂

@StickyWicket: Who do ya think it is? 🙂

@harvson3: I just get Fairmont gift cards. 1% return. It blows but they do come in handy. $12k in VRs was getting us 1 free night (for AF of $95) and the gc’s were paying for the fee and a daily resort fee 🙂 Saving them up for the nights never made any sense, I remember many restrictions on what properties you wanted to use them in. Come to think of it, i do not think i have any pure Airlines cards anymore!

@ KennyB: The game is still worth it but, oh boy, it is getting harder to get the value out of it! Oh shoot I still need to look for better flights to CLT than the ones I have booked with Southwest points. I may even do a 25k RT with DL miles, LOL.

@ ABC: I am not up in BGI politics 🙂 “tourism to BB has dropped” —> I agree, tourism will drop now due to not being able to buy VRs in CVS stores to load BB with Lol

Sadly AA shut down JFK->BGI. CLT to BGI is seasonal. I expect that to be shut down soon. Prices have gone up and it’s cheaper to go to Trinidad. Blame it on DLP (sorry about politics, but nobody gets offended here about bajan politics). As you know tourism to BB has dropped. Partially to blane is the desire to bring the creme de la creme of multimillionaires. I blame COW Williams for that move. As a resutlt, House prices have gone through the roof. Anyways, it’s easier to find a flight from the UK than from the US to BGI.

Looking to churn through hotel and cash-back cards now that the future prospect of hunting low-level awards on US/AA looks like chasing the ends of rainbows. Calling Citi this weekend to close the AA Amex.

I’m so glad to see spring and warm weather return that all the sound and fury of the salespeople bloggers signifies nothing. Baseball season is here and we should be happy, for all the reasons Bart Giamati explains.

Perhaps Mr Pickles may be able to help you with the newsletter.

Are you ever going to tell us Steve why the hatred for FTG.com? YOu call ingy a troll?