News And Notes For Saturday, January 12th, 2013

There are more updates on Qatar Airways joining the oneworld alliance.  Starting February 23rd, American Airlines and Qatar will begin codesharing on many of their flights, meaning members of the AAdvantage program will be able to earn miles on a substantial number of Qatar flights.  For me, the bigger plus will be when I can redeem my AA miles on Qatar, which is still likely a year away.  But, at that point, I could fly direct from my home airport of IAD to Qatar’s hub in Doha.  Anyway, bottom line here is more opportunity to earn redeemable and elite qualifying miles with this announcement.

The United MileagePlus shopping portal has a few specials this week if you’re stocking up on shampoo and Advil.  Drugstore.com purchases will earn 8 miles/$ and Walgreens will earn 6 miles/$.  These are both double the normal earning rates.

In a mildly interesting turn of events, my shares in American Airlines’ parent AMR may not be completely worthless.  It’s rare for common stock holders to end up with anything upon exit from bankruptcy but this article says it’s possible.  No doubt AA has had a big resurgence in profit, but I can’t honestly recall the last time I heard a story where common stock was worth something after a bankruptcy.  I don’t own a lot of shares and I bought right before bankruptcy so I haven’t lost much money on paper.  But, the recent surge in the stock price on this news may ultimately make me a seller.