Wrapping Up The Week With A Few Things I Missed

Before the week is out, there were a couple things I wanted to touch on:

View From The Wing has info on a 75,000 point sign-up bonus for the AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card, only good for another few days.

I used to be a big fan of the Membership Rewards program that American Express has offered for quite some time.  They had a decent amount of versatility, one of the first to master the concept of many uses for one type of currency (points!).  But, I drifted away to some American Airlines Citi Cards (not a great decision) and eventually found my way to the Starwood AMEX Card (a much better decision) and finally the cards that pay Chase Ultimate Rewards (arguably a smidge more valuable then the Starwood AMEX).

While I won’t be applying for this card, the bonus is usually no higher then 50,000 points.  So, it’s definitely worth considering.  Don’t be scared by the fact that it’s a business card, anyone can apply.

A few months ago I wrote about American’s push for larger regional jets, specifically out of LAX.  At the time I didn’t think this would be the last news about an expanded regional jets as part of the overall fleet.  There’s now news that Embraer has inked a large contract with another new American Eagle carrier, Republic Airways.

The E-175 is their plane of choice.  I’m partial to Bombardier’s CRJ-700 myself, due mostly to their hospitality during StarMegaDO3 where we got to be amongst the first civilians to board their new C-Series jet.

Anyway, I digress.  The better news is that View From The Wing reports the new planes will have 12 First Class seats.  I think it’s awesome that a decent chunk of AA’s regional fleet will have more First Class seats then many of the Airbus jets United flies.

Starwood added a cool property in Dallas this week, the Stoneleigh.  Per SPG Champion on Milepoint, the property is now officially part of the Starwood system.  The Stoneleigh has had an up and down road the past few years (read more about it here), but it should make a solid addition to the SPG family.