Uber Wins A Battle In Europe, The Atlantis Is Joining Forces WIth Marriott, And I Added An Extra Flight To An Upcoming Trip And The Price Went Down. Things I Find Interesting On Saturday, July 5th, 2014

Uber wins a key legal challenge in London.  There have been massive protests against Uber in a number of European cities.  This specific lawsuit was trying to classify the smartphone Uber drivers use to communicate distance via GPS as a “meter”, which can only be installed in a taxi.  Transport for London said no, but then punted it to another court for a final, final decision.  At any rate, Uber continues to operate in London, and says they experienced an 850% increase in rides when the protests started.

The Atlantis in the Bahamas is becoming a member of the Marriott family.  Magic of Miles has all the details.  Atlantis has been on my radar to visit for quite some time, but we’ve always ended up going somewhere else.  I guess it’s because I feel like “we can always go to the Bahamas”.  It’s a pretty short flight from our Northern Virginia home.  And, the fact that I can earn Marriott points probably won’t motivate me to get there any quicker.  But, I do think this is a huge get for Marriott.  Their presence in the Caribbean is okay, but most of the properties aren’t best in breed on their respective islands (save for a few Ritz properties and maybe St. Croix and Scrub Island).  And, the Bahamas is a bit of a thin spot for them considering the number of folks that visit.

I added an extra flight to upcoming award tickets I’ve got booked for our family trip to Europe.  And the price went down.  Still haven’t figured out exactly why, but Wandering Aramean’s hypothesis about exchange rates makes the most sense.

I’ve lived in the DC area for only about 16 years now, and I’ve only managed to step foot in the White House once, very briefly.  Mommy Points walks you through how to get a pretty decent tour for free.

MJ on Travel flew 5 hours in coach and didn’t suffer any life-threatening injuries.  However, one of his fellow passengers almost did.

American Airlines is now starting to operate some US Airways routes and vice versa.  In some cases, that’s good.  In other cases (insert US Airways plane with no legroom on most AA domestic routes), not so much.

Not travel related, but I couldn’t resist, especially because this makes me feel old.  The game Tetris apparently is turning 30 years old.  Some of my younger readers are asking themselves what Tetris is right now.  This guy built a t-shirt you can actually play Tetris on.  That’s kinda cool.