Cheap Flights To Miami and SFO, ATM Skimming Operations. Best of The Rest For September 21, 2015

The Best of the Rest is my effort to summarize all the travel/miles & points stories that interested me on a daily basis but didn’t have time to write about in length.  On a daily basis, I try to keep track of roughly 100 different blogs (try being the operative word) that have interesting things for you and I to learn from.  Some are passed along without comment, while I add my analysis to others.   This is your shortcut to find out what’s going on in the travel world without having to read dozens of travel blogs to get all the best info.

Here’s what I’m reading about today:

Cheap Flight(s) of The Day: I like two here.  First, $96 round-trip fares from Baltimore to Miami.  Then there are $296 round-trip fares from New York to SFO on a few different airlines.

Is American Airlines getting rid of status challenges?  That seems to be the case.  It’s a bit of a bummer, as even with the fee to do a status challenge, these represented a good way for frequent travelers from another airline to get a fast-track to elite status when moving over.  To some degree, I’m a bit surprised.  American is the lone airline of the big 3 who doesn’t have a revenue requirement for elite status.  They should be trying to steal as many elite members from their competitors while they have a more attractive program.

Hyatt is celebrating their first property in Honduras with Hyatt Place Tegucigalpa.  Hyatt Place isn’t the most exciting label in the Hyatt family, but it’s nice to see them planting a flag in a new country, so to speak.  The announcement also details future openings in Guatemala, Nicaragua and San Salvador.  While I’d like to see full-service properties going in, the reality is that there are probably enough full-service hotels already established (though I’m not an expert in those markets).

You can earn United miles or Southwest points for eBay purchases.  As Doctor of Credit mentions, you’re likely better off with the 5% rebate.  But, options are good.

American has announced the flight times for their DCA-ATL nonstop flights, and they’re not bad.  I ended up with a handful of trips to Atlanta this year and would have welcomed the nonstop option, though it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to pick up 500 mile minimums on multiple segments.

How to figure out when crowds are their worst for tourist attractions.  This is cool if it works.  I’ll need to look at some examples I have experience with.

If you’ve been to  Cancun recently, you might have been caught in this more sophisticated ATM skimming operation.

Etihad and SAS are now partners in the air.  Silferlood reports this on Milepoint.