Cheap Flights On Star Alliance, Violence Erupts At Air France And One Last Chance (?) To See The TWA Terminal at JFK?

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: Baltimore to Seattle for $276 and $280 fares from Chicago to Puerto Rico through February.

Today is the first day you can purchase miles at a huge discount and use them for discounted award travel on United, Lufthansa and all the other Star Alliance carriers.

It looks like Hyatt is disappearing from the list of OPEN participants that AMEX offers starting at the beginning of 2016.  That’s disappointing since Hyatt is my go-to chain.  I’m expecting that AMEX will seek out another hotel partner.  Since I don’t stay at Hilton, IHG or Marriott it’s likely to be a benefit I’ll get less value out of.  Thanks to Will Run For Miles for pointing me in the direction of this story.

Violence erupts at Air France meeting as they announce job cuts and amidst rumored cancellation of their Boeing 787 orders. HT: rupaharia on Twitter

If you’re planning a Hilton trip overseas, this 7-day flash sale may be just what you’re looking for.

Union controversy at the new American Airlines just won’t go away.  The president of the flight attendant union is resigning her post amidst accusations that nepotism was involved in the recent agreement.  You know, the one that gave them all hefty pay raises.  Just for good measure, some members of the union plan to picket in front of where their annual meeting is being held.  Because, isn’t it better just to get fighting?

Cuba is kinda, sorta on my radar since travel restrictions have been relaxed.  There are still many question marks about traveling there since the embargo has been in place for so long.  Here are 10 tips from Matthew Klint on traveling to Cuba.  He took a trip there recently, so consider the advice sound.

50,000 AAdvantage miles for opening a checking account.

Jeebus.  470,000 points earned from a credit card application spree.

One of the last chances to tour the TWA terminal at JFK before they turn it into a hotel!

This is one heck of a goofy redeye.