Milenomics² Podcast Episode 252: News, Updates, and we play “Name that Terrible Place”

0:20 Amex Email: No More PayPal Bill Pay after 4/1/2025

• Was this related to the Shutdowns?

• Historically hard to keep online billpay alive (TIO, WMBP, PPBP)

• Fluz: Without Amex, and if citi shutdown what good is this service?

12:55 Delta Abandons BOS - HNL Route (OMAAT)

• Still served by Hawaiian, but for how long

• Broader point: Would you rather have Hawaiian’s award pricing model -or Delta’s everyday cent per point of value?

• Hawaiian

• 130k pp one-way in First (sometimes)

• 40k pp one-way in First (very rarely to BOS/JFK)

• Pay for Economy upgrade to First with 50k (usually when 130k space is available)

• Delta

• Price is a function of cash fare: Every day mediocre value

• Ability to use upgrade instruments on this route difficult

• Which do we prefer?

19:54 Alaska and I are in a Toxic Relationship

• They pay me not to fly (last week) 

• This week they show some incredible AA space.

• So I transfer in 250,000 MR to Hawaiian then move these over to Alaska 

• And the space won’t book. 

• "We're sorry, we aren't able to confirm space on these partner flights. Please try again and choose different flights, dates or cities." 

• Nothing can be done phone reps know about this issue. 

• True Phantom space–not bookable with Alaska.  

• Ended up using AA miles for the booking. 

• Lack of empathy by Alaska reps over it, but probably for the best for me because I don’t know about the flight itself. 

• I should have known it was too good to be true–I got excited over the idea I could use my Alaska wallet finally. 

29:26  AA still Awful – check cancelled reservations closely

• I’ve had miles invested into bookings and needed them back to be able to book the above flights with AA miles

• So I canceled 4 tickets. And AA refunded automatically–3 of these tickets. 

• No idea. Other than AA loves stealing miles. 

• Watch closely. Activity shows the miles were refunded for only 3–so it was easy to audit but still an annoyance. 

• AA twitter to the rescue.

Quick Pivot: Shuffling Deckchairs. 

• Needed 320k AA, and only really had about 250k I could cancel (an LAX-LHR ‘investment booking’)

• Cancelled a Sunday outbound LAX-LIH booked with AA miles (I Needed these miles to make the Italy return booking). 

• Found a Not great option flying out Friday night on Hawaiian in First for 40k Alaska. 

• Got me most of the way there, but still split the PNR (twitter) and paid for 1 ticket from another AA account. 

• Still holding a Southwest flight that I hope they schedule change (LGB). 

• Ideal flight is Saturday, but these are pricey. 

• Lots of movement to make these two trips happen. 

32:42 [Another] Resy Platinum 15x Attempt

• Applied around 70 days after prior Resy Platinum approval

• Canceled Schwab card (that I previously took a retention offer on, but didn’t meet the spend requirement for)

• New account rep put it right through with low friction

• Result?

36:29 Hilton Free Night Certificate Extension (Yearly it seems) 

• This was expiring March 6. 

• I chatted asking to book with it on March 3, for a March 28 check in

• Was told a 14 day extension was the best they could do.  So I need to wait to use the certificate and chat again to get the date pushed out. 

• Why do I bother?

NLL Business Gold for P2 (we got frustrated and skipped this)

• Strange one here…

• App went pending

• A few days later they said they made a decision

• Can’t check result because online checker doesn’t work for those who have applied for a lot of cards

• Can’t think of reason for denial. We’ll see what the letter says. Guessing high risk/fraud?

41:42 Let’s Play: “Name That Terrible Place!”

43:50 Lot’s of cigarette butts, urine and dog poop on sidewalks: 

Food was mediocre and very expensive. We tried many recommendations at various price points, including non touristy places recommended here. We have good food in America with very high standards, and I think a lot of the restaurants in ________ are overrated and overpriced. We've traveled extensively in Europe and thought the quality of food in Italy crushes that of ______.

Shocked at how many people smoke and vape, saw many waiters smoke, flick the butt in the street and walk away.

Pretty dirty overall, but not terrible. Lots of cigarette butts, urine and dog poop on sidewalks

46:04 “The Bad Side of Nature”

Today I have experienced one of my worst days on this island. I went on one of the many walking trails on the island. This is usually a great moment for all the nature lovers with beautiful views and challenging trails. But not this time... besides all the trash you can see on the photos I took all the way. What is suppose too be a remote natural beach. Was more like a natural disaster zone with garbage left behind by people that, by the way, were more like savages. So be careful, the locals in the most remote parts of the island are mostly poorly educated and rude. I was hit several times with a football ball, and not even a small child escaped from the violence , when she was violently stroke in the head by the ball.

48:50 Brain Parasites, Rattlesnakes and More:

In London, the worst that can happen while you’re out walking around is maybe stepping in a puddle or getting happy slapped. Here, I have to worry about drive-bys and forest fires and mountain lions and rattlesnakes and brain-eating parasites and home invasions and TSUNAMIS! Why did someone think it would be a good idea to build a city here?

What a Dump, homelessness, rubbish and graffiti everywhere. _______ is a place I will gladly not go to again Hawaii was 100 times better.

53:33 “What is the absolute worst place you have visited?”

_____. Oppressive heat, pollution, traffic. It smelled so bad and it was so hot/humid I threw up when I got back to my hotel room after taking the scariest _____ ride from a driver who was clearly hammered and actively drinking and then tried to scam us.

56:47 Worst Tourist Attractions:

https://stasher.com/blog/stasher-reveals-the-worlds-best-worst-tourist-attractions

Ripley’s Locations:

Hard Rock Locations: