mpantone

StrangeDays said:

wizard69 said:

Soli said:

sirlance99 said:

hmlongco said:

sirlance99 said:

Standard isn’t always best when many cards have better rewards than 2%. Also, my standard purchases are extremely low compared to other categories. There’s practically nowhere that I purchase things that I can’t get at least 3% back and up to 5% on most things. 

Depends on how one defines "best", doesn't it? The Amazon Prime Store Card, for example, gives you 5% back... with a 28.24% annual APR.

Apple committed to a low (albeit unspecified) APR, with no fees, no late charges, and no penalties. Not to mention the not-so-minor fact that you get your rewards back daily as Apple Cash. Not at the end of the month, not when you redeem them. Daily.

Then there's the secure unique randomized card number per transaction. No number or signature to steal on the physical card. No tracking of purchases. No sales of transaction data.

I don't know about you, but there's a ton of value in privacy and security.

Fees and APRs don’t matter if you pay your balance in full. 

You realize that being able to pay off your cards every month isn’t the norm, right?

If you think the “norm” is being stupid then we have a problem.  By the way I learned this the hardway and have drastically changed my use of a credit card.    At this point I try to keep all card purchases beyond an emergency  at a level easily payable every month.   The average person can literally save themselves hundreds of dollars a year by doing so.  

Frankly it wouldnt hurt for our educational system teach students why being conservative in your use of money is so important.  

Whether you believe it's stupid or not is completely irrelevant. Most people cannot pay off their cc every single month, and use it to get by when they need to. It's not even a matter of intelligence, I assure you.

Consumer card debt is much lower outside the USA. Think about that.

melgross said:

My question involves that card itself. Apple said that it was for when in an establishment that didn’t (yet) accept Apple Pay. But, with nothing on the card other than the chip, we’re (see, I already committed to getting this) going to have a problem for all of those places that are tardy enough to have not yet gotten chip readers. And despite the deadline having passed last year, I think, I still encounter places, mostly small, that can’t use a chip card.

well, still carrying other cards would be wise for a time.

The deadline was not a hard one for deploying chip-based terminals. It was a transfer of liability. Before the deadline, any fraudulent activity was the responsibility of the credit card issuer. After the deadline, the liability transfered to the merchant.

Thus, a merchant can continue using swipe terminals, but with the liability of higher risk of fraud. Note that the transfer of liability dates were different between regular retail POS systems and gas station pump POS terminals.

Mike Wuerthele said:

ElCapitan said:

Tim does not in any way represent the legacy of Apple. Him taking that name is an insult to everyone who carried Apple. 

Given that Jobs hand-selected the guy, this seems false at its face.

Also "everyone who carried Apple." Who is inside that classification?

Jobs did hand select Tim Cook way back in 1998 when Apple's situation was not pretty. Tim wasn't some toiler, his first position was SVP of Worldwide Operations and he got Apple out of the manufacturing business and tidied up the supply chain mess.

Over the years, Steve increased Tim's responsibilities and power. When Jobs look a medical leave of absence in 2007, Cook was his hand-chosen successor to become Chief Executive; for sure Jobs could have offered the position to someone else or ask the board to find a temporary CEO.

Tim was offered the same CEO position four years later when Jobs took another medical leave of absence. Again, Jobs could have offered it to someone else.

Finally, when Jobs knew he was terminally ill and stepped down as Chairman of the Board, he asked the Board to have Tim take over for good. Again, Jobs could have requested the board to find someone else (either internally or externally).

I'd say that Tim Cook is as worthy as anyone else to represent the legacy of Apple based on Steve's repeated votes of confidence.

This is why I have been using ad blockers for 15-20 years. Web browsers are one of the most vulnerable applications on any connected device.

Even major websites with purportedly "good" security teams have unwittingly served up malware. Even if you "like" a particular website, you cannot trust the operator to guarantee safe usage.

Using ad blockers for security reasons is unassailable.

It's pretty clear which AppleInsider commenters in this thread have flown on international business class overseas flights and who has not.

First of all, let's break down the revenue/flight numbers.

UAL says Apple's SFO-PVG route revenue generates about $35 million a year, that's about $95K per day. UAL also claims 50 business class passengers a day (average). That works out to about $1900 per one-way flight.

That's not really out of hand. Apple employees are probably flying refundable fares so they can change their schedules if necessary. Remember, these employees aren't paying out of pocket, the company reimburses them per the company's travel policy.

Apple has enough dough where they don't bother enforcing a $20 per diem.

When you fly from the US West Coast to eastern Asia non-stop, it is always a 10+ hour flight so the lay-flat seats in United Polaris class are worth it. Sure, Apple could make employees fly coach, but then they'd probably wreck the person for at least a day. Is it worth losing one day's work of a sharper, more productive employee by saving a few hundred bucks on airfare and letting them fester in cattle class? Not if the person flying has an annual salary of $100K+.

Next, let's address the seat number thing. 50 business class seats per day (average) might be 25 seats to and 25 return. Or more likely, there are probably days when Apple employees are few, but other days where Apple employees are heavy. For sure, every time Tim Cook steps on the private jet to fly to Shanghai, there are a bunch of Apple personnel who are flying commercial, some perhaps several days in advance or afterwards.

As for other airlines, well, airlines these days tend to work out of regional hubs and territories. SFO is a major United hub and anyone driving on US-101 by SFO over the past thirty years would know that because the United Airlines operations hangar is visible from the freeway. Yes, yes, Delta, American, etc. all have flights out of SFO, but they don't own SFO like UAL.

At least on international overseas business class flights on USA flag carriers, United is pretty much the same with other USA flag carriers (Delta, American, etc.) in terms of quality. Meaning, they are all *GARBAGE* compared to top tied international carriers.

The best international carriers are mostly the same as from 30-40 years ago: Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airlines, etc. The best newcomer is Emirates. Virgin Atlantic isn't too bad if you are flying business class (formerly the cheekily named "Upper Class" when it was on the upper deck of the Boeing 747). Famous European flag carriers such as British Airways, Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, etc. are only marginally better than the USA flag carriers on international business class overseas flights.

The modern lay-flat seat is the best thing about business class overseas air travel. There are some people who think that the food in business class is "special" or "good". It's not. It's a glorified TV dinner.

Apart from the lay-flat seats, the best thing about the international business class cabin is the overhead luggage storage capacity. A lot of business class travelers don't try to haul everything aboard so about half of the overhead luggage storage is empty. With the spacious seating arrangement, there are fewer passengers per overhead luggage compartment so there's no mad dash to cram as much stuff in them nor is there any gate checking.

Anyhow, this has been an amusing thread to read.