I just wrapped up a great four country trip earlier today, where I visited Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Kuwait. The trip was incredible — especially Bhutan — and I was happy to try some new airline products. I’m hopping around North America for the next couple of weeks, so am looking forward to being on a consistent schedule for a while, and hopefully catching up on sleep. I’m undecided as of now about what my next longhaul adventure will be, but I’m sure I’ll decide soon.

On the miles & points front this has been a fairly slow week. We saw some good airfare and also a few promotions, but nothing terribly exciting. More than that we’ve seen some minor updates, like Etihad changing where they’re operating the A380 to, Marriott and United introducing reciprocal benefits for invitation only elite members, etc.

With that out of the way, here’s a recap of this week on the blog:

Featured Stories

Is There No Limit To How Expensive Basic Economy Fares Get?

American, Delta, and United all sell basic economy fares. Delta pioneered this concept back in 2012, and in the past couple of months American and United have started selling these fares as well.

The restrictions associated with these fares vary by airline. They all don’t let you select seats and upgrade on these fares, while American and United don’t even let you bring on carry-on bags when purchasing these fares.

Impressions Of Dhaka, Bangladesh

We’re slowly headed back to the U.S. from our incredible trip to Bhutan, and on the way back planned a one night stopover in Dhaka, Bangladesh. That was my first time visiting Bangladesh, and I wasn’t sure what to expect.

A (non-Bangladeshi) friend recently told me that Bangladesh is his favorite country in the world. Not the city of Dhaka as such, but the countryside.

Meanwhile I’ve had others tell me that Dhaka is a horrible place. So I was curious to find out for myself. We were only there for a day, so we arranged for a five hour city tour. That doesn’t make me an expert on the place, but that won’t stop me from sharing my first impressions.

What did I make of Dhaka?

Register To Earn 5x Points At Grocery Stores And Drugstores

The Chase Freedom is one of my favorite no annual fee credit cards, as it offers 5x points in rotating quarterly categories, for up to $1,500 of spend per quarter. Most people use this as a cashback card, meaning the 5x points really translates into 5% cashback in these categories.

The best part is that in conjunction with cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card or Ink Business Preferred℠ Credit Card, points earned on this card can be converted into “premium” Ultimate Rewards points, and be transferred to the Ultimate Rewards airline and hotel partners. Since I value one Ultimate Rewards point at significantly more than one cent, that’s my preferred use of those points.