This fall’s trip to Europe has me thinking about Chip & PIN credit cards. I may never forget running up and down the platform at the train station in Rome very late one evening trying to buy a ticket from Roma Termini to FCO with no luck because I did not have a credit card with a stupid chip in it. As it turns out, I need not have run so much because they took cash on the train, thankfully. Suffice it to say I got my exercise that night. While it turned out ok in the end, I haven’t stopped asking every credit card company I’ve done business with when they would be issuing Chip & PIN cards.

Each of my emails has been met with a response that merchants are required to accept the card I have. That might be true, but try telling that to the ticket machines on the platform at Roma Termini. So here’s the discussion point….. I’ve got a trip to Europe coming up, and I’ve been thinking about pocketing the Chase BA Visa just because of the chip. But that card like most US issued Chip cards at this point is “Chip & Signature.” Would I be able to buy petrol at an automated station in Tuscany with one of those? I’m not so sure. Will one of the US issued Chip & Signature cards be good enough? I’d love to hear about your experiences on this.

MrsMJonTravel and I spent Sunday morning on the US State Department’s website filling out our passport renewal forms. Mine expires in August while her’s was good for another year, but we elected to bite the bullet together and get on the same passport schedule. We actually started this process a couple of weeks ago with a visit to our local CVS for new photos. Gosh I’ve gotten older and balder since my last picture! We picked CVS because it was close, and they have a handy coupon available online for $2 dollars off your photo.

This morning we surfed over to the State Department’s website for passport issues and started the paperwork, filled out our forms online, and within just a few minutes had our renewal applications printed and ready to go. We went with standard passports, no passport cards, and no expedite since the next time we will need the passports at best is August. The fee is $110 dollars per passport for renewal. We’ll dispatch them to the passport renewal center tomorrow via certified mail. After debating whether we could put both applications in the same envelope, we decided that would be just the kind of thing that some clerk would find fault in, so we’re even sending them in separate envelopes.

There are some great memories packed in the pages of our expiring passports. Iceland to Italy, Greece and Turkey, the U.K….and a whole host of Caribbean islands in between. We can’t wait to fill the pages of our new passports. Maybe we should expedite them….I just love having my passport in hand, ready to take on the world!

I’m a little behind on emails this week, so my apologies if this has been blogged about by others. But anytime I see words like win 100,000 miles, I feel like it’s worth mentioning here just in case I’m not the only one that missed the email. US Airways has launched a gift registry, and to celebrate they are running a contest. Enter the US Airways Miles Gift Registry Sweepstakes and you could win 100,000 Dividend Miles and $2,000 dollars cash. Enter between now and June 30, 2012.

Contest Registration Link.

Contest Rules.

Yes, I’m an airplane nerd from way back. Love this video of a 787 visiting DCA this week.

Nothing against Hyatt at all, but I am the last blogger on earth to mention this. Hyatt and Visa have teamed up to offer a free status match to Hyatt Platinum for 90 days if you hold a Visa Signature card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred and others. Platinum status includes free internet, 2pm late checkout, and a 15 percent bonus on points earned for Hyatt stays. Stay 8 eligible nights at any Hyatt hotel within 90 days of enrollment to maintain Platinum status through February 2013. Register here.

As NoobTraveler points out, you will receive 2 free suite upgrades if you apply for the Hyatt Visa while holding Platinum status.

Disclosure: If you apply for and receive credit cards through the links provided in the post, I will receive a referral bonus. I appreciate all my readers, whether you use my links or not.

Note: Reader Steve commented with this link for a better Hyatt offer.

Gary has a fascinating post on today’s American Airlines media event announcing its forthcoming enhancements to their business class seats in the 777-200 and 767-300 fleets. As has been suspected in some circles, American will be eliminating the First Class cabin from the 777-200 fleet and installing full flat business seats. These are very nice seats, all of which will offer direct access to the aisle as opposed to American’s current configuration, which even features a center seat in Business Class on the 777 and being trapped on the window in the 767. In short, a guarantee that if you are in one of the window seats or the dreaded center seat on the 777, you will need a jar of vaseline and a parachute to have any hope of successfully extracting yourself from your seat for a trip to the restroom or to simply stretch your legs. Here’s a shot of the proposed new business seats courtesy of AA.com:

Pretty snazzy looking, especially compared to what they have now. While American is eliminating the First Class cabin from its 777-200s, the new 777-300s that begin arriving later this year will feature First Class cabins and updated seats like those depicted here, again courtesy of AA.com.

In other news, AA will complete the installation of wi-fi for its domestic narrowbody fleet by next summer. That’s longer than I would have hoped for, but it is nice to know that a firm date is in mind. As I’m sure you know, I have a bit of a soft spot in my heart for American. It is good to see the airline making long overdue investments in its product. You can read American’s press information on the topic of its fleet enhancements here.

Not to be outdone by every blogger on earth, I thought I’d mention that the Delta – SunTrust Checking/Debit Card deal is back. This time, you can earn up to 55,000 SkyMiles if you open both a personal and business checking account. Since I’m so late to the party with mentioning this, I’ll just refer you to Delta Points who does a good job of summarizing the particulars.

I don’t typically comment on airline business decisions, and I’m not really making an exception for this. It’s just that I’ve read some interesting thoughts on Delta’s decision to purchase an oil refinery, so interesting that the totality of all the other musings about it have led me to want to say something….anything. Maybe I’m reading too critically, but the tone of most of the postings I’ve read strikes me as overwhelmingly negative and critical. Don’t misunderstand, there are about 10 zillion things that could go wrong with this.

On the other hand, I think Delta deserves some applause for having the cajones to try something different and a little outside the box. On the surface at least, it sounds like it might work. I’m not smart enough to know, but I’ll admit that where others won’t. I will make one prediction, this will either turn out to be the best airline idea in history or a bad idea (but not the worst in history ). Only time will tell. In the meantime, I’m willing to give Delta the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Now about that Delta.com award booking engine……

I’m very sorry for my irregular posting this week. It’s not like nothing is going on in travel, but I have been very busy with my day job, some maintenance work on MJ on Travel world HQ, and all the stuff that comes along with that. After a visit to the gym this morning, some more tinkering with world HQ, and plenty of coffee, I decided it was time for an Aprihop at my local hangout and a little blogging. I thought some quick hits from other blogs might be in order while I get myself together after this week.

USAToday has discovered what I blogged about days ago. US Airways is offering Preferred Access for a fee.

Gary Leff offers excellent commentary on why the very different SPG and Marriott Rewards programs both scored well at The Freddies. For what it’s worth, I like both programs and stay at both hotels, but SPG will always be my favorite.

MommyPoints offers some scoop on earning even more Ultimate Rewards points. And by the way, Ultimate Rewards is evolving into my near favorite points currency.

And my buddy Rene over at DeltaPoints blogs about the test run of the new international terminal in Atlanta.

There are just a few of my favorite posts around the blogs this week. Theoretically, I should be back on a regular blogging schedule after this week! And oh yeah, I’m booking another cruise.

You have until May 18th to take advantage of some new booking specials for Celebrity Captain’s Club members for select 2013/2014 sailings of 6 nights or longer. Book your cruise by May 18th for sailings departing between April 2013 and April 2014, and you may be eligible for up to $600 dollars in onboard credit. Specifics of the available onboard credit listed below:

You can check out the available sailings here. Terms and conditions per the email I received are as follows.

“Onboard Credit Offer available to Captain’s Club members for bookings made March 14 – May 18, 2012. Valid membership number must be provided at time of booking; new members may book onboard without a membership number but must provide the membership number by June 10, 2012. Offer applies to Celebrity cruises 6 nights or longer departing April 2013 – April 2014 that are initially offered for booking March 14 – April 30, 2012. Cruise portion of Cruisetours eligible for Offer. Offer excludes Celebrity Xpedition. Onboard credit (“OBC”) in USD, varies by stateroom category and cruise nights. For Offer OBC amounts, see your Travel Agent, call 1-877-202-4344, or click here . OBC will be applied to reservation within 10 days of booking One Offer per stateroom. Offer applies to new individual and group bookings named and deposited during the Offer booking window and is subject to availability. Offer combinable with only one other offer such as future cruise benefits or GRPX rates, which are special group rates. Offer is not combinable with multi-component offers or promotions and is not applicable to certain price programs including interline, employee, travel agent, and seminar at sea rates. Offer is not applicable to contracted and incentive groups or charters. Offer applies to single occupancy bookings. OBC has no cash value, is applicable to cruise only, non-transferable, not redeemable for cash, and will expire if not used by 10:00 PM on the final night of the cruise. Additional terms and conditions apply.”

Most interesting to me is that this offer is combinable with “one other offer” according to the T&C, but is not combinable with multi part offers, which makes me think Amex Cruise Privileges benefits and this offer cannot be combined since Cruise Privileges includes onboard credit, specialty restaurant comps and other goodies. But it may be combinable with the shareholder onboard credit available to Royal Caribbean shareholders. Trying to run that down and will update the post accordingly. Very excited that a November 2013 sailing aboard Celebrity Eclipse that we are considering appears to be eligible.