Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some of the posts we found interesting this week: Add your Passport to your Apple Wallet, a possible solution for Chase point transfer issues, see some ideas for the quiet side of India, and hear a little more from those stranded by Sonder and Marriott’s split.
Apple Adds Digital ID For Passports, Use For TSA Checkpoint Verification
If you’re an iPhone user, you may already know that you can create some Digital IDs in your Apple Wallet. (For example, driver’s licenses from certain states can be used to create Digital IDs). Assuming you have an iPhone 11 or later with iOS 26.1 or later, it’s now possible for you to load your US Passport as a Digital ID, and present this to TSA as your form of ID for domestic travel at more than 250 airports in the US. (This will also work with an Apple Watch Series 6 or later with watchOS 26.1 or later.)
Trouble Transferring Your Chase Points? Try This
Dave Grossman of Miles Talk has been encountering an issue transferring Chase points, and he’s not the only one. Essentially, he encounters an identity confirmation action that seems impossible to actually get through. Luckily, he spoke with his contacts at Chase and got to the bottom of what was going on and what you can do if this has been happening to you. The short explanation is that you have to ensure you have a mobile number listed in your account, which is actually assigned with the label “Mobile” (as opposed to “Home”, for example). (He says to mark this phone number as the primary phone number, though it’s unclear if that part is mandatory or not.) That may sound easy enough, but there are two bummers about this. One, some people may have to call to achieve this phone update, and two, it can apparently take up to 2 weeks for this to get updated and fix the issue. Dave intends to keep the post linked here updated as to whether or not the fix actually works for him, so keep an eye on it if you’ve been in the same boat.
6 Hidden Corners of India That Redefine What ‘Offbeat’ Really Means
India can be overwhelming to Westerners for a lot of reasons, and often brings to mind crowds, commotion, and chaos. Just today, for example, I shared a rickshaw with literally 12 other adults and 5 children – 16 people inside and 2 hanging off the back. But India also has an incredible diversity of landscape, not unlike America’s… and there actually are remote pockets far off the beaten path with cowbells and goat herds instead of car horns and rickshaws. It wasn’t until my third time in India, visiting the small village of Raithal in the Himalayan region, that I saw this other side of India, and I’ve since realized just how many places like this there are. It’s mind-boggling, and as someone whose travel is largely motivated by adventure and nature, it feels like a new frontier (an ironic way to describe a place so ancient). This funny little web article gives a good sneak peek at some of these epically beautiful regions (as does this one about hidden caves in India). Ladakh has been on my list for a while, but the Dzukou Valley in Nagaland was a new one from this list that piqued my interest, nestled in that section of India between Bangladesh and Myanmar. It’s known for green mountainsides covered in wildflowers in certain parts of the year. If any part of your traveler’s spirit is motivated by adventure, consider visiting any of these places instead of the Taj Mahal. And of course, this short little slideshow just scratches the surface. Maybe someday I’ll put together my own wish list of off-the-beaten-path destinations in India, and in the meantime, comment below with any suggestions of your own!
Marriott and Sonder make an absolute mess, with guests forced out and reservations cancelled
Earlier in the week, Nick wrote about the absolute dumpster fire created by Sonder’s financial collapse and sudden liquidation, which caused Marriott to call off their partnership immediately, just one year into the intended 20-year partnership. The video linked here shows a little more of what that actually looked like for guests and employees, both blindsided.
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I can only do chase point transfers on a PC, with identity verification on app. Any attempt to do a point transfer on mobile goes to the 7th circle of reoeated identity verification hell.
I tried adding my passport to my brand new iPhone 17, but it didn’t work. I’ve already spent time with Apple support and they’re scratching their heads as well. It appears to be something on the government side, but the error message just tells me to contact Apple Support. It feels like this is a feature that you might want to skip for a few months until they have the bugs worked out. Although it only takes a few minutes to try, so you could give it a shot and see what happens.
Hey Carrie! Happy to share that I posted a follow up this week and the Chase transfers did start working for me after doing what I outlined :).
https://milestalk.com/it-worked-i-can-transfer-chase-points-without-calling-again/
Digital IDs like driver’s licences can also be stored in Android, though not yet available for passports
Can be, but why, what’s the point?
If it is in Apple or Google wallet, your digital passport and your digital driver’s license is supposed to be accepted as an official government ID. So, if you forget or lose your wallet, or you just don’t want to carry it with you somewhere, as long as you have your phone, you will have those official documents with you.
Acceptance will be an issue initially I am sure, but the more people start to use digital ID over time, the more it will be accepted, at least here in the US.
“Acceptance will be an issue initially” – understatement of the year.
Currently they are accepted *nowhere* but at TSA checkpoints. Not accepted by any state or local police, no border checkpoint, or literally anywere as an ID. And the TSA also says to carry the actual ID too as their scanner (not your phone!) might not work, and the agent doesn’t accept the phone ID “offline” as they do with the physical ID.
So I ask again, what’s the freaking point.
Having a backup for TSA isn’t nothing. Well over half the time I need my ID it is for TSA, and TSA is the one situation where a missing ID could be very disruptive. I would always rather have a backup than no backup.
Actually, you can do passports as well. I’ve added mines a while back.
I would love to see Carrie’s list of off-the-beaten path destinations in India or anywhere else!
Dave from Miles Talk has a new post saying that explicitly specifying “mobile” for his phone did work for fixing the Chase transfer issue!
https://milestalk.com/it-worked-i-can-transfer-chase-points-without-calling-again/
Uhm, I think Google Wallet has the passport ID feature as well.
https://support.google.com/wallet/answer/15284332?hl=en
The India links are great! We almost always avoid cities in our travels because we find that you get so much more the feel of a place from the rural areas and small towns. It is always great to have more suggestions of out-of-the-way places to put on our wish list.
Any idea how the passport thing works with kids who don’t have phones yet?