A great hotel stay starts with the basics: darkness, silence, a comfortable bed, strong shower, real cleanliness, reliable Wi-Fi, enough outlets, workspace, coffee, water, and housekeeping that respects Do Not Disturb and late checkout. Too many hotels chase design and “vibe” while still failing the things guests actually need.
Flight attendants at Delta regional Endeavor Air get three days of paid funeral leave, while pilots get five. The difference is not about who grieves more — it reflects risk, bargaining power, and the way union contracts divide total compensation across pay, per diems, leave, and benefits.
Airlines are fighting state sick leave laws that apply to flight crews, arguing they can disrupt staffing, delay flights, and interfere with federally regulated airline service. A Michigan case is moving forward, courts are split around the country, and the fight over whether states can layer labor rules onto airline contracts may eventually land at the Supreme Court.
Chase has brought back a 100,000-point bonus on the Ink Business Preferred, giving small-business owners and those of you with a side hustle one of the strongest bank card offers available right now. The card’s $95 annual fee is low for a bonus this large, and the points can be transferred to valuable airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, United, Air France KLM, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines.
Hyatt’s new promotion offers 2,000 bonus points for every two nights, from July 1 through September 7, with registration required by September 1. Award stays count, but there’s an annoying catch: earning only starts with your second stay, and the whole thing is capped at 8,000 bonus points.
Airfares are up 27% year-over-year even as jet fuel prices are falling, and airline CEOs say they want to keep fares high. But prices do not move directly with fuel: airlines cut capacity when fuel rises, and fares fall only after schedules are rebuilt — usually with a lag of several months.
Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines have launched their antitrust-immunized joint venture with shared fares between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. The partnership is more than a route deal: the two carriers used to be one airline, serving two places that briefly were one country, before splitting into very different national strategies.
Bilt Rewards has added Preferred Hotels & Resorts’ I Prefer program as a 1:2 transfer partner, matching Capital One, Citi, and Alaska Atmos Summit cardholders. It is a useful new option for independent hotels, but at this ratio the value is situational — unless Bilt adds a Rent Day transfer bonus, when it could become much more compelling.
Your bare legs are pressed against an airplane seat that probably wasn’t deeply cleaned before you boarded. Cabins run cold, lavatories are gross, emergency slides are brutal on bare skin, and long pants put one more layer between you and everything the last passengers left behind.
American Airlines and Delta are being sued for landing at Havana Airport because the airport was private property seized by Castro after the Cuban revolution. The original owner’s son says U.S. airlines are trafficking in confiscated property under Helms-Burton — even though their Cuba flights were authorized by the U.S. government.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
