Delta is now selling upgrades for as little as $19—less than a checked bag fee—which tells you exactly why elite “upgrade” status feels increasingly pointless. Also in today’s roundup: United first class drama, planes that look like they aren’t being cleaned, a ceiling collapse at an Embassy Suites, tipping fatigue, and American’s free Wi-Fi rollout.
A Delta Sky Club worker at LAX is seeking class action status in a lawsuit claiming employees should be paid for time spent waiting in TSA screening before they can reach their workplace. But TSA screening is controlled by the government, not Delta (or Compass) so even California law makes treating federally-mandated security as paid work time likely.
On a five-hour flight with no real meal service, one family came prepared—bringing bread, deli meat, cheese, greens, and condiments and turning multiple tray tables into a midair sandwich assembly line. It’s hard not to admire the planning (and the effort to avoid soggy premade sandwiches), though it raises obvious questions about tray-table hygiene, TSA rules for sauces, and the mess an inflight deli can leave behind.
Andrew Tate tried to flex about skipping a private jet before boarding Delta “first class” en route to Emirates—and then posted a rant acting shocked by what he got. The irony is the point: his brand is competence and winning, but he’s melting down over a basic travel decision that any frequent flyer would understand, turning a status signal into a public self-own.
More than a third of U.S. departing flights were already canceled today, with Washington and New York airports effectively wiped out and Philadelphia near total shutdown. It’s not a record—pandemic-era schedule cuts were even worse—but the airline-by-airline data shows how quickly cancellations are cascading, and Monday’s schedule is already starting to unravel too.
One of the quiet tells of “real” first class used to be simple: the crew would offer to hang up your jacket. Now, even when there’s closet space, it can mean flagging someone down, waiting, and hoping they remember to bring it back before you deplane. A United flyer is complaining about exactly this, while my own experience is that Delta still gets it right more often than most—especially compared to the increasingly transactional service culture at U.S. airlines.
Bilt Palladium is almost live, and the value is easier to understand once you strip away the noise: it can function as a 3x+ catch-all card with unusually strong transfer partners. With the welcome bonus, Bilt Cash redemptions that boost earning, and the potential to stack a big transfer bonus, the first-year math can reach roughly 400,000 points.
A passenger’s duffel eventually made it to baggage claim in Pittsburgh—but not before the carousel delivered its contents first, one sock and one pair of underwear at a time. The timing was so perfectly awful it looked intentional, though the most likely explanation is a bag that popped open somewhere in the baggage system or after a TSA inspection.
An influencer says Spirit and Delta can boot you with no refund for crop tops and flip-flops. The contracts don’t ban specific outfits—they use vague terms like “barefoot” and “inadequately clothed,” giving staff wide discretion on who flies.
Delta just sold a first-class seat for $37—which tells you everything about how little “upgrades” are worth when the airline can monetize the cabin instead. Also in today’s roundup: basic-economy behavior at its finest, a rare case where a hotel service charge actually pays out to staff, an “infinite money glitch” casino-chip joke, an ICE protest tactic targeting rental cars, and more American Airlines nonsense.
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 »
