Southwest’s Companion Pass is still the best domestic perk: your companion flies for just taxes (from $5.60 each way), even on award tickets, as long as there’s an open seat. Last week my family used two passes on one trip. And right now you can get Companion Pass through Feb. 2027 via a credit card initial bonus.
American Airlines just announced plans for a new 12,000+ square foot Admirals Club at Austin-Bergstrom, and it’s not just bigger — it will be the carrier’s first lounge with an outdoor terrace. The club will sit on the west side of the terminal, right where American’s gates are concentrated, and the airline says it will offer elevated design, full kitchen facilities, and views of downtown Austin and the airfield.
American’s Heathrow catering meltdown forced the airline into bare-minimum meals flown in from the U.S., but the pendulum may be swinging back fast in premium cabins. DO & CO is stepping in on London routes—an upgrade that could leave American’s long-haul meal service meaningfully better than what passengers were getting before the blowup.
Thrifty Traveler says it’s raising prices on March 14, but anyone who subscribes before then locks in the current annual rate for life as long as the membership stays active. If you’ve ever wanted a steady stream of premium-cabin award alerts and mistake-fare texts without monitoring deals all day, this is where the economics shift.
United didn’t just cut MileagePlus flight earnings by as much as 40% for customers without a co-branded credit card — it’s now spending ad dollars to underline the message that cardholders matter more. The new ad makes the “no card, fewer miles” reality explicit, even though a huge share of United’s most valuable customers can’t or won’t get a Chase-issued card.
American Airlines has extended its Middle East suspensions again, pushing Philadelphia–Doha out to May 7 and delaying New York JFK–Tel Aviv until April 23, as Iran’s attacks keep much of the region’s airspace largely unusable.
United spent the Biden years leaning hard into the corporate-left script — pronouns, DEI signaling, and even vaccine mandates — and now Scott Kirby is adopting the Trump-era posture with public defenses of tariffs and other priorities that track the new power center. The pivot is so obvious that the MAGA right is calling him a hypocrite, and the receipts they are circulating say more about modern corporate governance than about any one airline CEO.
Grand Hyatt DFW rooms have a small screen on the door that shows the hallway through a camera, replacing the old-school peephole. It’s a genuinely better setup—wider view, easier for guests who can’t lean into a peephole, and it eliminates peephole “reversing”—but it’s also why most hotels skip it: batteries, upkeep, and one more piece of hardware that can fail.
The United Business Card’s best offer is back: 100,000 bonus miles plus 2,000 PQP after $5,000 in purchases in the first three months. With a $150 annual fee but a $125 United travel credit, two United Club passes, and additional PQP earning on spend,. The headline bonus and the ongoing perks both pencil out.
Internal APFA meeting notes say the number of American flight attendants who couldn’t get hotel rooms during January’s Storm Fern “far exceeded” the 200 reported in a prior disruption, after the airline’s hotel-booking and crew-recovery processes failed. Instead of demanding make-goods, the minutes describe management as frustrated and “unable to help,” even as crews were left stranded in airports.
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 »
