Readers are reporting surprisingly generous approvals for Citi new premium credit card. The Strata Elite currently offers an initial bonus and credits I value at $2,300 total in the first cardmember year, making it one of the most lucrative new card launches in years.
European low cost airline Volotea has crossed a line I’ve never seen from a commercial carrier before. They’re trying to charge customers extra for fuel that already bought their tickets. They say they’ll deny boarding to anyone that doesn’t pay an extra €7 to fly because the cost of jet fuel has gone up so much.
A dashcam video is making a United Airlines arrival into Newark look almost unreal, with a Boeing 777 dropping low over a highway on short final to Runway 29. It is an eye-popping approach that resembles Sint Maarten to people seeing it for the first time, but the landing appears to have been a legitimate and unusual Newark procedure during a period of runway disruption.
A woman dressed in heavy jewelry and jeweled hair joked that she was TSA’s worst nightmare, then found out what that actually looks like: three scans, a pat down, and extra scrutiny at the checkpoint.
An American Airlines flight to Miami turned chaotic just before landing when a fight over armrest space escalated into a shouting match and physical confrontation while crew begged everyone to sit down.
Beware a taxi-app scam where the Curb payment supposedly “fails,” only for the rider to get charged twice. Also American’s beef wellington gets a rave review, Amex loses Lufthansa lounge access, Air Canada opens new Cafés, and JetBlue starts adding surcharges to United Airlines international redemptions.
Southwest is reportedly studying a new restriction that would ban passengers on its cheapest tickets from bringing standard carry-on bags into the cabin, forcing them to check those bags instead. That would not just make Southwest basic economy more punitive than American or Delta, it would push the airline even further away from its old ‘transfarency’ promise that the fare you paid was the fare you traveled on.
Premium cards have turned into coupon books, and the fatigue is real—especially when you’re doing math and chasing tiny monthly credits to justify a huge annual fee. The trick is to treat Amex Platinum and Sapphire Reserve differently: cover the fee with credits you’d use anyway, value the lounge network you’ll actually visit, and put spend where the earn rates make sense so the “extras” feel like upside instead of homework.
Thomspon San Antonio Riverwalk is staging bathroom soap and lotion where guests expect complimentary amenities, even though using them can trigger extra charges. That’s a textbook hotel dark pattern: make something look free, hide the price list, and count on guests not noticing until it’s too late and they’re stuck.
The Westin Detroit Airport appears to have removed complimentary bottled water from guest rooms and replaced it with an empty glass carafe and a sign urging guests to refill it at hallway water stations. It’s the chef’s kiss on the hotel trend of taking away something cheap, making the guest do more work, and dressing the downgrade up as environmental virtue.
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 »
