Hyatt’s CEO says members have reacted positively to the new award chart, which is an interesting way to describe top hotels costing up to 67% more points. Hyatt may still have a fixed chart, but when one night that used to require $45,000 of card spend now takes $75,000, calling that a member-friendly change requires a truly elite-tier ability to suspend disbelief.
Austin airport’s long-planned credit card lounge did not disappear just because Southwest appears to have taken the original West Infill space for its own “Project Oasis” lounge. The airport now says it still plans a bank lounge RFP — and is weighing space in the new Concourse B, the current Concourse A, or possibly both, meaning Austin could end up with two credit card lounges on top of new clubs from Southwest, American, Delta and United.
Spirit Airlines may be gone, but one of its remaining lawsuits just died too. Customers claimed Spirit’s website tracked clicks, keystrokes, searches and browsing behavior through session-replay code, but the court said that without a concrete injury or sensitive personal information disclosed, creepy website tracking alone was not enough to sue.
Years after the “Racist Burger King” passenger made the airplane crown infamous, the crown has returned to a plane with a very different energy. This time, a Black passenger sits calmly in the window seat wearing a similar gold crown — subverting the meme and taking back the symbol.
United Flight 236 was headed from Newark to Spain when passengers were repeatedly ordered to turn off Bluetooth — then the 767 turned back after a teen’s speaker reportedly showed up as “BOMB.” The flight landed back in New Jersey under a security response, passengers were deplaned and re-screened, and everyone eventually reboarded hours later over what may have been the dumbest possible Bluetooth name to use on an airplane.
A 67-year-old man reportedly drove to Detroit Metro Airport saying he was there to meet Tom Cruise and save his dad — then crashed his black Cadillac SUV through the Evans Terminal doors. Police say he appeared disoriented, no weapons were found, and no one was seriously hurt, but this is somehow the second time this year a vehicle has smashed into a Detroit airport terminal.
Spirit Airlines’ final bankruptcy filing makes the blame game look beside the point: in its last full month, the airline lost $327 million and had just $72 million left in unrestricted cash. Even the proposed $500 million taxpayer bailout would not have saved it for long, because Spirit had not found a business model where customers would pay enough to cover its costs.
American Airlines is moving the end-of-flight shutdown earlier, which means laptops away sooner, seats upright sooner, and cabin service ending higher in the descent. The reason is flight attendant turbulence safety — but data suggests the injury risk this targets is extraordinarily rare.
An American Airlines million-miler says he boarded a Phoenix–El Paso flight and found a used condom at his seat — then got a customer service response that read like he had complained about crumbs. Airlines are not just selling transportation from A to B. They are selling basic sanitary transportation.
First class upgrades were once the reason to chase top-tier airline status. But with American selling those seats instead of clearing elites, and Southwest adding extra legroom, lounges, and likely a premium card, my loyalty math from Austin may be changing: mid-tier American status could be enough, while Southwest may become harder to ignore.
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 »
