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.
Frontier passengers were told to leave their bags behind during an emergency evacuation — exactly what safety rules require. One mother traveling with a baby says she did just that, then spent hours without diapers, formula, ID, keys, medication, or a car seat while Frontier scolded them for not taking their bags off the slide.
Tesla Sentry Mode caught a Hilton guest throwing something onto another guest’s car in the hotel parking lot. The hotel’s response, according to the Tesla owner, was to shrug it off as “half & half creamer” — which rather misses the point.
Miles are usually about getting more value for yourself. But United miles can also do something far more urgent: help someone get on a plane in time to say goodbye to a dying loved one.
American Airlines can spend money on seats, lounges, food, and drinks, but it cannot buy a premium experience if the people delivering it do not act like hospitality matters. The failure to consistently greet passengers is small — until you understand what it says about culture, incentives, and management.
Cabin video from the Frontier evacuation shows flight attendants pleading, “Leave the bags!” as passengers took carry-ons anyway. The exchange captures why emergency evacuations rarely work the way safety briefings imagine: people panic, protect their belongings, film, and make split-second choices that can slow everyone down.
oreign airlines often make passengers weigh carry-on bags at the gate, sometimes limiting them to just 15.4 pounds including the bag itself. They call it safety, bin space, or boarding efficiency, but the U.S. proves planes can operate safely without this theater — the real explanation is regulation, not some crisis caused by your backpack.
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.
An American Airlines passenger tied a sweatshirt to the seatback and turned it into a no-cost privacy hood, sleep mask, and head stabilizer. It is clever enough that travelers are rethinking their long-flight setup — and weird enough to raise the obvious question of whether your comfort hack should be hanging off someone else’s seat.
Airline and hotel dining programs look like separate loyalty products, but most of them are really just different labels on the same underlying business. For decades, one company lineage — from Transmedia to iDine to Rewards Network — has powered nearly all of them, using the same basic model to bring in diners, buy points from loyalty programs, and delier guests to restaurants through rebates.
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 »
