A Southwest flight attendant is going viral for turning the soda cart into “Dirty Dr Pepper” and “Pink Drink” combos—and then telling passengers on longer flights to “put me to work” and keep her entertained.
Also in today’s roundup: American’s current Summer 2026 A321XLR/787-9 premium route plan, a Sapphire Reserve dining-credit tracker (with gift-card reimbursement datapoints), and a Bilt 2.0 partner-coupon leak.
A United Airlines regional jet departing Houston got an automated collision warning seconds after takeoff when another aircraft on the parallel runway turned the wrong way into its departure path. The crews were still low and close enough that the United flight reported a TCAS resolution advisory, the last line of defense designed to prevent midair collisions.
Your premium rewards cards come with a pile of credits, and as the year ends a lot of them are about to go unused. Here are practical ways readers are cashing out Chase, Amex, and Citi perks right now—even if you have no interest in the merchants the benefits are supposed to steer you toward.
Former President Joe Biden was spotted boarding an American Airlines flight in Miami headed to St. Croix—standing in the same queue as everyone else, with only a low-key law enforcement escort. It is a refreshingly normal post-presidency moment, right down to an on-time operation.
A Breakout clip watched on a single private jet flight in 2013 kicked off a chain reaction—Google snapped up DeepMind, Musk responded by building OpenAI, and the modern AI arms race was born.
American Airlines already cut basic economy mileage earning to zero, and it is a classic penny-wise move with a bigger hidden cost. The airline is giving up the cheapest hook it has to get price-sensitive flyers into AAdvantage and, ultimately, into its credit card funnel—the business that actually drives profits.
Bilt Card 2.0 is finally moving forward, and the most important details are not the new perks — it is the transition rules and deadlines that determine what happens to your account. Here is what current cardholders need to know before January 14 to keep the upgrade seamless, avoid a hard credit pull, and understand what you get if you do nothing.
A Marriott general manager responded to an Ambassador member by sneering, “You are just a number, not royalty,” and the comment is revealing for reasons bigger than one employee’s attitude. Marriott’s only real asset is the Bonvoy loyalty program, and when franchise owners treat top elites as a nuisance instead of a profit center, they quietly erode the very thing that delivers customers to their hotels.
For some families, the holidays aren’t about reunion—they’re about racing the clock. Give A Mile uses donated United miles to fly people to a loved one’s bedside in end‑of‑life situations. One balance can become one last hug.
American Airlines is spending millions to add extra minutes to flight schedules, and it is not just to look better on on-time charts. At Dallas Fort Worth, where delays turn into missed connections and mishandled bags in a hurry, the math is straightforward: paying for a little slack up front can be cheaper than paying for recovery when the hub starts cascading.
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 »
