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.
News and notes from around the interweb: Hertz strands Jason Priestley just like in a Seinfeld episode. They knew how to take the reservation, they just didn’t know how to hold the reservation. And that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. (HT: Ryan) @slcairport… reserved a car @hertz and when we got there, no car… and they couldn’t tell me when they would have one… worst rental car experience I’ve ever had… and I’ve been a Hertz Gold member for 25 years… no more… View this post on Instagram A post shared by jason_priestley (@jason_priestley) When I arrived at an airport Hertz location that had dozens of customers waiting on cars, including numerous elite members, I didn’t rely on status. I slipped the clerk $20 and drove away in the only…
American says it’s overhauling schedules starting in April—adding more realistic block times and de-peaking Dallas-Fort Worth—to begin running on time and cut missed connections. The airline is also investing in remote deplaning and more terminal capacity so weather and gate gridlock don’t spiral into diversions, delays, and lost bags.
Passengers on South African low-cost carrier FlySafair were filmed passing banknotes up the aisle during boarding, like they were paying fares onboard in a minibus taxi. It’s a joke—FlySafair is cashless for inflight purchases—but it points to a real throwback: airlines like People Express once let travelers board without tickets and then sold fares in the cabin. Here’s how that worked, and why it’s basically impossible in modern U.S. air travel.
“Are you from Florida?” was all it took to set off a passenger on a Frontier flight—she erupted at a flight attendant, repeatedly accusing the crewmember of having an “issue with minorities” and claiming she’d been “triggered.”
The flight attendant stayed calm, told her she was “in control of your own actions,” called for security, and the woman was removed from the flight.
A Delta flight attendant noticed a toddler “needed a job,” so she put her to work. Minutes later, the pint-sized helper was marching down the aisle with a trash bag, politely asking passengers, “Trash, please” — and the whole cabin played along.
Millions have watched the same gut-punch: a checked suitcase rolls onto the baggage claim carousel already popped open, dumping clothes out in public while everyone stares. It’s a perfect illustration of why checking bags is a time tax and a trust exercise you usually lose—so pack lighter, keep what matters with you, and treat anything you do check as disposable.
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 »
