News and notes from around the interweb:
- Just buy the car instead of renting?
- Here are more photos of business class on the new Airbus A321XLR that’s yet to enter service.
Here are (arguably) better versions of the pics of the new XLR cabin:
— JonNYC (@xjonnyc.bsky.social) August 17, 2025 at 2:25 PM
- Air Wisconsin lost its American Airlines partnership because its operations were too poor
- Trump administration left behind Putin summit documents in the business center at an Alaska hotel. Who among us hasn’t failed to shred something because it was too much effort?
- [Rumor] Barclays American Airlines Card To Be Discontinued On 9/30 Citi gains exclusivity over American AAdvantage credit cards next year, and is acquiring the Barclays ‘back book’ transitioning over Barclays cardmembers.
- The seat encroacher thinks he’s being clever, but the seat belt will help in the event of significant turbulence.
Today on my flight the passenger next to me decided to take up some extra space. When I asked him to move so I can fasten my seat belt his response was “If the plane is going down the seatbelt isn’t going to save you” Funny but uncomfy lol.
I don’t want to be rubbing thighs with my neighbor on the plane. Ended up taking refuge with flight attendants in the back of the plane and they were very nice about it.
It happened to me from r/delta
- Once more into the breach: most airlines commit to providing you with a hotel when they strand you overnight for controllable reasons like mechanical or lack of crew. But they don’t make promises about the quality of the hotel. It’ll often be one you do not wish to stay at.
Hey @united. Quick question, with IAD being one of your main hubs how do you find this hotel anywhere close to acceptable to put a passenger after their flight is delayed by an hour and connections missed? Absolutely unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/a5EIQdigPT
— nathan bunch (@bunchesofnathan) August 16, 2025
Can’t wait for AA’s new XLR; long-overdue.
On that Alaska incident, if it were a Democratic administration, this would be 24/7 ‘panic’ on right-wing media for months (see the ‘tan’ suit debacle), but since it was our Dear Leader, it’ll be ‘nothing to see here’; anyway, did you hear the Republican Minnesota state senator pushing a bill to make ‘TDS’ a mental disorder was recently arrested for kiddie diddling? Oh, the irony. Funny, how it’s never a drag queen, usually a Republican. Hmm. Projection much?
On the airlines providing sub-par hotels to their stranded passengers, I’d certainly just prefer a couple hundred bucks in cash and the option to choose our own accommodations in those unfortunate circumstances. We really need an EU261 equivalent in the USA to be compensated when these significant delays and cancellations occur under the control of airlines. Yes, this remains the hill I’ll die on…
Will there be any benefit in having both Barclays and Citibank AA cards now that they will both be CITI?
@Ed — Feel free to ignore me, but I’ve had each card with Citi and Barclays over the years. My initial reaction is, was there ever much of a benefit to having the AA Barclays card to begin with? (Other than the sign-up bonus after a single purchase, and I guess the free checked bag, $25 WiFi credit.) Honestly, if you don’t travel that much, nobody ‘needs’ any of these cards, but I’ve kept the AA Citi Exec card (the one with the higher annual fee and Admirals Club access), because after about 6 visits a year, it’s a breakeven. I also use the $120 prepaid Avis credit each calendar year and the $10/mo Grubhub reimbursement. Yeah, the coupon-book stuff isn’t ideal, but, if you care about ‘using what you have,’ I like to track it and get my money’s worth.
The $7300 fee on the rental is simply the quote for how much damage they’ll “find” when the guy returns the car.
What IAD hotel was that? Looks like the hallway was under renovation. Perhaps the rooms were not as bad.
I’m sure some people get bad hotels, but I’ve never had a problem with the hotels given me by the airlines. Though I’m usually in F or business class, and I know class of travel matters when assigning IRROPS hotels.