News and notes from around the interweb:
- All the JetBlue route cuts and station cuts take a toll on morale. Some employees have to move. Regardless, there’s less flying and fewer places to fly, from many JetBlue cities. Still, I feel better about their business than I did two years ago. If it hadn’t been for the federal government, though, they’d be a member of oneworld today.
JetBlue
“EWR Crews are very upset they had to find out via a basic daily email update that a significant amount of their flying is being eliminated, management should have handled it better.” pic.twitter.com/tqv5pHwYdf
— JonNYC (@xJonNYC) May 17, 2026
- This is a great watch on the repossession of Spirit Airlines aircraft.
- Ernst & Young Publishes Loyalty Program Study Full Of Fake Footnotes/Sources. This doesn’t surprise me, most of the loyalty marketing consultant analysis I see promoted (especially on LinkedIn) is garbage and this probably isn’t worse than usual.
- Reminder that if you do not have Bilt status, you should change your Rakuten earning preference to Membership Rewards. While 1:1 transfers from Rakuten to Bilt are the most valuable option, that’s now only available for those with Bilt status (even Silver works). Bilt general members (Blue) transfer at 1:0.5.
The Bilt Palladium Card (See rates and fees) earns Gold status the first year as part of its initial offer – on top of 50,000 Bilt Points – after spending $4,000 on everyday purchases in the first 3 months. If you have this card you’d almost have try to not earn status after that.
- Some of the best planespotting in the world at Princess Juliana Airport.
Insane jet blast at St. Martin Airport: a tourists get blown away by MD80 aircraft taking off. pic.twitter.com/Nw6EoXQ3cc
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) May 16, 2026
- How Ethiopians Built a $30 Million Aviation Powerhouse in America in maintenance. I’d also note that About 60% – 75% of retail and food workers at National and Dulles have been reported to be Ethiopian. The D.C. metro are has one of the largest Ethiopian and Eritrean diasporas in the world, plus growing Somali and Sudanese communities and these employers hire heavily through community networks, so once a critical mass of one group is in place, it perpetuates.
Yeah, not great for Newark. B6 is still alive and well at LGA and JFK, and seems to be fortifying FLL; though. I just want them to stick around, in-general. They really offer a better on-board experience (more legroom, live TV, free WiFi, Mint, etc.)
Insel Airways has been out of business for over seven years now.
The EY “study” was probably created with AI by a recent college hire under the direction of a partner who was ticked his points had been devalued or expired.
Sorry to hear about JetBlue workers losing their jobs. I have been happily flying on JetBlue flights for a number of years now.
@Rick — I feel like I’d side with the partner in your hypothetical. We have every reason to be ‘ticked.’ These unregulated corporate pseudo-currencies can and do devalue on a whim. Would be nice to see a baseline of stability so they can’t rug-pull like they have been… SkyPesos!
@1990 – I guess the key is to earn a currency that has no practical application so that its value can be pegged to the sky. Speaking of which, I did enjoy Gary’s October 2025 article on the Coinbase credit card.
But as long as we are talking about Rakuten, today you can earn 1,250 points from your first $100 trade on Coinbase! Earn those points today, and you can see in August whether you’ll get them as Amex MR or if Bilt’s launch perhaps didn’t go as they envisioned and they extend the no-status 1:1 with Rakuten.
Always exciting times for evaluating risk tolerance!
Umm.. my understanding is B6 does not have a dedicated EWR crew – they are part of NYC base and commute to either JFK, LGA, or EWR.
Exactly the cuts I expected in EWR/MCO. No clue why people thought they were going to cut BOS.
@GaryLeff, I still don’t understand why B6 didn’t make a move to join OneWorld or at least the OneWorld TATL JV after the Northeast Alliance was struck down. BOS-BCN in the first month had 83% load factor for B6, but that was mostly on the BOS side. Having a JV with BA, IB, and EI would’ve allowed for serious revenue sharing and getting sales on both sides for B6’s TATL routes.