Delta Air Lines is now making guests check bags before entering the dining room at its Delta One lounge at New York JFK, after what staff described as a very serious recent incident. At the same time, passengers buying upgraded drinks are being asked to tip in SkyMiles, adding a tacky new twist to what Delta sells as a premium ground experience.
Air India will begin weighing flight attendants under a new health and fitness policy starting May 1, with overweight crew removed from duty and, in some cases, taken off payroll until they clear medical review. The airline says the BMI-based crackdown is about safety and fitness, but it also comes in the middle of a broader effort to remake Air India’s image with new uniforms, stricter standards, and a very public brand reset.
A new report values American Airlines’ AAdvantage program at roughly four times the airline’s own stock market value, a stark reminder that the real economics of major carriers no longer sit mainly in selling seats. The most profitable part of the business is increasingly the loyalty machine — using aspirational travel rewards to drive high-spending credit card customers, with flying often acting as the marketing platform for the cards.
Chase Sapphire Reserve cardmembers who spend $75,000 a year can now unlock World of Hyatt Explorist status by linking their Hyatt account in the Chase benefits portal.
Three women headed to Philadelphia on Frontier had their boarding passes voided in Miami after refusing to pay added bag fees, then went down the jetbridge anyway, refused orders to get off the plane, and ended the night in handcuffs. What began as yet another fight over Frontier’s aggressively monetized carry-on rules quickly escalated into trespass, removal from the aircraft, and resisting arrest — delaying the flight for everyone else.
American Airlines offered an erotic fiction author $2,499 to keep her elite status, and instead of taking the bait she responded the only way she could: in character, through the jetset world of her own books. Beneath the joke is a real point about airline loyalty in 2026 — American is charging real money to preserve status benefits that many travelers increasingly believe no longer deliver much of anything.
Willie Walsh is coming back to run an airline, taking over IndiGo in August after years as the industry’s chief lobbyist at IATA. For passengers, the bigger point is that the former British Airways boss who spent years cutting costs and stripping back the full-service experience is finally getting the kind of carrier he seemed to want all along: a giant low cost airline.
Delta just picked Amazon’s not-yet-operational Leo service to replace its current inflight Wi-Fi on 500 aircraft starting in 2028, giving Amazon a marquee airline customer and a badly needed foothold against Starlink. But for passengers, the more important point is that Delta is still moving slowly: United’s Starlink rollout is already underway and is expected to be much further along before Delta’s new system even starts showing up onboard.
News and notes from around the interweb: United Airlines adds pre-arrival Godiva chocolates to domestic first class. They used to offer these in premium transcon and long haul business class 30 years ago – but where you’d select out of a box. These are individually wrapped. Unfortunately it’s for April only, can’t keep up this investment too long (and probably only being subsidized by Godiva for a short bit). The Belgian chocolatier, like United, is celebrating its 100-year anniversary and will be featured onboard throughout the month of April. Specifically, United says the chocolates will be offered in domestic first class on flights over 901 miles, excluding those departing from Canada and Latin America. The chocolates will be presented as part of the pre-arrival service, about 90 minutes before landing. Flight attendants will serve them…
JetBlue is once again the first U.S. airline to raise checked bag fees, but the bigger story is what that usually signals for everyone else: once one carrier moves, others often follow. But why airlines prefer checked bag fees over fare hikes is sneaky.
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 »
