Spirit Airlines may be gone, but one of its remaining lawsuits just died too. Customers claimed Spirit’s website tracked clicks, keystrokes, searches and browsing behavior through session-replay code, but the court said that without a concrete injury or sensitive personal information disclosed, creepy website tracking alone was not enough to sue.
Years after the “Racist Burger King” passenger made the airplane crown infamous, the crown has returned to a plane with a very different energy. This time, a Black passenger sits calmly in the window seat wearing a similar gold crown — subverting the meme and taking back the symbol.
United Flight 236 was headed from Newark to Spain when passengers were repeatedly ordered to turn off Bluetooth — then the 767 turned back after a teen’s speaker reportedly showed up as “BOMB.” The flight landed back in New Jersey under a security response, passengers were deplaned and re-screened, and everyone eventually reboarded hours later over what may have been the dumbest possible Bluetooth name to use on an airplane.
A 67-year-old man reportedly drove to Detroit Metro Airport saying he was there to meet Tom Cruise and save his dad — then crashed his black Cadillac SUV through the Evans Terminal doors. Police say he appeared disoriented, no weapons were found, and no one was seriously hurt, but this is somehow the second time this year a vehicle has smashed into a Detroit airport terminal.
Spirit Airlines’ final bankruptcy filing makes the blame game look beside the point: in its last full month, the airline lost $327 million and had just $72 million left in unrestricted cash. Even the proposed $500 million taxpayer bailout would not have saved it for long, because Spirit had not found a business model where customers would pay enough to cover its costs.
American Airlines is moving the end-of-flight shutdown earlier, which means laptops away sooner, seats upright sooner, and cabin service ending higher in the descent. The reason is flight attendant turbulence safety — but data suggests the injury risk this targets is extraordinarily rare.
An American Airlines million-miler says he boarded a Phoenix–El Paso flight and found a used condom at his seat — then got a customer service response that read like he had complained about crumbs. Airlines are not just selling transportation from A to B. They are selling basic sanitary transportation.
First class upgrades were once the reason to chase top-tier airline status. But with American selling those seats instead of clearing elites, and Southwest adding extra legroom, lounges, and likely a premium card, my loyalty math from Austin may be changing: mid-tier American status could be enough, while Southwest may become harder to ignore.
American Airlines is charging $30 for what may be the worst seat on the plane: a last-row middle seat by the bathrooms. The only reason to consider paying is not comfort — it is that skipping advance seat assignment can leave basic economy passengers more exposed if an oversold flight turns into a bumping situation.
Scott Kirby once made his reputation as the spreadsheet-driven airline executive who cut product spending and waited years to add Wi-Fi. Now the United CEO says better wine, seatback screens, Starlink and hundreds of small investments are exactly how an airline builds a brand customers choose.
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 »
