American canceled more than 9,000 flights during winter storm Fern — and as the operation unraveled, flight attendants wound up sleeping in airports, stuck on hold with scheduling, and waiting hours for hotels and transport. In a post-earnings employee meeting, CEO Robert Isom called it “unacceptable” — then brushed it off as something that “comes with the kind of business we run.”
Newly released video shows a man charging through the main TSA checkpoint at Atlanta’s airport, knocking people down and injuring three screeners as officers yell “Breach!” and “Everybody freeze!” A former professional baseball player in the line grabs him and slams him to the floor — and when the man tries to surge forward again, he’s subdued and hauled off in a wheelchair, later charged with interfering with security measures and simple battery.
If you still have the legacy Bilt card, this weekend is your last chance to switch “seamlessly” to one of the new cards before the window closes Feb. 1 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. Bilt says the transition keeps your same card number with no hard credit pull, and Apple Pay/Google Pay refresh automatically
Citi is surveying a refresh of the American AAdvantage small business card that looks meaningfully better than what’s sold today — even with a higher annual fee. The two hooks: authorized-user spend would earn Loyalty Points too, and the card would add a simple flight-based bonus (4 qualifying flights = 4,000 Loyalty Points, up to 12,000 a year), with credits used to sell the higher fee.
American’s free Wi-Fi rollout is about to go from “most planes” to the long-haul fleet too. In a leaked recording from an employee meeting after earnings, the airline says it has free Wi-Fi on 90%+ of aircraft now and plans to add it to the remaining widebodies over the next 12–24 months — while also teeing up more lounge announcements and new food and beverage partnerships.
Citi’s new Strata Elite card is handing out approvals fast — and for good reason. With a 100,000-point bonus, stacked travel and retail credits, and easy eligibility rules, it delivers first-year value few premium cards can match.
American has been spending real money on “premium” — new suites, new lounges, better champagne, better policies — but the company has lacked anything resembling a mission that connects it all. In a leaked recording from a post-earnings employee meeting, that finally changes: leadership frames Chicago as an existential fight with United, and ties winning the market directly to loyalty and credit card economics, and that easily extends to the need for a premium service culture.
United is planning a controlled overnight cutover next week that will take its key systems offline for roughly 2–3 hours — and it has already pre-canceled most departures during the window. While flights already in the air will keep moving, everything that depends on the reservation stack effectively freezes: schedules, booking, retrieving reservations, ticketing, cancellations/refunds, and check-in via United.com, the app, kiosks, call centers, and agency channels.
United told pilots it expects delivery of its first 787-9 with the new Polaris Studio in February, with entry into service in March. Also today: Starbucks is rolling out a revamped Rewards program in March that cuts earning, Hawaiian Airlines Bank of Hawaii credit cards are back and more.
The Barclays-issued AAdvantage cards are officially converting to Citi on April 24, and Citi just published the full playbook — including new cards with new account numbers and a no-login window April 24–26.
The sleeper detail is that for now your existing card’s legacy perks stay in place while you also pick up the standard Citi-version benefits, creating a temporary stacking window (especially valuable for Aviator Silver moving to Globe).
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 »
