A New Orleans Marriott put up a sign that reads “Benches Are For Employees Only,” and guests are reading it as a pretty blunt message. The real story is a clumsy attempt at loitering control that manages to insult guests while failing to solve the underlying problem.
Complimentary elite upgrades have largely disappeared, with airlines like Delta and American selling premium seats cheaply rather than rewarding loyalty. Instead of pretending upgrades still exist, airlines should replace them outright with meaningful first-class discounts—benefiting frequent flyers and airline bottom lines alike.
“We’ll text you when your room’s ready”—but luxury hotels rarely follow through. These common “luxury lies” don’t just frustrate, they steal your time. From fake upgrades to eco-friendly cost cuts, here’s how high-end hotels consistently fail at delivering genuine hospitality.
You don’t need to suffer jet lag when you travel. There’s a really simple formula to solve it. To begin, there are two basic things you need to do.
A hotel guest went viral after exploding at the front desk when asked to lower his TV volume at 4 a.m., insisting that his Diamond status exempted him from hotel quiet rules. Plus, watch the classic “Diamond Member Check-In” parody and more.
Alaska wants a new boss for inflight credit card pitches—someone to “empower” flight attendants, drive participation, and report results up the chain, guided (naturally) by “core values and leadership principles.”
Also in today’s roundup: United’s map of the most-booked international destination from each state, the latest doubts about pre-scheduled Uber airport rides, Pakistan International Airlines privatization terms, a limited-time Alaska–Lyft linkage credit, and another bed bugs on a plane account.
An American Airlines pilot posted a pay breakdown showing how $35,000 every two weeks can happen once hourly rates and stacked incentives are added up. Also in today’s roundup: a fatal “cocaine” buy on the Wynn casino floor that police say was fentanyl, a cockroach dropping onto food in an American Airlines lounge in Philadelphia, a Singapore Airlines business-class theft tied to a crime syndicate, and Austin airport’s unusually frequent elevator rescues.
A passenger on a Southwest flight out of Phoenix filmed Donald Trump Jr. and a woman in a bright red pantsuit arriving in a black SUV, walking the ramp with what appears to be a Secret Service detail, and taking stairs under the jet bridge to board. Trump family members flying commercial isn’t unusual—but the funniest part is that after all that VIP choreography, he still picked Southwest.
A Hyatt elite member says two properties recently offered a blunt tradeoff: keep a suite, or keep the guaranteed 4 p.m. late checkout. At the Park Hyatt Saigon and Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok, they were told to pack up at noon and move into a “courtesy room” to stay until 4 p.m.—raising the question of whether Hyatt is honoring the benefit, or quietly redefining what “4 p.m. checkout” is supposed to mean.
Riyadh Air is being pitched as Saudi Arabia’s new premium global airline, but it can’t serve alcohol because Saudi law still prohibits it. What most people miss is why that rule exists: it wasn’t imposed for religious reasons so much as triggered by a royal family scandal after a drunk prince shot and killed a British diplomat .
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 »
