oreign airlines often make passengers weigh carry-on bags at the gate, sometimes limiting them to just 15.4 pounds including the bag itself. They call it safety, bin space, or boarding efficiency, but the U.S. proves planes can operate safely without this theater — the real explanation is regulation, not some crisis caused by your backpack.
Chase has brought back a 100,000-point bonus on the Ink Business Preferred, giving small-business owners and those of you with a side hustle one of the strongest bank card offers available right now. The card’s $95 annual fee is low for a bonus this large, and the points can be transferred to valuable airline and hotel partners like Hyatt, United, Air France KLM, British Airways, and Singapore Airlines.
An American Airlines passenger tied a sweatshirt to the seatback and turned it into a no-cost privacy hood, sleep mask, and head stabilizer. It is clever enough that travelers are rethinking their long-flight setup — and weird enough to raise the obvious question of whether your comfort hack should be hanging off someone else’s seat.
Airline and hotel dining programs look like separate loyalty products, but most of them are really just different labels on the same underlying business. For decades, one company lineage — from Transmedia to iDine to Rewards Network — has powered nearly all of them, using the same basic model to bring in diners, buy points from loyalty programs, and delier guests to restaurants through rebates.
Air Force One food is not Biscoff and pretzels. Reporters following the president got beef ragu, lobster salad, key lime pie, chocolate cake, and all the Diet Coke they could want — though they still get billed for the privilege.
JetBlue flight 882 from St. Lucia to New York JFK couldn’t operate on Friday due to a birdstrike. The airlnie delayed the flight until 11 a.m. on Saturday, but it telling passengers stuck overnight in the Caribbean that the airline will not provide hotel rooms.
A flight attendants union wants airlines to screen passengers for hantavirus symptoms, provide masks, and keep some travelers from boarding. Plus: Amsterdam bans airline ads while Europe’s air traffic system burns extra fuel, Southwest points keep losing value, and Capital One faces rewards litigation.
An 82-year-old American Airlines passenger says his seatmate beat him “without warning” mid-flight while a flight attendant stood within arm’s reach and watched. Now he is suing the airline — but the harder question is whether American can be blamed for failing to predict another passenger’s sudden violence.
New passenger video shows the aftermath of Frontier flight 4345’s fatal Denver runway strike: visible engine damage, evacuation slides deployed, and passengers leaving the aircraft with carry-on bags in hand. Authorities now say the person hit by the aircraft was killed, while 12 passengers reported minor injuries and five were taken to hospitals.
United CEO Scott Kirby has tried to beat American Airlines, mocked its Chicago operation, and even floated buying the airline. So naturally, there he was in first class on American — flying home to Dallas on the rival that once fired him.
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 »
