Trump has now endorsed the Durbin-Marshall swipe fee bill, pitching it as “competition” and consumer relief. In reality it shifts value from cardholders to retailers—cutting rewards, pushing issuers toward higher fees elsewhere, and shrinking credit availability—without any reason to expect lower prices.
An Air Canada flight out of Toronto started taxiing when passengers say they heard someone yelling from the cargo hold. The aircraft returned to the gate, the worker was freed, and the airline says no one was hurt. Now Air Canada is investigating how the doors were closed with a crew member still inside.
It’s hard to imagine anyone that won’t find this to be incredible for a year. After that, it’s up to you.
Vasu Raja is headed to United to work on monetizing passengers through inflight advertising, but that’s not the part of this story most people are getting wrong. The real mistake is the narrative about his tenure at American: he became the face of a broader strategy signed off at the top, and American’s ongoing struggles long outlasted— and outgrew —the distribution fight he was blamed for.
News and notes from around the interweb: MileagePlus members, be afraid. ($$) Veteran of Apple Card (all branding, very little consumer value) and… Delta. Richard Nunn, a former Comcast executive hired in May 2023 as CEO of the loyalty platform and to launch Kinective Media, is leaving. So is Luc Bondar, the vice president of loyalty, who has run MileagePlus day-to-day for nearly 10 years. United has made a splashy permanent hire to replace Nunn and Bondar, naming Jarad Fisher as its new vice president for loyalty and president of MileagePlus. Fisher helped build Apple’s credit card from 2015 to 2020, and earlier in his career, he worked in loyalty at Delta. I flew American Airlines on four different days in the eight days following their launch of free wifi, and I finally got an…
Ryanair’s CEO says Starlink inflight WiFi would add a 2% fuel penalty from added weight and drag, making it too costly for the airline’s short flights. Elon Musk jumped in to say the CEO is “being misinformed,” arguing the incremental drag is effectively negligible—setting up a public spat over what Starlink connectivity really costs airlines to install and operate.
A Minneapolis airport employee says ICE agents will be “checking and verifying documents” for the next three weeks, including patrolling jet bridges at the gates. It’s a post-security choke point that makes it easy to intercept travelers right before boarding or immediately after landing—and it raises serious questions about how this overlaps with the right to travel, especially for citizens and lawful residents who can still get caught up in enforcement mistakes.
I booked what I thought would be a simple one-night stay near Miami airport—then the front desk handed me keys to the Presidential Suite. Here’s how that happened, why this property has become my go-to for airport overnights (especially with kids), and what made this upgrade worth writing about.
Bilt just announced it will cap interest on new purchases at 10% for the first year on its new credit cards—a savvy teaser rate that also echoes a much bigger political idea. It’s a tactic banks can afford in a narrow, time-limited way, but a nationwide 10% cap would shrink credit, jack up fees, and gut rewards.
The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is really aggressive right now with an elevated offer to earn 200,000 points after you spend $20,000 in eligible purchases on the card within the first 3 months. They’ve refreshed the product and they’re definitely creating buzz with it. This is an $895 annual fee card (see rates and fees). I thought I’d gotten a great offer for the card when it was 150,000 about 20 months ago. I’m a bit jealous of the bigger offers available now. Here’s what the card delivers. Lounge Access American Express touts to over 1,550 lounges. The truth is most of those are via the Priority Pass Select membership you can enroll for. And most premium cards come with one of those – it’s not a differentiator. What’s unique about this card…
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 »
