Delta passengers say they flagged a first officer who appeared intoxicated before their Charlottesville–Atlanta flight, and law enforcement ultimately removed her from the aircraft. Delta called it a “safety issue,” but the flight did not leave for nearly 10 hours — finally departing after midnight with a new crew.
Wells Fargo just added Cathay Pacific Asia Miles as a 1:1 transfer partner, only two weeks after adding its last new partner. The timing is useful: Amex is making Cathay transfers less valuable, while Wells Fargo’s $95 Autograph Journey card is quietly becoming a more serious travel card.
Delta still benefits from the strongest premium brand halo among U.S. airlines, but more and more of the actual experience no longer lives up to that image. From weaker-than-advertised first class catering to lagging wifi, aging business class seats, and a reliability edge that is not what it once was, the gap between Delta’s reputation and what customers actually get is starting to widen.
Bilt Rewards just announced Bed Bath & Beyond as a new partner, which mostly made me wonder how Bed Bath & Beyond is still around. It turns out the answer involves Overstock buying the dead retailer’s name, buybuy BABY getting reacquired, Reality TV’s Marcus Lemonis taking over, and one of the strangest corporate reincarnation stories in retail.
The easy part of keeping a business credit card is earning the signup bonus. The real question is whether it still makes sense once the first-year math is over, and for me the AAdvantage Business card still earns enough extra value through AAdvantage Business miles and Loyalty Points to justify the annual fee.
Hotels keep building bathrooms with glass walls, barn doors, and almost no privacy because those rooms look bigger, brighter, and more luxurious in photos. The problem is not that hotels do not know guests hate this design — it is that marketing, perceived space, and cheaper construction keep winning over comfort.
A top Marriott Bonvoy elite says he was jailed after reporting a threat against his wife at the Ritz-Carlton Doha, plus a woman caught bringing pot into Indonesia launching a GoFundMe and Cosplay Kid Rock and the most Frontier Airlines gate agent ever on Denver’s A concourse.
On May 1, Bilt will run a Rent Day transfer bonus to 3 Avios programs: British Airways, Aer Lingus, and Iberia. As usual, the bonus amount is based on your Bilt Rewards status.
United CEO Scott Kirby did not just admit he tried to buy American Airlines — he published the sales pitch after American had already said no. That is not how companies usually talk about dead deals, and the real audience now is what’s interesting about the message.
The proposed Spirit rescue is no longer just about one failing airline. Budget carriers are now pitching a $2.5 billion taxpayer relief program that could leave the government owning stakes across the low-cost sector, turning a dubious bailout into a much bigger attempt to socialize losses across an industry that has not solved its underlying problems.
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 »
