American just flipped basic economy with no warning: starting today those tickets earn zero AAdvantage miles, zero Loyalty Points, and no status credit for flying. It’s a sharp break from how American has used basic economy as the on-ramp into AAdvantage—and it’s likely to push price-sensitive flyers to stop engaging with the program entirely.
A lost jacket turned into a five-figure travel bill. After a British Airways passenger tweeted for help, scammers posing as BA support got his booking details, cancelled his return ticket, and the airline refused to reinstate it—quoting $17,511 to fly home.
‘Free’ $50 from Rakuten plus new Dallas airport gets its first airline, American Airlines and United catering, and the ying and yang of Capital One lounge food.
American has finally confirmed plans to renovate its Concourse D Admirals Club at Reagan National, a project first reported months ago. The 10,000+ square foot lounge is slated to add about 50% more seating starting in early 2026—another sign that American’s broader lounge push is turning into tangible upgrades.
Chase introduced Points Boost as the Sapphire Reserve’s big new redemption pitch: up to 2x on flights, and a guaranteed 2x on The Edit hotels. Now Chase has quietly rewritten the terms so The Edit is only “up to 2x” as well—turning the one fixed-value use case into a dynamic, no-notice downgrade.
Rove Miles is offering a Mesa points “match” for anyone stuck with a Mesa rewards balance—really a giveaway of up to 5,000 Rove points per member, capped at 2 million points total. To claim, upload a screenshot of your most recent Mesa statement and your current rewards balance; points are supposed to post within two weeks after verification.
Bilt just added a new transfer partner, and it’s one nobody else offers: Spirit Airlines. That brings Bilt to 23 airline and hotel transfer partners — a bigger transfer list than Amex or Chase — but whether you should actually move points is another matter.
OYO Las Vegas (the former Hooters) is advertising $1 rooms Monday through Wednesday with promo code ONEDOLLAR — across everything from basic kings to strip-view and pool-view rooms. But the fine print says you still owe a $50.96 resort fee (with tax) at check-in, and it isn’t included in the headline price quote.
It’s a cheap play for a worn, uneven hotel, but it also looks like exactly the kind of resort-fee advertising the FTC has been targeting—especially as Vegas demand softens and the bottom end of the market gets squeezed.
Spirit and Frontier are back in merger talks, and people close to the discussions say an announcement could come as soon as this month — though it could still collapse.
A widely shared video shows a flight attendant stepping out of an airplane lavatory looking awkward and adjusting her uniform. Moments later, a pilot exits the same lavatory with a similarly “caught” expression — and the passenger filming just happens to have the camera perfectly framed on the door the whole time, which is why this looks more staged to me than an accidental leak.
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 »
