Category Archives for General.
American Airlines shut down airport customer service counters, but at Washington National the counter and signage were still sitting there when flights were canceled — sending passengers to line up for help that no longer existed. Also a Delta passenger’s lost $9,000 watch, Finnair blowing up a Hawaii award sweet spot, and the Dutch king’s final KLM 737 flight.
A short boarding video from an American Airlines flight captures two things at once: a flight attendant sees a phone aimed at a woman in front of the camera and quickly checks whether the pair are traveling together, defusing what looks like a potentially creepy situation. But the same clip also fuels the familiar complaint about American’s onboard culture — the front-galley posture and tone read as “couldn’t care less,” even while she’s trying to do something genuinely situationally aware.
A Marriott guest says they found crack pipes in a Dallas hotel room and received 10,000 points plus an apology from the property. Also X to launch a 6% interest account and 3% rebate debit card, American will serve Smash Kitchen condiments with its sliders, and one flight attendants tombstone joke is getting the reaction it deserves.
Southwest passengers are claiming the airline’s inflight Wi-Fi won’t load competitor airline sites or freezes on booking pages, and Southwest still hasn’t explained whether this is intentional blocking or just bad connectivity.
Toronto’s Billy Bishop jet expansion fight gets nastier, Austin’s South Terminal shuts down March 31, Emirates quietly improves partner award pricing, American shows off some creative speed tape.
Thrifty Traveler says it’s raising prices on March 14, but anyone who subscribes before then locks in the current annual rate for life as long as the membership stays active. If you’ve ever wanted a steady stream of premium-cabin award alerts and mistake-fare texts without monitoring deals all day, this is where the economics shift.
American Airlines has extended its Middle East suspensions again, pushing Philadelphia–Doha out to May 7 and delaying New York JFK–Tel Aviv until April 23, as Iran’s attacks keep much of the region’s airspace largely unusable.
Amidst a government shutdown that affects only the Department of Homeland Security, where TSA screeners will have to work while waiting for congress to pass funding before they’re paid, we’re starting to see more employees failing to show up for work. That’s having a significant affect on security lines at several major airports.
American’s Admirals Clubs are starting to roll out morning bagel and waffle bars—a nice upgrade, even as the airline keeps getting dragged online for the condition of its cabins. < Also: Southwest keeps scolding passengers for sliding into empty seats, Bozeman’s RFP for an 8,000-square-foot common-use lounge, Tampa’s push for two common-use lounges, and a first look at the Virgin Atlantic Heathrow Clubhouse refurbishment.
Bilt launched a new “Neighborhood Concierge” AI that’s supposed to handle practical stuff like restaurant recommendations, rides, and booking travel with points — but it behaves like a general-purpose chatbot too. With a little prompting, it will troubleshoot problems, write usable code snippets, and handle the same kind of open-ended questions people normally pay for in standalone AI tools.
Southwest is now charging for seats, but passengers report that even after paying for premium emergency-row seating they’re still not allowed to slide into an empty seat when the cabin has open rows.
Plus, the JFK AirTrain price goes up again, American flyers gripe about ads before onboard Wi-Fi, and there’s a 20,000-mile AT&T switching promo.
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 »
