Category Archives for General.
A Marriott Titanium elite says a prepaid “Sonder by Marriott” booking on Marriott.com left him out $5,000+ after Sonder’s bankruptcy—while Marriott offered just 40,000 points and told him to call his bank. The problem: the bank’s system blocks disputes after 120 days. Here’s why that’s wrong for future travel—and the script to fix it.
Rome will begin charging tourists €2 (about $2.30) starting February 1 to step up onto the stone steps at the Trevi Fountain, while the surrounding square remains free and residents won’t pay. Also in today’s roundup: an empty Excalibur check-in even with rock-bottom rates, a United first-class “fresh silverware” photo that’s anything but, the first A321XLR inaugural trip report, and Sean Duffy’s latest airport-attire commentary.
Delta flyers are discovering the “SkyPesos” reality the hard way: one photo shows the reality hitting the airline’s flyers at the airport – and on board. Also Asiana’s in-flight face mask service, Hyatt paying Texas $1M+ over resort-fee pricing, United’s revived Newark-vs-JFK ads, and more.
My back seat belt didn’t work in a Lyft from DCA—and after I reported it, Lyft took the complaint and still charged full price. Also, use the Royal Air Maroc status match loophole to still unlock AA/Alaska lounge access; Alaska’s London award surcharge bug fixed; Park Hyatt DC’s 24-hour room service refuses coffee; and JSX expanding Santa Monica flights while activists sue.
‘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.
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.
News and notes from around the interweb: The President of South Korea is demanding that all bags get manually searched at Seoul Incheon airport because people might hide money in books, and apparently the small amounts of cash that could be involved are a government priority or something? This would melt down air travel, and be really bad prioritization – you do risk-based searches not blanket ones because focusing on small bills in books distracts from real security and customs interdiction. Such a strange demand. President Lee ordered to “look through all the books” in response to President Lee’s reply, “You can check if 100 bills are overlapped, but it is a little difficult to find them with the current technology if they are inserted like bookmarks one by one.” In addition, he said, “People…
American replaced the surprisingly good turkey wrap on JFK–Austin with a turkey, brie, and cranberry sandwich on brioche — and the brie is literally a thick chunk, not spread. It’s not terrible, but it’s a step back in execution (and still miles better than the sweaty $16 steak sandwich from this summer).
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 »
