Category Archives for General.
A travel agent is accused of taking $53,000 for a Royal Caribbean cruise, a destination wedding, and a big family birthday trip—then leaving clients to discover the bookings didn’t exist or were never paid. In one case, a group showed up at the port and was told their cruise tickets were fraudulent. And it’s another reminder of how often travel payments rely on trust that isn’t always deserved.
A passenger on a Southwest flight from Dallas Love Field to New York notices a young soldier in uniform looking anxious. The solder tells a flight attendant he’s deploying for the first time. The attendant makes an announcement inviting passengers to write him encouraging notes and pass them forward. And the story goes viral. The plane spontaneously participates using napkins, receipts, and torn pages, until the soldier has a thick stack of messages. He tears up, carefully packs away every note, and thanks the flight attendant. The passenger sharing the story ends with a “freedom isn’t abstract once you meet the kid defending it” moral. And people absolutely love this story: I was flying Southwest from Dallas to New York. Three rows ahead of me, there was a young soldier in uniform. He looked barely…
A warning is making the rounds that the slot machines at Las Vegas airport are among the worst bets in town—possibly paying out near the legal minimum—so you’re better off waiting until you hit the Strip. Plus a United first class passenger stunned there’s no screen, Hilton’s new Diamond Reserve premium clubs, a surprisingly decent Admirals Club entree, and a very dirty cabin photo that should embarrass an airline.
United served a first class dinner that one passenger dubbed a “bowl of sadness,” and the complaints quickly turned into something else: a wave of copycat posts riffing on the same lines. Plus in today’s roundup: a Southwest mechanic’s payroll, a passenger who slept on a stranger for an entire flight while her boyfriend took a photo, Delta’s CIO retirement, and more.
A passenger spotted SOS flashes from a plane. The man they helped that night had just killed two women — a 40-year Colorado mystery finally solved.
Delta Sky Club “premium” now means queuing outside a crowded lounge—so you are better off skipping the line and grabbing a table-with-an-outlet in the terminal.
Plus Eric Adams spotted late-night waiting for an Emirates Dubai flight with a single malt, an American first class seat that looks filthy, a United cabin confrontation caught on video, and JetBlue suspending Newark–LAX while aligning with United.
A share in my social feed reminded me of this incredible story that links Chicago O’Hare and Al Capone. It’s really two stories, but stay with me until the end.
A man was arrested at Orlando International after mentioning a “pipe bomb” at a TSA checkpoint—then claimed he was talking about a toy for his kids. Plus: a fresh Bilt 2.0 rumor says one card could let you choose 3x on dining or groceries (and switch the category each year), along with a $250 Capital One checking bonus, REAL ID skepticism, and Biscoff’s global push.
News and notes from around the interweb: Latvians arrested in Texas in $14 million gift card fraud. If you ever wondered why the cards you buy and load somehow have no value when you go to use them…? The thieves would then take the items to another location and carefully remove the packaging almost surgically. “The card is removed, and then the material on the back that covers up the numbers to transfer anything or activate the card is then removed so that they can see it,” said Colby. “The numbers that are on the card are then programmed into another program that the criminals are using, which will now monitor that card.” From there, the cards are reassembled to appear new, without scratches, and placed back onto store shelves for someone to buy. ”As…
A Pilates instructor on a 12-hour flight from Paris raised both legs straight up the cabin wall just to get through 10-plus hours in economy — and TikTok turned her stretch into a referendum on coach etiquette. Here’s what really happened on board, what she says about the flight, and where the line is between a harmless long-haul survival hack and going too far in a cramped cabin.
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 »
