Victoria, Texas is offering residents $100 to book a roundtrip flight from the local airport—an effort to prop up lightly used United regional service to Houston that already draws nearly $7 million in federal subsidy. It’s a perfect snapshot of how the Essential Air Service program has evolved from a “temporary” deregulation bridge into a permanent, growing entitlement—often funding near-empty flights even when bigger airports are a short drive away.
United and American are bringing Embraer E175 service to Carlsbad, and the local response is the most California thing imaginable: lawsuits demanding a land-use veto and CEQA review. Federal law makes it nearly impossible to block airline service at a public use airport, but that won’t stop activists and city hall from making it expensive and annoying anyway.
Lisa Vanderpump posted from Miami after a 12-hour American Airlines delay, saying she was deplaned multiple times due to mechanical issues. The irony of the star flying American and suffering like everyone else was not lost on the internet.
Allegiant is buying Sun Country for $1.5 billion, betting it can sell across both airlines’ route networks and smooth out the seasonality that whipsaws leisure demand. The logic is simple—but integrating fleets, work groups, and operations is where mergers get expensive and blow up.
Two coach passengers reportedly sat down in first class on an American Airlines flight departing Miami and refused to move. Airport police were called, and the women were escorted out of the gate area in cuffs—caught on video.
Four premium cards dominate the space right now: Amex Platinum, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Capital One Venture X, and Citi Strata Elite. Let’s break down lounges, credits, earn rates, and transfer partners—then show which card (or pair) actually makes sense for how you travel and spend.
Southwest’s open seating has always invited games—saving rows, blocking middle seats, and all sorts of “someone’s sitting here” theatrics to keep extra space. That all changes January 27 when assigned seating begins, which should end a lot of the passenger scheming (and even the wheelchair-preboarding miracles) while also stripping away one of the last quirky, self-directed “wins” Southwest flyers could still chase.
Marriott has quietly removed the freeform “special requests” text box from its website bookings, leaving only a handful of preset checkboxes. Hotels may have ignored many notes anyway, but eliminating the field doesn’t eliminate guest needs—it just pushes everything into last-minute phone calls and check-in friction, with no easy way to message the property in advance.
An AT&T customer says two days of accidental roaming data use triggered a staggering $19,500 bill. Plus in today’s roundup: United’s CEO reportedly skipping his own catering, Wyndham bringing back status matches, United pouring a prestige cabernet in Polaris, another hotels-and-ICE twist, a filthy American cabin photo, and new Bilt card designs.
Chase just launched the biggest-ever Marriott Boundless bonus: 5 Free Night Awards after $3,000 in 3 months, valid up to 50,000 points per night (and you can top off each with 15,000 points). There is also a 2026 airline statement credit up to $100, and the no-fee Marriott Bold now offers 2 Free Night Awards after $1,000 in spend.
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 »
