Airbnb makes sense in towns where there aren’t suitable hotels. It makes sense to rent a full house for a large family or when traveling with a group of friend. But the current homesharing model is very broken, and as a result choosing Airbnb makes no sense for most stays.
The concerns I have with Airbnb, though, are hardly the only ones. Others have had far worse experiences.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
American Airlines has added change fees back to some international-originating itineraries. Southwest Airlines – which doesn’t have change fees, but also doesn’t do long haul international flying, reacted on twitter. Southwest’s pilots reacted, too.
The U.S. takes longer to build projects, and spends more to build similar projects, than other countries. A new example from the FAA is a great illustration of why. Here’s what the FAA has required from SpaceX to move forward with its Starship rocket program – and the government is actually bragging about it in a press release.
British Airways “Travel Together” vouchers can be earned using the airline’s co-brand credit cards. They let a companion travel for no additional miles when redeeming points. The first passenger pays normal miles, taxes and surcharges while the second passenger is charged taxes and surcharges but no miles.
They can now be used for a solo traveler to save 50% off the miles for an award.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
While American Airlines has grown tremendously in Austin – quadrupling destinations and doubling flights – Southwest remains the largest carrier in the market by a wide margin. In fact it carries an even larger share of Austin traffic than it did three years ago, before the pandemic.
United and Delta have shrunk a bit. So has JetBlue. Allegiant has gown, while Spirit and Frontier have shrunk. Few would have guessed that of Delta, which still calls Austin a focus city.
Bilt Rewards – even if you don’t have their credit card, which lets you earn points for paying rent – has publicly launched the option for residents of participating buildings to have their on-time rent payments reported to their credit. This is expected to generate an average credit score increase of 60 points for those who opt in.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
U.S. airlines began permanently eliminating change fees during the pandemic, starting with United Airlines though others quickly followed suit.
You can expect many international fares for trips originating outside the United States to come with change fees.
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 »
