At this point I don’t think it’ll surprise anyone, but clearly this premium trend isn’t just a fad, but is a fundamental industry shift. I first covered this a couple of weeks ago, but would like to provide an update, as first class tickets are now on sale… and they’re not as cheap as some might assume!

Allegiant First product launches in the spring of 2027

Allegiant plans to introduce a first class product, which will be branded as Allegiant First. This will debut and be phased in on select aircraft as of April 2027, and represents the latest step in the company’s long term strategy to modernize customer experience while expanding ancillary and premium travel offerings for leisure focused travelers.

Allegiant First will consists of eight seats, spread across two rows, in a 2-2 configuration. Seats will have 37″ of pitch, 5″ of recline, calf rests, and adjustable head rests. Each seat will also have USB-A, USB-C, and AC power outlets.

The cabin will provide passengers with priority access to check-in and boarding, and Allegiant First fares will include one personal item, one carry-on bag, and one checked bag weighing up to 70 pounds. Allegiant First will also offer complimentary drinks & snacks, though it remains to be seen if that’s just a selection from the standard buy on board selection, or if there’s a completely different offering.

Flights with the new product have just gone on sale, with the product launching as of the spring of 2027. The cabin will debut on flights to and from Ft. Myers/Punta Gorda (PGD). Allegiant First will complement, and not replace, Allegiant Extra, which is Allegiant’s extra legroom economy seating option.

With Allegiant First tickets now on sale, what are fares like? They’re not as cheap as some people may assume. Looking at a random date from Ft. Myers/Punta Gorda to Atlantic City, you’ll find that economy fares start at $87, while Allegiant First fares start at $371.

Meanwhile looking at a flight from Ft. Myers/Punta Gorda to Boston on a certain date, you’ll find economy fares start at a staggering $429, while Allegiant First fares start at $674.

Keep in mind that even though Allegiant is an ultra low cost carrier, it doesn’t necessarily have as consistently of a price conscious customer base as some other ultra low cost carriers. That’s because the carrier largely operates routes that other airlines don’t fly, so even many people who aren’t that price sensitive fly the airline for the convenience. So I don’t think the airline will have much trouble actually selling its first class with decent yields.

With this development, I think it’s interesting to note that Southwest is the only major carrier in the country that hasn’t (officially) announced plans to introduce first class, though we also have reason to believe that’s coming…

Allegiant adds free non-alcoholic drinks in economy

It’s not just those willing to pay for first class who are getting an upgrade, but also those in economy. As of August 1, 2026, Allegiant has rolled out a free beverage service onboard all flights, instead of charging for virtually everything.

Free drinks include water, soft drinks, juices, etc., so that’s an upgrade. There are still upgraded alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks available for purchase, like cold brew, bloody mary mix, etc.

These updates of course follow Allegiant acquiring Sun Country, and the idea very much seems to be to create a new set of product offerings for the combined passengers of both airlines. Here’s how Allegiant Chief Commercial Officer Drew Wells describes this:

“This is about giving customers more ways to travel with us. As we bring together two highly complementary leisure airlines, we see significant opportunity to expand complimentary and premium offerings in a way that strengthens the customer experience and supports the long-term growth of the combined company. Travelers are increasingly looking for more comfort, more personalization and more flexibility, and these new offerings are a meaningful step forward in delivering that.”

Bottom line

Allegiant is improving its passenger experience. Starting in the spring of 2027, we’ll see the airline introduce a first class product, with select flights having a dedicated cabin with eight seats. Tickets are now on sale, and the airline is trying to charge a hefty premium. On top of that, and more immediately, Allegiant is adding free non-alcoholic drinks in economy, rather than having a full buy on board model.

These are all great updates for passengers, and I look forward to learning more about the new first class as we get closer to the launch date.

What do you make of Allegiant’s passenger experience updates?

Vietnam Airlines 787 struggles to take off on very long runway

This incident happened today (Saturday, August 15, 2026), and involves Vietnam Airlines flight VN34, scheduled to fly from Munich (MUC) to Hanoi (HAN). The flight was operated by a 10-year-old Boeing 787-9 with the registration code VN-A867.

At 1:57PM local time, the plane started its takeoff roll on runway 26L, which is 4,000 meters (13,123 feet) long. This is about as long as commercial runways get, so it’s way longer than what even a fully loaded Dreamliner would need.

However, something went seriously wrong with this takeoff. The plane accelerated down the runway… and kept accelerating, and accelerating, and accelerating. Eventually the plane seemingly overran the end of the runway, causing damage to runway lights. In the video you can see that huge clouds of dust rose around the aircraft, as the tail struck the ground.

Fortunately the plane did manage to become airborne, though the crew immediately declared an emergency. The plane climbed up to 10,000 feet, and at that point the crew reported that they had an indicator that they had an issue with tire pressure.

The plane circled around the area for around 90 minutes (either to burn or dump fuel), at which point the aircraft performed two low approaches over the runway, so damage could be assessed.

Then the plane landed on runway 26R on the third approach, and it became disabled on the runway, closing the runway for an extended period of time. That landing was at 3:57PM, two hours after the plane first took off.

Below is the takeoff video.

Then below is the landing video.

Below are pictures showing the tire damage and tail strike after the plane returned to Munich.

I think it’s safe to assume that this plane will be on the ground for quite some time, and isn’t going anywhere any time soon…

What could possibly explain this messed up takeoff?

Looking at the video of the takeoff, there’s nothing that stands out to me as being particularly unusual. It looks like the plane is accelerating decently, the flaps are in use, etc. But the plane just keeps going and going.

I tried to pull up the flight data through Flightradar24, which typically shows you the altitude and speed for a plane, but oddly there’s a roughly five minute gap around the takeoff time. I’m not sure how we’re supposed to interpret that.

Either way, it’s hard to comprehend what happened here. If the pilots felt something was off during the takeoff roll, they’d logically abort the takeoff. And a 13,000+ foot runway is particularly long, so they should’ve had a major buffer here.

Typically when we see incidents like this, it’s because the takeoff performance for the plane wasn’t calculated correctly (that’s not to say that’s the cause here, but I’m just saying that’s the most common explanation for this kind of an incident). Did the crew not have the right “numbers” for this flight when determining takeoff performance?

That mistake can happen sometimes, but typically pilots would catch the error, because something looks off. I mean, this was a long haul 787 flight, so pilots roughly know what kind of takeoff performance they should be expecting.

Was there some technical or other glitch that prevented the plane from taking of when it was supposed to, or what? We’ll have to wait for a full investigation, but everything about this incident is very strange.

Bottom line

A Vietnam Airlines Boeing 787 had a seriously messed up takeoff from Munich, as the plane overran the runway on takeoff, causing it to damage runway lights, strike its tail, and cause huge clouds of dust to rise. When the plane came back to land, it also had serious issues with its wheels, and the full damage of the tail strike was discovered.

Particularly given how long Munich Airport’s runway is, there’s nothing about this that looks good… I’m curious to see what an investigation reveals. On the plus side, thank goodness no one was hurt, because it seems like this could’ve also had a much worse ending.

What do you make of this Vietnam Airlines runway overrun in Munich?

Uber reduces rewards for Uber One members

Uber has it Uber One subscription service, which costs $9.99 per month, or $96 per year (it’s also offered as a perk with select credit cards). For that, you receive perks like Uber credits with each ride, $0 delivery fees on select Uber Eats orders, etc.

Uber has just emailed Uber One members, to let them know that the 6% back on spending in the form of credits will be reduced to 5%. Here’s the email to members, as flagged by View from the Wing:

We’re always looking for new ways to improve Uber One, evolving what we offer based on what members value most. We’re making a few updates and want to share what’s changing.

In the coming weeks, eligible rides will start earning 5% Uber One credits instead of 6%. Credits can continue to be used on future rides and Uber Eats orders.

We’ve also recently introduced new member benefits that let you:

• Share your membership with family: Add one additional adult and teens from your household at no extra cost, so they can enjoy Uber One benefits too.
• Travel abroad with your benefits: Membership benefits apply in 45+ countries where Uber One is available.
• Unlock savings on hotels: Earn 10% Uber One credits on hotel bookings through Uber and get up to 20% off stays at select properties.

You’ll continue to get Uber One benefits including $0 Delivery Fee on eligible orders, Surge Savings on eligible rides, and other exclusive member benefits.

Why do travel providers have to outright lie to customers?

This change to Uber One is… whatever. I mean, I’m not happy to see rewards reduced, but it’s not the biggest deal in the world. What bothers me is how it’s communicated:

• The company claims it’s “always looking for new ways to improve Uber One,” so you’d think that means positive news will follow
• The email then goes on to state that “we’re making a few updates and want to share what’s changing,” even though the email only lists a single update, while referencing some updates that have been made in the past
• That intro about positive changes is then followed by news that rewards will be slashed

I just don’t understand marketing professionals who act this way. I just can’t imagine in what low regard these people must hold their customer base to think that this type of communication will be well received.

Some people might respond with “well what do you expect them to say?” I dunno, how about the truth? You don’t have to say “oh, we’re making the program worse,” but instead, just announce “the thing.” By all means tell people you’re making a change, and explain that you’re always looking to evolve the program and invest in what people value. But starting an email about bad news by making it sound like good news is just downright insulting.

Others might say “why even write about this, all companies do this?” Well, I wouldn’t say all companies do this, but yes, many do. My hope is that if companies keep getting blasted for this kind of behavior, maybe they’ll think twice about communicating this way in the future. Maybe that’s not realistic, but hey, one can dream, right?

Bottom line

Uber is reducing rewards for Uber One members from 6% to 5%. Obviously reducing rewards by 17% isn’t great news, but what I find even worse is how it’s being communicated.

The company starts the communication by telling members that the company is “always looking for new ways to improve Uber One, evolving what we offer based on what members value most,” and then the only new news in the email is about how rewards are being cut. C’mon, marketers and comms folks, do better!

What do you make of these Uber One changes?

While this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, Delta executives are now publicly confirming plans to return to Singapore, a destination that hasn’t been served by the airline since 2019, when that was an intra-Asia tag flight from Japan. We’re also learning out of which airport that service will likely operate…

Delta is eyeing Singapore for further Asia expansion

As Delta executives view it, the airline is pretty maxed out in terms of its European potential, and in the long run, they see the most long haul growth potential in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. So, what kind of expansion should we expect?

• So far, Delta has launched flights to Hong Kong (HKG), and has announced plans to fly to Manila (MNL) and Tokyo Narita (NRT); Riyadh (RUH) flights are also launching soon (we’ll see how that goes), and that’s technically Asia, but not a Pacific flight
• Delta also wants to connect its Los Angeles (LAX) and New York (JFK) hubs to Seoul Incheon (ICN), which is the hub of joint venture partner Korean Air, as Delta loves routing Asia traffic through there
• We’ve also known that Delta plans to once again fly to Singapore (SIN), and we’re learning more about what that will look like

Sean Cudahy reports that Delta Chief Commercial Officer Joe Esposito has just explicitly confirmed that the airline is returning to Singapore. That’s not really a surprise, since we’ve known that was in the cards.

But what’s perhaps most interesting is the hub out of which the service will operate — Esposito ruled out that the service could operate out of Los Angeles, so it’s pretty clear that the airline will operate this service out of Seattle (SEA). That also matches previous reporting from JonNYC.

Now, we’ll see with what timeline this service actually launches. My guess is that we’re looking at a fall 2027 service start, at best. At 8,070 miles, this will be Delta’s third longest flight, after its routes to South Africa, which are from Atlanta (ATL) to Cape Town (CPT) and Johannesburg (JNB).

One certainly wonders if this Singapore route could be operated by Delta’s new Airbus A350-1000s, which will feature an all-new passenger experience. While the plane has great range and per seat economics, the only thing I’d say is that it’s “a lot of plane” for a new market, in terms of the overall capacity (even with the very premium layout).

In both the Seattle and Los Angeles to Singapore market, Singapore Airlines is the only other carrier operating. So competitively there’s not a huge difference in that regard, though Singapore Airlines does have significantly more service out of Los Angeles.

My take on Delta’s Asia expansion plans

It’s fantastic to see Delta looking to grow its presence in Asia. Point-to-point flying to Asia is a market that United has basically had cornered in recent years, and competition is good for consumers.

It’s amazing to think for how many years Delta basically squandered its Asia advantage. Keep in mind that back in the day, Northwest had a robust Asia network, and after the merger with Delta, we saw that network decreased slowly but steadily, as Delta instead focused on routing everything through Seoul Incheon, and into the Korean Air network. So I’m happy to see a reversal of that strategy.

I also have to say that given Delta’s hubris, it’s kind of fun to see the airline having to increasingly play “catch up,” rather than coming in as the dominant carrier. And I think that very much sums up what’s going on in Asia.

The most basic structural disadvantage that Delta has is that United has a fortress hub in San Francisco (SFO), which is where a large part of its Asia network flies from. That’s fantastic for connectivity, not to mention San Francisco is a very strong market for Asia traffic.

Delta, meanwhile, is taking a split hub approach, flying out of both Los Angeles and Seattle. Obviously Delta is trying to make the best of its situation, but there’s no denying that this is an uphill battle:

• Both Delta’s Los Angeles and Seattle hubs are roughly half the size of United’s San Francisco hub, so the connectivity and local loyalty just aren’t there in the same way
• Delta is in second place in Seattle, which isn’t great from a loyalty revenue perspective, given that Alaska continues to be the dominant carrier for the local community
• Los Angeles is a market that’s really hard to win, and if Delta can actually turn it into a profitable hub where it has a significant market share advantage, it’ll be the first airline to succeed at that in the long run
• Compared to United, Delta just doesn’t have the breadth or depth of network that United has; for example, one flight a day to Hong Kong is great, but United’s four flights per day are better

It also has to be emphasized that in terms of actually transporting passengers profitably (or at less of a loss), United does a better job at that than Delta, despite its lower overall profitability. Comparing passenger revenue per air seat mile to cost per air seat mile, United is at 16.18 cents vs. 16.46 cents, while Delta is at 17.37 cents vs. 19.31 cents.

Bottom line

Delta is growing quite a bit in Asia at the moment. The airline has already launched flights to Hong Kong, with flights now on sale to Manila and Tokyo Narita. On top of that, Delta has officially confirmed it plans to fly to Singapore in the near future, with the service likely to be out of Seattle rather than Los Angeles.

It’s great for passengers to see more competition across the Pacific, as Delta sure is making up for a lack of effort for years. However, the airline will also have quite the disadvantage compared to United for a long time…

What do you make of Delta’s plans to fly to Singapore?

I’d like to provide a quick update, as the new route is in the process of being put on sale, and an aspect of the schedule sure confuses me…

Delta adds transatlantic flights out of Austin, Texas

Delta has announced plans to launch daily nonstop flights between Austin (AUS) and Paris (CDG). The service will be summer seasonal, operating between March 27 and October 24, 2027 (in other words, it coincides with the IATA summer season. The flight is now on sale, and will operate with the following schedule:

DL100 Austin to Paris departing 3:15PM arriving 8:15AM (+1 day)
DL99 Paris to Austin departing 10:10AM arriving 2:20PM

The 5,110-mile flight is blocked at 10hr eastbound and 11hr10min westbound. Delta intends to use an Airbus A330-900neo for the route, featuring 281 seats, including 29 Delta One (business class) seats, 28 Premium Select (premium economy) seats, and 224 Main Cabin (economy) seats.

I am a bit confused by the schedule for the flight. Delta doesn’t currently have any A330neo service scheduled for Austin, and this shows the plane turning there in just 55 minutes. That’s not realistic, so is Delta going to add some domestic A330neo service to and from Austin for fleet utilization, or what?

My assumption was that the plane would have a roughly two hour turn in Austin, and that there would be a plane swap in Paris with one of Delta’s other services, to make the aircraft utilization as efficient as possible.

In terms of Delta’s service to Paris, the airline otherwise flies there from all of its international hubs, including Atlanta (ATL), Boston (BOS), Detroit (DTW), Los Angeles (LAX), Minneapolis (MSP), New York (JFK), Salt Lake City (SLC), and Seattle (SEA), and also out of Cincinnati (CVG). So this will be Delta’s second non-hub route to Paris. Furthermore, this will be Austin’s first long haul route operated by a US carrier.

Here’s what Joe Esposito, Delta’s Chief Commercial Officer, had to say about this route addition:

“Austin’s growth continues to create new opportunities for customers, and Delta is proud to grow alongside it. Launching Austin’s first nonstop service to Paris is a defining milestone, but it’s just one part of our broader investment in the region. From expanded domestic flying to strong international connectivity through our partnership with Air France-KLM, we’re making it easier than ever for customers to connect from Central Texas to destinations around the world.”

My take on Delta adding Austin to Paris flights

There’s nothing surprising about seeing Delta add flights from Austin to Paris. On the most basic level, Delta is increasingly investing in Austin as a focus city.

American tried to grow there for some time, but then gave up, given how unprofitable the expansion was. Now Delta is trying its hand at growing there. Arguably Delta has more strategic upside with a big presence in Austin, given that unlike American and United, the airline doesn’t otherwise have a big hub in Texas, and there’s some geographic value there.

While Austin’s airport is growing, ultimately this will never be a fortress hub for Delta, as the growth rate just isn’t there. But still, something is better than nothing.

When it comes to this specific route, Delta will be operating this as part of the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture, which also includes Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic:

• KLM also flies to Austin out of Amsterdam (AMS), and is currently the only SkyTeam long haul carrier flying there
• Virgin Atlantic tried to fly to Austin out of London (LHR), but canceled the flight after just 18 months, as it didn’t find success there
• So it makes sense to also connect Austin to Paris, given that it’s a massive hub for Air France; if anything, the only surprise here is that it’s Delta operating this route, and not Air France

In terms of the competitive landscape among the “big three” alliances, Austin is also served by British Airways out of London, and by Lufthansa out of Frankfurt (FRA).

I don’t think Austin to Paris will rank anywhere near the top of Delta’s list of profitable long haul routes, though it’s practical enough for offering one-stop service across Europe, as well as to India, Africa, etc. And hey, it’ll at least hemorrhage less money than Delta’s expansion to Asia, right?

If anything, I’m surprised the route is only summer seasonal, since you’d think there would be a decent amount of year-round demand.

Bottom line

Between March and October 2027, Delta will operate daily nonstop flights between Austin and Paris using Airbus A330neos. With Delta growing its presence in Austin, it’s not surprising to see the airline add a transatlantic link, which will offer one-stop connectivity across Europe, to India, etc.

I’m not sure what went into the decision for Delta to operate this route rather than joint venture partner Air France. But either way, more long haul service is a good thing!

What do you make of Delta’s new Austin to Paris route?

Earn AAdvantage miles on cancer research donations

American AAdvantage ordinarily offers 10x miles when donating to Stand Up To Cancer. However, once a year we tend to see an elevated offer, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing right now. Between August 13 and September 30, 2026, these donations can be much more rewarding:

• When donating $25 or more, you can earn 25x AAdvantage miles per dollar donated
• When donating $25-10,000 using an American AAdvantage Mastercard issued in the United States, you can earn 50x AAdvantage miles per dollar donated

While there’s no cap on the number of donations on which American will offer 25x miles, the 50x miles is only available for the first $5 million in eligible donations. I imagine the website will be updated if/when that cap is reached, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s relatively soon.

Note that the miles earned through this offer are AAdvantage redeemable miles, and wouldn’t count as Loyalty Points (aside from any base points from spending on co-branded American cards, at the rate of one Loyalty Point per dollar spent).

When you make a donation, on the payment page you’ll see that the option to “cover transaction costs” is automatically selected, and that can be as much as 4.9%. However, that’s not mandatory, and you can uncheck the box — everyone can decide for themselves what they want to do there.

The other catch to be aware of is that it can take several weeks for miles to post, so don’t expect the miles posting to be an instant process.

This is a rewarding opportunity to do good

If you have an eligible credit card, you could essentially be buying American AAdvantage miles for two cents each. Is that a rate at which I’d proactively pick them up? No, probably not. However, it’s a great opportunity if you want to acquire miles while also doing good, and it’s even lower than the cost at which American usually sells AAdvantage miles. Cancer research is of course a worthwhile cause.

Personally, I value AAdvantage miles at ~1.5 cents each, so as far as I’m concerned, you’re getting a 75% “return” on your donations in the form of miles. Other people will value miles differently, and can do their own math.

Some people may wonder if these donations are tax deductible. You’ll want to consult your tax professional, but the terms state the following:

For charitable deduction purposes, each mile is valued at 3 cents per mile. The receipt of miles may reduce the tax deductibility of your contribution.

A valuation of three cents per mile would put the reward at higher than the donation amount (for those earning 50x miles). I suppose you could dispute the value of miles, but still, most wouldn’t be looking at getting a significant tax benefit here.

Bottom line

At the moment, you can earn up to 50x American AAdvantage miles when donating to Stand Up To Cancer. This is a way to acquire AAdvantage miles for two cents each while doing good, so it’s something worth considering. I plan to make a donation, and encourage others to as well.

However, there’s some video footage going viral over an airline passenger’s behavior in India, and I think it makes for an interesting bigger picture discussion around how policies and norms differ globally when it comes to acceptable behavior at airports.

Woman goes on rampage after IndiGo flight cancelation

There’s video footage going viral of an incident that happened at around 5:45PM on Thursday, August 13, 2026, at an IndiGo check-in counter at Bhubaneswar Airport (BBI), in India.

According to reports, the woman pictured in the video was scheduled to travel on IndiGo flight 6E 7352 to Kolkata (CCU). It had been delayed by roughly three hours, before ultimately being canceled due to a technical fault. That’s of course super frustrating. According to what was said in the video, her son was sick (it’s not clear to what extent), and she was frustrated by the lack of timely information that she was given about the cancelation.

Flight cancelations can of course be frustrating, but her response was beyond hostile — she started screaming, got up in the airport employee’s face, slammed computer equipment, and more.

It does look like after some significant backlash, a complaint has been filed against the passenger with the airport police station. The woman damaged a computer monitor, a keyboard, and a passport swiping machine, with damage being estimated to be around 49,000 INR (513 USD).

It’s interesting how airport behavior norms differ around the world

It’s not exactly insightful to point out that norms around behavior while traveling differ greatly depending on where in the world you are. If you compare airport behavior in Japan vs. the United States, you’d think you’re on two different planets.

There’s no denying that as the aviation industry in India has grown massively, we’ve also seen more and more reports of poor passenger behavior. Honestly, we’ve seen a similar pattern in the United States over time. My point isn’t to criticize one culture in comparison to another, but I think it’s fascinating to watch this clip as an American, and in particular, the response.

If a passenger behavior like this in the United States, they’d probably be tackled and tased by police. Like, this wouldn’t be tolerated for a split second, and handcuffs would’ve been on the passenger in no time.

Meanwhile here we see the passenger completely cross the line, and no one really seems to do anything. That then escalates when she goes from being verbally abusive to being physically abusive, throwing the computer equipment. Eventually some sort of police seem to get involved, but they just sort of seem to push her to the side.

I don’t want to be heartless, but I think this woman should’ve been restrained earlier. She could’ve just as easily become violent toward the airport employee she was towering over. For that matter, I think she should be placed on a no fly list. I mean, imagine if she engaged in this kind of behavior on an aircraft, without law enforcement, and without the ability for others to easily get away from her.

What I also find noteworthy is looking at some of the social media responses to this. There are a surprising number of people coming out in her defense, saying things like “when a person is helpless what do you expect that person to do?”

It’s never acceptable to act this aggressively toward others, in my opinion. But in particular, it’s not fair to blame a frontline customer service employee who has no control over the situation. These people didn’t sign up to be abused by the public, and they don’t deserve it.

I understand every culture is different, but I really feel like regulators in India could do a bit more to establish what isn’t acceptable behavior, and create punishments that hopefully deter people from working this way. We saw regulators in the United States increasingly fine passengers for poor behavior coming out of the pandemic, and I think that was fair and reasonable.

Bottom line

An IndiGo passenger became super aggressive after her flight was canceled. She climbed up on the baggage belt, yelled at the airport employee, and slammed computer equipment. It’s totally understandable to be frustrated when things go wrong while traveling, though acting this way is never okay, in my opinion.

What amazes me most is how everyone around her seems to tolerate this, and not actually take any action. Fortunately a complaint has now been filed against her, so hopefully she faces some punishment. If you ask me, this should land someone on the no fly list…

What do you make of this IndiGo passenger abuse?

PS: Let me remind everyone of OMAAT commenting guidelines. You’re welcome to chime in here, but please be respectful, and don’t rudely generalize cultures. If you see comments you take issue with, please hit the “Report” button.

American flight AA2482 double trouble in Phoenix

Every flight has a callsign that’s used with air traffic control, and for commercial aircraft, that’s generally going to be the generic airline callsign plus the flight number. Callsigns are of course unique to a particular flight, because that’s the way that air traffic control communicates with pilots.

That brings us to what happened very late last night (Thursday, August 13, 2026), in Phoenix. AA2482 is a flight number used by American between Chicago (ORD) and Phoenix (PHX). The flight number is actually used in both directions of travel, which isn’t that uncommon, with both flights being operated by Boeing 737-800s.

However, things got a little strange last night, because it’s not necessarily the same plane that flies in both directions (since American has many 737s in Phoenix that it can swap around). Last night:

• AA2482 from Chicago to Phoenix landed at 12:13AM, well behind the scheduled 10:43PM arrival
• AA2482 from Phoenix to Chicago took off at 11:58PM, roughly on-time, given its scheduled 11:45PM departure

What happened is that both planes ended up on the same Phoenix air traffic control frequency at the same time, with the same callsign. You can see the visualization of that below, along with the air traffic control audio.

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As you can hear, the air traffic controller says “I’ve been working air traffic for 25 years, I’ve never seen two aircraft pretty much merge with the same callsign, that’s pretty incredible.”

He handled this like a champ, making it clear to pilots of both planes that there was another plane with the same callsign on the frequency. He was great about speaking clearly, and clarifying “American 2482 on the arrival” vs. “American 2482 on the departure.” The pilots of both planes also deserve credit, because they were (understandably) paying extra close attention.

How did this American callsign situation get messed up?

As I mentioned above, on the surface, it’s not unusual to see the same callsign used for multiple flights, and in theory, it’s possible the two planes are in the air at the same time. However, in situations where that’s the case, what typically happens is that one of the planes takes on a different callsign, even if it’s something as simple as adding a letter to the end of the flight number, “like American 2482 bravo,” or something.

One thing I’m not sure of is who would typically be responsible for ensuring that? Is that something that a company’s operations department is supposed to take care of, does air traffic control somehow do that, or something else? In other words, who wasn’t doing their job here?

This is definitely unusual, though, as it’s kind of wild how the two planes ended up on the same frequency, basically heading for one another. What are the odds of that?

Bottom line

Two American Airlines planes ended up on the same air traffic control frequency with the same callsign, basically heading straight for one another. Ultimately the flight number is used for both directions of travel between Chicago and Phoenix, but in this case, the Chicago to Phoenix flight was delayed, while the return flight operated on time, obviously with a different aircraft.

I think the air traffic controller said it best — in his 25 years on the job, that’s the first time he saw something like that.

What do you make of this odd air traffic control situation?

Emirates may launch Milan to Lima flights, and more

Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera (which typically has very accurate reporting) shares that Emirates is very close to receiving permission to operate nonstop flights between Milan (MXP) and Lima (LIM). Say what now?!

For context, fifth freedom flights are when airlines operate services between two countries other than their home country, and it requires regulatory approval (or being part of an Open Skies framework).

For example, in the Americas, Emirates already has fifth freedom flights from Athens (ATH) to Newark (EWR), Barcelona (BCN) to Mexico City (MEX), Miami (MIA) to Bogota (BOG), and Milan (MXP) to New York (JFK). Emirates is now reportedly close to receiving permission to also add service from Milan to Lima.

The idea is that this is an underserved market that doesn’t currently have nonstop flights, so the airport is keen to get more nonstop links, given the positive economic implications of more long haul service. Meanwhile Emirates has been trying to expand more into South America, though that’s not necessarily so easy in terms of aircraft range limitations.

For example, the direct distance between Dubai and Lima is 9,645 miles, so that’s really pushing the range of any aircraft that Emirates flies, at least without major payload restrictions. Meanwhile by routing through Milan, the journey would be broken up into a 2,929-mile flight between Dubai and Milan, plus a 6,609-mile flight between Milan and Lima.

Presumably the intent would be to serve both demand between Milan and Lima (one of Milan’s largest underserved long haul markets), as well as demand between Dubai and Lima. And of course there would be connectivity on both ends, for those traveling to or from either region.

Let me emphasize that this isn’t yet a done deal. Regulatory approval is expected in the coming weeks, and then we’ll see if Emirates actually decides to launch this service in the foreseeable future.

Emirates considers other fifth freedom Milan flights as well

The story suggests that Emirates is also considering adding flights to several more destinations out of Milan. Airports under consideration reportedly include Los Angeles (LAX), Mexico City (MEX), Santiago (SCL), and Sao Paulo (GRU).

With the exception of Milan to Sao Paulo (which is served by LATAM), all of those markets don’t currently have any nonstop service. So we’ll see what comes of this. I wouldn’t expect all of these routes to be operated by Emirates, but maybe we’ll see a couple launched over time.

Ultimately Emirates has amazing economics and scale, so the carrier can make all kinds of services work that might not necessarily be profitable for other airlines. As stated above, the huge benefit of fifth freedom flights is also all the potential “funnels” you have for getting passengers, since you can sell seats on either sector, so it really helps with keeping load factors up.

Bottom line

Emirates is reportedly close to receiving permission to launch new fifth freedom flights out of Milan, with service to Lima expected to be the first new route. We’ll see if anything actually comes of this — clearly Emirates is interested, but that’s not to say it’ll actually happen.

Beyond the Milan to Lima route, Emirates is also reportedly studying flights from Milan to Los Angeles, Mexico City, Santiago, and Sao Paulo, so I’m looking forward to seeing how this evolves.

What do you make of Emirates possibly adding Milan to Lima flights, among other routes?

OYO Hotel Las Vegas & Palette Las Vegas look mighty similar

OYO Hotel and Casino Las Vegas is a budget friendly property that doesn’t generally get good reviews. On TripAdvisor, it’s ranked number 240 of 260 hotels in Las Vegas.

So here’s where the story gets interesting. If you go to online travel agencies like booking.com, you’ll see a new property named Palette Las Vegas. What does that have to do with OYO Las Vegas? Well, the two “properties” look remarkably similar.

Below is an exterior picture of OYO Las Vegas.

Below is an exterior picture of Palette Las Vegas.

Below is a picture of the OYO Las Vegas pool.

Below is a picture of the Palette Las Vegas pool.

Wild coincidence, eh? You want to know what’s even wilder? The properties have the same address — 117 E. Tropicana Avenue. What’s going on here? Did the OYO Las Vegas rebrand as the Palette Las Vegas? No, the answer is much more absurd than that…

Palette Las Vegas is a completely imaginary hotel

A TikToker shared her experience searching for hotels on booking.com. She specifically didn’t want to book the OYO Las Vegas due to the bad reviews, particularly around cleanliness. So she decided to book Palette Las Vegas, figuring that it looked a bit nicer, while still being reasonably priced.

She received the confirmation, and upon arriving in Las Vegas, she headed to the hotel. However, when she arrived at the address on the confirmation, she only saw OYO Las Vegas, and not Palette Las Vegas. So she kept circling the block, thinking maybe she was missing something, before calling the hotel. They told her to proceed into OYO for check-in.

So once at check-in, she asked what was going on, given that they booked Palette Las Vegas. She was reportedly told that Palette Las Vegas doesn’t exist, and “they just put the listing up to see which ad would gain more traction.”

In other words, Palette Las Vegas is fake, and AI images are being used to pretend it’s a property that’s different than OYO Las Vegas.

I mean, I’m no lawyer, but I can’t imagine there’s any planet on which this is legal, and isn’t outright false advertising. What I’m curious about is the extent to which online travel agencies are in on this, vs. the hotel owners just trying to pull a fast one on them as well.

Bottom line

OYO Las Vegas gets pretty poor reviews, and obviously that’s impacting demand for the property. Rather than improving, the hotel seems to be trying a new sales tactic. One of Las Vegas’ newest hotels is the Palette Las Vegas, which… doesn’t actually exist. It’s actually OYO Las Vegas, but with a new name and AI altered photos.

So when you book Palette Las Vegas, you’re actually staying at OYO Las Vegas, because it literally doesn’t exist. This is just insane, and I have to imagine that even the online travel agencies are getting scammed here. I don’t necessarily think that highly of their ethics, but I can’t imagine they’re open to just selling totally fake hotels in this way.

What do you make of this Las Vegas hotel scam?

These new SWISS Senses cabins were first rolled out on newly delivered Airbus A350-900s, though we know that SWISS also plans to reconfigure its existing jets with these new seats. There’s an exciting update, as the first Airbus A330-300 is currently being reconfigured with SWISS Senses cabins.

SWISS Senses coming to Airbus A330-300 fleet

SWISS has confirmed that it has started the project of reconfiguring Airbus A330-300s with new cabins. This work is taking place in Hong Kong (HKG) — the first plane with the registration code HB-JHC arrived in Asia on July 20, and is expected to be there for some time.

So far, the existing cabins have reportedly been removed from the aircraft, and it’s also undergoing heavy maintenance (a C-check), so there’s a lot of work to be done.

It always takes longer for the first aircraft to be reconfigured, given that new seats have to be certified on the aircraft. We know that Lufthansa Group has had quite some challenges with certification of new cabins, so we’ll see how this all plays out, since the airline group doesn’t have a great track record.

However, assuming things go relatively smoothly, the plan is for the retrofit project to be put into full motion once the prototype is certified and back in service, so hopefully that’s before the end of the year. At that point, the expectation is that one plane will be reconfigured every six weeks.

SWISS’ fleet consists of 14 A330s, so you’d expect the entire project to take right around 84 weeks, or a little over 19 months. Realistically, I expect it’ll be around the spring of 2028 when the A330 project is complete, best case scenario. More realistically, I’d guess it’ll wrap up in the summer or fall.

The plan is then to reconfigure the fleet of 12 Boeing 777-300ERs. We’ll see with exactly what timeline this starts. The project could start once the A330 retrofit is complete, or who knows, it could also start before then.

How the layout of SWISS Airbus A330-300s will change

As SWISS reconfigures its Airbus A330-300s, what should we expect, exactly?

Currently, SWISS’ A330s have 236 seats, including eight first class seats, 45 business class seats, and 183 economy class seats.

Once reconfigured, SWISS’ A330s will have 225 seats, including three first class suites (one double suite), 43 business class seats, 28 premium economy seats, and 151 economy class seats.

So we’re no doubt seeing a significantly better product across the board. However, with the introduction of SWISS Senses, we’re seeing a five seat reduction in first class, a two seat reduction in business class, a new premium economy cabin with 28 seats, and a 32 seat reduction in economy class.

One wild aspect of the SWISS Senses cabin on the A330 is that the first class is apparently too heavy for the plane, and could cause a weight and balance issue. As a result, the airline is installing a 1.5-ton weight in the back of the aircraft, to prevent that from being an issue. That’s not exactly ideal, eh?

Anyway, I’m going to be very curious to see how these A330s look once reconfigured. The cabins of these planes are tired, and in particular, SWISS’ A330 business class leaves a lot to be desired.

It remains to be seen how tight the premium cabins on these planes feel, though. In economy, the A330 is a joy, given its 2-4-2 layout (meaning each row has two sets of seat pairs). The overall cabin is 17 inches narrower than on the A350 (where the SWISS Senses cabins debuted), so I’m sure this will be felt in business class, though the first class cabin feeling is what interests me most.

Keep in mind that there’s a double suite in center of first class, and that feels tight on the A350, assuming you’re two people (it’s the same as in Lufthansa Allegris). I have to imagine it’ll feel significantly more constrained on the A330.

Bottom line

SWISS has started the project of retrofitting its Airbus A330 fleet with new cabins. The plane will be getting the new SWISS Senses concept with four classes of service. While SWISS Senses debuted on the A350, it’s great to see the carrier’s tired A330s get some love as well.

The first plane is currently in the “shop,” and it’ll likely be a few months before it’s ready to go, given that it’s the prototype. Once this plane is back in service, expect planes to be reconfigured one after the other, with each taking around six weeks. Here’s to hoping the certification process goes smoothly, given Lufthansa Group’s track record.

What do you make of SWISS’ A330 retrofit plans?

Details of the expanded Bilt & BLADE collaboration

Effective immediately, BLADE has been integrated into the Bilt app, meaning that Bilt members can now make BLADE flight bookings directly in the Bilt Travel Portal. Furthermore, it’s also finally possible to redeem Bilt Cash for flights on BLADE.

Specifically, members can now redeem Bilt Cash toward BLADE bookings — up to $350 per seat, for up to two flights per calendar year, for a total value of up to $700 per year. At checkout, available Bilt Cash credit will appear automatically as a payment option.

Bilt Cash can also be combined with Bilt points and/or any linked card, meaning that it’s now also possible to redeem Bilt points toward BLADE bookings, and points can be used to cover part or all of the cost of a booking.

When it comes to redeeming Bilt Cash on BLADE, each credit applies to one seat booking, so if your seat costs less than $350, remaining credit can’t be carried over (so you’re capped at two tickets, even if you don’t max out the $700). Furthermore, Bilt Cash applies to seat bookings online, and not to incidentals, like luggage.

This latest development complements the existing partnership between Bilt and BLADE:

• All Bilt members can earn 2x Bilt points on BLADE bookings made through the Bilt Travel Portal
• Bilt Silver, Gold, and Platinum members receive 10% off BLADE bookings made through the Bilt app
• Bilt Gold and Platinum members have access to BLADE lounges, even on days when they’re not flying, including up to two drinks per visit
• Bilt Platinum members can claim one complimentary BLADE flight per year from Manhattan to New York Kennedy (JFK) or Newark (EWR), plus lounge access

This is finally another good use of Bilt Cash

For those who like BLADE, this partnership is great in general (personally I have an irrational fear of helicopters, so this has no appeal to me, but that’s besides the point).

That being said, there’s no denying that this is a great partnership in general:

• For those pursuing Bilt elite status, it’s great to get access to the BLADE lounge, and it’s particularly nice for Platinum members to get one free flight per year
• This is perhaps most exciting for redeeming Bilt Cash, given the limited opportunities there have been with that currency, especially for those who earn a lot of it through the no annual fee Bilt Blue Card (learn more), $95 annual fee Bilt Obsidian Card (learn more), and $495 Bilt Palladium Card (learn more) — read my Bilt credit card review and comparison (Rates & Fees)
• I guess it’s nice to have another option for redeeming Bilt points, though I wouldn’t expect for this to be a particularly good use of points

Bottom line

Bilt and BLADE have just expanded their partnership. It’s now possible to book BLADE flights directly through the Bilt app, and with that, it’s also possible to redeem Bilt Cash toward BLADE flights. You can book up to two flights per year using Bilt Cash, for a total of up to $700 in value.

This all complements the existing partnership between Bilt and BLADE, which includes BLADE lounge access for Bilt Platinum and Gold members, and a free annual flight for Bilt Platinum members.

What do you make of the expanded Bilt and BLADE partnership?

The first planes to get reconfigured are the Boeing 777-300ERs. Last December we saw the first plane head to the “shop” to get a full makeover, and roughly eight months later, the plane is back enroute to the United States, and will hopefully enter service soon, as reported by JonNYC.

American starts retrofitting cabins of Boeing 777-300ERs

American has a fleet of 20 Boeing 777-300ERs, and these are the first long haul planes that American is reconfiguring with new interiors (Boeing 777-200ERs and Boeing 787-8s will also be reconfigured, though the timeline remains to be seen). These 777-300ERs are a priority because they’re used for the carrier’s most premium routes, and also because they feature first class, which is a cabin that American is eliminating.

American had first planned to start reconfiguring 777-300ERs as of September 2024, but that project was delayed, due to a variety of factors. In December 2025, we finally saw the 777 with the registration code N718AN fly to Hong Kong (HKG), so it could be the prototype plane that gets new cabins.

Work on the first aircraft always takes a really long time, and then aircraft after that tend to be faster. There’s finally a positive update, as that first plane is currently enroute to Dallas (DFW), featuring all-new cabins. The expectation is that it’ll take at least a couple more weeks at American’s facilities in Dallas before the plane is ready to enter service, and that’s best case scenario.

So we’ll see how this plays out, though I’d expect the aircraft to be in service before the end of the IATA summer 2026 schedule (and possibly much earlier than that), assuming these cabins have easily been certified, which is a real challenge nowadays.

American’s Boeing 777-300ER retrofit project is known as “Olympus” (similar to how the airline referred to its 737-800 retrofit project as “Oasis”).

American’s updated Boeing 777-300ER configuration

As American reconfigures its Boeing 777-300ERs, how will the seat count change? JonNYC has shared a seat map of what the reconfigured aircraft will look like, which tell us a lot.

For context, currently American’s 777-300ERs feature 304 seats, comprised of:

• Eight first class seats
• 52 business class seats
• 28 premium economy seats
• 216 economy seats

Once reconfigured, American’s 777-300ERs feature 330 seats, comprised of:

• 70 business class seats
• 44 premium economy seats
• 216 economy seats

As you can see, the jet is losing eight first class seats, but is gaining 18 business class seats and 16 premium economy seats, all while economy capacity stays the same.

On the surface, it’s almost puzzling how the plane could be reconfigured so efficiently. Trading eight first class seats for 18 business class seats and 16 premium economy seats is a heck of a “deal.” Essentially what’s going on is that we’re seeing a slight improvement in efficiency just about everywhere. You can find the current 777-300ER seat map here, and the new 777-300ER seat map here, if you want to compare the two.

Just to highlight some of the main efficiency gains, starting from the front and moving back:

• The forward lavatories are both right by the flight deck, rather than one being a bit further back; this isn’t great for when the pilots need to use the lavatory, and the galley is blocked off
• The second set of doors continues to have two lavatories, but the walk-up bar is being eliminated, and there’s just a galley there
• The third set of doors goes from having four lavatories to two, and it’s not clear if those two lavatories are dedicated to business class or premium economy
• The fourth set of doors are going from having two lavatories to zero lavatories
• The fifth set of doors are going from having two lavatories to three lavatories, but the size of the galley is being reduced considerably
• Business class is going from 43″ of pitch to 42″ of pitch, while Main Cabin Extra is going from 35″ of pitch to 34″ of pitch

Crews will probably hate working these planes, given the huge reduction in galley space. Meanwhile many passengers will be delighted by there being 70 business class seats — that’s fantastic for upgrades, as that’s way more business class capacity than we’ve seen on any plane up until now.

Just to compare this to the only other US airline flying this jet, United’s 777-300ERs feature 350 seats, including 60 business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 266 economy seats. So United has 50 more economy seats, but 10 fewer business class seats and 20 fewer premium economy seats.

When will American eliminate international first class?

American has plans to eliminate its international first class product, instead introducing an improved business class, plus a new front row premium business class experience. The timeline for that change is expected to coincide with the 777 retrofit project being materially underway.

The initial plan was to eliminate first class as of late 2024, though with the retrofits having been delayed, obviously that was delayed as well.

Presumably there will be some period where American stops selling first class, but continues to offer the hard product on some planes, and will just seat some business class passengers here. After all, the 20 777-300ERs can’t all be reconfigured overnight. Regardless, we’re still a ways off from when that will happen.

For now, American continues to sell first class through the end of the schedule (into the middle of 2027), but I imagine it’s also easy for American to simply downgrade people once a final decision is made.

Bottom line

American has plans to reconfigure its Boeing 777-300ER fleet, eliminating first class, and introducing a new business class. In December 2025, the first aircraft was flown to Hong Kong to be reconfigured. The prototype planes always take a long time, though the good news is that work has wrapped up, and the plane is now returning to the United States. Now it just remains to be seen if the cabins are certified, and how soon the plane enters service.

I’d expect that it will take around two years (best case scenario) until all 777-300ERs are reconfigured. It’s great to see American expanding the footprint for its new business class, as it’s a very nice experience.

What do you make of American’s plans to retrofit Boeing 777-300ERs?

However, since that announcement several months back, we’ve learned about TSA Gold+. No, it’s not a healthcare plan, just as Allegris isn’t an allergy or ED medication. Instead, it’s how the latest privatized airport security concept is being branded.

But what’s actually different about this program compared to “regular” TSA? How will passengers be impacted?

The basics of the mysterious TSA Gold+ program

In the Ask the Community section of OMAAT, member Mattt poses the following question about TSA Gold+:

Anyone familiar with the TSA Gold+ program beyond the ambiguous AI-generated website? Is this a way for the department to offload responsibility, redistribute the department’s budget, leverage the infrastructure bill, and/or kind of admit they aren’t great at security as currently conceived so it needs to be done radically differently?

For a bit of background, TSA Gold+ is the name of the concept of private contractors increasingly handling TSA duties at airports. In 2027, we’re expected to see TSA Gold+ go live in Tampa (TPA), Charleston (CHS), and Des Moines (DSM), so those are the first airports to get the new program.

I have to agree with Mattt about the webpage dedicated to TSA Gold+. It contains lots of buzzwords and looks flashy, but it almost seems like a school project that a student completed while relying heavily on AI. It’s almost like a webpage for a fake airline startup.

The website talks about how this is “the future of aviation security,” claiming that “through strong public-private partnerships, TSA Gold+ will unlock innovation, expand screening capacity, and achieve world-class security and customer experience.”

The website goes on to describe TSA Gold+ as follows:

TSA Gold+ is a new public-private partnership aimed at modernizing aviation security at select airports across the United States. TSA Gold+ will pair the Screening Partnership Program with TSA’s innovation authorities to enable cutting-edge aviation security solutions.

Under TSA Gold+, TSA will continue to set the standards for aviation security using outcome-based measures that both drive performance and security. Long-term Screening Partnership Program (currently a TSA private screener contract model) contracts will redirect funds into the investable partnerships where leading industry operators can manage both technology and screening workforce.

Then there’s a quote that’s not actually attributed to anyone (which isn’t usually how quotes work, but…).

Okay, so far there’s not actually much substance as to what the benefits of TSA Gold+ are, but fortunately there’s a section for that. The claim is that “as TSA approaches its 25th anniversary, rising travel volumes, evolving threats, and funding challenges present an opportunity to re-imagine aviation security.” So, what are the benefits of privatizing airport security? Well, I’ll let you see for yourself below, as it includes things like “premier customer experience.”

The claim is also that there’s a benefit for travelers, allowing them to “experience faster, easier screening,” with “security and enhanced convenience,” and giving them “access to cutting-edge technology.”

Can anyone plainly explain how we benefit from this?

I think most of us can agree that the TSA Gold+ website has a lot of fluff, and doesn’t actually concretely tell us how we’re better off because of it. Like, why does privatizing security make for a “premier customer experience,” and why do TSA Gold+ airports get “access to cutting-edge technology,” while others don’t?

Can anyone actually make sense of how privatizing airport security improves things, without accusing people of having TDS? On the surface, I actually don’t have strong opinions on this. I mean, San Francisco (SFO) has privatized airport security, and I can’t say that I find to be a worse experience than a standard TSA checkpoint?

For that matter, it’s not like the TSA actually has a great track record with stopping all prohibited items from getting through security, so it would be hard to argue that this will have an impact on safety.

I guess my confusion originates from my belief that simply adding “middlemen” to a process doesn’t make things more efficient, and that there’s also efficiency to a more scaled operation.

Presumably the private partners getting involved here are doing so because there’s some margin for them, so how does this improve efficiency? The TSA still has to oversee all of this, so how do taxpayers and travelers benefit?

Is the program somehow lower cost because the contractors are paid less than TSA agents? Why do the private contractors get access to cutting edge technology, while existing checkpoints don’t? Aren’t all taxpayers and air travels funding that either way?

Does this simply come down to the government not being able to do anything efficiently?

Bottom line

The Trump administration is working on increasingly privatizing airport security, and this is being done under the TSA Gold+ program. The idea is to work with contractors to outsource security, while the TSA still has oversight of the program.

All kinds of claims are made about TSA Gold+, about how it will lead to cutting edge technology, exceptional customer service, etc. However, I can’t actually make sense of the “how” and “why,” because typically simply adding a middleman doesn’t improve things. It’s possible that I’m missing something, but the sales pitch for the concept seems like fluff, so I’m just confused…

Can anyone plainly explain where the upside with TSA Gold+ comes from?

Delta pilots won’t fast track their contract negotiations

Delta pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), with the union being the party negotiating new contracts for pilots. A four-year contract was last ratified on March 1, 2023, and that contract becomes amendable as of December 31, 2026, meaning that we’re just around the corner from a potentially contentious period.

Initially, Delta pilots had pursued fast tracked contract negotiations, in hopes of making the process quick and painless. However, that now seems to be off the table, as the union claims that management has demanded major scheduling concessions, which the union doesn’t find to be acceptable. As a result, we’re going to see traditional, drawn out negotiations, as flagged by JonNYC:

The MEC met this week in special session to discuss the status of accelerated negotiations. The meeting included a full briefing from the Negotiating Committee on the current status of negotiations, detailing the Union and Company’s positions, and the path forward.

Based on the status of negotiations as outlined in Negotiator’s Notepad 26-03, the MEC has unanimously agreed that the accelerated path can no longer provide an acceptable result in a reasonable timeframe. Accordingly, the Negotiating Committee has been directed by the MEC to return to a traditional Section 6 path under the Railway Labor Act.

Adjustments to strategy and the path forward will be finalized during the upcoming regularly scheduled MEC Meeting the week of August 24. The Negotiators will then reengage the Company in traditional Section 6 negotiations.

Why drawn out negotiations impact flight reliability

On the most basic level, operational reliability tends to take a hit when there are contentious contract negotiations in the airline industry, but that’s not even the core of the issue here.

Delta’s operational reliability just isn’t what it used to be, and one cause of that is the carrier’s pilot scheduling software. I’ve written about this in detail in the past, but basically, the system by which pilots can pick up trips in the event of operational disruptions is just utterly stupid. It limits Delta’s ability to recover when things go wrong, while it’s a massive arbitrage opportunity for pilots, since they can accept trips and even get double or triple pay.

The thing is, any changes to this system need to be part of a new contract that’s agreed to by both parties, and pilots don’t want to give that up without concessions. Ideally if the contract had been fast tracked, a new system could’ve been put into place ASAP. Meanwhile without a fast track, the status quo will remain for the foreseeable future.

So unfortunately the next time that Delta does have a major weather event or operational breakdown, don’t be surprised when it takes longer than it should for the airline to recover. Delta pilots have even set up a dedicated website apologizing to customers for the carrier’s “unacceptable” flight reliability, encouraging customers to file complaints with regulators against the airline.

Bottom line

Delta’s union representing pilots will soon start formal negotiations for a new contract. While the hope was to have an accelerated path to ratify a new contract, that’s now no longer happening, as management and the union are too far apart, especially when it comes to scheduling provisions.

This isn’t going to be good for customers, since it means there’s no end in sight to Delta’s pilot scheduling software causing issues when things go wrong.

How do you see these negotiations between Delta management and the pilot union playing out?

Well, the hotel has finally broken its silence, in the form of commenting on a story about the incident in The Wall Street Journal.

Aman shares its side of the Ryan Walker & Amanvari story

If you’re not familiar with this whole controversy, I’d recommend first reading the two posts linked above, as I won’t recap those details here. Instead, let’s focus on what Aman claims. The core claim from Aman is that “the deceptively edited video created by someone unauthorized to be on our property does not reflect the circumstances of the incident accurately.”

So, what are the details, according to Aman?

• On July 7, 2026, Ryan booked a one night stay checking on August 3, 2026, at a cost of $4,662.82
• Ryan had claimed that he received the email about the cancelation late the night before (which he claimed to have only discovered when at the hotel’s gate), but when pressed by the WSJ, Ryan admitted it actually arrived the previous morning
• Aman claimed it never called the police, and reportedly presented its incident report to the WSJ, which made no mention of law enforcement; of course it has to be emphasized that in the video, the employee said “I need to call the police now,” and she walked off, and got on the phone
• Ryan said he didn’t see police arrive on site, but when informed by the WSJ that Aman said it didn’t call the police, he said he hoped that was true, and that this information would make him reconsider how the resort had handled the situation (I forgot, did he claim he saw military police, or am I imagining that?)
• An Aman spokesperson also claimed that Ryan bypassed the main entrance and ended up at a staff access point, but Ryan insisted his driver just followed GPS directions to the first entrance shown in the video
• Ryan admitted that the hotel emailed him five days before his visit, telling him it was unable to allow stays involving content coverage until after a month-long media blackout, and suggested he postpone his travel
• Ryan responded that the hotel should consider him a standard guest, and the property said it was prepared to welcome him, noting he could post content after the media exclusivity window, but filming public spaces would be prohibited, and filming private spaces required approval, and Aman insisted he made no arrangements with staff to film
• Ryan said that after he received the email about terms of filming, he didn’t hear anything from Aman until seeing the cancelation email on camera, though Aman claimed it also sent Ryan a WhatsApp message about the cancelation, which Ryan said he didn’t see
• Aman claimed it refunded Ryan the booking in full, pledged to cover additional travel and cancelation costs, and offered to help him rebook a stay; Ryan said he received the refund, but didn’t take Aman up on the other reimbursements

Does Aman’s side of the story change how we feel?

Now that we have both sides of the story, does that change how we should feel about this situation? Let me start by saying that there are always two sides of a story, and I never assumed that Ryan’s version of events reflected all of the facts, as perceived by both sides (obviously).

My conclusions were based on what we saw in the video. As I said in previous posts, for all we know, Ryan knew that his reservation was canceled when he pulled up to the hotel. Let me also say that while I think Ryan is one of the more honest reviewers out there, I’m not putting him on some pedestal.

Frankly, I wish he had been more transparent throughout all of this. He levied some really serious accusations, and he should’ve released all of his correspondence with the hotel, in my opinion. I tuned into the Q&A he did after the fact, and was disappointed by the lack of actual clarity he provided about what happened. He kept emphasizing how he wants to move on, while also clearly liking the attention associated with this.

That being said, nothing about Aman’s version of what happened makes me feel better about how the hotel group handled this. Let me again emphasize that this is a very expensive hotel, and people deserve to be treated with respect. A few things stand out to me:

• On the most basic level, what exactly is Aman claiming was “deceptively edited” in the video? And referring to a paying guest who you canceled on last minute simply as “someone unauthorized to be on our property” is offensive
• I don’t think Ryan intentionally pulled up to the wrong gate, but instead, I believe the story that this is where the GPS took the driver; that doesn’t excuse the response he received, so if that was really an issue, they could’ve just directed him to the correct gate
• I’m happy to hear that Amanvari reportedly didn’t actually call the police on Ryan, but even so, how on earth is it acceptable to threaten to call the police on someone who was a full paying guest who was canceled on at the last minute, who isn’t doing anything to be threatening?
• The hotel clearly lied to him about the reason they weren’t ready to welcome him; it was obviously because they weren’t ready for a review, rather than due to capacity issues, and they refuse to acknowledge that
• There’s not even a hint of apology in Aman’s statement about how they handled this situation, but instead, they’re full-on defensive; for a luxury hospitality brand, I find that to be unconscionable
• I’m sorry, but what exactly is a month-long media blackout, when we’re talking about fully paying guests? Aman is literally telling someone they need permission in order to film in their own room? Huh?! For example, a travel advisor posted the below video (she paid full price for her stay), but it sounds like she was also breaking the rules, or how are we defining media? Instagram is okay, but not YouTube, as both have the ability to monetize the content?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Abbie Moon Hand (@adventureisyourmiddlename)

Yeah, I just find Aman’s response here to still be seriously lacking. Sure, we can quibble over the little details, but the hotel canceled the reservation on someone last minute by lying, threatened to call the police on someone, and a manager has refused to speak to him.

And the hotel hasn’t even apologized in any way for his experience? That’s not sufficient. This just isn’t what you’d expect from a hospitality professional.

Bottom line

Aman has finally spoken out regarding the Amanvari controversy with Ryan Walker. The hotel brand claims the video was “deceptively edited,” though nothing about their defense actually changes how I feel about this.

On the most basic level, a luxury hotel shouldn’t threaten to call the police on a paying guest who had their reservation canceled on them at the last minute. And the complete unwillingness of a manager to speak to him is unacceptable.

What’s your take on Aman’s response to this situation?

Amex Resy credits become even more useful

Amex acquired dining platform Resy back in 2019, and then acquired dining platform Tock in 2024, with the goal of merging the two together. As of this summer we’ve seen Tock merged into Resy, and that’s about to have even bigger implications for cardmembers.

As of September 15, 2026, Amex’s Resy credits will expand to include select Tock restaurants. Cardmembers of course need to be sure that their card is enrolled in the Resy credit benefit, and should also ensure that the venue has the “Resy Credit eligible” badge on the venue page.

The plan is that more Tock restaurants will become eligible for the Resy credit as time goes on, over the course of several months.

Several weeks ago, many people were concerned when Amex updated the terms of the Resy credit benefit, stating that in the future, restaurants “must be indicated as eligible for the Resy Credit on the Resy website or the Resy app at the time of purchase to qualify for the benefit.”

Many of us were concerned that only a subset of Resy restaurants would start to be eligible for this credit, but as it turns out, this change was just intended to prepare for the Tock integration into Resy. So it’s absolutely good news.

This is fantastic news for Amex cardmembers

We saw the Amex Platinum Card undergo a refresh in late 2025, and while the annual fee increased, we also saw several new perks added. The fact that the up to $400 annual Resy credit just became even more valuable makes this card even more of a no-brainer.

Between the up to $400 annual Resy credit and the up to $600 annual hotel credit, the card’s annual fee is more than covered, as I see it. This was one of the rare premium card refreshes where I’d argue that the value proposition actually improved.

Bottom line

As of September 15, 2026, we’ll gradually see Amex card Resy credits redeemable at Tock restaurants, given that the platform is being integrated into Resy. This increases the potential value of those credits, for those who struggle to find Resy restaurants. Kudos to Amex on this change.

Will you benefit from the expanded use of Amex Resy credits?

The airline has now unveiled a new business plan, intended to strengthen its long term sustainability. This is actually a pretty radical transformation, so expect a lot of things at the airline to change… particularly, its network! First let’s talk about what’s changing, and then we’ll talk about how airBaltic got into this situation in the first place.

airBaltic unveils updated, long term business plan

airBaltic’s supervisory board has just approved the carrier’s updated business plan, which is intended to strengthen the company’s long term competitiveness, establish a sustainable capital structure, support future development, and maintain reliable connectivity for Latvia and the wider region.

Here’s what will be changing, summarized as succinctly as possible:

• airBaltic currently has a fleet of 54 Airbus A220-300s, and was planning on growing that fleet to 100 planes; however, the airline now plans to shrink instead, decreasing its fleet to just 36 planes by the end of 2026, before eventually increasing the fleet to around 40 planes by 2031
• The airline plans to largely maintain its scheduled capacity (since the airline does a lot of leasing out of aircraft — more on that below); available seat kilometers are expected to decline from 9.6 billion in 2026 to 8.7 billion in 2027, before gradually increasing to 10.5 billion by 2031
• airBaltic will continue to have a network heavily focused on Latvia, but rather than pursuing broad expansion, the airline will focus on deepening its presence in existing markets by increasing frequencies where demand and profitability are strongest
• airBaltic largely leasing out its aircraft to other airlines under a wet lease model (particularly Lufthansa Group carriers), but the airline plans to increasingly focus on year-round deployment with this strategy, to mitigate the seasonal issue

To fund these changes, airBaltic is seeking 225 million EUR in interim financing, intended to bridge the company to a permanent financing solution. The company is also seeking 100 million EUR of new capital. Here’s how Erno Hildén, airBaltic’s CEO, describes this updated strategy:

“Every successful airline must continuously adapt to a changing market. Thus, this business plan is about making disciplined choices that strengthen airBaltic’s long-term competitiveness while preserving what matters most – reliable connectivity and operations, together with financial sustainability. It provides a stronger foundation for the company’s future and positions us to create long-term value for our customers, partners and Latvia.”

How airBaltic has found itself in such a tough spot

airBaltic has historically been an incredibly well run airline. The CEO used to be Martin Gauss, but he was fired (which I found to be an odd decision), and he’s now CEO of Gulf Air. airBaltic operates an all-Airbus A220 fleet, and the airline had huge growth plans, and intended to acquire 100 of these aircraft.

For a long time, the idea was as follows:

• Latvia has convenient geography for connections in Northern Europe, as well as to Russia, etc.
• Latvia is part of the European Union, but airBaltic has a major cost advantage, given that Latvia is a bit cheaper than some other countries in the EU, so there was merit to the airline wet leasing its aircraft to other airlines

However, as you’d expect, the situation has evolved over time. With Russian airspace closed to airlines from the European Union, that has massively limited airBaltic’s potential route network, and particularly has limited the number of connecting itineraries the airline can sell. If the current conflict with Russia didn’t apply, it would be a totally different story at airBaltic.

While airBaltic continues have a robust wet leasing business, the issue is that most airlines looking to lease planes only need them in summer, and not winter, given that it’s when demand is highest. In early 2025, Lufthansa Group even bought a small stake in airBaltic, in part because of how much it values the wet lease agreements for subsidiaries like Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, etc.

But the issue is that summer-only wet leases need to be able to cover costs not just for summer, but also winter, since it’s not like airBaltic has anywhere to profitably fly those excess planes in winter.

What has really caused issues for airBaltic in recent times is the increase in fuel costs. Not only have fuel costs increases been particularly bad in Northern Europe, but it’s also tough to be a full service(ish) airline that exclusively has a regional network, given how robust ultra low cost carrier competition is in the region.

Unfortunately for airBaltic, shrinking probably is the right choice here. That way the airline can focus its network on routes that are actually profitable, and on top of that, can be more selective about wet leasing, to airlines that actually value having planes on a year-round basis.

Bottom line

airBaltic has been on the brink of collapse in recent months, and the company’s board has approved a new business plan, which will include some major changes. The most significant change is that the carrier’s fleet will go from 54 planes to 36 planes by the end of the year. Then by 2031 the fleet will grow to 40 planes, compared to the planned 100 planes.

With this downsizing, airBaltic also plans to increasingly focus on its most profitable routes, so expect some network cuts. We’ll also see reductions to the carrier’s wet leasing operations, as the airline tries to secure year-round deals, rather than just seasonal deals.

What do you make of these airBaltic updates?

The irony is that Lufthansa Group CEO Carsten Spohr is a former pilot, so you’d think he’d be on the side of labor. But it’s clear that as soon as he crossed over to management, he’s had a certain disdain for those who keep the airline running (at least that’s what his actions reflect).

Well, could Lufthansa finally be turning over a new leaf? Management seems to be suggesting so, but only time will tell if this is just talk, or if there’s meaningful action behind it.

Lufthansa wants to work with labor on long term solutions

This is Lufthansa’s 100th anniversary, so it’s supposed to be a year of celebration. Instead, this spring we saw employees stage back-to-back-to-back strikes, as both pilots and flight attendants had industrial action that grounded the airline for roughly a week, costing the company hundreds of millions of dollars. This also caused Lufthansa’s CityLine subsidiary to be shut down overnight.

While we haven’t seen formal strikes since then, the contract negotiations are ongoing, so additional industrial action isn’t yet off the table. However, for the first time that I can remember, it seems like Lufthansa management is actually acknowledging that it needs to change its approach with labor.

In talking about labor relations at the carrier, Lufthansa’s Chief Human Resources Officer, Michael Niggemann, said that “we need to talk with each other again, instead of about each other.” He also said that “it’s important that we not only find solutions to the current collective bargaining disputes, but also create a solid foundation for cooperation in the years to come.”

Those are certainly the right words, so let’s see if there are any actions behind that. Slightly more concretely, it seems that the two parties have agreed on a framework by which they’ll arbitrate labor disputes, with the union representing pilots informing members that negotiations will be used to find solutions, rather than industrial action.

Generally Lufthansa’s labor relations issues have come down to a lack of goodwill and cooperation between management and the unions.

Despite being the “flagship” airline, Lufthansa is the lowest margin airline in Lufthansa Group. How you want to analyze that depends on your perspective:

• Management keeps creating new airline subsidiaries due to this lack of profitability, arguing that the labor contracts for Lufthansa directly are too expensive
• Labor unions argue that Lufthansa is the least profitable airline because the airline group keeps outsourcing flying, so of course what’s left is of limited value, since the flagship brand is being “sacrificed”

Air France-KLM is to “blame” for Lufthansa’s new approach

Why is Lufthansa suddenly taking a new approach to labor relations? I mean, logically one would assume that management would come to the conclusion that it’s good for business to be on good terms with employees. But it’s probably not quite that straightforward. I suspect Lufthansa Group management is also realizing that as we increasingly see consolidation among European airlines, labor peace is an important point of differentiation.

I think there’s one man and airline group that is putting this pressure on Lufthansa Group — that’s Ben Smith at Air France-KLM. Prior to 2018, labor relations at Air France were horrendous. I mean, in 2015, a protest by employees looked more like January 6, with executives having their shirts ripped off, and scaling a fence to escape.

However, it has been a completely different story since Smith took over in 2018. Since then, Air France hasn’t seen a single major case of industrial action. Yes, in eight years. That’s beyond remarkable.

I know a lot of anti-union people like to always blame unions for the kind of unrest, and for being unreasonable, while giving management a pass. Yes, unions can be challenging. But I think the perfect counterpoint to that is what we’ve seen at Air France. Air France has gone from worst to first when it comes to labor relations in Europe, so how is that possible?

Well, Smith has a deep respect for employees, he’s a huge aviation geek (which employees very much respect), and he fundamentally views labor and management as being collaborative, rather than at odds with one another. He also understands the value in making strategic investments to make employees happy.

For example, when he started in his role, one of his first orders of business was to eliminate low cost carrier Joon, moving the employees there onto contracts with higher pay. That’s literally the opposite of what we see at Lufthansa Group, where it’s all about forming new subsidiaries in order to cut labor costs, at the expense of existing employees.

Smith’s attitude is essentially “hey, we (management and the employees) want the same thing, which is for the airline to succeed, so how can we come to an agreement where everyone can be happy?” Respect goes a long way… maybe it’s a lesson that Spohr and his team are finally learning?

Bottom line

Lufthansa management claims it’ll take a new approach to labor relations, increasingly trying to collaborate with unions to find long term solutions. This is such a departure from what we’ve seen at Lufthansa over the past couple of decades, so I’m skeptical, but it would certainly be great to see.

I think Air France has put the pressure on Lufthansa when it comes to showing the power of good labor relations, given how much the labor situation at Air France has transformed.

What do you think — will Lufthansa management actually turn over a new leaf with labor relations, or is this all talk?

Should airplanes have separate toilets for men & women?

Varsha Eknath Gaikwad, a Member of Parliament for Mumbai North Central, has asked India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation to require airlines to reserve at least one lavatory on each aircraft exclusively for female passengers. The letter frames the request as follows:

I am writing to bring your kind attention to a pressing concern regarding passenger hygiene, privacy, and dignity aboard commercial flights operating in India.

With the rapid expansion of Indian aviation and increasing air travel, passenger comfort and sanitation standards require continuous improvement. Currently, most narrow-body and regional aircraft operated by domestic airlines feature gender-neutral lavatories shared by all passengers.

Due to high passenger turnover, short turnaround times, and heavy inflight usage, maintaining optimal sanitation standards in shared lavatories often poses a challenge. This creates significant discomfort and hygiene concerns, particularly for female passengers, elderly travelers, pregnant women, and mothers traveling with young children.

The ask is that planes offer gender-segregated lavatories, and for regulators to require airlines to introduce hygiene and sanitation guidelines, to ensure that lavatories are maintained and cleaned throughout flights.

This isn’t happening, but I sympathize with the issue

I’ve gotta say, I very much sympathize with anyone who has to actually sit down on an airplane toilet, especially when traveling in economy on a long haul flight, on an airline that isn’t great about cleaning lavatories. They can be absolutely disgusting, to the point that some people may prefer to just “hold it in” until they get on the ground.

I’ve been in some premium cabin lavatories where I was almost too disgusted to use the facilities while standing up, and I can’t even imagine what it’s like for others. Now, I am a little confused about the discussion of “privacy,” since lavatories on planes are all intended for individuals, but the points about hygiene are fair.

That being said, this comes down to two questions:

• Is this really something the government should regulate?
• Is this a policy that airlines can realistically implement?

I think the second topic is the more interesting point. We have to be honest, airlines put a ton of thought into their cabin layouts, and the goal is always to cram in as many seats as possible. For example, IndiGo’s A321neos have 232 seats, and just three lavatories, so that’s an average of one lavatory per 77 passengers. That’s a really bad ratio.

Unless airlines are willing to voluntarily install more lavatories, the concept of gender segregating restrooms would complicate things significantly. It would create an inefficiency in terms of “gap” in lavatory use, when there’s almost always a queue to use them. For that matter, the aisle and galley spaces are so small that managing two separate queues would be challenging.

I get the frustration over how disgusting airplane lavatories are. I do wish airlines would put more effort into that in general. I’m not sure that the government regulating this, or even introducing gender segregated bathrooms, is the solution, though.

Bottom line

A politician in India is demanding that airlines be required to have at least one separate lavatory on each flight for women, in order to preserve the “hygiene, privacy, and dignity” for passengers. I totally get that lavatories are disgusting, and most airlines do a poor job addressing this problem.

At the same time, given the absolute bare minimum number of lavatories installed on so many aircraft, this seems like it will lead to more issues than solutions.

What do you make of this lavatory proposal in India?

Well, the more details that emerge about this incident, the stranger the story becomes. It’s also hard to figure out what’s true, and what’s (insanely over the top) dramatization by the media in India.

Basics of the drama surrounding Air India flight AI2379

This incident goes back to Tuesday, August 4, 2026, and involves Air India flight AI2379, operating from Phuket (HKT) to Delhi (DEL). The 1,972-mile flight was operated by an Airbus A320neo with the registration code VT-EXO, and had 145 people onboard, including 137 passengers and eight crew members.

While the plane was enroute and at cruising altitude, it suffered a sudden altitude loss of 300 feet. Now, 300 feet might sound like a lot on the ground, but that’s actually not a huge amount of altitude loss for a commercial aircraft, in the scheme of things.

However, the way that the loss of altitude happened is what caused issues, especially with people not buckled in, as the seatbelt sign wasn’t on at the time. The jet also exceeded its -1g structural limit during the event. In the end, 13 passengers and four crew members were injured, and had to be taken to hospitals upon landing (all are expected to fully recover, fortunately).

So, what caused this sudden loss of altitude? This incident has been a huge story in India, especially given Air India’s not-so-great reputation at the moment. As you’d expect, regulators in India have also been investigating this, the company’s CEO has had to appear to answer for this with authorities, etc. Well, the more details that emerge, the stranger this all gets…

The plane had technical issues, and the captain was high?!

The investigation has so far revealed that the Airbus A320neo that was operating this flight had 13 different technical failures in the 80 minutes leading up to this sudden drop in altitude. We’re talking about everything from warning lights about doors not being armed, to warnings about hydraulic issues, and more.

In the moments leading up to the incident, the captain was standing behind the first officer in the flight deck, discussing problems with the plane’s air conditioning system. A stall warning then reportedly went off, and moments later, the autopilot disengaged, and the nose then pitched up.

As a result, the first officer, who was also the pilot flying on this sector, responded with the typical stall recovery response, by pushing the nose down. This is also what caused the plane to lose altitude.

Both pilots were given drug tests after the flight, and the captain tested positive for marijuana (and this was confirmed via a second test). Now, marijuana can stay in your system for weeks, so there’s no indication that the captain was high at the time of the incident, but instead, he might’ve just gotten high while off duty, completely unrelated to this flight (which is still a violation of rules, but there’s a difference).

Look, I don’t want to dismiss the detail of the captain testing positive for marijuana. If you’re a pilot and the regulations say that you can’t consume drugs (which they do), then you shouldn’t. But there’s zero indication here that the pilot was “high” at the time of the flight, and getting “high” a week before a flight should have zero impact on your ability to perform your duties (it would be like having a couple of drinks a week prior).

I see all kinds of people attacking the crew for not reporting the “high” captain before the flight, etc., but we have no reason to believe they knew this. So anyway, I just think it’s important to maintain some balance here. Let’s focus on the important detail, which is that there were reportedly 13 different technical faults in the period leading up to this incident, which sure seems to me like the biggest clue here.

Bottom line

An Air India Airbus A320neo suffered a sudden loss of altitude last week while enroute from Phuket to Delhi, injuring over a dozen people onboard. Obviously incidents like this need to be investigated, and the more details that emerge, the more concerning this all is.

The plane reportedly had 13 warnings and faults in the period leading up to the sudden loss of altitude (which was reportedly caused by the first officer pitching the nose down, due to a stall warning). Then the added detail is that the captain also failed drug tests, and tested positive for marijuana.

What do you make of this AI2379 incident?

Blackstone & La Caisse take equity stake in Aeroplan

Air Canada has announced that funds managed by Blackstone and La Caisse, together with other Canadian institutions, are making a $2.5 billion minority equity investment in Aeroplan. The investor group is acquiring a 25% non-controlling equity interest in Aeroplan, valuing the program at $10 billion (Air Canada’s current market cap is $5.5 billion… so I guess the airline has negative value, minus the frequent flyer program?).

Air Canada emphasizes how it maintains full operational control of Aeroplan and a controlling ownership interest after the minority investment. The Star Alliance carrier also states that Aeroplan remains a core part of Air Canada’s commercial strategy and customer value proposition, and the experience of members and employees will be unaffected by the transaction.

Proceeds from this investment will be used toward the repayment of Air Canada’s upcoming $1.2 billion bond maturity, with most of the balance being applied to accelerate the share repurchase that’s part of Air Canada’s long term strategic plan. Earlier reports had suggested the proceeds would be used to fund new planes and aircraft interiors, but that’s not being stated by the airline directly.

There’s certainly precedent to airlines using their loyalty programs for financing. At many airlines, loyalty programs are by far the highest margin aspects of the business, and the programs often make up a majority of the value of an airline. During the pandemic, the “big three” carriers in the United States raised more than $25 billion through debt deals that used loyalty programs as collateral.

Keep in mind that this isn’t the first time that Air Canada is looking to outside firms to invest in its loyalty programs. Air Canada went into bankruptcy protection in 2003, and in 2005, the loyalty program was listed as a separate company, which was later renamed Aimia.

So for a long time, Aeroplan was a completely separate, publicly traded company. The relationship between the two companies eventually soured, and in 2017, Air Canada announced it wouldn’t renew its contract with Aimia, and would instead start its own competing loyalty program.

Eventually the company agreed to sell Aeroplan back to Air Canada for $450 million CAD ($323 million USD) in cash, plus the assumption of certain liabilities. So one does have to give Air Canada credit here — the airline bought the program for $323 million, and is now selling a 25% stake in the program for $2.5 billion!

Should Aeroplan members be worried about this?

Broadly speaking, outside investment firms getting involved in businesses (whatever they may be) typically doesn’t lead to an improved experience for customers. They want margins to be as good as possible, often at the expense of trying to promote the overall brand.

It’s one thing if Air Canada were just using its loyalty program as collateral for financing, but Blackstone and other firms are actually taking a direct stake in Aeroplan, so may have a bit more say.

Do I like the sound of this? No. At the same time, this isn’t something I’d be overly worried about. Ultimately we’re talking about a minority stake. And honestly, in terms of value for members, I’d argue that Aeroplan was actually at its best when it was a fully separate company.

Now, the lack of broad value nowadays isn’t the fault of Air Canada leadership, but instead, reflects how the miles & points world has evolved, especially with airlines increasingly limiting award space to members of their own frequent flyer program, and not making it available to members of partner frequent flyer programs.

Aeroplan just isn’t the Star Alliance award booking powerhouse it used to be, and that’s because no program is that way anymore — you really often have to use each individual loyalty program to find availability.

Bottom line

Air Canada has reached a deal to sell a 25% stake in the Aeroplan program to Blackstone (among others) for $2.5 billion, valuing the program at $10 billion. So while the program won’t be fully spun off, it will have outside investors that presumably have expectations of getting some level of return.

Going back nearly a decade, Aeroplan was fully spun off, and was owned by Aimia, only to then have Air Canada buy the program back at a huge discount. While I never like the sound of outside investors coming in, I wouldn’t expect there to be too many implications here, quite frankly. Either way, you’ve gotta respect buying the program for $323 million, and then selling a 25% stake for $2.5 billion.

What do you make of Blackstone investing in Aeroplan?

Sun PhuQuoc Airways picks up eight Airbus A330s

Sun PhuQuoc Airways is a leisure airline startup based in Vietnam. The airline received its air operator’s certificate in September 2025, and commenced commercial operations as of November 2025.

The carrier’s primary hub is in Phu Quoc (PQC), as you may have guessed based on the name. So far the company has a fleet of 17 Airbus A320-family aircraft, including three A320neos, two A321s, and 12 A321neos. The airline has huge growth aspirations beyond that, including acquiring eight Airbus A330-200s, plus up to 40 Boeing 787-9s (which will be delivered as of 2031).

We’re now learning more details about how these wide body plans are taking shape. Back in April 2026, it was first reported that Sun PhuQuoc Airways would pick up eight A330s that used to fly for American.

The airline has now formally announced that four of these will be joining the fleet before the end of 2026, and then four more will be joining the fleet in the first four months of 2027. They’re still quite new, as they’re only 12-13 years old, and they’ve spent roughly half of that time in storage.

The airline has now shared a photo of the first A330 in its livery. While the initial plan was for the plane to have the full “Sun PhuQuoc” text on the fuselage, the airline has simplified its logo and branding, and it now simply shows “SPA.”

These are all planes that were initially delivered to US Airways, and they have 247 seats, including 20 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 206 economy seats. The business class seats are in a reverse herringbone configuration, and the first photos of the cabins have been shared.

As you can see, minimal changes have been made, as just the finishes have been updated. The airline is calling the cabins a “resort in the sky,” which is both hilarious and sort of cute.

Vietnamese airlines are known for acquiring planes secondhand, and making minimal updates, so these are actually pretty substantial updates, all things considered. 😉

The airline claims it will use these A330s to strengthen routes to South Korea, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, and Australia, while exploring expansion to several destinations in Europe. Here’s what Sun Phu Quoc Airways CEO Nguyen Manh Quan had to say about this:

“Investing in the Airbus A330 wide-body fleet is a strategic move in the airline’s development journey. Our objective extends beyond network expansion. We are equally committed to enhancing the passenger experience on longer routes, with products and services that are meticulously developed from the outset. This also serves as the foundation for SPA to steadily refine its service quality in line with international five-star standards.”

I’m very curious to see how this all plays out. While Vietnam’s economy has been growing fast, the country’s aviation sector has seen mixed results. For example, several years back we saw Bamboo Airways growing at a very fast pace, only to then have to dump most of its aircraft, because the economics just didn’t make sense. The airline is now on the verge of liquidation, and no longer operates regularly scheduled flights.

I’m determined to fly on one of these PhuQuoc Airways A330s once they enter service, as this’ll be such a blast from the past for American (and with the Park Hyatt Phu Quoc finally opening, the timing is sort of great!).

These A330s were a major strategic blunder for American

It can’t be overstated how much of a strategic blunder it was for American to retire these planes so early, and as I see it, this was part of when American really firmly cemented its third place position among the “big three” carriers.

At the start of the pandemic, American retired all of its A330s, along with all Boeing 757s and 767s, and that massively limited American’s long haul growth opportunities. While that maybe seemed wise for some number of weeks when many people felt travel demand would never recover, demand sure came back fast and strong.

So when that happened, American found itself at a major disadvantage, given its small long haul fleet. What’s sad is that at a minimum, American could’ve initially reactivated these A330s. They were just six or seven years old at the time, and had plenty of life left in them, not to mention American had just reconfigured them to add premium economy.

But nope, American didn’t do that. Instead, it just pursued its “buy lots of new planes, bulk up on debt, and dominate the world via El Paso” strategy, which hasn’t exactly been a smashing success.

Bottom line

American’s gently used Airbus A330-200s will be returning to the skies, flying for Vietnam leisure airline startup Sun PhuQuoc Airways. The airline launched operations in late 2025, and has massive growth plans, including acquiring eight ex-American A330s, along with quite a few Boeing 787-9s as of 2031.

We’ll see how this all plays out, though I’m happy to see these planes getting another lease on life, given that they were only in service for such a short period. It’s just a shame American isn’t the airline that decided to bring them back.

What do you make of this deal involving ex-American A330s?

Well, there’s now a fascinating story about what really happened, and it’s quite something. And before anyone yells at me, this isn’t intended to be political (in the sense of being pro or anti Trump), it’s just an interesting story…

Trump boarded Air Force One in Turkey, then snuck off

On July 8, 2026, there was video footage of Trump boarding the old Air Force One in Ankara, Turkey, ready to depart to RAF Mildenhall, ⁠in the United Kingdom. He climbed up the stairs of Air Force One, but as it turns out, he didn’t actually fly on the plane.

Instead, it’s now being reported that he actually secretly exited the plane on the other side, by getting on an airport catering truck. That catering truck then drove him to a nearby plane, which is what he actually flew to depart Turkey, unbeknownst to reporters, and even many of his aides (who were on the Air Force One jet).

You can see part of this operation in the below video.

Let me just go through this in a bit more detail:

• Trump flew to Turkey on his new Air Force One jet, gifted by Qatar, which obviously doesn’t have the same safety equipment as the old Air Force One jet (given that it just took months, rather than years, to retrofit it)
• Authorities apparently learned about some sort of an Iranian assassination attempt, which is what triggered the operation intended to conceal the plane on which Trump was actually departing the country
• So the Qatar gifted plane took off from Ankara first, but no one ever thought Trump was on that, since he publicly said he wasn’t
• Trump then publicly boarded the old Air Force One jet, the VC-25A (based on the Boeing 747-200), and tried to make it look as if that’s the plane he was flying on
• Trump then exited the plane on the other side through a catering truck, and that then drove to the nearby Air Force Boeing C-32A (based on the 757-200), where it also pulled up to the rear door; this is also the plane that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was flying on
• White House aides and reporters boarded the old Air Force One jet, were told to lower their window shades, and throughout the flight had no clue that Trump wasn’t actually onboard
• The old Air Force One jet then took off with the callsign “Air Force One,” even though the president wasn’t actually on it, while Trump flew on the C-32A, under the callsign “Reach 18”
• The plane Trump was on then overtook the Air Force One jet while enroute, and landed at RAF Mildenhall first
• Trump then somehow still got onto the old Air Force One jet, so that he could exit that plane in front of the cameras, making it appear as if he was actually on that plane

Interestingly, on the later flight to Washington on the new Air Force One, reporters asked Trump why they had to keep their window shades down on the previous flight (again, not knowing that Trump wasn’t actually on the plane). He responded they were “probably on a dangerous flight,” and went on to say “but if I go, you go, right?”

Hah, I’m surprised we didn’t catch on earlier

This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen such an operation involving the president. Back in 2000, a similar tactic was employed for former President Bill Clinton, where he flew an unmarked executive jet into Pakistan, while sending the “real” Air Force One as a decoy.

Going back and watching the video footage now, it seems rather obvious that something was off. You don’t typically see airport catering trucks pulled up to Air Force One at the same time that the president is boarding, and moments before the plane is about to depart. Like, Air Force One isn’t an American Boeing 737 making a 50-minute turn in Charlotte. 😉

However, even if you were to find that strange, you probably wouldn’t come to the conclusion that the president is secretly being shuttled on a catering truck, and is flying on an airplane without the “Air Force One” callsign.

Bottom line

In early July, Trump’s departure from a NATO summit in Turkey made headlines, as he claimed he was flying on the old Air Force One, rather than the one that was newly gifted from Qatar. As it turns out, there’s even more to this story, though, as flying the old Air Force One was just a decoy.

Instead, Trump boarded the old Air Force One, then exited it through a catering truck, and flew another Air Force jet to the United Kingdom. Even when landing there, he somehow got back onto the “standard” Air Force One, to make it appear as if he had actually flown that…

In recent times, we’ve known that both Air France and KLM have been trialing changes to inflight service in economy. We’re now seeing permanent changes made, as KLM has just announced plans to switch to a buy on board model in economy, though fortunately there will still be some complimentary offerings.

KLM reduces free drinks & snacks in short haul economy

Starting in October 2026, KLM will introduce a new onboard service concept on European flights, called Grand Cafe KLM. Under this new concept, the airline will be introducing a buy on board selection for both food and beverages, so that passengers can purchase a variety of items.

Passengers will be able to pre-order from a larger selection of items, or alternatively, will be able to purchase items onboard, based on availability. While the full menu hasn’t yet been published, we’re told that we can expect everything from poke bowls, to caesar salads, to salmon egg wraps, to yogurt with fruit and seeds.

On a complimentary basis, KLM will continue to offer coffee, tea, water, orange juice, and a stroopwafel. Even with these changes, KLM still has a more extensive complimentary offering in economy than its competitors, including British Airways, Lufthansa, SWISS, etc., which have more or less eliminated free service in regional economy.

However, there’s no denying that this will be perceived as a negative change by a vast majority of customers, as KLM currently offers a rather substantial snack, plus free beer and wine, on short haul flights. I recently took a two hour flight on KLM in economy, and I was shocked they had two separate drink services, and I was offered a little snack with each. How delightful!

The way KLM is communicating this is disappointing

Personally, I think this change on KLM’s part is perfectly fair, when you factor in competitive dynamics. What bothers me is the way that it’s being communicated. I frequently criticize Lufthansa Group for the extent to which it gaslights its customers, and this has a very similar tone.

Look, I would imagine that a vast majority of customers would view this change as being negative. After all, only a small percentage of customers actually make buy on board purchases on short flights within Europe, and most people prefer more free stuff, rather than less free stuff. Is that something we all agree on? If you don’t, please do let me know in the comments section. That’s not to say the airline shouldn’t make the change, but I don’t think this is something that most customers will celebrate.

However, based on this announcement, you’d think this is the greatest passenger experience development we’ve ever seen. KLM claims “this new concept further strengthens the warm and hospitable experience we strive to provide,” and that it is “the next step in enhancing the European travel experience.”

Hilariously, the airline is claiming that it’s “responding to a broader trend among European full-service airlines and to travelers’ growing desire for more choice and flexibility.” Okay, so KLM is claiming that it was behind and being customer unfriendly by offering these things for free? And really British Airways is the customer experience innovator, by cutting these things first?

Maybe I’m just from a different planet, but I don’t get it. Do the marketing folks write this kind of stuff because they think people will believe it, or just because they’re trying to convince themselves of something?

Am I the only one who would rather be communicated to honestly? Yes, this change will absolute increase the number of options passengers have access to. By all means highlight that. But let’s be honest that this is a response to the competitive environment, rather than something being done to make the experience better.

Bottom line

As of October 2026, KLM will be updating its service concept on intra-Europe flights, in economy. The airline will go from offering a complimentary (substantial) snack and free beer and wine, to offering a much more limited selection of complimentary items, with additional food and drinks for purchase.

Even with these changes, KLM is still significantly more generous than most competitors, so it’s hard to be too mad about the changes. The thing I really take issue with is the communication here, claiming that this is an “enhancement” and “strengthens the warm and hospitable experience” the airline aims to provide.

What do you make of KLM’s intra-Europe service “enhancements?”

Along those lines, it looks like airport lounge operator Airport Dimensions (the operator behind “The Club” lounges) is joining the trend, and has opened its first own grab & go lounge in the United States.

Atlanta Airport gets new grab & go lounge concept

Airport Dimensions has recently opened Poppin at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), which is the lounge operator’s first-ever grab & go lounge concept. Poppin is located next to The Club ATL, airside in Concourse F, on the mezzanine level.

It’s open daily from 11AM until 10PM, so it has much more limited hours than The Club. The lounge is accessible up to 2.5 hours before departure, and offers a variety of drinks and snacks, including sandwiches, salads, fruit, snacks, sweet treats, and ice cream, along with soft drinks, coffee, beer, and cider. Guests can take all of these options with them, and there’s also a limited amount of seating available.

Poppin is accessible with Priority Pass, so guests have the option of whether they’d like to visit The Club ATL or Poppin, though guests can only visit one or the other under the same Priority Pass membership.

Below you can find some pictures of the lounge. It definitely looks functional and not terribly high end, a bit like the public areas of a limited service property, but that’s of course fine for this kind of concept.

This is a huge value-add for Priority Pass members

Admittedly not all airport lounges are created equal, and there’s a big difference between first class lounges, business class lounges, Priority Pass lounges, etc.

Lounge access has been hugely democratized over the years, and in many ways, that’s a good thing. However, the core value proposition of lounges has also massively shifted as a result of this. As I see it, lounges used to be a quiet place to escape to, whether you want to relax or work. Nowadays lounges are often the most crowded places you’ll find in airports (and there are often even lines to get in), and they seem to be all about eating and drinking.

So while there are still lots of incredible lounges, your average Priority Pass lounge in the United States can be pretty grim. Quite frankly, nowadays if I’m traveling domestically, I’ll often just try to find a quiet place in the terminal where I can sit, as I find that to be more pleasant than being in an overcrowded lounge.

As I see it, these grab & go lounges give you the best of both worlds. Even if I’m not short on time, I’d rather grab a drink and a snack and find a quiet gate area, rather than spending an extended period of time in a crowded lounge, assuming I can even get in. I hope we see this concept spread.

In terms of economics, these lounges also seem like a win-win. Presumably these grab & go lounges can accommodate a lot more customers than standard facilities, given the pace at which people move through them. And the margins are still there, since the lounge operator is being paid for each person who visits the lounge.

Bottom line

Airport Dimensions has opened Poppin at Atlanta Airport, located immediately next to The Club ATL. The idea is that this is a grab & go lounge, where Priority Pass members can help themselves to drinks and snacks, as an alternative to the traditional lounge experience.

Given the current reality of airport lounges, which includes a lot of waitlists, I’d say these kinds of facilities are a huge positive, and I hope we see this spread.

What do you make of this grab & go Priority Pass concept? Would you like to see it expand?

Starlink coming to Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, ITA, etc.

Lufthansa Group plans to introduce free Starlink Wi-Fi across all planes on all member airlines. So this includes 850+ planes, including those belonging to Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, Eurowings, Air Dolomiti, Edelweiss, etc. Starlink will be free for all passengers who have a Miles & More Travel ID, which is free to register for.

Starlink Wi-Fi rollout will be starting very shortly — the first Lufthansa Airbus A320neo with Starlink will enter service as of August 19, 2026, and I believe it’s the plane with the registration code D-AINM. So it sounds like the initial focus is on the regional Lufthansa fleet, which isn’t too surprising.

The catch is that the rollout of this service across member airlines won’t be completed until some point in 2029, and that’s a best case scenario timeline. Beyond the initial rollout, it’s anyone’s guess the order in which planes will receive the service, so all we can do is speculate.

Starlink is known for its high-speed, low-latency broadband internet, and the service will be offered gate to gate. Starlink Wi-Fi will allow for live streaming, productivity similar to on the ground (with high upload and download speeds), gaming, e-commerce, and more.

Starlink is becoming increasingly popular with airlines, and dozens of airlines have now committed to the service. I’ve had several flights with Starlink, and as someone who values inflight connectivity, I find this to be a game changer.

Here’s how Lufthansa Group Chief Commercial Officer Dieter Vranckx describes this development:

“I am excited to announce the launch of the new Lufthansa Group Wi-Fi on board our Group aircraft. With it, we’re making high-speed internet an integral part of the travel experience – across all travel classes and on all Lufthansa Group airlines: That is how we understand premium. By 2029, all of the Group’s approximately 850 aircraft will be equipped with the technology. Our product promise doesn’t end with the seats or the menu – today, connectivity is also an integral part of a truly outstanding onboard experience.”

This is great news, but we’ll have to be patient

Admittedly Lufthansa Group was the last of the “big three” European airline groups to announce plans to roll out Starlink Wi-Fi. However, what makes Lufthansa Group special here is that the company is rolling out Starlink across all airlines and fleets.

That’s different than Air France-KLM (where it’s not planned for KLM or Transavia, as of now) or IAG (where it’s not planned for Vueling, as of now). So it’s nice to see that Lufthansa Group is planning this level of consistency.

Admittedly a lot of patience will be required, as the rollout is expected to take over three years. My hope at least is that Lufthansa Group works through each airline pretty quickly, to create some consistency.

One would think the priority will be the two “flagship” airlines, Lufthansa and SWISS, since that’s where the company is most hoping to compete among premium customers. At the same time, those are also the airlines that currently have the best Wi-Fi systems. Meanwhile carriers like Brussels Airlines don’t offer Wi-Fi at all, so are really most in need of connectivity, but also don’t really have premium positioning.

Bottom line

Lufthansa Group has plans to roll out free Starlink Wi-Fi across airlines, so that includes Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, Brussels Airlines, ITA, Eurowings, Edelweiss, etc. The service will be introduced on the first plane (a Lufthansa Airbus A320neo) as of August 19, 2026, with rollout expected to be completed by some point in 2029… hopefully.

While Lufthansa Group is the last of the “big three” European carriers to announce Starlink plans, the company is unique for intending to introduce the service across all carriers.

What do you make of Lufthansa Group’s Starlink announcement?

Along those lines, we’ve just seen the Avios currency centrally add a new award calendar feature, and this is useful if trying to book award flights on British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus (thanks to The Flight Club for flagging this).

Avios adds monthly calendar award search feature

Avios is the rewards currency of British Airways Club, Iberia Club, Aer Lingus Club, etc. While you can search award availability on the individual airline websites, you can also search awards through the Avios website, and there’s now a major advantage to doing so.

If you visit this link on the Avios website, you’ll now find an option to search award availability with a calendar that shows space for months at a time. Now, there are a few things to be aware of:

• This calendar feature works for awards on British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus (it doesn’t work on carriers like Qatar Airways, but the airline has its own calendar search feature)
• You can search availability, and then filter by class of service on the next page
• The calendar only shows nonstop award availability, so if you’re looking for availability for connecting itineraries, this isn’t that useful

For example, I searched award availability from Madrid (MAD) to Tokyo Narita (NRT) for early 2027. This would obviously be for nonstop travel on Iberia, since it’s the only eligible airline operating the route.

The first page then shows availability across cabins.

However, when you unchecked everything except “Business,” you’ll quickly find how sad premium cabin award availability is.

I appreciate when it’s easier to search award availability

Personally, I immensely value when frequent flyer programs make it easy to actually search award availability, so you can at least get a realistic sense of what availability is like. If you go to the individual British Airways website, for example, searching award availability is a pain.

You can filter availability for several days at a time, but that’s not nearly as useful as being able to search availability for an entire year in a matter of seconds.

Admittedly the whole reason that sites like Seats.aero have become so popular is because of how hard airlines have made it to search availability. If airlines actually made it easy to search availability, then there would be little need for sites like that.

Bottom line

Avios, the central rewards currency of IAG carriers (among others) has added a useful award calendar feature. You can now search award seats on British Airways, Iberia, and Aer Lingus, for months at a time, which is a fantastic functional improvement.

Availability seems to be accurate, though the catch is that only nonstop award seats are showing up for now, so this is ideal when seeking point-to-point availability.

What do you make of the new Avios award search feature?

The history of the Four Seasons Damascus, Syria

The 297-room Four Seasons Damascus opened all the way back in 2005, and it was indeed a “real” Four Seasons property. It was built as the city’s best hotel, and looks beautiful.

The hotel was financed by Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal (who owns a large stake of Four Seasons, through Kingdom Holding Company), and was constructed by a local construction company. At a later date, Al-Waleed sold his stake in the hotel to Syrian businessman Samer Foz, with the Syrian government being the second largest stakeholder in the hotel.

While it has obviously been a rather turbulent time in Syria for the past 15 or so years, things for the hotel finally changed in June 2019, when Four Seasons had to sever ties with the property, due to US sanctions on Foz, with him being accused of war-profiteering and doing business with former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (who was overthrown in late 2024).

What’s interesting is that even though the hotel is no longer officially run by Four Seasons, they do still seem to maintain a very high standard. The United Nations and other agencies have used this hotel over the years, as it has the best security rating in Damascus. The United Nations has spent an average of around $10 million per year here over the past decade, so at this point spending has reached around $100 million.

I’ve been fascinated watching all the videos posted online about the hotel in recent years…

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The property is still very committed to the Four Seasons brand

Here’s what makes this so interesting, as I see it. It’s not uncommon to see businesses try to just outright steal intellectual property, especially in countries that might not have the strongest laws in that regard. For example, take the “Four Season International” shop at Salalah Airport (SLL), in Oman, which uses the Four Seasons logo.

Obviously in the case of this property, it was built as a Four Seasons, and the reason it was forced to leave the group was due to sanctions. But what I find interesting is the extent to which it still “presents” as a Four Seasons. If you watch videos about the property, you’ll see that even the sugar packets at the hotel still have Four Seasons branding, all the employee name tags have Four Seasons branding, etc.

For that matter, if you go to the hotel’s Facebook page, you’ll see that the banner photo even shows Four Seasons’ “Luxury Is Our Love Language” tagline, with the property’s name, and that campaign was only launched in 2022, after its affiliation with Four Seasons ended.

For that matter, the hotel’s Instagram page is very active, with nearly daily updates, as they continue to heavily market it.

Anyway, curiosity is getting the best of me. Admittedly I wouldn’t expect an international lawsuit to get very far in Syria, though I can’t help but wonder if Four Seasons tries to stop the hotel’s use of their brand name, or if they actually don’t mind it, given that the hotel is high quality, and it’s only due to sanctions that it’s no longer affiliated with Four Seasons.

Bottom line

There’s a Four Seasons Hotel in Damascus, Syria, and based on the logo and all the branding, you’d assume this is fully part of the Four Seasons brand. However, that’s not the case. While this opened as a Four Seasons back in 2005, ties were cut in 2019, due to sanctions.

Nonetheless, this hotel continues to be popular with the United Nations and other agencies that need to be in the city, due to its security rating. While you won’t find this hotel on Four Seasons’ website, it would be easy to get confused based on how the hotel presents itself.

What do you make of this unique “Four Seasons?”

A firsthand account of the aftermath of the DCA crash

On January 29, 2025, an American Eagle Bombardier CRJ-700 and a military helicopter collided near Washington National Airport (DCA), claiming a total of 67 lives, including 64 onboard the regional jet and three on the helicopter.

Commercial aviation in the United States is incredibly safe, to the point that it’s almost incomprehensible to see a major crash with fatalities. Any sort of a loss is challenging, but what made the American Eagle situation especially tragic is the number of children who were on the flight, as there were 11 young figure skaters returning from a competition in Wichita (ICT).

Obviously a plane crash is initially worst for those onboard. If it’s any comfort, at least we know they didn’t suffer for long, since this was a sudden collision. But after the initial shock, death is hardest for those who are left behind, who feel immeasurable loss.

I can’t even imagine what a sinking feeling one must have when their loved one is involved in a plane crash. So along those lines, a man named Doug Lane, who lost both his wife and older son on AA5342, is now sharing a series of blog posts about the immediate aftermath of the accident. So far he has published the following four posts (thanks to Mark for flagging this):

• “The Night It Happened”
• “The Day After”
• “Finding Connection”
• “Finding Competence and Compassion (Part 1)”

Clearly there are more posts coming, though we don’t yet know how many. I suspect Doug probably doesn’t even know yet, and is just sharing his experience and seeing how things go.

This is incredibly difficult to read, but worthwhile

Huge respect to Doug for writing this series (and what has been published so far). I can’t imagine how difficult this is to write, though at the same time, it’s likely cathartic. It’s incredible to see how open he is about his emotions, what he was feeling at the time, etc.

I think anyone who has suffered loss can relate to his general feelings. But I can’t even fathom the level of hopelessness one feels when they start to hear a plane went down and they believe a loved one was on it, but have no additional details.

It’s also fascinating to hear how one handles this situation, in terms of contacting the airline, trying to get information, getting to the crash site, etc.

Doug has a link on his website asking people to consider making a donation to the Christine Conrad Lane Memorial Dog Park. Doug’s wife was a huge dog lover, who helped lots of rescue dogs find new forever families. In honor of what would’ve been Christine’s 51st birthday, the Christine Conrad Lane Memorial Dog Park was commemorated in her hometown of Barrington, Rhode Island.

While the park is operating in a basic form, the goal is to create a community space with permanent fencing, a walking path, and 67 boulders, one for each person lost in the mid-air collision.

What a lovely tribute that is to her. I just made a donation, and I’d encourage others to consider doing so as well, if inclined.

Bottom line

A man who lost both his wife and son in the American Eagle crash at DCA is writing a series of blog posts about his experience in the immediate aftermath of the accident. This is a situation that is difficult to even comprehend, and he shares his experience in such a raw and vulnerable way.

I’m both devastated and inspired reading this, and ultimately it’s a good reminder to tell our loved ones how much we care about them, and to be grateful for any day where we can wake up in good health.

Two jets have strange, close call at Sydney Airport

This incident happened at around 7AM on the morning of Sunday, August 9, 2026, at Sydney Airport (SYD). It involves two aircraft:

• Jetstar flight JQ402 was an Airbus A320 with the registration code VH-VQJ, scheduled to operate to Gold Coast (OOL)
• A Qatar Airways Boeing 777-300ER with the registration code A7-BEU, which had just completed a flight from Doha (DOH)

The Jetstar A320 had been cleared to taxi from its gate to the departure runway, and was under its own power (meaning the pilots were taxiing the plane). Meanwhile the Qatar Airways 777 was being towed from a gate to a remote area by a tug (meaning it was under the control of a tug driver).

For whatever reason, the two planes ended up on intersecting taxiways at the same time, the A320 and the tug to brake sharply. The braking on the Jetstar A320 was so abrupt that a flight attendant became injured, causing the plane to return to the gate. Meanwhile the abrupt stop of the tow reportedly caused “damage to the connection between the 777 nose gear and aircraft tug.”

Following this incident, traffic at the airport had to be restricted, given the taxiways that were blocked. More than 150 flights were impacted as a result of this, with many incurring substantial delays.

Authorities are now investigating the cause of this incident

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is now investigating this incident, stating that it will “collect available data from both aircraft and air traffic control.” Investigators will also “interview the involved flight crew, tug operators and air traffic controllers, plus other witnesses and involved parties, and collect relevant recorded information including CCTV footage.”

Jetstar seems confident that its pilots were not to blame here, with the airline releasing a statement saying that “our aircraft was following instructions by Air Traffic Control when the pilots were forced to brake firmly after another aircraft came in close proximity.”

Australian’s Federal Minister for Transport has stated that “as is policy, the ground controller and tug operator have been stood down for mandatory drug and alcohol testing.”

We’ll see what an investigation reveals. Presumably either the ground controller gave incorrect instructions, or either the pilots or tug operator weren’t following the instructions they were given. Since Jetstar seems to be confident its pilots were following instructions, that would make either the ground controller or tug operator most likely to be responsible.

Bottom line

A Jetstar Airbus A320 and Qatar Airways Boeing 777 had a close call on a Sydney Airport taxiway, as the two aircraft nearly collided. The A320 was taxiing to the departure runway, while the 777 was being towed to a remote part of the airport. Both planes had to brake abruptly, injuring a flight attendant on the Jetstar plane, and damaging the connection between the 777 nose gear and aircraft tug.

What do you make of this Sydney Airport close call?

Child removed from Porter flight over seatbelt incident

This incident happened on Thursday, August 6, 2026, and involves Porter Airlines flight PD444, scheduled to operate from Victoria (YYJ) to Toronto (YYZ). The redeye flight was scheduled to depart at 10:30PM and arrive at 6:04AM the following morning, operated by an Embraer E195-E2.

Long story short, while the plane was taxiing to the runway, a toddler refused to buckle their seatbelt, despite repeated demands from both the crew and the child’s parents. The toddler insisted on standing in their seat, and couldn’t be talked out of it.

As a result, the plane had to return to the gate. At that point the family and their bags were offloaded. By the time pre-departure checks were complete and the flight plan was refiled, it was 12:30AM. That’s also the time at which the airport’s runway closes for the night, so the flight ended up being canceled, as passengers were rebooked for the following day.

In a statement, the airline confirmed that “a young child was standing in their seat and would not secure their seatbelt,” and that “the aircraft could not take off in this unsafe condition, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the passengers disembark.” The airline has also apologized “for the effect this had on other passengers.”

This situation is any parent’s travel nightmare

As a parent, what happened here is simply a nightmare scenario, and it has played out in my head many times before. What makes this even worse isn’t just that they were removed from the flight, but that this then pushed up against the airport’s curfew, causing the flight to be canceled.

No matter how convincing you think you are as a person, negotiating with a toddler can be impossible. I remember when our older son turned two, so he could no longer travel a lap infant. Good luck getting a two year old to consistently do what you want them to do, rather than what they’ve decided in their mind is the logical thing to do.

I also have to imagine that given how late at night it was, the toddler was probably overly tried, and even less cooperative than usual. Quite frankly, I’m surprised incidents like this don’t happen more often. Fortunately it’s only a brief period where most kids are that way.

Now our four year old, Miles, will remind me of the rules when we fly, and he even makes me watch airline safety videos at home. He has decided the living room is his “airplane,” and when my mother-in-law came to visit yesterday, he insisted “papa, please show her the LEGO safety video.” So anyway, we’ve come a long way…

I see some people criticizing Porter for what happened here, calling the response an overkill. I totally get it, and it’s a bit silly how one day a toddler can be held in your arms without being properly buckled in, and the next day that’s no longer allowed.

But hey, the rules are the rules, and the crew really didn’t have much discretion here. They don’t really have the ability to say “oh, it’s fine if the toddler isn’t buckled in.” Perhaps the only thing I wonder is if they could’ve just waited a bit longer in hopes of the toddler calming down, and in turn, avoiding this whole situation.

Bottom line

A Porter Airlines flight was canceled after a toddler refused to sit down and wear their seatbelt while the plane was taxiing out to the departure runway. The crew made the decision to remove the family from the plane. That didn’t end up being so straightforward, though, and ultimately resulted in the flight missing the curfew, and no longer being able to operate.

As a parent, this has to be a worst case scenario outcome, because no matter how hard you try, there are some situations where a toddler just can’t be controlled.

What do you make of this Porter toddler drama?

Exclusive new Iberia lounge coming to Madrid

Currently, Iberia has two primary lounges at its Madrid hub, broken up by Schengen and non-Schengen flights. Iberia’s lounge portfolio is solid, and both lounges are quite good in their respective sets, with many particularly liking the non-Schengen lounge.

These are both standard oneworld lounges in terms of access requirements, and are open to all oneworld business class passengers, as well as oneworld Sapphire members and above.

Soon we’re going to see the opening of an additional lounge, as Iberia will be opening a lounge exclusively for oneworld Emerald members, which is the highest tier in the alliance. The lounge is located in the Schengen area, next to the existing Dali Lounge, so it’s intended primarily for regional flights.

The lounge is expected to be fully operational somewhere around September 7-10, 2026 (I’ve heard people “definitively” say the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th, so make of that what you will). Interestingly, though, the lounge is already partly operational, in a soft opening phase.

What’s happening is that select top tier elites with Iberia are already being invited to the new lounge, either via an email before their trip, or they’re being directed to the new lounge after arriving at the Dali Lounge. Right now this seems to just be for select Iberia Club members with oneworld Emerald status, and not for oneworld equivalents.

You can find some first pictures of the lounge shared by FlyerTalk members here and here. The idea is that the lounge has a new design, and elevated food and drinks, including some sort of a table service offering.

This is a nice passenger experience investment

The general concept of oneworld Emerald lounge access is that these elite members get access to first class-style lounges.

The catch is that some oneworld first class lounges, like the British Airways Concorde Room and Qatar Airways Al Safwa Lounge, exclude oneworld Emerald members. In those cases there are typically alternative lounges available, but they’re not the same quality.

What I find especially nice is when oneworld airlines without first class lounges put in the effort to open a dedicated facility for oneworld Emerald members. The Finnair Platinum Wing Helsinki is probably the best example of this, as it’s a truly lovely and very high quality lounge that I always enjoy visiting.

So it’s great to see Iberia now joining that “club,” and offering a premium lounge that doesn’t even reflect a class of service being offered.

Bottom line

Around September 10, 2026, Iberia will be formally opening a new lounge at Madrid Airport, intended exclusively for oneworld Emerald members. This is located in the Schengen area, right next to the existing Dali Lounge. The space is already in a soft opening phase, with select Iberia Club elites being invited there, and it seems to offer much improved food and drinks, plus a more modern design.

Well done, Iberia, and I look forward to checking this space out!

What do you make of Iberia’s new lounge plans for Madrid?

While nothing overly shiny or exciting, I find the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt to be a pleasant facility. The lounge is quite large, with modern design, excellent showers, and a tasty breakfast selection. Best of all, it tends to not be crowded, in contrast to Lufthansa’s other lounges.

This is among my favorite arrivals lounges in Europe, as it compares quite favorably to the ones operated by Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Virgin Atlantic (though I think I slightly prefer the one operated by SWISS, particularly for the proper bedrooms).

Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt location

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt is located landside in Terminal 1, after you clear immigration and collect your checked bags. Once in the arrivals hall, follow the signage toward the Arrivals Area B. There’s also plenty of signage for the lounge throughout the terminal.

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge is hard to miss, as it has a bright yellow exterior.

Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt hours

Currently the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt is open daily from 5:15AM until 12:30PM. The lounge opens around the same time as the first long haul arrival at the airport, and it remains open until early afternoon.

It’s normal for arrivals lounges to close at that point, since the intent is that these are designed so you have somewhere to freshen up before a meeting, or to hang out before you can check into your hotel. Though quite honestly, it seems like the most common use for the lounge is those who have a big of time to kill before a train connection.

Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt entry requirements

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge is open to the following passengers:

• Lufthansa first class passengers
• Lufthansa business class passengers arriving on intercontinental flights (with flight numbers LH401-799), as well as Discover Airlines business class and United Polaris business class passengers arriving on long haul flights
• Lufthansa Miles & More HON Circle members arriving on Lufthansa, SWISS, or Austrian, even if they’re not long haul flights
• Lufthansa Miles & More Senator and Traveller members arriving on Lufthansa intercontinental flights (with flight numbers LH401-799)
• United Global Services members arriving on United

Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt seating & layout

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt spans two floors, and covers an area of around 13,000 square feet, so it’s quite a large arrivals lounge. Right by reception are some lockers, should you want to store your bags during your stay in the lounge.

As mentioned above, the lounge has two levels, with the main level (where you enter) having most of the seating and dining, while the lower level has most of the showers. The furniture in the lounge should feel pretty familiar for any frequent Lufthansa flyer, as it matches what you’ll find in other Lufthansa lounges (at least before the Allegris lounge upgrades).

Inside the entrance to the lounge and to the right is an area with rows of leather chairs facing one another, as well as a couple of TVs.

Next to that (inside the entrance and to the left) is the bistro area, consisting of around a dozen tables that each seat two to four people, as well as some communal high-top tables.

Behind the bistro area is the business center, which has some communal and semi-private workstations. There are also PCs and printers available, for those who need them.

It’s easy to miss, but back near the business center you’ll also find a rest area, with four semi-reclined seats. It’s nice to have somewhere to rest, though don’t expect much in the way of privacy, and there’s no bedding.

There’s also a small smoking room opposite that.

The lounge feels pretty fresh and wasn’t ever close to capacity during my extended stay, so that’s quite nice. There’s also fast and free Wi-Fi available throughout the lounge.

There are two just two downsides to the lounge. First of all, there are no windows and there’s no natural light, which is fair enough, given the location of the lounge. Second of all, every few minutes there’s a really loud noise and vibration in the lounge, as if there’s a train going right over your head. I’m not sure what exactly that is, but it’s noticeable.

Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt food & drinks

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt has an extensive selection of food and drinks, which rivals what you’ll find in most of Lufthansa’s airside lounges.

Food options included all kinds of sweets, cakes, bread, and pastries, cold cuts and cheese, several jars with yogurt and parfaits, fresh fruit, and a few hot options, including quiche, scrambled eggs, hardboiled eggs, and sausage.

In terms of drinks, the lounge had an espresso machine, water, juice, soft drinks, beer, and wine.

Given that I was in Germany, I couldn’t help but indulging in one of the tasty pretzels. Mmmm…

Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt bathrooms & showers

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt has 28 shower suites, most of which are on the lower level, and can be accessed either by stairs or an elevator.

There’s a reception area on the lower level, and even some seating in case you need to wait, but I can’t imagine the showers are frequently at capacity.

The shower suites in this lounge are honestly very nice and spacious, each with a sink, toilet, and a huge walk-in shower.

Toiletries were from L’Occitane, and I found the water pressure and airflow in the shower suite to be quite good.

In addition to the showers on the lower level, the upper level of the lounge also has bathrooms, as well as a couple of shower suites (though I don’t think they’re generally used).

The men’s room has three sinks, three urinals, and three stalls.

Bottom line

The Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt is an excellent arrivals lounge. It’s spacious, with comfortable seating, a good selection of food and drinks, and nicely appointed shower suites. If you’re arriving on a long haul Lufthansa flight in Frankfurt and are terminating there, I’d absolutely recommend checking out this lounge. It can be an especially good place to spend some time before a train connection.

What do you make of the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt?

I was looking forward to this flight, given that it was operated by one of Lufthansa’s new Dreamliners with Allegris cabins — I had flown Allegris business class once before, on the Airbus A350. This flight also had the benefit of featuring Lufthansa’s new business class soft product, which launched in recent weeks.

All-in-all, I found this to be a well-rounded flight, though nothing that’s going to be particularly memorable, especially given how long we’ve waited for this. The seats were comfortable, the crew was friendly, and the food and amenities were decent, but nothing special.

This is definitely much more competitive than Lufthansa’s old business class product, but that’s not necessarily saying a whole lot. I also felt like there were some very basic areas for improvement.

How I booked my Lufthansa business class ticket

I redeeemed Air Canada Aeroplan points for my Lufthansa business class flight. Specifically, I booked the following for 75,000 Aeroplan points plus $58 in taxes & fees:

7/14 LH469 Austin to Frankfurt departing 4:05PM arriving 8:55AM (+1 day)

For what it’s worth, I ticketed this around two weeks before departure, which is when the availability opened up (the business class cabin appeared to be pretty wide open at the time). Aeroplan points are of course really easy to earn, as the program partners with most major transferable points currencies.

Lufthansa business class lounge & boarding

I flew out of Austin primarily so I could fly the new Allegris business class, since this is one of the few routes to the United States to be operated by the Dreamliner with Allegris. I flew in the same morning from Miami, and during my layover, I met up with my colleague, Jeremy, who lives in Austin.

So I didn’t have the chance to use the lounge, though Lufthansa sends its premium passengers to the United Club in Austin. My flight was departing from gate three, with boarding scheduled for 3:30PM, 35 minutes before departure.

Sure enough, that’s exactly when boarding started, with those needing extra time, along with business class passengers and elite members, being invited to board first.

Lufthansa 787 Allegris business class cabin & seats

I boarded the Boeing 787-9 through the second set of doors, where I was greeted by the friendly crew and pointed left into business class. The business class cabin has 28 seats, and takes up the entire space between the first and second set of doors.

The cabin consists of a total of nine rows, with seats alternating between a 1-2-1 and 1-1-1 layout. While Lufthansa is definitely on the sterile side when it comes to cabin finishes, I think it’s a pretty nice looking cabin overall, especially with the lack of overhead bins in the center section, which gave the cabin a more open feel.

Lufthansa of course markets how its Allegris business class is “all about choice,” and how there are five different types of seats to choose from. I’m not necessarily sure I’d consider that to be a good thing, given that passengers will have a vastly different experience depending on the seat they end up in. For that matter, Lufthansa charges to assign most types of seats.

The best seats in the cabin are going to be the suites in the first row. These are the only seats that have sliding doors and large privacy partitions around them, so it’s very much a “business class plus” product. The seats essentially take advantage of the extra space at the bulkhead, so they look very spacious.

Throughout the rest of the cabin, the seats in the center section alternate in each row, with one row having one seat, the next row having two seats, etc. Since this is a staggered configuration, the seat pairs are consistently close to the aisle and far from one another, so they’re not great for those traveling together. These would generally be my least preferred seats in the cabin.

I’d note that in every other row, one of the two center seats in the pair is an extra long bed seat, as it takes advantage of the space to the side of the seat in front. This is really only useful if you’re super tall, because otherwise this is still a seat that lacks privacy, and it’s not like the footwell is any wider.

Then you’ll find the solo center seats, marketed as the extra space seat. This is a unique product, and you have the advantage of not having anyone seated next to you, and of having two large consoles (one on each side). However, the seat as such sure looks rather claustrophobic to me, given the curvature of the “casing” around the seat.

Along the windows, you’ll also find that seats alternate between being closer to the windows and closer to the aisle.

The seats closer to the aisle are marketed as the classic seat, so it’s the most basic seat. While it’s nice to be by the windows, these seats are pretty close to the aisle, so don’t offer much privacy.

Lastly, there are the privacy seats, which are the window seats that are closest to the windows. For example, I assigned myself seat 6K, a window seat toward the back of the cabin on the right side (I managed to assign this at no cost during online check-in, as otherwise it would’ve cost me quite a bit).

I’d think of this seat as ultimately being a very solid and spacious “true” window seat in a staggered configuration. It’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s good.

Starting at the front of the seat, you’ll find an 18″ 4K UHD entertainment screen that has a fixed position, directly ahead (the business class suites have larger 24″ monitors).

The tray table extends from underneath the entertainment monitor, and has a unique storage mechanism. It’s essentially stored sideways, so then you extend it out, and then flip it 90 degrees.

Underneath the tray table and entertainment monitor you’ll find the footwell, which becomes part of the bed when reclined. The footwell is a really good size, so unlike some other seats out there, it’s not overly restrictive, which is great.

To the side of the seat you’ll find a console, as well as the enclosed storage space.

The storage space had a hook for headphones, and is otherwise big enough to store a few small items — it’s where a bottle of water and amenity kit are placed during boarding. You’ll also find the charging options here, which include AC, USB-A, and USB-C outlets, plus wireless charging on the console.

You’ll also find the tablet next to the storage compartment, which is how you can control the entertainment options (including pairing bluetooth audio), as well as seat functions. One thing I found odd is that the A350 has seat heating and cooling that can be controlled via the tablet, but that doesn’t seem to be an option on the 787. Does anyone know what’s going on there?

If you don’t want to use the monitor, there’s also a panel to the side of the seat, which has some basic seat pre-set options, like placing the seat fully upright, or reclining it fully.

Rather frustratingly, Lufthansa has no individual air nozzles on its Dreamliners. I really don’t get it, for newly delivered planes… why not?!

One last thing worth mentioning is that Lufthansa had major issues with getting these seats certified, and while they’re nearly all certified, the exception is the seats in row two. Those can’t be occupied, and they have little metal covers on the seats, to prevent them from being used.

Lufthansa 787 Allegris business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Lufthansa’s Allegris 787 business class offers seat back entertainment, with audio and video on demand.

Compared to Lufthansa’s old business class, the entertainment system has been nicely refreshed, with a large variety of movies and TV shows, as well as audio, games, and more. It can be hard to figure out exactly how many titles are available with each type of programming due to how it’s organized by genre (with some being overlapping). I wouldn’t say it’s the world’s best entertainment system, but people should have no issues staying entertained.

There’s also a nose camera option that’s available with the entertainment (fairly rare for a 787), and of course the map feature, which is nicely customizable.

As mentioned above, there’s the option to pair the entertainment with your own headphones, which is useful.

The plane also has Panasonic Wi-Fi. While better than nothing, the speeds weren’t great on this sector, though keep in mind these planes should get Starlink Wi-Fi eventually.

When it comes to pricing, there was the option of a free messaging pass, a two hour plan for 15 EUR, or a full flight plan for 25 EUR.

At least that’s what the pricing was supposed to be, but I ended up being charged 29 EUR for the full flight plan. Talk about bait and switch pricing!

In the past I’ve found Panasonic speeds to be decent, but yeah, they really weren’t good on this flight, unfortunately, and there were extended periods of time were it wasn’t available. Come and think of it, I really should’ve sent an email to ask for partial reimbursement (if for no other reason than the pricing discrepancy).

Lufthansa business class amenities

I was looking forward to checking out Lufthansa’s enhanced business class amenities, so were they actually a substantial improvement? Well, sort of.

Waiting at each seat upon boarding were a pillow and blanket, very similar to the ones I’ve been offered in the past. They’re sufficient, but nothing special, though I did like the crane pattern on the blanket.

I was also offered a mattress pad, which offered excellent padding. That was useful, because I found the seat to be really hard, despite the (theoretical) ability to control cushion firmness.

The noise canceling headphones were already plugged into the audio jack, and were just okay quality — these headphones are nothing special, but that’s not a big deal when you have bluetooth audio.

Waiting at the seat was the business class amenity kit, which had special centennial branding. The kit contained socks, eyeshades, ear plugs, mints, refreshing towels, and two products from BABOR (hand cream and lip balm).

I was also offered super flimsy slippers. Even low quality slippers are better than no slippers, as it’s great to be able to go to the lavatory without putting on your shoes.

Toward the end of boarding, the crew came around with pre-departure drinks, with the options including sparkling wine, the signature avionic cocktail, and water. I opted for the signature cocktail, and that was served with some packaged snack mix (when departing Germany they give you some nuts in a classier-looking bag, but I guess getting any snack with a pre-departure drink is “special”).

Menus were also distributed — interestingly, the menu only had the food for the first meal and then the drinks, while the breakfast menu was distributed before going to bed, and came in the form of a room service-style form.

There were also loungewear tops handed out, from van Laack, similar to what you’ll find in first class, minus the bottoms. I guess I appreciate that Lufthansa is adding this as a business class amenity on some shorter sectors, but it just feels like such half baked execution. If you’re going to offer loungewear, have pants too, in my opinion.

Anyway, all-in-all I found the amenities to be reasonably good, but nothing amazing. I do appreciate the slippers, (partial) loungewear, and mattress pad, in particular.

Lufthansa 787 departure from Austin

Boarding for the flight to Frankfurt was efficient, with all 25 usable business class seats being occupied. Not that it’s terribly surprising, but it was a very American crowd in business class, as I’m pretty sure I was the only one speaking German with the crew.

Boarding finished at 3:55PM, at which point the captain made his welcome aboard announcement, informing us of our flight time of 9hr25min, and anticipated on-time arrival in Frankfurt. At 4:05PM we began our pushback, at which point the safety video was screened. Then at 4:10PM we began our taxi, almost immediately passing a rather nice-looking British Airways Airbus A350-1000.

We had a short taxi, and by 4:20PM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 18L.

We hit a few bumps on the climb out, and then the seatbelt sign was turned off around 15 minutes after takeoff.

Lufthansa business class dinner service

On this flight, dinner was served after takeoff. I should mention that this flight came shortly after Lufthansa introduced its new business class catering, so I was very much looking forward to this. Just days before this flight, I had flown from Germany to the United States in Lufthansa business class, and was blown away by how much the catering had improved.

Unfortunately clearly outstations just can’t deliver that same level of quality, because it was a totally different story on this flight. And my gosh, the service was also really, really slow (which is not good on an overnight flight).

You can find the Lufthansa business class dinner menu below.

You can find the Lufthansa business class drink list below.

30 minutes after takeoff, the crew passed out warm towels, which are now presented on little plates.

The crew then rolled carts down the aisle with the first round of drinks and amuse bouche. However, it was a full hour after takeoff before I got my first drink, which is honestly much longer than it should take (it wasn’t the crew’s fault, but obviously something with the processes that are in place still needs some work).

I had a glass of champagne to drink (2015 Pommery Grand Cru Royal was on offer), and that was complemented by the carrot yuzu, edamame, sesame, and ginger, amuse bouche.

It was only 25 minutes after the drink service that meal orders were taken, and I was asked for my preferred starter and main course. The appetizer was served over 45 minutes after the initial round of drinks, so at this point we were nearly two hours into the flight. This really was a glacial pace for service, and it’s not like there were even drink refills between waiting, since the crew was busy preparing in the galley.

Of the appetizer choices, I opted for the beef tenderloin with horseradish cream, honey soy, and pickled vegetables. This was automatically served with an heirloom tomato and cucumber tartare with black garlic, a nice twist on the typical salad. Then there was a selection of bread, plus a cauliflower miso dip with edamame. The bread selection was super boring, and I had a rather stale roll. With the appetizer, I switched from champagne to riesling.

The service between courses was a bit odd. The appetizer is served on a tray, but then after the appetizer they take your tray, but ask you to take your fork and knife off the tray, and place it on your tray table. This is of course totally minor, but it just feels like the process isn’t very seamless, for a new service concept that was just launched.

With the main course I also asked for a second glass of riesling, but they had already ran out. C’mon, now!

Anyway, the main course was served 30 minutes after the appetizer, and I selected the seafood stew, with shrimp, monkfish, mussels, tomato, zucchini, and yukon potato. I’m sorry, but this was just bad, from the taste (the seafood was chewy, there was barely any “stew,” etc.) to the presentation. I know with the new service concept they’re supposed to be putting more effort into presentation, but is this really what it’s supposed to look like?!

Once the main course was cleared, I was offered the choice of fruit, cheese, and/or dessert. I had the fruit (which consisted of melons and berries) plus the dessert, which was a chocolate mousse with strawberry.

All-in-all, the meal didn’t impress me. Service was way too slow, and the food presentation and quality wasn’t as good as it should’ve been. The thing is, I had a phenomenal flight out of Frankfurt recently with the new catering, so I think Lufthansa just needs to work with its outstation caterers.

The bigger issue for me was the pace of service, as it took nearly three hours for the meal service to be complete. That needs to be sped up significantly — at least this was one of the longer transatlantic Lufthansa flights, because this would be a disaster on an East Coast to Germany flight.

Lufthansa 787 business class lavatories

After the meal I checked out the lavatories in Lufthansa’s 787 Allegris business class. There are three(ish) lavatories in business class — there’s one in front of the cabin, and two behind the cabin.

I say “ish” because Lufthansa blocks the forward lavatory during the meal service. On top of that, the two rear lavatories also seem to be shared with premium economy, at least unofficially (I believe the back left one is for business class, while the back right one is for premium economy, but enforcement isn’t 100% consistent).

To Lufthansa’s credit, I’ve gotta say that these are among the nicest 787 business class lavatories I’ve seen, as they’re not just the standard Boeing ones, so kudos to Lufthansa on that. Very elegant, and the two by the second set of doors even have windows.

The lavatories also had L’Occitane hand lotion, mouthwash, and some refreshing towels.

Lufthansa 787 Allegris business class bed

Once back at my seat, it was time to get some sleep. So I reclined my seat and put out the bedding (there’s no formal turndown service in business class). I found the bed to be really comfortable, and also quite spacious, so that’s a plus. However, I do wish there were individual air nozzles…

I prepared for sleep with around 6hr15min remaining to Frankfurt, as we were near Montreal…

…and I woke up a little under four hours later, with around 2hr25min remaining to Frankfurt, while approaching the UK.

I got a decent amount of sleep. Can I just point out that no matter what anyone says, I’ll always despise the 787 window dimmers? Below is what I woke up to while the cabin dimmers were (to my knowledge) in use.

Lufthansa business class breakfast

Before going to bed, breakfast cards had been handed out, so that passengers can place their breakfast order, which is a system I generally like. You can find the Lufthansa business class breakfast selection below.

The cabin lights were turned on 90 minutes before landing, and then hot towels were distributed once again. It took a really long time for service to start after that, so despite pre-placing my order, I only got my meal around 55 minutes before landing, which sure took some time, as only one meal seemed to come out every couple of minutes.

Of the options, I chose the spinach egg cake, as it was described, with tomato and herb mushrooms. I’m sorry, but this was disgusting, and not at all as described — it just tasted like a blob of powdered eggs, like you’d expect at a limited service hotel breakfast.

I had also selected a laugen roll, a smoothie, and some fruit. This was automatically served with a plate of cold cuts and cheese. I don’t eat pork (neither do two major religious groups), so if you’re going to create a customized menu card, why not give people the option of whether they want this, rather than serving it automatically? It makes no sense to me…

Because of how late the breakfast was served, there wasn’t even the chance to get a second cup of coffee.

Lufthansa business class service

The crew on this flight was friendly. They weren’t the most memorable Lufthansa crew I’ve had, but they went through the motions and did their best.

What stuck out to me more about the service is just how there’s probably still some stuff to be ironed out when it comes to speed and execution. I don’t think that’s the crew’s fault, and my hope is that with time, the service flow improves. Keep in mind that the 787 with Allegris seats is brand new, and the service flow is also something crews are still getting used to.

Speaking of service, one of the nice service additions is that the crew now hands out chocolates before landing, which passengers can take with them. I do feel like the execution of that was a bit of a missed opportunity, though. The crew kind of just handed them out without saying anything, rather than personally thanking each passenger for flying with the airline, etc., (as you might find on some other airlines, which I think is the point of this service touch).

Lufthansa 787 arrival in Frankfurt

At 8:20AM Frankfurt time, the first officer was on the PA, to announce that we’d be landing in around 30 minutes, which was around the same time that we started our pretty steep descent. It was a beautiful day in Germany, with great views the entire way down.

We ended up touching down in Frankfurt at 8:45AM on runway 7L. While this is one of the far out runways, at least we were pointed in the right direction when it comes to getting close to the terminal.

We ended up having around a 10-minute taxi to our arrival gate at Terminal 1, where we pulled in at 8:55AM, exactly on schedule.

From there I headed to the Lufthansa Welcome Lounge, where I killed some time, before eventually heading over to the new Frankfurt Terminal 3, for my Turkmenistan Airlines 777 business class flight to Ashgabat (ASB).

Bottom line

I’m thrilled to see Lufthansa finally expanding its Allegris concept, and also refreshing its soft product. There’s no denying that this largely represents a very nice improvement over the old business class experience. However, there are aspects of the experience that are rough around the edges, from the service speed, to the food quality, to the Wi-Fi, to the lack of air nozzles.

While this is all progress, the whole Allegris project sure has been a huge time and money investment, with limited return. My point is that I think all-in-all, Air France still offers a better experience across the Atlantic, and the airline chose off-the-shelf seats, and focused on specific investments, ranging from mattress pads to Starlink Wi-Fi. That’s actual improvement with little drama.

What’s your take on Lufthansa’s Allegris 787 business class?

Let’s look at various aspects of the card, including the welcome offer, annual fee, return on spending, and perks. Personally I don’t think this is Marriott’s most compelling card, and given how the offers on some cards are mutually exclusive, I think there’s a better strategy. However, everyone should decide for themselves, based on their own situation.

Link: Learn more about the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card welcome offer

For applications through September 30, 2026, the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card has a two-part welcome offer where you can earn 125,000 Bonvoy bonus points plus a $150 statement credit after spending $5,000 within the first six months.

Personally, I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, meaning the welcome offer is worth $1,025 to me ($875 for the points, plus $150 for statement credit).

Amex’s general application restrictions apply, and on top of that, there are some additional restrictions for Marriott credit card eligibility. The most important thing to understand is that you are eligible for this card, including the welcome offer, if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more). However, you aren’t eligible for the welcome offer if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more).

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card $250 annual fee

The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card has a $250 annual fee (Rates & Fees), and you can add authorized users at no extra cost. Among Marriott personal credit cards, this card has the second-highest annual fee (there are also no annual fee and $95 annual fee options), with the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more) being the only card with a higher annual fee — it has a $650 annual fee (Rates & Fees)

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card rewards for spending

The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card is supposed to be the best credit card for actually earning points, so the card has a pretty decent rewards structure. The card offers the following return on spending, all with no foreign transaction fees:

• Earn 6x points on Marriott purchases
• Earn 4x points on up to $15,000 in combined purchases per calendar year at restaurants worldwide and at U.S. supermarkets
• Earn 2x points on all other eligible purchases

Ultimately these are just about the best bonus categories you’ll see on a co-branded Marriott credit card. However:

• The 6x points on Marriott spending is what you’ll find on all premium Marriott credit cards
• The 4x points on restaurants and supermarkets is decent, but there are ultimately better non-Marriott cards for both of these categories
• The 2x points on everyday spending still isn’t very compelling, in my opinion, as I value that at a 1.4% return on spending

Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card benefits & perks

The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card offers a variety of perks for being a cardmember. Some perks are offered just for having the card, while other perks require spending or other activity. Let’s go over the details, in no particular order.

1,000 Bonvoy bonus points per Marriott stay

This is a unique perk of the card. The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card offers 1,000 bonus points per paid eligible stay with Marriott. You need to pay for your stay with the card to be eligible, and only paid stays booked directly with Marriott qualify (so third party bookings and award stays don’t count). Bonus points will post within six weeks of an eligible stay.

For the very frequent Marriott guest, this has the potential to be pretty useful. Based on my valuation of Bonvoy points, this is like an incremental return of ~$7 per paid stay.

Free night award when spending $15,000

Unfortunately, the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card doesn’t offer a free night award just for being a cardmember. Rather, you can earn a free night award valid at a property costing up to 50,000 points when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year.

This is a disappointing aspect of the card, as other Marriott credit cards don’t require you to spend any amount to earn such a certificate.

Marriott Gold Elite status

The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card offers complimentary Marriott Bonvoy® Gold Elite Status for as long as you’re a cardmember. This is better than nothing, but don’t get too excited. Gold Elite status offers perks like 25% bonus points, 2 PM late check-out, enhanced Wi-Fi, a room upgrade subject to availability (to non-suites), etc.

15 elite nights toward Marriott Bonvoy status

Just for having the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card you receive 15 elite nights toward status annually. This can help you if you’re looking to earn a higher elite tier, like Marriott Bonvoy® Platinum Elite Status, Marriott Bonvoy® Titanium Elite Status or Ambassador Elite status, and it can also help you with earning Choice Benefits (like Nightly Upgrade Awards).

Is the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card worth it?

Looking at the card in isolation, there’s a case to be made for getting the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card, especially if you’re a very frequent Marriott guest. If you put all your Marriott spending on the card, you’d earn 1,000 bonus points per stay, 6x points on Marriott spending, and you could earn a free night award after spending $15,000.

However, if you ask me, this is the weakest card in the Marriott credit card portfolio in terms of value for the annual fee, and I think you’re much better off going for the higher annual fee card. The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card (review) has a $650 annual fee, and offers:

• Bonvoy Platinum Elite status for as long as you’re a cardmember
• 25 elite nights toward status annually
• An anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 85,000 points, with no spending requirement
• A $300 annual dining credit
• A Priority Pass™ membership (Enrollment required)

As I see it, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card’s annual fee easily pays for itself, between the dining credit, anniversary free night award, elite status, Priority Pass™ membership, and more.

Bottom line

The Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card has a $250 annual fee, and offers some solid bonus categories, plus 1,000 Bonvoy bonus points per stay. The card also offers Bonvoy Gold Elite status, 15 elite nights annually for being a cardmember, and a free night award when you spend $15,000 on the card in a calendar year.

Ultimately, I’d say this is a pretty weak card, especially compared to the rest of Marriott’s card portfolio. Personally, I’d much rather get the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, as I think the cards represent a better overall value.

What do you make of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card?

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees).

There’s a lot to cover here, as you can expect reviews of business class on Lufthansa, Turkmenistan Airlines, Saudia, and Riyadh Air, reviews of first class on Air India and SWISS, and several lounge reviews. Then there are also some hotels in the mix, ranging from the new Airelles Venice, to Bab Samhan Diriyah, Marriott Luxury Collection. Lastly, you can expect a review of our experience on the Four Seasons Yacht.

In this post, I’d like to share a basic outline of this trip, and then I’ll have the individual review installments coming in the near future.

This trip was motivated by taking a cruise

It’s an interesting time for the luxury cruising industry, given the increasing number of cruise lines that are popping up, especially those affiliated with major hotel groups. I’m making it a goal to review the various luxury cruise lines, so I’m trying to work them off my list, one by one.

Earlier this year I reviewed Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, which was surprisingly lovely. Going upmarket even more, we had booked a Four Seasons Yachts itinerary. Initially we were supposed to travel this spring, but the debut of the cruise line was delayed, so we rebooked for a cruise in July (for the initial cancellation, they offered us a discount on a future sailing equal to 30% of what we spent, plus an additional shipboard credit).

So we ended up booking a seven-night cruise from Venice to Dubrovnik, with stops in Croatia and Montenegro. I’ll of course be publishing a full review of the experience. For what it’s worth, I also have plans to sail with Orient Express Sailing Yachts, Aman at Sea, and Explora, so I look forward to being able to review all of them.

The airlines I flew on this trip

While Ford and I took the Four Seasons Yachts journey together, we flew there and back separately. Ford flew directly to Venice and right back from Dubrovnik, to be away from home for as little time as possible (I managed to find saver level business class award seats for him on Air France on the way out, and KLM on the way back).

Meanwhile I got a bit of a travel hall pass, and took a roundabout journey to get to and from Europe. On the outbound, I routed through Turkmenistan and India, while on the return journey I routed through Saudi Arabia… as one does. 😉 Of course my goal was to review as many new airline products as possible.

With that out of the way, let me outline the exact itinerary that I booked, including sharing how much I paid. I’ll be sharing it in the chronological order in which I traveled, which roughly lines up with the order in which I booked things.

To kick off the trip, I flew flew Lufthansa’s Boeing 787-9 Allegris business class from Austin (AUS) to Frankfurt (FRA), which required positioning from Miami to Austin (which I did same day, on American). The reason I flew Lufthansa out of Austin is because this route is operated by the new Dreamliner with Allegris cabins, and I wanted to check that out. I booked the following for 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $58 in taxes & fees:

7/14 LH469 Austin to Frankfurt departing 4:05PM arriving 8:55AM (+1 day)

Next, I had the chance to finally try an airline that has interested me for years. I flew Turkmenistan Airlines’ Boeing 777-300ER business class from Frankfurt to Ashgabat (ASB), and then Turkmenistan Airlines’ Boeing 737-800 business class from Ashgabat to Delhi (DEL), with a fascinating layover in Ashgabat. Turkmenistan Airlines has no partnerships, so I booked the following in business class for $1,010:

7/15 T5462 Frankfurt to Ashgabat departing 7:00PM arriving 4:00AM (+1 day)
7/16 T5533 Ashgabat to Delhi departing 6:30AM arriving 10:50AM

Next up, it was time to head back to Europe, and I booked Air India’s Boeing 777-300ER first class from Delhi to Frankfurt (FRA). My primary motivation here was to check out Air India’s new lounges at Delhi Airport, since I knew the Air India onboard experience wouldn’t be anything great. I booked this ticket for 75,000 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $53 in taxes & fees:

7/17 AI2025 Delhi to Frankfurt departing 3:55AM arriving 10:40AM

Next up, I needed to finally get to my intended destination in Italy, so I booked a Lufthansa Airbus A321 business class ticket from Frankfurt to Venice (VCE). I should mention that I booked this separately from the Air India ticket because it required materially fewer points to book the tickets separately rather than as one (due to how the award chart distance bands work). So I booked the following for 12,500 Air Canada Aeroplan points plus $98.16 in taxes & fees:

7/17 LH328 Frankfurt to Venice departing 4:40PM arriving 6:00PM

That concluded the outbound portion of the trip, and then the return picked up out of Croatia, after the Four Seasons Yachts cruise. This first required positioning to Amsterdam (AMS), so I flew KLM’s Boeing 737-700 economy. I booked the following for $152:

7/28 KL1976 Dubrovnik to Amsterdam departing 6:30AM arriving 9:00AM

Then to continue the journey, I flew Saudia’s Boeing 787-10 business class from Amsterdam to Jeddah (JED), and then Saudia’s Airbus A330-300 business class from Jeddah to Riyadh (RUH). I booked the following for 85,000 Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles plus $301 in taxes & fees:

7/28 SV214 Amsterdam to Jeddah departing 3:55PM arriving 10:45PM
7/29 SV1056 Jeddah to Riyadh departing 1:00AM arriving 2:45AM

From Saudi Arabia, I was excited to fly Riyadh Air’s Boeing 787-9 business class from Riyadh to Madrid (MAD). Riyadh Air doesn’t yet have any frequent flyer partnerships, so I had to pay cash for the ticket, and this was the cheapest medium haul ticket I could find on the airline. So I booked the following for $1,602:

7/31 RX531 Riyadh to Madrid departing 2:00AM arriving 7:55AM

I then needed to position to Switzerland (since I found last minute award availability in SWISS first class), so I had to book something at the last minute. Honestly, options were really crappy at that point, and the best I could come up with was TAP Air Portugal’s A319 and A321 business class, from Madrid to Lisbon (LIS) to Zurich (ZRH). I booked the following for $326:

7/31 TP1011 Madrid to Lisbon departing 11:05AM arriving 11:30AM
7/31 TP932 Lisbon to Zurich departing 1:25PM arriving 5:15PM

Lastly, I was able to fly SWISS’ Airbus A350-900 Senses first class from Zurich to Boston (BOS). This is SWISS’ brand new first class product, and I booked this at the last minute. You do need Miles & More Senator status or above to redeem miles for SWISS first class, so a friend helped me out there. I booked the following for 110,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles plus $1,128 in taxes & fees:

8/01 LX54 Zurich to Boston departing 1:00PM arriving 3:10PM

In addition to flights, you can expect reviews of the following lounges:

• Lufthansa Welcome Lounge Frankfurt (FRA)
• Priority Lounge Frankfurt (FRA)
• Business Lounge Ashgabat (ASB)
• Air India First Class Lounge Delhi (DEL)
• Air India Business Class Lounge Delhi (DEL)
• Encalm Xenia Lounge Delhi (DEL)
• Riyadh Air Hafwa Lounge Riyadh (RUH)
• SWISS First Class Lounge Zurich Concourse A (ZRH)
• SWISS First Class Lounge Zurich Concourse E (ZRH)

The hotels I stayed at on this trip

Despite the length of this trip, I spent very few actual nights in hotels, and my plan is to review three different properties in this series.

For our night in Venice before the cruise, we decided to stay at the newly opened Airelles Venice. This place is super expensive, but I’m a massive fan of the Airelles brand, and couldn’t turn down the opportunity to check out the brand’s newest property, and first hotel outside of France. This hotel did not disappoint!

Then we had a short stay in Dubrovnik at the tail end of our trip. It’s not exactly the most exciting hotel market, but we decided on Villa Dubrovnik, an independent property that’s well regarded, and which was absolutely lovely.

Then in Riyadh I had one night, and decided to book Bab Samhan Diriyah, Marriott Luxury Collection. Diriyah is Riyadh’s “historic” district that’s redeveloped at the moment, and it’ll eventually have dozens of hotels, and I had heard great things about this property. I was really impressed.

Bottom line

It’s time to kick off my latest trip report series. While the primary “destination” on this trip was a Four Seasons Yachts journey, I decided to have some fun with the outbound and return, to make it a full-on review trip.

On the way out I flew Lufthansa and Turkmenistan Airlines in business class, as well as Air India in first class, while on the return I flew Saudia and Riyadh Air in business class, and SWISS in first class. Beyond that, you can expect several lounge reviews, as well as a few hotel reviews.

Stay tuned and thanks for reading, as I’ll be publishing this trip report over the coming weeks!

Link: Learn more about the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card welcome offer & fee basics

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card is Marriott’s most premium credit card. While the card has a hefty annual fee, the perks should more than justify the cost, in my opinion. The card even offers Platinum Elite status, without any sort of a spending requirement. This is a card I have, and that I’ve found to be valuable.

Let’s take a look at all of the details of the card, including the welcome offer, incredible benefits, and more.

150,000 Bonvoy points + $250 statement credit offer

For applications through September 30, 2026, the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card has a limited time, two-part welcome offer where you can earn 150,000 Bonvoy bonus points plus a $250 statement credit after spending $6,000 on purchases within the first six months.

I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, given all the great ways there are to redeem them, so I would value 150,000 points at $1,050. Add in the $250 statement credit, and you’re looking at $1,300 in value, which is excellent for this card.

Marriott Bonvoy credit card eligibility rules

Given how many American Express and Chase Marriott cards there are, there are some pretty complicated restrictions regarding eligibility for this card.

On the most basic level, the welcome offer is not available to applicants who have had this product, or the Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card (which is briefly what this card was known as).

Furthermore, the welcome offer is not available to applicants who:

• Have or have had The Ritz-Carlton Credit Card from JPMorgan or the J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card in the last 30 days
• Have acquired the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, in the last 90 days
• Have received a new cardmember bonus or upgrade offer for the Marriott Bonvoy Bountiful Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card from Chase, Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Bold Credit Card from Chase, the Marriott Bonvoy Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, or the Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Business Credit Card from Chase, in the last 24 months

The key thing to understand is that you are eligible for this card (including the welcome offer) if you have the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more) or Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (learn more).

General Amex card application restrictions

I find Amex cards easy to be approved for if you have excellent credit. Anecdotally most people I’ve heard from have reported instant approvals on this card, so it really shouldn’t be very tough to be approved for. Just make sure you know that:

• You can be approved for at most two Amex credit cards in a 90 day period
• You can have at most five American Express credit cards at any point (this doesn’t include cards without a preset spending limit)

See this post for all major credit card application restrictions to be aware of.

$650 annual fee & $0 authorized user fee

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card has a $650 annual fee. You can add additional cardmembers at no extra cost (Rates & Fees). Obviously the fee is steep, but for many people, the benefits will more than outweigh the cost.

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card points earning structure

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card has some bonus categories, though generally speaking this isn’t a card I’d be using for my everyday spending. However, the card does have a significant incentive to spend $60,000 per year, and the math could work out. Let’s talk about how the bonus categories on the card work.

6x Bonvoy points at Marriott hotels

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card offers 6x Bonvoy points on eligible purchases at Marriott hotels globally.

Since I value Bonvoy points at ~0.7 cents each, that’s the equivalent of a ~4.2% return on hotel spending. Personally, I still prefer to use the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (learn more) for my Marriott hotel spending, as it offers 4x Ultimate Rewards points.

3x Bonvoy points on restaurants & flights

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card has some bonus categories that offer 3x points, including for purchases with:

• Restaurants worldwide
• Flights booked directly with airlines

Based on my valuation of ~0.7 cents per point, that’s like a ~2.1% return on spending, which isn’t amazing. Personally, I think there are better credit cards for both restaurant purchases and airfare purchases.

2x Bonvoy points on all other purchases

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card offers 2x points on all other eligible purchases. Personally, I don’t consider 2x points per dollar spent to be especially compelling since I value that at a ~1.4% return on spending, and there are better cards for everyday spending.

Choice Rewards benefit for spending $60K

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card allows you to select a Choice Rewards benefit when you spend $60,000 in a calendar year. Specifically, you’re able to choose one of the following:

• Five Nightly Upgrade Awards, each of which can be used to confirm a room upgrade for one night up to five days prior to arrival
• 50,000 Bonvoy bonus points
• A free night award, valid at a Marriott property costing up to 85,000 points
• $1,000 off a bed from one of Marriott’s hotel boutiques

This is in addition to whatever Choice Benefits you’d ordinarily earn for crossing 50 or 75 elite nights in a year. This could be a real incentive to spend money on the card, especially when you consider the opportunity to get a free night certificate worth up to 85,000 points.

No foreign transaction fees on spending

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card has no foreign transaction fees (Rates & Fees), so it could be a good option for purchases abroad.

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card benefits & perks

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card offers a variety of perks, ranging from Platinum Elite status, to an annual dining credit of up to $300, to an anniversary free night certificate. For many people (including me), the benefits more than offset the annual fee on the card. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits offered by the card.

Complimentary Bonvoy Platinum Elite status

On an ongoing basis, just for having the Bonvoy Brilliant Card, you receive complimentary Platinum Elite status. This status ordinarily requires 50 elite nights per calendar year, and offers the following benefits:

• 50% bonus points on hotel stays
• 4PM late check-out
• A room upgrade, including to a standard suite
• Executive lounge access at most brands, assuming the hotel has a lounge
• A welcome gift, including breakfast at many brands

It’s amazing that you can now receive Platinum Elite status just for having a credit card, with no spending required. For what it’s worth, the Platinum Elite status earned with this card (as well as the elite nights) do count toward lifetime Elite status.

Up to $300 per year in restaurant credits

Just for having the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, you receive up to $300 per year in restaurant statement credits. This comes in the form of a $25 credit each month, which you can use for purchases at restaurants worldwide. This benefit is available the first year, and all subsequent years.

This should be easy enough to maximize — if you spend at least $25 a month at restaurants, you should get the full value out of this.

Annual free night award worth up to 85K points

Another major perk that makes the Bonvoy Brilliant Card worthwhile is that you get a free night award every year on your renewal month, valid for a one-night hotel stay at a property costing up to 85,000 points. You receive your first one of these on your first anniversary.

The free night certificates offered on most other Marriott cards are valid at properties costing up to 35,000-50,000 points per night, so using these at properties costing 85,000 points per night is awesome. This gets you access to all kinds of luxury hotels.

Marriott even lets you top off free night certificates with up to 25,000 points, so you could redeem these certificates at hotels costing up to 110,000 points.

25 elite nights toward Bonvoy status

Just for having the Bonvoy Brilliant Card, you receive 25 elite nights toward status annually. Several co-branded Marriott credit cards offer elite nights for being a cardmember, though this is the only card to offer 25 elite nights. Furthermore, you can only receive this benefit on one personal and one business card.

So if you had this card plus the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card, you’d start every year with 40 elite nights.

Of course you already get Platinum Elite status with this card, but those elite nights could come in handy if you want to earn Choice Benefits (like Nightly Upgrade Awards) or go for Titanium Elite or Ambassador Elite status.

$100 Ritz-Carlton & St. Regis property credit

The Bonvoy Brilliant Card also offers a $100 on-property credit at Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis hotels when you book stays of at least two nights. The catch is that you have to book an “eligible rate,” which is going to be equivalent to the best available/non-discounted rate. Personally, I don’t consider that to be so valuable. Why?

• You have to book a specific rate, so points stays, discounted member rates, etc., don’t qualify
• All of these hotels belong to Marriott STARS, and some of these hotels belong to Virtuoso, which offer similar benefits

Priority Pass™ membership

The Bonvoy Brilliant Card offers a Priority Pass™ membership (Enrollment required), giving you access to 1,300+ lounges worldwide. You can bring two guests with you into lounges, space permitting. This is a great way to make your airport experience more pleasant, and I’d say this is one of the best cards for getting such a membership.

TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card offers a statement credit for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck once every 4 years. You’re eligible for either program, but not both. Simply charge the membership fee to your card, and it will automatically be reimbursed. It doesn’t matter who the fee is being paid for, as long as you charge it to your eligible card. (Enrollment required)

Access to the Amex Offers program

One of the great features of Amex cards is access to Amex Offers, which gives members savings on purchases with all kinds of retailers. There’s huge value to be had in getting as many Amex cards as possible so that you can get these offers on multiple cards.

Is the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Amex worth it?

If you stay at Marriotts with any frequency, the Bonvoy Brilliant Card is a slam dunk, in my opinion. The biggest perk is Platinum Elite status, so getting that just for having a credit card is huge.

Even beyond that, though, the annual fee is easy to justify. I consider the $300 restaurant credit to more or less be worth face value, while I think the free night certificate valid at a property costing up to 85,000 Bonvoy points is easily worth $350.

To me, that’s an excellent deal. The card has plenty of other perks that are also potentially valuable:

• The card offers a Priority Pass™ membership, giving you access to 1,300+ lounges around the world
• The card offers 25 elite nights toward status annually, which can help you achieve higher elite tiers, or receive Choice Benefits
• The card offers a TSA PreCheck or Global Entry fee credit, which is useful for security and immigration

Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant vs. Bonvoy Bevy Card

American Express has two personal co-branded Marriott cards, with the other card being the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (learn more), which has a $250 annual fee (Rates & Fees). Many people may be trying to decide between these two cards, so which is more compelling?

• The Bonvoy Bevy Card is arguably the best for Marriott spending, as it offers 6x points per dollar spent, plus 1,000 bonus points per Marriott stay
• The Bonvoy Bevy Card offers Gold Elite status just for being a cardmember plus 15 elite nights toward status annually
• The Bonvoy Bevy Card doesn’t offer an anniversary free night award just for being a cardmember, but instead you have to spend $15,000 on the card per calendar year to get a free night award; that free night award is worth up to 50,000 points

I prefer the Bonvoy Brilliant Card, since I think it’s worth paying for the Platinum Elite status and the valuable free night award. On top of that, the $300 restaurant credit also helps offset the annual fee. Some may feel differently, but I think the choice here is pretty obvious.

Bottom line

The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card is Marriott’s most premium credit card. The card has a $650 annual fee, but offers perks like Platinum Elite status, an up to $300 annual restaurant credit, an annual free night certificate valid at a property costing up to 85K points, and much more. Add in all the money-saving offers available with Amex Offers, and you should easily come out ahead with this card.

If you’ve been considering picking up this card, now would be the ideal time to apply, given the welcome offer that’s available.

If you want to learn more about the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, follow this link.

The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees).

There are several opportunities to save miles on tickets in economy, premium economy, and business class. For this month we’re actually seeing a pretty good list, especially if you enjoy premium economy, as there are several options to and from the United States. Let’s go over the details.

Book discounted Singapore Airlines awards

Singapore Airlines’ KrisFlyer program offers monthly Spontaneous Escapes deals, where there’s a list of flights that can be booked at a 30% discount when redeeming miles.

Presumably Singapore Airlines is primarily discounting flights that aren’t anticipated to be full, and where there’s a lot of award availability. This can be a really useful promotion. One major restriction to note is that Spontaneous Escapes awards can’t be changed or canceled once booked (they don’t follow standard KrisFlyer policies), so you’ll only want to ticket these if you’re positive you’re traveling.

KrisFlyer has just published its latest Spontaneous Escapes list, which has a fair number of destinations on it, all for travel on Singapore Airlines. This is valid for bookings through August 31, 2026, and for travel between September 1 and September 30, 2026.

I’d recommend checking out the full list, but just to give you a sense of some of the discounted awards that are available (pricing is one-way, and in some cases the sale only works in one direction of travel):

• Singapore to Bali, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Surabaya, is available for 15,400 miles in business class
• Singapore to Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Manila, and Phuket, is available for 17,500 miles in business class
• Singapore to Hangzhou is available for 24,850 miles in business class
• Singapore to Ahmedabad, Beijing, Colombo, Dhaka, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Shanghai, is available for 31,500 miles in business class
• Singapore to Cairns is available for 50,400 miles in business class
• Singapore to Los Angeles and San Francisco is available for 55,300 miles in premium economy
• Tokyo to Los Angeles is available for 56,350 miles in premium economy
• Singapore to New York is available for 59,150 miles in premium economy

The restrictions for taking advantage of the offers vary by destination. Some destinations are restricted to specific flight numbers, and others are restricted to specific dates, but there’s great value to be had across the board.

As you can see, this time around there are a good number of premium economy options to and from the United States.

How to earn Singapore KrisFlyer miles

If you’re interested in booking one of these flights but don’t have KrisFlyer miles, the good news is that Singapore KrisFlyer is transfer partners with Amex Membership Rewards, Capital One, Chase Ultimate Rewards, and Citi ThankYou, so there are lots of easy ways to earn points that can be redeemed for these flights.

Singapore Airlines makes most premium cabin award space available exclusively to members of its own KrisFlyer program, so many of these are flights that you couldn’t book with partner airline miles. However, some partners, including Air Canada Aeroplan, do have access to some long haul Singapore Airlines premium award space.

Bottom line

Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer has published its latest Spontaneous Escapes promotion. With this new list, you can save on business class, premium economy, and economy award redemptions. There are some good deals to be had — for those in the United States, there are some fun options in premium economy, which could be a good opportunity.

Are there any KrisFlyer Spontaneous Escapes awards that you plan to take advantage of?

Chase offering bonus on Aeroplan points transfers

Between August 12 and September 30, 2026, you can earn a 20% bonus when you transfer points from Chase Ultimate Rewards to Air Canada Aeroplan.

You can take advantage of this offer an unlimited number of times. Transfers from Chase to Air Canada Aeroplan are generally instant. We typically see an offer like this a couple of times per year, and when we do, the 20% bonus is the standard.

There are several great cards earning Chase Ultimate Rewards points, and it’s easy to combine points between the cards. Also keep in mind that those with the Aeroplan® Credit Card (learn more) get a further 10% bonus when transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Aeroplan, and these two offers stack:

• This applies when transferring 50,000 or more Chase Ultimate Rewards points in one transaction
• You can get a maximum of 25,000 bonus points per calendar year this way
• The 10% bonus points will post separately — the bonus points should post within 72 hours of the original transfer, but it can take up to seven days
• There’s no registration required to take advantage of this, as long as you’re the primary cardmember on an eligible card, and transfer to your Aeroplan account

Should you transfer Chase points to Aeroplan?

Air Canada Aeroplan is one of my favorite programs for redeeming points, thanks to the huge number of airline partners, plus the ability to book stopovers even on one-way awards for just 5,000 additional points.

Aeroplan has fair award pricing, and not only gets you access to redemptions on all Star Alliance airlines, but also gets you access to a variety of otherwise unaligned airlines, including Air Mauritius, Gulf Air, and many more.

While I usually prefer to transfer my Chase points to World of Hyatt and transfer my Amex points to Air Canada Aeroplan, with a 20-30% bonus, I think this could very well be worth switching up behavior over.

Bottom line

Through September 30, 2026, Chase Ultimate Rewards is offering a 20-30% bonus on points transfers to Air Canada Aeroplan. This is an excellent offer that could be worth taking advantage of, given just how useful the Aeroplan program is for Star Alliance and other partner redemptions. The bonus is even more lucrative if you have the Aeroplan Credit Card, so you can get an additional 10% bonus (with some limitations).

Do you plan on taking advantage of this Chase Aeroplan transfer bonus?

We’ve just seen a new elevated welcome offer rolled out on this card, making it the ideal time to apply.

Link: Learn more about the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card

What is the current Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card bonus?

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card is offering a two-part welcome bonus, which can earn you free nights and a statement credit perk. The offer is broken down as follows:

• Earn four free night awards after spending $3,000 within the first three months; free night awards can each be redeemed for a one-night stay at properties with a redemption level up to 50,000 points per night, and certain hotels have resort fees
• There’s a special offer through June 30, 2027, whereby you can get up to $100 in statement credits after spending $500 on eligible airline purchases; that’s up to $50 in statement credits semi-annually

I value Bonvoy points at 0.7 cents each, given all the great ways there are to redeem them. As you can see, the free night awards are worth up to 200,000 Bonvoy points (which I would value at $1,400). However, I wouldn’t value the bonus quite that high, given that these free night awards given you less flexibility than outright having points.

Still, this is an excellent welcome bonus for a card with such a reasonable annual fee.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card eligibility requirements

If you’re applying for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card, the general Chase application restrictions apply. There aren’t too many direct, consistent rules, but considerations include Chase’s 5/24 rule (which isn’t always enforced), being able to get up to two Chase cards every 30 days, etc.

Beyond that, since both American Express and Chase issue cards for Marriott, there are some pretty complicated restrictions regarding eligibility for this card, so see this post for more details. To summarize the very basics, you can’t get the welcome bonus on the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card if:

• You currently have the Marriott Bonvoy Bold® Credit Card (learn more), or have received a new cardmember bonus on it in the past 24 months
• You currently have the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more), Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (learn more), or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more), and have received a new cardmember bonus on the card in the past 24 months (it’s fine if you have those cards, you just can’t have received a bonus in the past 24 months)
• You were approved for the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card, or Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, in the past 90 days

Why the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card is worth it

Not only does the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card have a huge welcome offer, but this is a card that’s worth keeping in the long run. The card has a $95 annual fee, and for that you receive quite a few perks:

• The card offers an anniversary free night award every year, valid at a property costing up to 35,000 Bonvoy points (this can also be topped off with up to 25,000 additional points)
• The card offers Bonvoy Silver status for as long as you’re a cardmember, plus Bonvoy Gold status if you spend $35,000 on the card in a cardmember year
• The card offers 15 elite nights toward Bonvoy status annually, plus one additional elite night for every $5,000 spent, which can help you qualify for a higher elite tier
• The card offers 6x Bonvoy points on Marriott spending, 3x Bonvoy points on gas, dining, and groceries (on up to $6,000 in cumulative purchases per calendar year, and then 2x points), and 2x Bonvoy points on all other spending

The way I view it, the $95 annual fee can easily be covered by the anniversary free night award, which makes the card worth holding onto in the long run.

Admittedly there are several Marriott cards to choose from, so there’s not just one best option, as it all depends what you’re looking for. Personally, my strategy is to have the Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (review) and Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (review), as I think they make a good duo.

Read a full review of the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card.

Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card bonus FAQs

Bottom line

At the moment, the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card has a great welcome offer, which can earn you four free night awards, redeemable at a property costing up to 50,000 Bonvoy points per night.

The card offers an anniversary free night award valid at a property costing up to 35,000 Bonvoy points, and can also help you earn elite status, between the Bonvoy Silver status, the 15 elite nights annually, the elite night for every $5,000 spent, and more.

If you’ve been considering this card, now would be the time to apply, as this is a great offer.

Do you plan on picking up the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card?

I recently wrote about how Vietnam Airlines, another SkyTeam member, is also offering a status match opportunity. I figure this one is worth covering as well, since for most people, it’s going to be a better value (since the application cost is lower). Let’s go over the details.

Status match for SkyTeam Elite or Elite Plus status

The website statusmatch.com is partnering with Kenya Airways’ Asante Rewards program to offer a status match promotion. Kenya Airways is a SkyTeam member, and this could be valuable even if you don’t typically fly with the airline. A few basics to be aware of, to start:

• Kenya Airways is matching to Asante Rewards Silver status (SkyTeam Elite) at a cost of $80-99, and to Asante Rewards Gold and Platinum (SkyTeam Elite Plus) at a cost of $175-299; you can find the full costs here, as they vary based on whether you’re matching airline or hotel status
• The status match request should take just a minute to complete, though it can take up to three business days for the request to be approved
• There’s no published end date for this promotion, though it can be pulled at any time
• Matched status is valid for a period of 12 months from when the match is approved
• Status matches are available from dozens of frequent flyer and hotel loyalty programs, and you can find the full list of eligible programs here
• Depending on the program you’re matching from, there are potentially some residency requirements, though at least some versions of the offer are open to all

Specific to the United States, if you have mid or top tier status with most airline programs, you can unlock SkyTeam Elite Plus status this way for $299, which could potentially be worthwhile.

Is this Kenya Airways status match worth it?

Should you consider a Kenya Airways status match? Of course if you fly Kenya Airways frequently, there could be significant upside. However, even if you don’t, you might still find this to be worthwhile.

If you can status match to Asante Rewards Gold or Platinum status, then that gets you SkyTeam Elite Plus status. This offers considerable reciprocal perks when flying with any SkyTeam member airline, including business class lounge access on select itineraries, priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding, an extra baggage allowance, preferred seating, and more.

Just keep in mind that SkyTeam Elite Plus has some restrictions around lounge access, and you only get domestic lounge access in select regions and to certain facilities (so this wouldn’t be a way to get Delta lounge access when traveling domestically within the United States).

So I wouldn’t say this is the most exciting status match opportunity we’ve seen, but maybe it’s worthwhile for some. The question just comes down to whether you value SkyTeam Elite Plus status at the cost.

If you are going for a SkyTeam status match, this is generally going to be a better deal than the Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles status match, though personally I’d consider the Air France-KLM Flying Blue status match to be a better opportunity. However, that has more geographic restrictions (and isn’t currently open to those in the United States), which is why the Kenya Airways offer will be better for some.

Bottom line

At the moment, Kenya Airways’ Asante Rewards program is offering a status match opportunity, and it’s really widely available. If you have elite status with virtually any airline, this is a way to get SkyTeam Elite Plus status for $299. That can get you perks across SkyTeam airlines, ranging from business class check-in, to lounge access, to priority boarding, and more.

Do you plan on taking advantage of this Kenya Airways status match?

This could be a worthwhile option for unlocking SkyTeam elite status perks. However, let me note that there are geographic restrictions, and this is also a paid offer, and there are also opportunities with other programs. Let’s cover all the details.

Basics of Vietnam Airlines’ status match promo

The website statusmatch.com is partnering with Vietnam Airlines’ Lotusmiles program to offer a status match promotion. Vietnam Airlines is a SkyTeam member, and this could be valuable even if you don’t typically fly with the airline. A few basics to be aware of, to start:

• Vietnam Airlines is matching to Lotusmiles Titanium status (SkyTeam Elite) at a cost of $129-159, to Lotusmiles Gold status (SkyTeam Elite) at a cost of $219-239, or to Lotusmiles Platinum status (SkyTeam Elite Plus) at a cost of $359; you can find the full costs here, as they vary based on whether you’re matching airline or hotel status
• The status match request should take just a minute to complete, though it can take up to five business days for the request to be approved
• There’s no published end date for this promotion, though it can be pulled at any time
• Matched status is valid for a period of 12 months from when the match is approved
• Status matches are available from nearly 50 different frequent flyer programs and nearly 20 different hotel loyalty programs, and you can find the full list of eligible programs here; note that hotel status matches can’t get you top tier status, though
• This promotion is only valid for those who reside in the following countries (and you must have ID documents, like a passport or driver’s license): Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, and United States

Is this Vietnam Airlines status match worth it?

Obviously this promotion could be useful if you’re someone who has a lot of travel on Vietnam Airlines coming up. If you’re curious about Lotusmiles elite perks, you can find them on this page. The elite perks aren’t anything to get too excited about.

This is primarily a way to get priority SkyTeam services, like business class check-in, lounge access, and boarding, plus an additional baggage allowance. Vietnam Airlines doesn’t offer elite upgrade perks, or any other benefits that are overly exciting or generous.

The biggest upside here is that Lotusmiles Platinum status would unlock SkyTeam Elite Plus status, which offers priority check-in, priority security, priority boarding, extra baggage, lounge access on select itineraries, and much more, when flying with any SkyTeam airline.

Just keep in mind that SkyTeam Elite Plus has some restrictions around lounge access, and you only get domestic lounge access in select regions and to certain facilities (so this wouldn’t be a way to get Delta lounge access when traveling domestically within the United States).

So I wouldn’t say this is the most exciting status match opportunity we’ve seen, but maybe it’s worthwhile for some. The question just comes down to whether you value SkyTeam Elite Plus status at the cost.

If you are going for a SkyTeam status match, personally I’d consider the Air France-KLM Flying Blue status match that’s available. However, that has more geographic restrictions, which is why the Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles offer will be better for some.

Bottom line

There’s a status match promotion with Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles, which can earn you SkyTeam Elite Plus perks. There’s an application fee of up to $359, which is steep. So I don’t think this offer is a no-brainer, or anything, but if you do have status with SkyTeam, this could be worth considering, and is at least worth being aware of.

Do you plan on taking advantage of this Vietnam Airlines status match opportunity?

I’d like to take a closer look at that in this post. Which airlines are offering this, why, and how much extra do these seats cost?

Why airlines are introducing “premium” business class

Airlines do everything in their power to utilize space on aircraft efficiently. This can be done in a variety of ways, ranging from cramming as many seats into an aircraft as possible, to creating as many differentiated products onboard as possible, so that there are buy-up opportunities.

In recent years, we’ve increasingly seen airlines introduce premium products within business class. Really this is just another example of airlines trying to create additional revenue streams.

The logic for these business class plus products is pretty straightforward. In most business class configurations nowadays, seats utilize the space to the side of the seat in front, to minimize each seat’s overall pitch. That’s why we often see business class seats with small footwells, since that’s what’s needed to make the seats economical.

In the first row of the cabin, though, space can’t be utilized as efficiently, since there’s no seat in front where you can place a footwell. Historically airlines haven’t done much to differentiate the first row, perhaps aside from a marginally larger footwell. However, that’s a trend that has changed.

Airlines have increasingly been making the first row of business class more spacious, and selling those seats at an extra cost. In some cases, airlines also differentiate the soft product, while in other cases they don’t.

Airlines offering “business class plus” products

With the above out of the way, let me share some of the airlines offering business class plus products. As I go over each product, I’ll talk about:

• What makes the seat better than other business class seats in the cabin
• If the soft product is at all differentiated
• How you can score these seats

Note that I’ll only be covering the products that are currently in service. So I won’t include any new business class products on the horizon, which may have special front row products. I also won’t include products that just have marginally bigger footwells at the bulkhead, since that’s probably most airlines.

With that out of the way, here we go, in no particular order…

Virgin Atlantic Retreat Suite (A330-900neo)

Virgin Atlantic’s Airbus A330-900neos have two special business class seats (1D, 1G), known as Retreat Suites.

While the seats might on the surface look similar to the other staggered seats in this configuration, what makes the product unique is that you have more space. You get a much larger ottoman, you can dine face-to-face with your travel companion, the beds are larger (the bed becomes 6’7″), and the entertainment screens are larger (27″ vs. 17″). There’s no differentiation to the soft product.

If you want to select one of the Retreat Suites, the cost can vary (sometimes around £300 per person per flight), and it can be selected through Virgin Atlantic’s website in the weeks leading up to departure.

JetBlue Mint Studio (A321LR & A321neo)

JetBlue’s Airbus A321LRs and A321neos have two special Mint business class seats (1A, 1F), known as Mint Studios.

What makes these seats unique is that they boast a massive amount of extra space. Rather than being a herringbone seat where you’re right next to someone, you have a bench next to you where you can even have someone visit you in your seat, as well as extra storage. There’s no differentiation to the soft product.

If you want to select one of the Mint Suites, the cost is currently typically $299 per person for transatlantic flights, though the cost can vary. You can purchase these seats anytime between when you book and when you travel.

American Flagship Suite Preferred (787-9P)

American’s newest Boeing 787-9s (designed as 787-9Ps) are equipped with Flagship Suite seats, and they also feature a special front row business class (1A, 1L, 2D, 2H, 10D, 10H, 10L, 11A), known as Flagship Suite Preferred.

These seats feature quite a bit more personal space over the other seats, including more space for your feet, and more storage. There’s also some soft product differentiation, including pajamas and mattress pads.

While the expectation is that these will eventually cost extra, for now, American is letting all business class passengers assign these at no extra cost, subject to availability.

United Polaris Studio (787-9)

United’s newest Boeing 787-9s (which operate specific routes) are equipped with the carrier’s new Polaris business class seats, and they also feature a special front row business class (1A, 1D, 1F, 1L, 9A, 9D, 9F, 9L), known as the Polaris Studio.

These seats feature quite a bit more personal space over the other seats, including a larger ottoman, more storage, and even a larger entertainment monitor. There’s also some soft product differentiation, including Global Services ground treatment, upgraded food & drinks (including a caviar amuse bouche, and Laurent-Perrier Cuvée Rosé), updated amenities, and more.

United currently charges an extra $400-600 per long haul flight for passengers to assign these seats. As long as you’re confirmed in business class, you can pay the fee to select one of these seats.

Condor Prime Seat (A330-900neo)

Condor’s Airbus A330-900neos have four special business class seats (1E, 1F, 2A, 2K), known as Prime Seats.

What makes these seats special is that they have ottomans that are way larger than what you’ll find in the rest of the cabin. You can also dine face-to-face with your companion, and the entertainment screens are larger (24″ vs. 17″). Condor also differentiates the soft product, offering those in Prime Seats a snack basket, free Wi-Fi, pajamas, and more.

If you want to select one of the Prime Seats, the cost is currently typically around $300-600 per person per flight, so pricing is all over the place. You can purchase these seats anytime between when you book and when you travel.

Lufthansa Allegris Business First Row Suite (A350-900)

Lufthansa’s Airbus A350-900 Allegris business class features an irrational number of seating options, though the most noteworthy is the suites that are available in the first rows of the two business class cabins (2A, 2D, 2G, 2K, 8A, 8D, 8G, 8K).

These seats feature an unreal amount of personal space, that will make you feel like you’re in first class. The seats have privacy doors, higher partitions, extra storage, larger ottomans, and bigger entertainment screens. It really is like a different experience than the rest of the cabin. There’s also a slight differentiation with the soft product, including extra bedding and pajamas.

If you want to select one of these seats, the pricing is currently €400 to €600 per person per flight. You can purchase these seats anytime between when you book and when you travel.

SWISS Senses Business Suite (A350-900)

SWISS’ new Airbus A350-900 SWISS Senses business class experience is virtually identical to Lufthansa Allegris, but with SWISS branding and finishes. So everything stated above about the front row suites in Lufthansa Allegris also applies to SWISS Senses. The best seats in the cabin are those in the first rows of the two business class cabins (2A, 2D, 2G, 2K, 8A, 8D, 8G, 8K).

These seats feature a huge amount of space, as well as privacy doors, higher partitions, extra storage, larger ottomans, bigger entertainment screens, and more.

If you want to select one of these seats, the pricing is €400 to €600 per person per flight. You can purchase these seats anytime between when you book and when you travel.

Air France Business Suite (A350-900 & 777-300ER)

Air France’s newest Airbus A350-900s (1A, 1D, 1H, 1L, 10A, 10L) and reconfigured three-cabin Boeing 777-300ERs (1A, 1D, 1H, 1L, 9A, 9D, 9H, 9L), and reconfigured four-cabin Boeing 777-300ERs (9A, 9D, 9H, 9L) feature some amazing seats in the bulkhead rows.

While Air France has comfortable reverse herringbone seats throughout these jets, the bulkhead rows have an unbelievable amount of personal space, with a massive ottoman. This is the biggest ottoman you’ll find at any seat in the industry. Note that there’s no differentiated soft product for this row of seats.

Until recently, Air France didn’t actually market this as a separate product, but as of recently, it’s being marketed as Business Suite. When it comes to assigning these seats, only Flying Blue Ultimate members can assign these front row business class seats for free. All other passengers can pay to assign these seats at the time of booking (or any time up until departure), and the fee seems to be around €200 one-way.

Air New Zealand Business Premier Luxe (787-9)

Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 787-9 business class recently debuted, as it’s being retrofitted on existing Dreamliners. These planes have four special business class seats (1A, 1B, 1J, 1K) in the first row, known as Business Premier Luxe.

These seats feature doors (unlike the other business class seats), and more personal space, with features like an ottoman that can double as a buddy seat, plus a larger tray table. There are also special amenities, like an extra throw.

These seats are bookable by any confirmed business class passenger, at the cost of 250 NZD for short haul flights, and 820 NZD for long haul flights.

Malaysia Airlines Business Suite (A350-900)

Malaysia Airlines’ Airbus A350-900s have four special business class seats (1A, 1D, 1G, 1K), known as Business Suites. Back in the day, this product was actually marketed as first class, but the airline decided to rebrand it.

These seats are significantly different than the standard business class seats the airline has. They’re suites with proper doors, and are quite a bit more spacious than the standard business class. Note that this includes a differentiated soft product as well, from premium lounge access, to a better inflight menu.

Business Suites are sold as a totally separate product, and can be purchased at the time you make your booking. Expect it to be significantly more expensive than business class.

Asiana Airlines Business Suite (A380)

Asiana Airlines’ Airbus A380s have 12 special business class seats (seats in rows 1-3), known as Business Suites. In reality, this used to be marketed as the first class cabin, but the airline decided to rebrand it.

This is probably the most spacious business class product you’ll find anywhere, as the cabin has huge suites with doors. While the rest of business class is on the upper deck, this is located at the front of the lower deck. The soft product is also differentiated a bit, with better lounge access on the ground, plus more bedding onboard.

Business Suites are sold as a totally separate product, and can be purchased at the time you make your booking. Expect it to be significantly more expensive than business class. However, there are also reports of discounted upgraded being sold at check-in, typically around $500 per person per flight for a long haul sector.

Riyadh Air Business Elite (787-9)

Riyadh Air is the newest airline to introduce a premium business product, in the form of Business Elite. This is available on the carrier’s Boeing 787-9s, and it consists of the four seats in the first row. These seats have extra space, including a much bigger ottoman, etc.

Furthermore, the soft product is also somewhat differentiated, with passengers in this product getting caviar on select routes, better amenities, etc.

You can book this product directly by selecting an “Elite” fare, which comes with one of these premium seats, space permitting. Alternatively, any business class passenger can pay to assign one of these seats, with the cost varying based on the sector. Generally it’ll cost somewhere around $200-600 extra per flight.

Oman Air Business Studio (787-9)

Oman Air recently rebranded its first class as Business Studio. This product is available on two Boeing 787-9s, which primarily fly to London (LHR) and Bangkok (BKK). Oman Air was struggling to actually sell this product with decent yields, so the airline has instead decided to market it as Business Studio.

There are eight seats in this cabin, in a 1-2-1 configuration. Seats have 82″ of pitch, 23″ personal screens, and privacy doors.

This is marketed as a separate business class product, so you have to book into it directly. Oman Air Business Studio includes some premium offerings over business class, like free Wi-Fi, but for the most part, it’s the business class soft product.

ITA Airways business class (A321neo)

ITA Airways has a fleet of premium Airbus A321neos, which feature business class, premium economy, and economy. You’ll find 12 business class seats on these planes, in a 1-1 configuration. While these seats are all in a reverse herringbone layout, the first row of seats is the most impressive, as it features a lot more space for you feet, much like in JetBlue Mint.

This front row seat is marketed as an extra space seat, and can be assigned for a reasonable premium for anyone booked in business class. For example, on some A321neo flights, you can expect the fee is around $100 to assign these special seats. There’s no differentiation in the soft product, though.

China Eastern business class (A350-900)

China Eastern’s Airbus A350-900s have four special business class seats (1A, 1D, 1G, 1K), and they’re not talked about a whole lot.

The plane is snazzy in general, and has staggered seats with doors in business class. The first row of seats has extra space, including a much bigger ottoman, and larger entertainment monitors, similar to what you’ll find on Condor and Virgin Atlantic. Now, there’s not actually a whole lot out there about the soft product, so I’m not sure if that’s differentiated.

Rather than being a seat assignment upgrade option, this is actually marketed as a separate business class product. When you go to China Eastern’s website to book a flight on the A350, you’ll see the option of booking “Business Class” or “Luxury Business Class,” with the latter being this product.

Shanghai Airlines business class (787-9)

Shanghai Airlines’ Boeing 787-9s have four special business class seats (1A, 1D, 1G, 1K).

Shanghai Airlines is actually a subsidiary of China Eastern, and this is exactly the same setup as above for China Eastern. You’ll find that the standard seats are marketed as “Business Class,” while the bulkhead seats are marketed as “Luxury Business Class,” and can be booked when you reserve your ticket.

Singapore Airlines business class (A350-900 & 777-300ER)

Singapore Airlines’ long haul configured Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 777-300ERs feature some very special bulkhead seats.

Much like on Air France, these aren’t formally marketed as a special product, but that doesn’t make them any less exceptional. While other Singapore Airlines business class seats have a footwell to the side that you have to place your feet into, these seats offer way more space, whether sitting up or sleeping. Being able to snag one of these can greatly change your impression of the experience.

Singapore Airlines doesn’t sell these seats at an extra cost, but instead they’re reserved for KrisFlyer PPS Club members in advance. Then within 96 hours of departure, they can be assigned by any confirmed business class passenger (from 48 to 96 hours, you can only reserve these by phone).

Bottom line

Not only have we seen business class improve hugely over the years, but we’re also seeing airlines increasingly create a cabin within a cabin. Generally these products are thanks to the extra space available at bulkheads. Airlines are making the most of this by creating seating that they hope consumers will be willing to pay extra for, and I’d say many airlines have succeeded.

I figured it would be useful to recap the airlines offering these kinds of experiences. I think this is a trend that we’re only going to see continue, so I’m sure when I update this list in a couple of years, it’ll be much longer.

What do you make of these “business class plus” products?

What is EC261 flight delay & cancelation compensation?

Regulation EC261/2004 (EC261 for short, though often incorrectly referred to as EU261) is the European Union’s official rule that dictates what airlines owe passengers in the event of flight delays or cancelations. This can include everything from cash compensation, to hotels, to meal vouchers. This is truly the most generous protection you’ll find anywhere in the world when it comes to airline passenger rights.

Europe flight delay & cancelation compensation rules

Under what circumstances are you entitled to compensation in Europe if your flight is delayed or canceled? As you might expect, this can be difficult to understand at times, since rules differ based on the airline you’re flying with, the cause of the delay, etc. In this post I’ll go over all the details.

Which airlines & countries are covered by EC261?

EC261 rules apply in the following situations:

• If you are traveling from a European Union airport on any airline
• If you are traveling to a European Union airport on a European Union-based airline

In other words:

• If you’re flying from Frankfurt to Newark, EC261 would apply regardless of whether you’re traveling with Lufthansa or United
• If you’re flying from Newark to Frankfurt, EC261 would only apply on Lufthansa, and not on United (since United isn’t a European Union-based airline)

A few more things to note:

• Even though Norway and Switzerland aren’t in the European Union, EC261 applies for these countries as well; furthermore, the United Kingdom has separate rules that are almost identical to EC261
• You’re only eligible for EC261 coverage if you have a confirmed reservation, and are traveling on a revenue or award ticket (in other words, staff travel or other industrial discount tickets don’t qualify)
• Frustratingly, EC261 doesn’t apply if you’re merely connecting in the European Union between two other destinations; for example, it wouldn’t apply to a New York to Paris to Johannesburg itinerary

How much money is EC261 compensation?

The amount of cash compensation you’re entitled to under EC261 varies based on the length of the flight… sort of:

• If your flight covers a distance of under 1,500km (930 miles), you’re entitled to 250 Euro compensation if you’re delayed by at least three hours
• If your flight covers a distance of 1,500-3,500km (930-2,200 miles), you’re entitled to 400 Euro compensation if you’re delayed by at least three hours
• If your flight covers a distance of over 3,500km (2,200 miles), you’re entitled to 600 Euro compensation if you’re delayed by at least four hours

So as you can see, the longer the flight, the longer the delay has to be in order to get compensated. However, you’re also potentially going to get more compensation. There are a couple more details to be aware of:

• A delay is calculated based on the time that you arrive at your gate and the doors open, rather than based on when you touch down at your destination
• Furthermore, the delay is calculated based on how late you reach your final destination; if you’re flying from Berlin to Frankfurt to New York, and your Berlin to Frankfurt flight is delayed by an hour and that causes you to miss your connecting flight and arrive in New York at least four hours late, you’d be entitled to cash compensation

Which delays qualify for EC261 compensation?

If you’re looking for compensation through EC261, you’re entitled to that for any delay or cancelation that isn’t due to “extraordinary circumstances.” The issue is that this can be a bit of a gray area, and airlines have been known to play games. That’s because what constitutes “extraordinary circumstances” isn’t explicitly defined.

As a general rule of thumb:

• Weather delays, air traffic control delays, delays due to strikes outside the airline, delays due to political instability, diversions due to medical issues or unruly passengers, etc., would be considered extraordinary circumstances, so EC261 compensation wouldn’t apply
• A mechanical problem, a late inbound aircraft, a crew related delay, a strike directly at the airline, etc., wouldn’t be considered extraordinary circumstances, so EC261 compensation would apply

Do flight cancelations qualify for EC261 compensation?

Not only does the above compensation apply if your flight is delayed, but it also applies if it’s canceled. EC261 compensation applies in the event that your flight is canceled within 14 days of departure. If your flight is canceled further out than that, then the compensation wouldn’t apply.

Furthermore, as is the case with delays, extraordinary circumstances are excluded from being eligible for compensation.

How do you claim EC261 compensation?

Claiming EC261 compensation is potentially the tricky part, as airlines often do everything in their power to get out of paying this compensation. There are two general ways you can approach this:

• You can contact the airline to try to claim EC261 compensation, and some airlines have forms on their websites through which this can be done
• You can use a third party service that helps consumers with this, though they usually take a significant cut; I’ve never used one of these so can’t personally vouch for any, but you can easily find them online

I’d always recommend doing everything in your power to request the compensation directly, so you can keep the entire amount. If you’re going to claim EC261 compensation, there are a few things to keep in mind:

• This isn’t something you need to do at the airport, so don’t take this up with airport staff, but rather take it up with customer relations after the fact
• I’d recommend keeping as much documentation as possible, including taking pictures of the flight status page reflecting the delay, keeping boarding passes, etc.
• Expect that airlines may try to do everything in their power to get out of paying this compensation; this can include claiming that there were “extraordinary circumstances,” just not responding for a long time, etc.

Does EC261 cover hotels & meals?

Not only does EC261 offer cash compensation in the event of a delay or cancelation, but it also offers passengers other forms of assistance, including:

• Hotel accommodation in the event of an overnight delay, including transport to and from the hotel
• Meals and refreshments
• Two telephone calls or emails

This should be offered proactively in the event of a significant delay or cancelation. There’s no promise of how efficiently any of this will be offered, though. For example, if you have a flight canceled at an outstation (non-hub airport), you might have two agents trying to work on hotels for hundreds of passengers, which could take hours. So be prepared to be patient.

In many cases you can also just book your own hotel and then be reimbursed after the fact, though in some cases airlines may have a cap on how much they’re willing to reimburse, and it can be tough to know that in advance.

What’s also nice is that the duty of care applies even if the delay or cancelation is due to extraordinary circumstances. So if your flight is delayed overnight due to weather, you’d still be owed a hotel room and meals.

What does EC261 say about rebooking flights?

In the event that your flight is substantially delayed or canceled, EC261 requires that airlines rebook passengers on the next available flight to their destination, assuming that’s what they want. This can include rebooking on another airline, even one the airline you’re booked on doesn’t have a partnership with.

So if the airline you’re booked on doesn’t have availability for same day travel, but another airline does, in theory the airline has to rebook you. I say “in theory” because actually getting a frontline employee to follow the rules isn’t necessarily that straightforward (more on that in a bit).

What about delayed & lost bags with EC261?

EC261 doesn’t directly dictate what compensation is required for delayed and lost bags. Instead, the Montreal Convention sets minimum standards for compensation in these regards. Generally speaking:

• You’re limited to $1,700 in compensation in the event of lost luggage
• You can be reimbursed for necessary expenses due to delayed luggage, though you’ll only be reimbursed at the rate of 50% for things you can continue to use (like clothes), while toiletries and single-use items will be reimbursed at 100%
• Airlines have a lot of discretion regarding what they consider reasonable and necessary expenses

Some countries have more generous policies than that. For example, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations are more generous for flights involving the United States. Under those rules, you can be compensated up to $3,800 for lost bags on domestic flights, and you can also be fully reimbursed for necessary expenses due to lost bags (rather than just 50% for items you can reuse, under EC261 regulations).

The gray area of EC261 that goes through the legal system

I think one important point to emphasize is that there’s the text of EC261 as it’s written, and then there’s how airlines actually choose to interpret it. While the text is somewhat clear, it also leaves a lot of things open to interpretation, and it’s also no guarantee that frontline employees will follow those guidelines 100% of the time.

All the time we see legal cases involving EC261, and that sort of sets the precedent for how each airline pays out. That further complicates things because these legal cases go through the courts of one specific country, but courts in different European Union countries may come to different conclusions.

Just to give some examples of things that have been addressed in court:

• What qualifies as a reimbursable refreshment? Are alcoholic drinks refreshments?
• For the purposes of reimbursement, what’s a reasonable amount to spend on a hotel when your flight canceled? What if there’s a huge event in town, and the cheapest hotel is $2K per night?
• How strict is the requirement for an airline to get you to your destination on the next available flight? Does an airline have to rebook you on another airline if there’s a flight 30 minutes before the next flight operated by that same airline?

These all fall in the “your mileage may vary” category, as different countries interpret these things differently. But as you deal with EC261, you’ll see that things aren’t always as straightforward as you might hope. So be prepared for that.

Should EC261 compensation impact how you plan travel?

As I said, EC261 is the most consumer friendly government regulations out there when it comes to flight delays and cancelations. In the United States, airlines can delay your flight by 12 hours or cancel your flight, and you’re entitled to exactly zero dollars compensation. So it’s great to see that in at least some part of the world there’s some protection for consumers.

EC261 compensation certainly makes me feel less frustrated in situations where my flight is delayed or canceled. But I think there’s also an interesting angle here in general, which might put consumers at ease.

Many European airports have unrealistically short minimum connection times, and then they encourage passengers to book very short connections. Often people will misconnect, though perhaps one silver lining here is that you could end up getting EC261 compensation.

As mentioned above, the length of the delay is measured based on how late you arrive at your final destination. Say you’re flying Lufthansa from Chicago to Munich to Berlin with a 45 minute connection. If your Chicago to Munich flight is delayed by an hour (causing you to misconnect), and you end up being rebooked on another flight that gets you to Berlin more than four hours late, you’d be entitled to 600 Euro cash compensation.

That certainly takes the sting out of misconnecting a bit…

Are changes coming to EC261 regulations?

It’s worth noting that the European Union is working on updating its EC261 regulations. Initially it looked like the changes were going to be negative, but as it turns out, they’re now actually going to be largely positive.

The compensation amounts are largely staying the same, while the process for reimbursement is expected to get easier. We don’t yet know exactly when this will be implemented, but either way, it’s great that the policy won’t be getting worse.

Bottom line

The European Union has the most consumer friendly rules that you’ll find anywhere in the world when it comes to flight delays and cancelations. Under EU rules, you’re entitled to 600 Euro in cash compensation in the event that you’re traveling long haul and arrive at your destination at least four hours behind schedule.

While there are some terms to be aware of, in many ways the rules are as good as they sound. Actually getting an airline to pay, especially in a timely manner, could be a different story, though.

Hopefully the above is a useful rundown of how EC261 works. While there’s a bit more nuance, I tried to strike the right balance between keeping this brief and easy, and being thorough.

Have you ever been able to get EC261 compensation? If so, what was your experience like?

In this post, I’d like to cover the basics of these cards, especially given the incredibly compelling welcome offers that are currently available. If you’re eligible for any of these cards and haven’t yet applied, you’re leaving a lot of rewards on the table! Why are the cards worth having, and how can you maximize your odds of getting approved when applying?

Link: Learn more about the Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card, Ink Business Cash® Credit Card, Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card, or Sapphire Reserve for Business℠

Chase Ink business credit cards overview & comparison

Let’s start by covering the details of Chase Ink & Sapphire business credit cards, including the welcome bonuses, the rewards structures, the perks, and more. As I view it, these cards are mostly complements rather than substitutes, given that only two of the cards have annual fees (at very different price points), and each card has its own strengths.

These cards also have consistently great welcome bonuses, so applying for multiple cards can be a great way to earn lots of points with a reasonable spending amount, which can fuel some great travel opportunities. For what it’s worth, I value Ultimate Rewards points at 1.7 cents each. A little later I’ll cover the different value of the points on the cards, but if you take the right strategy, you can pool points across cards.

Note that in this post I won’t be covering the Ink Business Premier® Credit Card (learn more). While this is a potentially useful card, it exclusively earns cash back, so it isn’t a travel rewards card, unlike the rest of the cards in the portfolio.

Before I get into each card in more detail, let me share a quick Chase business card comparison chart, so you can compare the cards at a glance.

Ink Business Preferred Card benefits, bonus, and fees

Here are the key details of the Ink Business Preferred Card:

• The Ink Preferred has a $95 annual fee, with no additional cost to add authorized users or employee cards
• The Ink Preferred has a big welcome offer of 100,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus points after spending $8,000 within the first three months, which I value at $1,700
• The Ink Preferred has a generous rewards structure, as it offers 3x points (which I value at a 5.1% return) on travel, shipping purchases, internet, cable, phone services, and advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines, on up to $150,000 in combined purchases per cardmember year (based on your card anniversary, unrelated to the calendar year)
• The Ink Preferred has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great card to use for purchases abroad
• The Ink Preferred offers cell phone protection of up to $1,000 per claim against covered theft or damage; you can have a maximum of three claims in a 12-month period, and there’s a $100 deductible per claim
• The Ink Preferred offers rental car protection in the form of primary collision damage waiver (CDW) coverage; it’s primary globally when renting for business purposes, while it’s primary internationally for personal rentals, and secondary in the United States for personal rentals
• The Ink Preferred offers trip cancellation and interruption coverage, of up to $500 per covered traveler and $10,000 per trip, plus extended warranty protection, for up to a year on eligible purchases
• Having the Ink Preferred gives you full access to the Chase Ultimate Rewards ecosystem, including the ability to transfer points to travel partners (though World of Hyatt transfers with the card are only 4:3)

Read a full review of the Ink Business Preferred Card.

Ink Business Cash Card benefits, bonus, and fees

Here are the key details of the Ink Business Cash Card:

• The Ink Cash has no annual fee, with no additional cost to add authorized users or employee cards
• The Ink Cash has a fantastic limited time welcome bonus of 100,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 within the first four months, which I value at $1,000-1,700 (depending on the combination of cards you have)
• The Ink Cash offers 0% intro APR for up to 12 months, so it could be a good option if you could benefit from financing a charge
• The Ink Cash has a lucrative rewards structure, as it offers 5x points (which I value at an 8.5% return) on office supply stores, internet, cable, and phones services, and 2x points (which I value at a 3.4% return) on restaurants and gas stations, on up to $25,000 in combined purchases per cardmember year; note the card has 3% foreign transaction fees, so isn’t ideal for purchases abroad
• The Ink Cash has 3% foreign transaction fees, so it isn’t a card I’d use for purchases abroad
• The Ink Cash offers valuable perks, like rental car protection and extended warranty protection
• The Ink Cash only offers the ability to transfer points to Chase Ultimate Rewards travel partners in conjunction with another card

Read a full review of the Ink Business Cash Card.

Ink Business Unlimited Card benefits, bonus, and fees

Here are the key details of the Ink Business Unlimited Card:

• The Ink Unlimited has no annual fee, with no additional cost to add authorized users or employee cards
• The Ink Unlimited has a lucrative limited time welcome bonus of 100,000 bonus points after spending $8,000 within the first four months, which I value at $1,000-1,700 (depending on the combination of cards you have)
• The Ink Unlimited offers 0% intro APR for up to 12 months, so it could be a good option if you could benefit from financing a charge
• The Ink Unlimited has a solid rewards structure, as it offers a flat 1.5x points (which I value at a 2.25% return) on all business purchases, with no limits
• The Ink Unlimited has 3% foreign transaction fees, so it isn’t a card I’d use for purchases abroad
• It offers valuable perks, like rental car protection and extended warranty protection
• The card only offers the ability to transfer points to Chase Ultimate Rewards travel partners in conjunction with another card

Read a full review of the Ink Business Unlimited Card.

Sapphire Reserve Business Card benefits, bonus, and fees

While not part of the Ink portfolio, the Sapphire Reserve Business Card is also a Chase business card that earns Ultimate Rewards points, and which could prove to be worthwhile:

• The Sapphire Reserve Business has a $795 annual fee, with no additional cost to add authorized users or employee cards
• The Sapphire Reserve Business has a massive limited time welcome bonus of 200,000 Ultimate Rewards bonus points after spending $30,000 within the first six months
• The Sapphire Reserve Business has a lucrative rewards structure, as it offers 8x points (which I value at a 13.6% return) on Chase Travel℠ bookings, 4x points (which I value at a 6.8% return) on direct airfare and hotel bookings, and 3x points (which I value at a 5.1% return) on select advertising purchases
• The Sapphire Reserve Business has no foreign transaction fees, so it’s a great card to use for purchases abroad
• The Sapphire Reserve Business offers valuable lounge access, including Chase Sapphire Lounge access and a Priority Pass™ membership
• The Sapphire Reserve Business offers a variety of credits that can help offset the annual fee, including up to $300 in annual travel credits, up to $500 in annual hotel credits, and more

Read a full review of the Sapphire Reserve Business Card.

How to maximize the value of Chase Ultimate Rewards points

The value of the points you earn with Chase Ink & Sapphire business credit cards varies based on which cards in the portfolio you have.

Assuming you have the Sapphire Reserve Business or Ink Business Preferred Card, then all the points you earn on these cards could be converted into airline miles or hotel points, using one of the Chase Ultimate Rewards transfer partners. In other words, having at least one of those two cards makes the points you earn on the Ink Business Cash Card or Ink Business Unlimited Card more valuable.

One thing worth highlighting is that only the Chase Sapphire Reserve — both personal and business — offers 1:1 transfers to World of Hyatt, while the Ink Preferred and Sapphire Preferred offer only a 4:3 transfer ratio.

If you don’t have the Ink Business Preferred Card, Sapphire Reserve Business Card, Sapphire Reserve Card, or Sapphire Preferred Card, then points earned on the Ink Cash Card and Ink Unlimited Card can only be redeemed for a penny each, which isn’t nearly as good. The key to maximizing value is to build up a portfolio of Chase cards.

Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred to over a dozen loyalty programs. There’s so much value to be had maximizing those programs, especially for redemptions at luxury hotels, and for premium cabin flights.

What makes Ultimate Rewards points even better is that you can also redeem them at an efficient rate toward a travel purchase through Chase Travel, especially when using the Points Boost feature.

The way this works is that you get an increased value for your points with certain redemptions, and the more premium the card, the better the value you get. So you’d get the most value with this if you had the Sapphire Reserve (personal or business), for example, and then you’ll find that you can redeem points for up to two cents each toward certain travel experience.

My Chase Ink business card experience & strategy

The above is a rundown of the basics of the cards, but let me share my firsthand experience, as I actually have all four of these cards — the Sapphire Reserve Business, Ink Business Preferred Card, Ink Business Cash Card, and Ink Business Unlimited Card.

I’ve had the three Ink Business cards for years, while I got the Sapphire Reserve Business in 2025, when it launched. I’ll share tips about applying for and getting approved for these cards in the next section, but first let me talk a bit about how I actually use these cards, how I’d recommend approaching them, etc.

How I use four Chase Ink & Sapphire business cards

As mentioned above, I tend to think Chase’s portfolio of business cards are complements rather than substitutes, for the most part:

• The Ink Business Cash Card and Ink Business Unlimited Card have no annual fee, so they cost me nothing to hold onto, and I use the cards to maximize my return on spending; I use the Ink Cash for the useful 5x points categories (particularly for my cell phone spending), while I use the Ink Unlimited for my everyday business spending within the Chase ecosystem, so that I earn 1.5x points on those purchases
• The Ink Business Preferred Card is probably the best value business card when factoring in the annual fee, return on spending, and perks, so it’s sort of my “staple” Ultimate Rewards business card; I use it for the bonus categories, for the rental car coverage, and more
• I picked up the Sapphire Reserve Business last year, and am still trying to figure out its long term place in my wallet; I actually think the card is independently quite valuable, but I also have the personal version of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, and there’s quite a bit of overlap there

Bigger picture, the single greatest thing about this collection of cards is the number of Ultimate Rewards redemptions that the points can unlock. Between the massive welcome bonuses and the great return on spending, I’ve booked so many amazing trips with these points, ranging from flying Air France business class across the Atlantic for 60K points, to staying at the Park Hyatt Tokyo for 35K points.

What strategy I’d take if starting over with these cards

If you’re completely new to Chase business cards, what’s the best strategy to take? Under the current rules, you can pick up three of these four cards over time (while earning the welcome bonuses), so the question comes down to how many cards you’re willing to apply for, and the best order in which to do so.

As I think through this, I’d generally consider which welcome bonuses are the best, and on top of that, which cards you’d get the most immediate value from. Here’s my thought process:

• The Sapphire Reserve Business has an absolutely massive welcome bonus, so if you can complete that spending and even remotely break even on that card on the first year, I’d absolutely consider picking that up first, since earning 200K points in one go is pretty incredible
• I’d then decide on the Ink Business Cash Card vs. Ink Business Unlimited Card, as both cards have no annual fee, and you can only earn the bonus on one; get the Ink Cash if you can get more value from the 5x points categories, while get the Ink Unlimited if the 1.5x points on everyday spending would be more useful for you
• The Ink Business Preferred Card is an incredible and well-rounded hub card, so I’d absolutely pick that up, though it’s the card I would currently prioritize least, when comparing the welcome bonuses

Chase Ink business card application & approval tips

With the above out of the way, let’s talk about some of the logistics of applying for and being approved for Chase Ink & Sapphire business credit cards. The great thing is that you’re potentially eligible for the welcome bonuses on multiple of these cards.

Who is eligible for Chase business credit cards?

Eligibility for a small business credit card is easier than you might think. You don’t need to have a big company, and don’t even need to be incorporated. Even a small side business with limited business revenue makes you eligible for a business credit card, even if you’re just selling things on eBay, do some consulting on the side, have a rental property, or do freelancing, for example.

It goes without saying that you should always fill out credit card applications truthfully. I’ve written in the past about how to apply for Chase business cards as a sole proprietorship.

What are restrictions on applying for Chase business cards?

Chase’s general restrictions on applying for cards are as follows:

• There’s no hard limit on how many Chase credit cards you can be approved for, but rather there’s often a maximum amount of credit the bank is willing to extend you, in which case you may be asked to switch around your credit limits on some cards in order to facilitate an approval
• While you can typically be approved for up to two Chase cards in a 30 day period, that doesn’t usually work when both are business cards; you typically want to wait at least 30 days between business credit card applications to be on the safe side, though there are mixed reports (some people don’t have to wait that long, others have to wait longer)
• Chase has the 5/24 rule, whereby you typically won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months; however, note that this no longer seems to consistently be enforced
• Regarding the 5/24 rule, the good news is that when you’re approved for a Chase business credit card, that application shouldn’t count as a further card toward the 5/24 limit, given that it won’t show up on your personal credit report

Can you earn the bonuses on multiple Chase business cards?

When it comes to eligibility for the welcome bonuses on Chase Ink & Sapphire business credit cards:

• Each card has a “once in a lifetime” rule, meaning you’re generally only eligible for the bonus on each card once
• Each card is considered separately for the purposes of earning the bonus, with the exception of the Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited, where you have to choose one card for earning the bonus
• In other words, you can apply for the Sapphire Reserve Business, Ink Preferred, and then either the Ink Cash or Ink Unlimited

How should you fill out Chase business card applications?

Those who already have business credit cards are probably familiar with the application process, but for those who aren’t, here’s what you need to know. It can be intimidating to apply for your first business credit card, though even if you’re a small business or sole proprietor, you should be eligible.

When applying for a Chase business credit card, you’ll be asked the following questions, in addition to the typical personal questions about your income, Social Security Number, etc.:

• Legal name of business
• Business mailing address & phone number
• Type of business
• Tax identification number
• Number of employees
• Annual business revenue/sales
• Years in business

If you’re a sole proprietor, how should you approach this? First of all, and most importantly, answer everything truthfully. I think the concern that a lot of people have is that they think they need an incorporated business, a separate office, etc., in order to be considered for a business card. That’s not the case:

• You can use your name as the legal name of your business
• The business mailing address and phone number can be the same as your personal address and phone number
• If you’re a sole proprietorship, you can select that as your type of business
• For the tax identification number, you can put your Social Security Number
• For number of employees, saying just one is perfectly fine
• For your annual business revenue, be honest about what it is
• For years in business, there’s no shame in saying that it’s new, that it has been one to two years, etc.

How hard is to get approved for a Chase business card?

When it comes to getting approved for business credit cards, Chase certainly isn’t the easiest issuer. In general I find American Express business cards to be easiest to be approved for. However, getting approved for Chase business cards isn’t as tough as some people assume, at least if you have excellent credit.

In my experience instant approvals on Chase business cards aren’t that common, so don’t be worried if the approval doesn’t come through right away. You’ll often get a pending decision response, and then eventually (hopefully) an approval.

Still, sometimes instant approvals do come through, and it’s always exciting when that happens. Just don’t be surprised if it doesn’t.

How does the 5/24 rule impact Chase business credit cards?

Chase has what’s known as the 5/24 rule, whereby you typically won’t be approved for a Chase card if you’ve opened five or more new card accounts in the past 24 months (however, there are increasingly reports that this is no longer enforced).

One exception is most business cards, including select cards issued by American Express, Bank of America, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, and Citi, generally won’t count as an additional card toward that limit, because they won’t be shown on your personal credit report.

One positive thing is that while Chase business cards may be subjected to the 5/24 rule, when you’re approved for them, they don’t count as a further card toward that limit.

In other words, if you’ve opened four new accounts in the past 24 months and then apply for a Chase business card, you’ll still be at four cards. If you then apply for another Chase business card, you’ll still be at four cards.

What credit score do you need for a Chase business card approval?

There’s no set credit score you need to get approved for a Chase business card, as there are so many factors that determine if you get approved for a card. Personally, I’d aim to have a personal credit score of at least 700 before applying, and ideally, 740. But you could have a lower credit score than that and be approved, or you could have a higher credit score than that and be rejected.

Can you be approved for all Chase branded business cards?

If your goal is to be approved for the Sapphire Reserve Business and two of the three Ink Business cards (since you have to choose between the bonus on the Ink Cash and Ink Unlimited), your best strategy is “slow and steady,” as they say. I’d recommend applying for the cards a bit over 30 days apart, at the absolute fastest. If you apply for the first card on day one, apply for the second card on day 35 (or so), and then the last card on day 70 (or so). Or maybe wait even longer between applications.

If it were me, I’d definitely recommend making the Sapphire Reserve Business Card or Ink Business Preferred Card first, since they’re the all-around most lucrative, and have great welcome offers.

Then you have to decide whether the Ink Business Cash Card or Ink Business Unlimited Card is a better option for you as the second card to apply for. If it were me, I’d probably apply for the Ink Business Unlimited Card, given that it offers 1.5x points on all business purchases, so it nicely balances the 3x points categories on the Ink Business Preferred Card.

I’d note that while this is how it’s supposed to work, Chase also sometimes has limits on how much credit can be extended to someone, so it’s totally possible that Chase will approve you for two of these, but not the third. Everyone’s situation will vary.

Chase Ink business card frequently asked questions

Bottom line

Chase has some fantastic credit cards, and in particular, the issuer has great business credit cards. The lineup of Chase Ink & Sapphire business credit cards have some phenomenal bonuses, and between the Ink Business Preferred Card, Ink Business Cash Card, Ink Business Unlimited Card, and Sapphire Reserve Business Card, you could potentially earn bonuses hundreds of thousands of Ultimate Rewards points. That’s huge.

Not only do the cards have great initial bonuses, but they have excellent bonus categories, ranging from 1.5x points on all purchases, to 3-5x points in select categories.

Applying for business credit cards in general can be intimidating for new businesses, though I recommend giving it a try using the above tips, and you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised by the results.

Do you have any Chase business cards? If so, what was your experience getting approved for them?

How to earn World of Hyatt Explorist status

You can earn World of Hyatt Explorist status through hotel stays, credit card spending, or a combination of both. Let’s take a look at what’s required.

Earn Hyatt Explorist status with hotel stays

World of Hyatt Explorist status can be earned with hotel stays in one of the following ways:

• By earning 30 elite qualifying nights in a calendar year; revenue and award stays count toward this
• By earning 50,000 elite qualifying points in a calendar year; you ordinarily earn 5x base points per eligible dollar spent at a Hyatt, so this requires the equivalent of $10,000 of Hyatt spending

The elite requirements for Explorist are exactly half the requirements of Globalist, whether earning the status with elite nights or elite qualifying points.

Earn Hyatt Explorist status with credit cards

You can earn elite qualifying nights with Hyatt’s co-branded credit cards:

• The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers five elite nights annually just for having the card, plus two elite nights for every $5,000 spent; the $5,000 total keeps accruing, and doesn’t reset at the end of the calendar year
• The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers five elite nights for every $10,000 spent per calendar year

As you can tell, spending $65,000 on the World of Hyatt Card would earn you Explorist status (since you’d earn 31 elite nights), while spending $60,000 on the World of Hyatt Business Card would earn you Explorist status (since you’d earn 30 elite nights).

Now, I wouldn’t recommend spending your way all the way to status, but rather I’d use Hyatt’s co-branded credit cards to supplement the stays you’d otherwise organically make.

Earn Hyatt Explorist status with American AAdvantage

It’s also worth noting that World of Hyatt has a partnership with American AAdvantage, and it’s possible to earn World of Hyatt Explorist status for your loyalty to American. With the Loyalty Point Rewards program, you automatically receive Explorist status when you pass 175,000 Loyalty Points in a program year.

In terms of requirements, that’s somewhere between AAdvantage Platinum Pro and AAdvantage Executive Platinum status.

World of Hyatt Explorist status perks & benefits

With the requirements to earn status out of the way, what are the benefits of World of Hyatt Explorist status? Below are the benefits, roughly in the order that I value them.

Room upgrades (excluding suites & club rooms)

World of Hyatt Explorist members receive room upgrades subject to availability at check-in, excluding suites and rooms with club access. So you can expect that you’ll receive the best non-suite, non-club room at the hotel.

Hyatts are pretty good about proactive upgrades, and in some cases you may even find that hotels go above and beyond, and occasionally upgrade Explorist members to suites (but don’t count on it).

World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards program

The Milestone Rewards program is an awesome aspect of World of Hyatt, as it offers rewards for every 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar year, up to 150 elite nights. This program offers all kinds of valuable perks, ranging from club access awards, to suite upgrade awards, to free night awards, to Guest of Honor awards.

As it impacts Explorist members, here’s what you can expect (I’m not looking at any Milestone Rewards at 60 nights or above, because you’re Globalist at that point):

• At 20 elite nights, you could select two club access awards
• At 30 elite nights, you receive a Category 1-4 free night award, plus you could select two additional club access awards
• At 40 elite nights, you receive a Guest of Honor award, plus you could select one suite upgrade award
• At 50 elite nights, you could select two additional suite upgrade awards

As you can tell, the benefits here really stack up:

• Club access awards can each get you club access for a stay of up to seven nights; so with two of these awards you could get club access for stays of up to 14 nights, while with four of these awards you could get club access for up to 28 nights
• Suite upgrade awards can each get you up to seven nights in a standard suite, so if you earn 40 or 50 elite nights, you’re potentially looking at quite some time in a suite
• A Guest of Honor award offers Globalist perks for a stay, so adds even more value

This hugely enhances the value of Explorist status. While Explorist members don’t ordinarily get club access, breakfast, suite upgrades, etc., with all of these thresholds, you could potentially be getting those benefits on a majority of your stays.

Guaranteed 2PM check-out

World of Hyatt Explorist members receive guaranteed 2PM check-out. Note that this is subject to availability at resorts. While 4PM check-out would be better, at least there’s a guarantee associated with the late check-out.

20% World of Hyatt bonus points

World of Hyatt members ordinarily earn 5x points per eligible dollar spent at Hyatt properties, including for room rates and incidentals. World of Hyatt Explorist members receive a 20% points bonus, which is an extra 1x points per dollar spent.

Unfortunately Hyatt has a pretty weak program when it comes to elite points bonuses, so this isn’t terribly exciting. For that matter, Globalist members “only” receive a 30% points bonus.

Premium in-room internet & bottled water

All World of Hyatt elite members receive premium Wi-Fi, plus bottled water in the room. This probably isn’t anything to get too excited about, but it’s better than nothing.

Elite check-in counter

All World of Hyatt elite members receive access to the dedicated elite check-in counter, for the hotels that offer that. Unfortunately availability and enforcement of the line isn’t consistent, but if there is a line for elite members, you can use it.

Is World of Hyatt Explorist status worth it?

I’d say World of Hyatt Explorist status is simultaneously uncompetitive and industry leading, depending on how you look at it.

Purely in terms of the published benefits, not accounting for Milestone Rewards, I’d consider it to be one of the weaker mid-tier status programs out there:

• Unlike mid-tier status with other major hotel groups, you can’t simply get this by having a credit card; it requires a significant number of hotel stays, quite a bit of credit card spending, and/or fairly high tier airline status
• The biggest ongoing published benefits include the best non-suites, and 2PM guaranteed check-out, and don’t include breakfast or club lounge access

Just to look at the relative value of Explorist status in terms of ability to earn perks with credit cards:

• You can earn Hilton Gold elite status just for having a mid-range credit card, and that offers perks like a daily food & beverage credit, or complimentary breakfast; you can even earn top-tier Hilton Diamond elite status just for having a credit card
• Marriott Platinum status requires 50 elite nights per year, and you can earn this status just by having the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more), or you can earn 40 elite nights per year just by having a personal and business Marriott credit card with no spending requirement; this gives you access to perks like suite upgrades, complimentary breakfast, and more
• You can earn IHG One Rewards Platinum status just by having the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (learn more) or IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (learn more), or you can earn top-tier IHG One Rewards Diamond status by spending $40,000 on either card in a calendar year

However, the area where Explorist status is most valuable is when it comes to the Milestone Rewards program. All Explorist members who earn 30 elite nights receive a free night award, and have the ability to earn two club access awards. Then with incremental stays you can earn more club access awards, suite upgrade awards, and Guest of Honor awards, which can really enhance your Hyatt stays.

Bottom line

Explorist is World of Hyatt’s mid-tier elite status, which requires earning either 30 elite nights or 50,000 elite base points in a calendar year. The status offers perks like (non-suite) room upgrades, guaranteed 2PM check-out, 20% bonus points, and access to the Milestone Rewards program. Milestone Rewards could get you free night awards, club lounge access, suite upgrade awards, Guest of Honor awards, and more.

While the status no doubt offers some perks, it pales in comparison to World of Hyatt Globalist status, and I also think some other programs make it easier to earn status with credit cards, all while offering benefits that are at least as good. The exception is if you over qualify for status, as the Milestone Rewards program is lucrative.

To World of Hyatt Explorist members, what has your experience been like?

Air France’s “old” first class product was already excellent, and you can read my full review here. Meanwhile the new first class product is even more impressive, and you can read my full review here.

Air France is continuing to introduce its new first class product to more flights, and this product is now available on 17 aircraft, and an expanding number of routes. In this post, I’d like to recap which routes feature La Premiere, and which routes have the new product, as San Francisco (SFO) is the latest market to be added, effective immediately.

Even if Air France first class is out of your budget, it’s worth understanding which planes have the new first class, as they also have the new business class, which is excellent, and worth seeking out (and it can be easily booked with Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles). Furthermore, these planes are also guaranteed to have Starlink Wi-Fi, which benefits everyone on the plane.

Which planes have Air France first class?

Air France’s first class is only available on a subfleet of Boeing 777-300ERs, which feature four classes of service (first class, business class, premium economy, and economy). Specifically, it’s currently installed on just over two dozen Boeing 777-300ERs, which makes up roughly half of the 777-300ER fleet.

Just in the interest of being very thorough, let me emphasize that you won’t find first class on any other Air France jets, including the A330s, A350s, 787s, etc. Air France is increasing the number of 777-300ERs with first class cabins, though it’s not yet known how many total 777s will have first class, when all is said and done.

Which routes have Air France first class?

Which routes feature Air France first class? Air France operates Boeing 777-300ERs with first class on select frequencies between Paris (CDG) and the following destinations:

• Abidjan (ABJ)
• Atlanta (ATL)
• Dubai (DXB) — temporarily suspended
• Houston (IAH)
• Los Angeles (LAX)
• Miami (MIA)
• New York (JFK)
• San Francisco (SFO)
• Sao Paulo (GRU)
• Singapore (SIN)
• Tel Aviv (TLV) — temporarily suspended
• Tokyo (HND)
• Washington (IAD)

Lastly, several months back Air France announced plans to also add La Premiere to Boston (BOS) as of July 2026. However, that didn’t materialize, and isn’t in the schedule as of now, so we’ll see if that eventually happens.

For what it’s worth, in the past we’ve seen Air France also offer first class to Beirut (BEY), Hong Kong (HKG), Johannesburg (JNB), and Mexico City (MEX), among other airports. We’ll see if any of those airports also see a return of first class.

Which flights have Air France’s new first class?

Air France’s plans are to retrofit the entire fleet of four cabin Boeing 777-300ERs with the new first class cabins by the end of 2026. We’ll see how that timeline works out, but Air France is making good progress, and that seems pretty realistic.

So far, you’ll find the new cabins on the 777-300ERs with the registration codes F-GSQC, F-GSQE, F-GSQF, F-GSQK, F-GSQL, F-GSQU, F-GSQY, F-GZNA, F-GZND, F-GZNE, F-GZNH, F-GZNK, F-GZNP, F-GZNQ, F-GZNR, F-GZNS, and F-GZNT. That’s a total of 17 planes so far, and for those tracking things, it looks like F-GZNB is the next plane to get new cabins.

It’s interesting to note that several of the 777-300ERs that have been reconfigured so far were previously in a three cabin configuration without first class, so that explains the increase in La Premiere capacity, which is allowing the number of destinations to grow as well.

So, which flights feature Air France’s new La Premiere first class product?

• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and Abidjan (ABJ) have the new cabins, for flights AF702/703
• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and Los Angeles (LAX) have the new cabins, for flights AF20/21, AF22/23, and AF24/25
• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and Miami (MIA) have the new cabins, for flights AF90/91
• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and New York (JFK) have the new cabins, most commonly for flights AF4/3 and AF6/5
• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and San Francisco (SFO) have the new cabins, for flights AF84/83
• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and Singapore (SIN) have the new cabins, for flights AF256/257
• Air France’s route between Paris (CDG) and Tokyo (HND) have the new cabins, for flights AF274/275

Keep in mind that routes operated by the new aircraft type are always subject to change. When searching online, how can you tell if your flight will feature the new first class? For one, if you go to Air France’s website and do a search, you’ll see a message indicating “Aircraft equipped with the new La Premiere suite.”

Furthermore, when you go to the seat map, you’ll see a different layout, with both a seat and chaise longue. The seat numbers are also different — for the new configuration, first class consists of 1A, 1D, 1H, and 1L, while for the old configuration, first class consists of 1A, 1E, 1F, and 1L.

Note that these reconfigured jets aren’t just great news for first class passengers. As Air France installs its new first class, the airline is entirely overhauling its four cabin Boeing 777-300ERs. Most exciting is that these planes are also getting Air France’s new business class with doors, so arguably that’s an equally positive aspect of these updates. Also, as mentioned above, all of the reconfigured planes also have Starlink Wi-Fi, which offers unbeatable — and free — connectivity on long haul flights.

Bottom line

Air France exclusively has its La Premiere first class cabin on just over two dozen Boeing 777-300ERs, operating select long haul flights out of Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG). These planes are in the process of being reconfigured, and Air France has so far updated the interiors of 17 jets.

You’ll now find these updated 777-300ERs flying from Paris (CDG) to Abidjan (ABJ), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), Singapore (SIN), and Tokyo (HND), on select frequencies. Obviously this is exciting for those in first class, but it’s also positive for others, between the new business class cabins, plus the consistent availability of Starlink Wi-Fi.

What do you make of Air France’s plans for its refreshed four cabin Boeing 777-300ERs?

Central to the concept of being able to pay rent and mortgages while earning points is Bilt Cash (up to $100 of Bilt Cash earned rolls over to the next year), which is a Bilt currency separate from points. This makes up a key component of the Bilt credit card concept. The idea is that Bilt Cash can be redeemed “dollar-for-dollar” for select redemptions, though with major limitations and restrictions.

In this post, I’d like to go over the full details of how Bilt Cash works. How can it be earned, how can it be redeemed, and what are the best options?

Link: Apply for a Bilt credit card, with three options to choose from

How can members earn Bilt Cash?

There are two main ways that Bilt Cash can be earned, as it’s based on how many total points you rack up, and it’s also based on how much you spend on a Bilt credit card.

The first is that members can earn $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 Bilt points earned. It doesn’t matter how those points are earned, and of course Bilt Cash is in addition to whatever Bilt points you ordinarily rack up.

The second is that Bilt Cash can be earned with all three Bilt credit cards. So not only do the cards earn points, but they also earn Bilt Cash:

• The no annual fee Bilt Blue Card earns 1x points and can earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases, plus a welcome bonus of $100 in Bilt Cash; this is the card that I get least excited about
• The $95 annual fee Bilt Obsidian Card earns 3x points on your choice of dining or groceries (dining is uncapped, groceries is capped at $25K of spending per year), 2x points on travel, 1x points on all other eligible purchases, and can earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all purchases, plus a welcome bonus of $200 in Bilt Cash; if you can maximize the bonus categories and want to minimize your annual fee, this is a good option
• The $495 annual fee Bilt Palladium Card earns 2x points and can earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on everyday purchases, plus a welcome bonus of $300 in Bilt Cash, plus $200 in Bilt Cash every year on an ongoing basis; this is the most compelling card, as I see it

As you can see, all Bilt credit cards can earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all spending. Bilt Cash is valid through December 31 of the year in which it’s earned, though up to $100 in Bilt Cash can be carried over to the next calendar year.

I should mention that earning Bilt Cash for credit card spending assumes you don’t choose to just automatically be rewarded for housing payments as a multiplier of your spending, under a new system that Bilt has come up with. I know, this is all really straightforward, right? 😉 But I’ll just say that a vast majority of people should choose to earn Bilt Cash, as that’s generally going to be the most rewarding.

How can members redeem Bilt Cash?

How can members redeem their Bilt Cash? You can see your Bilt Cash balance by logging into the Bilt website or app, and going to the “Wallet” section, where you can see how much Bilt Cash you have, and your progress toward earning more Bilt Cash.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the ways that you can redeem Bilt Cash, ranked roughly in the order that I value the options.

Redeem Bilt Cash for rewards on housing payments

On the most basic level, Bilt Cash is the currency that allows members to earn rewards for their housing payments (rent or mortgage) at no cost. Specifically, every $30 in Bilt Cash can unlock up to 1,000 points on rent or mortgages. As an example:

• If you spent $15,000 on a Bilt card, you’d earn $600 in Bilt Cash (since you’d earn 4% back in Bilt Cash on all spending on all cards)
• $600 in Bilt Cash would allow you to earn 1x points on $20,000 worth of fee free rent or mortgage payments

Basically, if you want to be able to pay your rent or mortgage while earning rewards, you’ll need to spend an average of 75% as much as your housing payment to rack up sufficient Bilt Cash to cover the cost (this doesn’t include things like Bilt Cash as part of welcome bonuses, or the $50 in Bilt Cash you earn for every 25,000 points earned, so the math is actually more favorable than that).

Redeem Bilt Cash for points accelerator on spending

Exclusively for select Bilt credit card members, Bilt Cash can be redeemed for a points accelerator on everyday spending, which I’d consider to be pretty lucrative.

Cardmembers can enable an extra 1x points on everyday spending for the next $5,000 spent following activation. This is exclusively available to Obsidian and Palladium cardmembers, at the cost of $200 in Bilt Cash, and up to five activations are allowed each calendar year.

This means that the Palladium would earn an incredible 3x points on everyday spending, while the Obsidian would earn 4x points on dining or groceries, 3x points on travel, and 2x points on everyday spending.

Redeem Bilt Cash for bigger Rent Day transfer bonuses

Bilt offers a monthly Rent Day promotion, which often includes transfer bonuses to airline & hotel partners. The size of the transfer bonus that you’re eligible for is often based on your Bilt elite status.

Fortunately you can use Bilt Cash to upgrade your Rent Day transfer bonus to the next status tier, and top tier Platinum members can even receive an additional boost. Pricing and availability vary based on the transfer bonus, and so far we’ve seen $75-135 in Bilt Cash required to unlock a bigger transfer bonus.

If you do unlock a bigger bonus, there’s usually no limit to how many points you can transfer. So there’s a lot of potential upside here, especially if you want to make a big transfer.

Redeem Bilt Cash for BLADE helicopter flights

It’s now possible to redeem Bilt Cash for BLADE airport flights. Specifically, it’s possible to use up to $700 per year in Bilt Cash on BLADE, at the rate of up to $350 per seat, for up to two flights per year. While this is somewhat niche, this is an example of a way to redeem Bilt Cash for what’s a “big ticket” purchase.

This is part of a larger partnership with BLADE, as Bilt Platinum members also receive one free flight annually, while Bilt Platinum and Gold members both receive BLADE lounge access, even when not flying with BLADE.

Redeem Bilt Cash for other travel & lifestyle rewards

Personally I’d consider the above to be the most exciting ways to redeem Bilt Cash, though those are far from the only options. To cover some of the other redemption options, all of which are either in small increments or come with a lot of terms or catches:

• Redeem up to $1,200 per year in Bilt Cash toward Bilt travel portal hotel bookings, with a two-night minimum stay; the limit is up to $50 per month for Blue and Silver members, and up to $100 per month for Gold and Platinum members
• Redeem up to $600 per year in Bilt Cash toward dining experience bookings via Bilt dining experiences, with a credit of up to $50 per month
• Redeem up to $300 per year in Bilt Cash toward restaurant credits at select Bilt Dining partners; use Bilt Cash toward meals at select Bilt partner restaurants via Mobile Dining Checkout, with one visit per month of up to $25, and rollout expanding to thousands of restaurants nationwide
• Redeem up to $150 per year in Bilt Cash toward Blacklane rides (coming soon); the limit is up to $50 per year for Blue and Silver members, up to $100 per year for Gold members, and up to $150 per year for Platinum members
• Redeem up to $120 per year in Bilt Cash toward Lyft credits, with a $10 credit per month
• Redeem up to $120 per year in Bilt Cash toward Walgreens credits, with up to a $10 credit per month
• Redeem up to $120 per year in Bilt Cash toward grocery or restaurant delivery fulfilled via GrubHub, with a $10 credit each month
• Redeem up to $100 per year in Bilt Cash to cover a Gopuff Fam membership for up to twelve months, for either a monthly or annual membership

My take on the value and best uses of Bilt Cash

You really have to view Bilt Cash as an incremental perk that’s in addition to the standard rewards for credit card spending, so I’d almost view this as “monopoly money,” so to speak. For example, the Bilt Palladium Card offers 2x points on everyday spending, which is already incredibly competitive, so earning an extra 4% Bilt Cash is the icing on the cake (this is the card I have, and find to be worthwhile).

The most obvious way to redeem Bilt Cash is toward rewards on housing payments, given that this is one of the key selling points of the Bilt ecosystem. Still, if you’re a big credit card spender, you’ll likely have a lot of Bilt Cash left over.

I think the next most exciting thing is the ability to earn an extra point per dollar spent on the Bilt Palladium Card, as you can redeem $200 in Bilt Cash for that, to earn 3x points on up to $5,000 in spending. Just to crunch the numbers on that, $5,000 in spending would unlock $200 in Bilt Cash, and would in turn earn you an extra point per dollar spent, and then you can do that up to five times per year. That’s pretty awesome, as that can get you up to 25,000 additional points annually.

What about beyond that?

• I’d argue that being able to unlock the bigger Rent Day bonuses could also be a good way to redeem Bilt Cash, at least for those of us who are points maximizers
• Every month I pick up $10 in Lyft and Walgreens credits; that’s hardly the highest value perk on earth, but something is better than nothing
• In theory the BLADE credits are also awesome, but I have a fear of helicopters, so that’s not for me

Personally, I think the new Bilt concept is incredibly complicated, to the point that it will be hard for many people to follow. That being said, I absolutely do think there’s value to be had, and my strategy is to spend on the Bilt Palladium Card, and then primarily redeem my Bilt Cash toward rewards on housing payments, plus the points accelerator option, plus whatever is interesting at a given point. That’s a pretty unbeatable combination for non-bonused spending.

However, I do absolutely expect that I will end the year with a sizable chunk of Bilt Cash expiring. That doesn’t change the value proposition of the card for me, though, because like I said, I view this as a “monopoly money” currency.

Bottom line

Bilt Cash is a currency that’s separate from Bilt points, and it’s increasingly important in the overall context of how Bilt is evolving with rent and mortgage payments. All new Bilt credit cards can earn 4% Bilt Cash on spending (in addition to standard rewards), plus members can earn $50 in Bilt Cash for every 25,000 points earned.

Bilt Cash can be used in a variety of ways, and if you have a credit card, every $30 in Bilt Cash can unlock up to 1,000 points on rent or mortgages. But Bilt Cash can also be redeemed “dollar-for-dollar” toward all kinds of other purchases, ranging from hotels, to Lyft credits.

As you’d expect, there are major catches. We’re talking about being able to redeem for (mostly) small amounts toward purchases, with credits being doled out on a monthly basis. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t get that excited about a $5 monthly delivery credit, or a $10 monthly Lyft or Walgreens credit.

What I am more excited about is being able to redeem $200 in Bilt Cash in order to earn an extra point per dollar spent, on up to $5,000 of spending, up to five times per year. That’s a potentially great value.

What do you make of the Bilt Cash concept, and the value of redemptions?

Even as someone who probably dedicates way too much time to loyalty programs, I’ve had airline miles expire on me, and it’s such a frustrating feeling. In this post, I’d like to take a close look at airline mileage expiration policies. When do airline miles expire, and what can you do to prevent them from expiring? In a separate post I looked at hotel points expiration policies.

When do airline miles expire?

The major airline loyalty programs have varying policies when it comes to miles expiring. The policies most commonly fit into one of three categories (in order of generosity, starting with the best policy):

• Miles don’t expire, with no need for activity
• Miles expire after a certain amount of time, but only if you don’t have any account activity
• Miles expire after a certain amount of time, regardless of whether or not you have any account activity

With that out of the way, let’s look at the policies of the major airline loyalty programs.

Air Canada Aeroplan points expiration policy

Air Canada Aeroplan points expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any points earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your points by a further 18 months.

Air France-KLM Flying Blue mileage expiration policy

Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. Note that any mileage earning activity will reset the expiration of your miles (while redeeming miles won’t reset the expiration of your miles). Flying Blue elite members are exempt from having their miles expire, for as long as they maintain their status.

Alaska Atmos Rewards mileage expiration policy

Alaska Atmos Rewards miles don’t expire. However, if you don’t have any account activity for over two years, your account may be locked for security reasons, and your miles may be accessed by contacting Atmos Rewards and verifying personal details.

All Nippon Airways Mileage Club mileage expiration policy

All Nippon Airways Mileage Club miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. This is a hard expiration, and there’s no way to extend your miles further. The only exception is for Diamond members and million miler members, as their miles never expire.

American AAdvantage mileage expiration policy

American AAdvantage miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. Any mileage earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your miles by a further 24 months. Furthermore, AAdvantage members under the age of 21, as well as primary cardmembers on a co-branded American Airlines credit card from Barclays or Citi won’t have their miles expire, regardless of account activity.

Avianca Lifemiles mileage expiration policy

Avianca Lifemiles expire after 12 months of inactivity. Note that only earning miles will extend the expiration of your miles by a further 12 months, as redeeming miles doesn’t change your mileage expiration (unlike with most other programs).

Breeze Airways Breezy Rewards points expiration policy

Breeze Airways Breezy Points expire 24 months after they’re issued, regardless of any points earning or redemption activity. The only exception is that those with a co-branded credit card aren’t subject to points expiration restrictions.

British Airways Club Avios expiration policy

British Airways Club Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. Any Avios earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your Avios by a further 36 months.

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles mileage expiration policy

Cathay Pacific Asia Miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any mileage earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your mileage by a further 18 months.

Copa ConnectMiles mileage expiration policy

Copa ConnectMiles miles expire after 24 months of inactivity. Any mileage earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your miles by a further 24 months.

Delta SkyMiles mileage expiration policy

Delta SkyMiles don’t expire, regardless of whether or not you have any account activity.

Emirates Skywards mileage expiration policy

Emirates Skywards miles expire roughly three years after they’re earned. I say “roughly,” because in reality they expire at the end of your birthday month three years after they’re earned. In other words, if you earned miles on January 1, 2026, and your birthday is on April 1, then your miles would expire on April 30, 2029. This is a hard expiration, and there’s no way to extend your miles further without paying extra.

The exception is that Emirates Skywards Platinum members, as well as those with a co-branded Emirates credit card in the United States, aren’t subject to mileage expiration policies for as long as they maintain the status or card.

Etihad Guest mileage expiration policy

Etihad Guest miles expire after 18 months of inactivity. However, the only activity that can reset the expiration is crediting an Etihad or partner airline flight to the program. So any non-flying activity wouldn’t reset the expiration of miles, unfortunately.

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands mileage expiration policy

EVA Air Infinity MileageLands miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. This is a hard expiration, and there’s no way to extend your miles further.

Finnair Plus Avios expiration policy

Finnair Plus Avios expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any Avios earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your Avios by a further 18 months.

Frontier Miles mileage expiration policy

Frontier Miles expire after 12 months of inactivity. Note that only earning miles will extend the expiration of your miles by a further 12 months, as redeeming miles doesn’t change your mileage expiration.

Iberia Club Avios expiration policy

Iberia Club Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. Any Avios earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your Avios by a further 36 months.

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank mileage expiration policy

Japan Airlines Mileage Club miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. This is a hard expiration, and there’s no way to extend your miles further. The exception is for JMB Diamond and JCG Premier members, as their miles never expire. Furthermore, JMB Elite and Elite Plus members get mileage expiration extended from 36 months to 60 months.

JetBlue TrueBlue points expiration policy

JetBlue TrueBlue points don’t expire, regardless of whether or not you have any account activity.

Lufthansa Miles & More mileage expiration policy

Lufthansa Miles & More miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. This is a hard expiration, and there’s no way to extend your miles further. The only exceptions are for Miles & More elite members, and those holding a co-branded Lufthansa credit card with account activity every billing cycle.

Qantas Frequent Flyer points expiration policy

Qantas Frequent Flyer points expire after 18 months of inactivity. Any points earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your points by a further 18 months.

Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios expiration policy

Qatar Airways Privilege Club Avios expire after 36 months of inactivity. Any Avios earning or redemption activity resets the expiration of your Avios by a further 36 months.

Singapore KrisFlyer mileage expiration policy

Singapore KrisFlyer miles expire 36 months after they’re earned, and that’s a hard expiration, meaning that activity doesn’t extend your miles further. The only exception is for PPS Club and Solitaire PPS Club members, as miles don’t expire for these members. One other thing to note is that members can pay to extend miles by six months, in chunks of 10,000 miles. The cost is $12 or 1,200 miles for every 10,000 miles extended.

Southwest Rapid Rewards points expiration policy

Southwest Rapid Rewards points don’t expire, regardless of whether or not you have any account activity.

Turkish Miles&Smiles mileage expiration policy

Turkish Miles&Smiles miles expire 36 months after they’re earned. This is a hard expiration, and there’s no way to extend your miles further without paying a fee.

United MileagePlus mileage expiration policy

United MileagePlus miles don’t expire, regardless of whether or not you have any account activity.

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points expiration policy

Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points don’t expire, regardless of whether or not you have any account activity.

How do you prevent airline miles from expiring?

Are you finding yourself in a situation where your airline miles are expiring imminently? As you can see, programs have varying policies, with some programs letting you extend the expiration of your miles in conjunction with account activity.

For those programs, what’s the easiest way to reset your airline mileage expiration? You’ll want to check the policy of each specific program, but here are some methods that generally work:

• Most airline loyalty programs let you donate miles to charity, so even a small mileage donation could reset your mileage expiration
• Most airline loyalty programs have online shopping and dining portals, allowing you to earn bonus miles for those activities; that would also reset your mileage expiration
• Most airline loyalty programs have co-branded credit cards, and any spending on those credit cards would earn miles that would reset your mileage expiration
• Most airline loyalty programs sell miles directly to consumers, and even buying a small number of miles would reset your mileage expiration
• Several airline loyalty programs partner with major transferable points currencies, and transferring a small number of of points would reset your mileage expiration
• This is the most obvious, but redeeming miles for a flight, or taking a flight that earns you miles, would also reset your mileage expiration

If you have any airline miles that are close to expiring, just keep in mind how long it could take for miles to post to your account as qualifying activity. For example, if you spend money on a co-branded credit card, it could take weeks before those miles post to your airline account (it usually takes at least until a few days after the statement closes). Meanwhile donating miles to charity, buying miles, or transferring points from another currency, is typically a near instant process in terms of resetting expiration.

Bottom line

Miles earned with airline loyalty programs have varying expiration policies. Some programs don’t expire miles even without activity, other programs only expire miles if you don’t have any activity for a certain period of time, and some programs expire miles after a certain amount of time regardless of activity.

For airline programs that let you reset miles with activity, fortunately that’s quite easy to do, as generally any mileage earning or redemption activity would qualify. Just make sure you always keep an eye on expiration policies.

What has your experience been with airline miles expiring?

Let me of course acknowledge that we’re all looking for different amenities from airport lounges, depending on the purpose of our visit. Furthermore, there are many factors that can impact our perception of a lounge, including crowding levels. As a result, two people can have vastly different experiences at the same lounge — heck, the same person can have very different experiences visiting the same lounge at different times.

Because of the number of variables, I’m not going to explicitly create a ranked list. However, I’ll go roughly in the order in which I like them, at least in “clusters” (which is to say that those near the top of the list are my favorites, and preferred to those at the bottom of the list). Then I’d love to hear what OMAAT readers think, and how your list compares to mine.

With that out of the way, here are some of my favorite business class lounges in the world (and you can click each headline to read a review of that lounge)….

Delta One Lounge New York (JFK)

Delta One Lounges are still a fairly new concept, as Delta only started introducing these within the past couple of years. However, the airline really knocked it out of the park, and the New York JFK location is easily one of the most impressive business class lounges in the world.

The lounge has an incredible restaurant, a wellness area, a beautiful terrace, luxurious shower suites, and more than anything, supremely friendly service. This really puts American Flagship Lounges and United Polaris Lounges to shame. The Delta One Lounge LAX is also excellent, but if I had to pick just one lounge, I think the JFK location has the edge.

Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Business Lounge Doha (DOH)

Qatar Airways has two exceptional Al Mourjan Business Lounges in Doha — there’s the original Al Mourjan Lounge North, plus the new Al Mourjan Garden Lounge South. Frankly both lounges are great, and I’m not sure which I prefer more. Time permitting, I’d absolutely recommend visiting both of them. For the purpose of this post, let me just keep the initial lounge on the list. This has to be the world’s most architecturally stunning business class lounges, which is what impresses me most about the lounge.

On top of that, though, the lounge features a couple of great dining options, including a bistro if you’re looking for a quick bite, plus a proper restaurant with a la carte dining. The lounge also has rest areas, civilized smoking rooms, showers, and more. Qatar Airways also has exceptional outstation lounges (I’d argue the best outstation lounges of any airline in the world), but I think the hub lounges are still more impressive.

Cathay Pacific The Pier Business Lounge Hong Kong (HKG)

Cathay Pacific’s The Pier Business Class Lounge Hong Kong easily has my favorite design of any business class lounge in the world. The lounge is so cozy, warm, and luxurious, and it’s such a pleasant place to relax.

It’s not just that the lounge has nice interior design, though. The lounge also has a full bar with cocktails and barista coffee, and several dining concepts, ranging from a noodle bar, to a tea room. The lounge also has beautiful shower suites, as well as a relaxation area. This lounge is an absolute treat for premium oneworld travelers. And for higher tier oneworld members, Cathay Pacific’s The Pier First Class Lounge is even better.

I also love Cathay Pacific’s consistent design template for outstation lounges, as you’ll find the same general vibe in lounges at London Heathrow (LHR), Tokyo Haneda (HND), etc.

Riyadh Air Hafawa Lounge Riyadh (RUH)

Riyadh Air’s Hafawa Lounge Riyadh is the newest addition to the list, as it’s the recently opened flagship lounge of airline startup Riyadh Air. This lounge is absolutely gorgeous, and on top of that, offers an excellent soft product.

In terms of attention to detail with design and general elegance, I’d say Riyadh Air is in a similar league to Cathay Pacific. The design is a little less consistent, though, as the lounge is broken up into several zones, each with its own unique decor.

The food and drinks in the lounge are excellent as well. There’s an extensive buffet, a restaurant with a la carte dining, a couple of barista coffee stations, and a bar serving up some imaginative cocktails. Obviously the only catch with this lounge is that there’s no alcohol, given that airlines from Saudi Arabia are all dry.

Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse London (LHR)

The Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse is my favorite business class lounge in Europe, and it’s probably the business class lounge with the most fun vibe. It has a quirky design, amazing views, an outdoor terrace, friendly service, a la carte dining, and top notch drinks (including great cocktails and coffee).

This lounge experience is such a stark contrast to what you’ll experience if you’re flying business class on an airline like British Airways or Lufthansa.

Air Canada Signature Suite Toronto (YYZ)

While the Air Canada Signature Suite Toronto has strict entry requirements, it really takes business class lounge dining to a whole new level. This is separate from the standard Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, so think of it almost like a great restaurant that business class passengers have access to.

The lounge is heavily focused on dining, with dozens of tables. In addition to an extensive buffet selection, the lounge also offers a la carte dining, as well as all kinds of wine, beer, and cocktails. There’s a similarly excellent facility in Vancouver (YVR), so that’s a huge advantage of being on an eligible ticket through one of those airports.

Emirates Business Lounge Dubai (DXB)

The Emirates Business Lounge Dubai isn’t about to win any design awards, but it has some cool amenities, is massive, and has a good food and drink selection. While food is entirely from buffets, the options are endless, regardless of what kind of food you’re looking for.

Personally I prefer the older Concourse B lounge to the newer Concourse A lounge. That’s because this lounge has an awesome Moet & Chandon champagne bar, plus a Costa Coffee store, where you can get a (complimentary) barista made coffee. This is a great transit stop when traveling between other regions.

Etihad Business Lounge Abu Dhabi (AUH)

The Etihad Business Lounge Abu Dhabi is excellent. It’s spread across three floors, with a ton of natural light. Thanks to its size and odd layout, the lounge should never really feel too crowded, even during peak periods.

The lounge has everything from comfortable seating, to two large buffets, to a bar with cocktails and barista coffee, to shower suites, to relaxation rooms. This is a very well rounded business class lounge, with a ton of natural light.

United Polaris Lounge Newark (EWR)

While I do think that Delta has sort of one-upped United, I’m still impressed by the network of United Polaris Lounges. They’re all pretty great, and I’m not sure one is actually that much better than the other, but I do like the one in Newark quite a bit. The lounges offer comfortable seating, quiet rest areas, cocktails and barista made coffee, and a la carte dining.

Honestly, if flying United Polaris business class long haul, I’d highly recommend just eating in the lounge, because the food gets much worse once you board a flight. Note that I haven’t been to the lounge at Washington Dulles, but I’ve heard some suggest that it’s even better, and not as crowded.

Turkish Airlines Business Lounge Istanbul (IST)

Turkish Airlines offers a top notch lounge at its hub in Istanbul. Admittedly this lounge can get really busy, given the size of the carrier’s operations, but I still find it to be very good. The lounge has nice decor with plenty of different places to sit, an incredible food selection, and even private bedrooms for those with extended layovers.

This lounge is a bit rougher around the edges than some of the other lounges on this list. For example, there’s not even a proper bar with a bartender, the furniture largely isn’t in great condition, and lots of seats don’t offer practical access to outlets. That being said, there’s still something special about this lounge, and in particular, the food. So while this lounge does make the list, it’s definitely toward the bottom.

Bottom line

There are some fantastic business class lounges out there, though admittedly everyone will have their own favorites. The above are some of my picks for the best business class lounges I’ve visited. They all have something special, whether it’s great buffets, a la carte dining, barista made coffee, or other cool amenities.

This list is by no means exhaustive, because there are lots of amazing lounges out there. I look forward to hearing what business class lounges OMAAT readers like most.

What are your favorite business class lounges in the world?

How to earn World of Hyatt Discoverist status

You can earn World of Hyatt Discoverist status through hotel stays, or just based on having a co-branded World of Hyatt credit card. Let’s take a look at what’s required.

Earn Hyatt Discoverist status with hotel stays

World of Hyatt Discoverist status can be earned with hotel stays in one of the following ways:

• By earning 10 elite qualifying nights in a calendar year; revenue and award stays count toward this
• By earning 25,000 elite qualifying points in a calendar year; you ordinarily earn 5x base points per eligible dollar spent at a Hyatt, so this requires the equivalent of $5,000 of Hyatt spending

The elite requirements for Discoverist are significantly lower than for other elite tiers — Explorist requires 30 elite nights or 50,000 elite points, while Globalist requires 60 elite nights or 100,000 elite points.

Earn Hyatt Discoverist status with credit cards

The good news is that if you have one of Hyatt’s co-branded credit cards, you automatically get Discoverist status:

• The World of Hyatt Credit Card offers Discoverist status for the primary cardmember for as long as you’re a cardmember
• The World of Hyatt Business Credit Card offers Discoverist status for the primary cardmember plus five designated employees for as long as you’re a cardmember

These cards can help you further earn elite nights toward Explorist or Globalist status, but there’s no spending required for Discoverist status.

Earn Hyatt Discoverist status with American AAdvantage

It’s also worth noting that World of Hyatt has a partnership with American AAdvantage, and it’s possible to earn World of Hyatt Discoverist status for your loyalty to American. With the Loyalty Point Rewards program, you automatically receive Discoverist status when you pass 100,000 Loyalty Points in a program year.

In terms of requirements, that’s somewhere between AAdvantage Platinum status and AAdvantage Platinum Pro status.

World of Hyatt Discoverist status perks & benefits

With the requirements to earn status out of the way, what are the benefits of World of Hyatt Discoverist status? Below are the perks, roughly in the order that I value them.

Guaranteed 2PM check-out

World of Hyatt Discoverist members receive guaranteed 2PM check-out. Note that this is subject to availability at resorts. I’d say it’s pretty nice when entry-level hotel elite status offers guaranteed late check-out, so I’d consider that to be a strong perk. This is the same late check-out offered to Explorist members, while Globalist members get 4PM check-out.

10% World of Hyatt bonus points

World of Hyatt members ordinarily earn 5x points per eligible dollar spent at Hyatt properties, including for room rates and incidentals. World of Hyatt Discoverist members receive a 10% points bonus, which is an extra 0.5x points per dollar spent. As a point of comparison, Explorist members receive 20% bonus points, while Globalist members receive 30% bonus points.

Preferred rooms

World of Hyatt Discoverist members receive preferred rooms within the category that they booked. This is a pretty limited promise on Hyatt’s part, ultimately, though you may find that some hotels go above and beyond. As a point of comparison, Explorist members get upgrades to the best available non-suite, while Globalist members get upgrades to the best available standard suite.

Premium in-room internet & bottled water

All World of Hyatt elite members receive premium Wi-Fi, plus bottled water in the room. This probably isn’t anything to get too excited about, but it’s better than nothing.

Elite check-in counter

All World of Hyatt elite members receive access to the dedicated elite check-in counter, for the hotels that offer that. Unfortunately availability and enforcement of the line isn’t consistent, but if there is a line for elite members, you can use it.

World of Hyatt Milestone Rewards program

The Milestone Rewards program is an awesome aspect of World of Hyatt, as it offers rewards for every 10 elite nights you rack up in a calendar year, up to 150 elite nights. This program offers all kinds of valuable perks, ranging from club access awards, to suite upgrade awards, to free night awards, to Guest of Honor awards.

However, the program only really starts to get valuable with 20 elite nights (double the requirements for Discoverist status), so for most Discoverist members, this won’t get you anything. Nonetheless it’s worth being aware of the program.

For example, if you do make it to 20 elite nights, you can select two club access awards, each of which can be used to secure lounge access for a stay of up to seven nights. That potentially has significant value.

Is World of Hyatt Discoverist status worth it?

World of Hyatt Discoverist status is better than nothing, and gets you guaranteed late check-out, some bonus points, and potential room upgrades. I guess there are two ways to view the overall value of the status — how does it compare to other entry-level elite status, and how does it compare to other elite status you’d get with a mid-range credit card?

Compared to other low-tier elite status levels (Hilton Honors Silver, Marriott Bonvoy Silver, etc.), I’d say it actually compares quite favorably. Admittedly that’s not necessarily saying a whole lot, but the status is easy enough to earn.

While I wouldn’t go out of my way to stay 10 nights annually at a Hyatt just to earn Discoverist status, you can get this status simply by having the World of Hyatt Credit Card or World of Hyatt Business Credit Card. There are many great benefits to these cards, so in that context I do think the status is worth it.

However, purely in terms of value of elite status, I do think there are mid-range credit cards that offer better options. For example, Hilton Honors Gold elite status is offered with several credit cards, and that offers more robust perks, including complimentary breakfast or a food & beverage credit.

Bottom line

Discoverist is World of Hyatt’s entry-level elite tier, offering perks like preferred rooms, 2PM late check-out, 10% bonus points, elite check-in, premium internet, and more. Having this status is better than nothing if you plan on staying with Hyatts, though the status probably won’t be life-changing.

While I have a strong general preference for staying at Hyatts over most other brands, I’d say in terms of elite perks, World of Hyatt really shines with Globalist status.

If you’re a Hyatt Discoverist member, what has your experience been like?

Business class seats have come a long way

We’ve seen a significant amount of innovation when it comes to business class seats, with some of the world’s best business class seats having been introduced in recent years.

However, it’s worth acknowledging that this is part of a larger trend, as over the past few decades we’ve seen business class seats go from recliners, to angled flat seats, to flat beds, to seats with direct aisle access, to suites with doors. In many ways, the premium economy cabins being introduced nowadays aren’t that different than business class 20+ years ago.

I will say this, though — broadly speaking, I think business class is “peaking,” in terms of the actual comfort level that passengers experience. At this point, business class improvements seem more incremental, with a focus on improved tech, privacy, and more.

Given the amount of innovation we’ve seen, I’d like to share an updated post with what I consider to be the world’s best business class seats.

What makes a great business class seat?

My ranking will be subjective, since not everyone is looking for the same thing when flying, and I think creating a formula for ranking these seats would minimize the perspective I can provide, having tried all of these products myself.

Some people love direct aisle access from every seat. Others don’t, since they love to sit next to their travel companion. Some people love seats with doors. Others hate them. The list goes on and on.

What goes into my decision as to what I consider to be the world’s best business class seats? A fully flat bed with direct aisle access from at least most seats is a given to make this list, though here’s what I’m looking for beyond that:

• A comfortable sleeping surface — First and foremost, business class is about the bed, so a comfortable sleeping surface is the single most important factor. Part of that is lots of space for my feet, since some airlines seem to be developing elaborate seats with small footwells.
• The ability to maximize privacy — This is something I personally care about, though I know others don’t. Given the choice, I’ll always take a seat that offers more privacy over one that doesn’t. I find it awkward to sleep next to strangers on the ground, and the same applies in the air.
• Attention to detail with the design — Often I wonder if the person who designed a particular business class seat has ever actually been in business class before, because the design doesn’t have great attention to detail. I’m talking about where buttons are located, how good the lighting is, how easy it is to use the tray table, and more.
• Different seating configurations for different occasions — Everyone travels with a different purpose, so it’s important that seats are customizable depending on whether you’re traveling alone, with a companion, or with your family. It’s great to have a lot of privacy, but truly exceptional airlines have designed their cabins in such a way that you can choose whether you want to sit alone, or next to someone else.
• Great tech — Lately a lot of the innovation with new business class seating has come in the form of improved technology, including bluetooth audio, several high speed charging ports, wireless charging, high definition personal entertainment screens, and more.
• Beautiful finishes — While the substance of a seat is most important to me, there’s also something to be said for a cabin that’s stylish.
• Individual air nozzles — This is something I won’t be able to cover too thoroughly here, since in some cases I’ll be talking about seats that are used by many airlines. However, for any airline product folks reading this, individual air nozzles make a huge difference in terms of being able to sleep comfortably, given how warm cabins are often kept.

Why you should trust OMAAT seat rankings

Hopefully I don’t have to explain this to regular OMAAT readers, but I feel like this is worth mentioning for those who aren’t regular readers…

All the time I see media outlets ranking the best business class seats, though typically they’re just going off stock media images and how airlines describe their seats, rather than actual firsthand experience.

While I’m absolutely not saying you need to agree with my rankings, here’s why you should trust OMAAT rankings, in the sense that I’m sharing my honest and informed take here:

• I pay for virtually all of my own flights, either with cash or miles
• I’ve tried every kind of business class seat out there, and have flown business class literally hundreds of times, so have lots of context for what makes a great seat
• I don’t have any sort of financial relationship with any airline
• This is my passion, I’ve been reviewing airlines for 18+ years, I’ve written hundreds of flight reviews, and have logged millions of miles

The world’s 10 best business class seats

Let me now share what I consider to be the world’s best business class seats. Just a few final notes, before I do so:

• Some of the seats I list are only available on one airline, while others are available on dozens of airlines, so I’m only going to be listing each type of seat once, even if there are minor variances
• In situations where only one airline has a seat type, I’ll refer to it by airline, while when it’s a situation where multiple airlines have the same seat, I’ll generally refer to it by the seat name
• One general struggle I have with these rankings is deciding which seat in a configuration to judge (for example, Singapore Airlines’ bulkhead business class seats are phenomenal, while the rest of the seats aren’t nearly as good); so I’ll be judging seat variations only if at least an average of one seat in each row has the comfort that wins it the ranking
• I’m leaving service, food, drinks, entertainment, and Wi-Fi out of this equation; this list is all about the hard product
• I won’t be including “business class plus” products in these rankings, though that is becoming an increasingly common offering, that’s somewhere between first and business class

Below are my rankings, starting with the best…

1. All Nippon Airways “The Room” business class

All Nippon Airways has the world’s best business class seat, in my opinion, which was introduced in 2019. This is simply an incredible product — each seat has a door, the suites are massive, and the amount of personal space is unparalleled.

With this seat, I really feel like airline products have come full circle, because this business class suite is better than many first class suites out there. This even beats the world famous Qatar Airways Qsuites product, at least in terms of hard product.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available exclusively on select ANA 777-300ERs. No other airlines have this product, though a modified version of this will soon come to select ANA 787s.

2. Japan Airlines Safran Unity business class

Japan Airlines is the global launch customer for the Safran Unity seat, which is the latest and greatest new business class seat out there. This is ultimately a staggered business class seat, though what sets it apart is that it’s incredibly spacious, has a ton of storage, and also has excellent tech, from bluetooth audio to wireless charging.

While the seat isn’t quite as spacious as ANA’s business class, the soft product and technology is quite a bit better, in my opinion, so I’m a huge fan of this product, and it’s among my favorite business class experiences in the world.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on all Japan Airlines A350-1000s. It’s also now available on Riyadh Air’s 787s (though with tighter pitch, which is why I think Japan Airlines still has the edge), and it’ll eventually be available on Qantas’ A350s.

3. Collins Aerospace Elements business class

Nowadays, reverse herringbone seats are among the most popular business class seats out there. Some time back, popular seat manufacturer Collins Aerospace took this to the next level, with the introduction of its new Elements business class seat.

What makes this different than previous generation reverse herringbone seats? Well, quite a bit. The seat has a massive 24″ entertainment monitor, amazing tech, a door, and most important of all, it has significantly more space in the footwell. Many reverse herringbone products feel really tight in bed mode, so that’s where this evolution of the concept shines. I can’t wait to see more airlines introduce this same product.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on all Starlux Airlines A350s, on the newest Etihad 787s and Royal Jordanian 787s, and on Cathay Pacific 777s with Aria Suites.

4. Qatar Airways Qsuites business class

Qatar Airways introduced the Qsuite in 2017, and set a new standard for business class at the time. Just about everything about it is incredible — it’s private (it features a door), it’s spacious, it’s stylish, it has plenty of storage, and everything is thoughtfully designed.

What really seals the deal is how customizable these suites are. You can choose a window seat for full privacy, you can choose a double bed in the center section, or if you’re traveling as a group of four, you can even reserve a quad and create a huge suite. What’s most exciting is that Qatar Airways will soon be introducing a next generation version of the product, with even more incremental improvements.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on all Qatar Airways A350-1000s, and on select Qatar Airways A350-900s, 777-200LRs, and 777-300ERs. No other airlines have this product.

5. Adient Ascent business class

While Qatar Airways is most well known for its Qsuites business class, the airline is installing the Adient Ascent seat on its 787-9s. These seats have doors and direct aisle access. Qatar Airways was the launch customer for this product, though you’ll also now find it on several other airlines as well.

This configuration is highly customizable, and each seat has a door. It’s a bit different than your typical reverse herringbone configuration, since the center seats sometimes face the aisle rather than the center of the cabin. The finishes in this cabin are all very well designed.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on Qatar Airways 787-9s, on Alaska Airlines 787-9s, and on select American Airlines 787-9s and United Airlines 787-9s.

6. Air France Safran Versa business class

Safran debuted its new Versa business class reverse herringbone seat on Air France, and it’s quite a good product. It has doors, excellent technology, and the seat feels quite spacious. Perhaps what’s most remarkable is the bulkhead seats in this configuration, which I’d consider to be the single best business class seats in the world. Of course only a small percentage of passengers get that seat, though.

Where to find this seat: This product is available exclusively on select Air France 777-300ERs, though you can expect this to be available on more planes in the future. Note that while Air France A350-900s have a very similar product, it’s from a different manufacturer.

7. Collins Aerospace reverse herringbone business class with door

As you can see above, Collins Aerospace’s cutting edge business class product is the Elements seat, available on Starlux Airlines, Cathay Pacific, and Etihad Airways. However, it’s worth also mentioning the company’s previous generation reverse herringbone product, which is otherwise among the best you’ll find in the skies.

The Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seat is incredibly popular, and can be found on airlines like Air Canada, American, China Airlines, Qatar Airways, Xiamen Air, and many more airlines. However, what elevates this product to the next level is that we’ve seen some airlines add doors to this seat.

In general I like reverse herringbone seats because each seat is virtually identical, so there are no bad seats. The seats have plenty of privacy, the window seats face the windows, and the seats are comfortable regardless of whether you’re relaxing or sleeping. The downside is that these seats aren’t ideal when traveling with someone, since even the center seats are quite private.

Where to find this seat: British Airways has the most of these seats in service, as they can be found on all A350-1000s and 787-10s, as well as select 777s and 787s. On top of that, Etihad has a similar product on its A350-1000s.

8. Collins Aerospace Horizon business class

Here’s another staggered business class product that’s becoming increasingly popular. Collins Aerospace has produced the Horizon business class seat, which is a staggered configuration with a door. This is a very functionally designed seat, with storage, good tech, and it’s comfortable whether sitting up or trying to sleep. Personally I prefer this product to the Vantage XL product with a door.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on a subset of Turkish Airlines A350s, and on Air India A350s, all of which were initially intended for Aeroflot. On top of that, you’ll find it on Korean Air’s 787-10s.

9. Apex Suites business class

When you look at Apex Suites, you may initially think that they’re just average business class seats, as they don’t look that impressive. For example, on a 787, Apex Suites will be in a 2-2-2 configuration. What makes these seats superior is the window seats, as they feature an unrivaled amount of privacy and personal space. The window seats have a private walkway leading to the seat, and you can raise or lower the partition between seats for full privacy.

For many other business class seats, you have to sleep with your feet in a small footwell, while in an Apex Suite you have an unlimited amount of space for your feet. The other nice thing is that if you’re traveling with someone you can select an aisle and a window seat and sit next to one another, though you won’t have the same level of privacy in the aisle seat.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on Gulf Air 787-9s, select Japan Airlines 777s and 787s, Korean Air 747-8s, 787-9s, and select 777-300ERs, and Oman Air 787s.

10. Vantage XL business class with door

Delta’s flagship business class product is the Delta One Suite, which is a business class suite with a door. Delta uses a modified Vantage XL seat (similar to what you’ll find on Philippine Airlines, Qantas, RwandAir, and SAS, for example).

The Vantage XL seat isn’t otherwise on the list because I consider this to be an evolved version of it, given the addition of a door. The configuration is staggered, and the seats are private, spacious, and mostly well designed.

However, I do think the seat is a bit rough around the edges — the window seats lack storage, the door doesn’t quite close the whole way, the doors themselves are pretty low, and they’re difficult to open. This is a very good product, but a better job could have been done with the finishes, in my opinion.

Where to find this seat: This seat is available on Delta A350-900s and A330-900neos (though it feels much tighter on the A330s). You’ll also find the seats on Virgin Atlantic A330-900neos, China Eastern A350s and 787s, and Shanghai Airlines 787s.

Bottom line

There you have it, those are what I consider to be the 10 best business class seats. As you can see, in some cases these seats are specific to one airline, while in other cases many airlines have the same seats.

These rankings are highly subjective, and on a given day I could see the order of some of them being switched around, depending on whether I plan on sleeping the whole flight, am traveling with someone, etc. The only rankings I’m pretty committed to is my top four choices, though I could also see the order being moved around depending on the circumstances.

What do you think the world’s best business class seats are? How does your list compare to mine?

Rules around using first class bathrooms

Airlines go great lengths to configure their cabins efficiently, and to cram in as many seats as possible. For your average domestic narrow body aircraft, you might just have one lavatory at the front of the plane, and two (or so) lavatories at the back of the plane.

So if you’re traveling in economy, is it appropriate to use the first class lavatory? After all, it might be the closest one to you, and it’s possible that there’s not a line to use it, while there may be a line to use the lavatories at the back of the cabin.

For domestic flights within the United States, the answer is that you are typically allowed to use any lavatory on the aircraft, though the exact policy varies by airline. Here’s my understanding of the rules, and someone correct me if I get anything wrong:

• American and United allow passengers to use the lavatory in first class, no questions asked
• Alaska states that “guests should use the restroom in their assigned cabins, and are required to do so on inbound international flights”
• Delta states that “while customers should use the lavatory in their cabin of service, our crew leverages situational flexibility to support special accommodations as needed”

As you can see, at worst you’re told that you “should” use the lavatory in your cabin, but not that it’s required.

Note that the above is specific to domestic flights within the United States. On international flights bound for the United States, the consistent rule is that you’re required to use the lavatory in the cabin in which you’re seated. That’s not just an airline policy, but a government policy (along with not congregating in the galleys). In my experience it’s consistently enforced, at least to the extent that the crew is paying attention.

Also keep in mind that you have to follow flight attendant instructions, so if they tell you not to use the forward lavatory, you have to listen to them (it could be because the pilots need a bathroom break, etc.).

What should the policy around lavatory use be?

It’s worth noting that while airlines in the United States mostly let you use lavatories in any cabin, a vast majority of foreign airlines require you to use the lavatory in your cabin, with no exceptions.

Heck, I’d say when flying on a top global airline, having access to a (typically) clean lavatory is a part of the value proposition of flying in a premium cabin. After all, a lavatory is likely to be a lot cleaner, given how many fewer people have access to it.

What should the policy be on US airlines? Well, I see both sides.

On the one hand, it’s kind of annoying when you pay extra for first class, and then for the entire flight there’s a steady stream of people standing in the aisle waiting for the forward lavatory. At times, it can even be tough to use the lavatory when you’re in first class, since you basically have to just stand up at your seat to indicate to those coming up from economy that you’re waiting as well.

On the other hand, this is sort of a problem created by airlines. US airlines often simply don’t have enough lavatories in economy to accommodate the amount of “demand,” as you’ll often have two lavatories for around 150 passengers. There’s almost always a line in the back of the aircraft of people waiting for the lavatory, so I can’t blame people for not wanting to wait for extended periods of time.

Furthermore, during service, the aisle is often blocked with a cart, so it’s not like there’s even an easy way to get to the back.

Bottom line

Generally when flying on US airlines on domestic flights, you’re allowed to use the first class lavatory when flying in economy. There is some discretion here, especially on Alaska and Delta, which recommend — but don’t require — that you use the lavatory in your cabin.

Personally I don’t think there’s anything wrong with using the lavatory closest to you, assuming it’s within the carrier’s rules. However, it’s just yet another thing that makes the experience of flying in a premium cabin on a US carrier different than flying in a premium cabin on a foreign carrier.

What’s your take on using the first class lavatory when traveling in economy?

I’m gay, and married, and even have two kids, so people will sometimes have comments or questions about how that impacts my travels, where I choose to go, and what I elect to disclose. So I’d like to talk about that a bit in this post, and then I’d be curious to hear how others approach this.

A few travel disclaimers to start

Before I get too deep into sharing my approach when it comes to traveling and being gay, let me acknowledge a few things:

• I recognize I’m incredibly fortunate to live in a country where I can (for the most part) live my life freely, and I’m also blessed to have a supportive family, and to be financially independent; even in the United States, plenty of people don’t have accepting families, and might not be able to support themselves financially, leading to some bad situations
• There’s a big difference between being a visitor somewhere and trying to live one’s life somewhere, so I’m not suggesting “well I didn’t have any problems in X country, and therefore no one will”
• I’m just sharing my experiences and beliefs, which I’ve come to after endless travel over the years, and for that matter, I evolve on some topics over time; of course others may have different experiences, and I’m not saying these opinions will apply everywhere in the world
• In the comments section I’d love to hear how others approach these complex issues, though I ask that everyone be respectful; we can all share our beliefs without putting other people down

With that out of the way, let me share my general philosophy.

It’s important to be out and unapologetic

Any gay person knows that coming out can be complicated — that starts with coming out to yourself and accepting who you are. The older I’ve gotten, the less sheepish and more unapologetic I’ve become about being gay. What people think about me being gay isn’t something I’m going to lose any sleep over — that’s their problem, not mine. That includes when traveling to countries that might on the surface be less accepting of gay travelers.

I’ll take it a step further in saying that I think it’s my duty to come out whenever I can. The goal isn’t to make people uncomfortable or shame them into acceptance, but rather to build a bridge, and normalize people of different backgrounds as much as possible. We all have preconceived notions about certain groups of people, and the way to get over those is to show people that our similarities outnumber our differences.

Now, let me add a caveat there. While I think it’s important to be out and unapologetic, personally my sexuality doesn’t define my identity or who I am as a person. I don’t say that in a self-loathing way, but instead, my preference is to highlight similarities rather than differences.

I’d rather not be thought of as a “gay couple” or “gay family” or whatever. I’d like to think we’re just a couple, or family, or whatever. That just reflects my general beliefs system in life, that I think there are so many more similarities than differences between us, and I don’t feel the need to point out “hey, I’m different” or “I’m special.” There’s nothing wrong with people who take a different approach, but that’s just me.

Coming out is a never-ending, complicated process

When you travel as a gay couple in many parts of the world, it’s normal for people to just assume that you’re friends, brothers, colleagues, etc. I get it, that doesn’t bother me, and I’m not offended in the slightest. I’m never going to be upset at anyone for making that assumption, because, well, I’d spend a lot of time being upset, and that doesn’t benefit anyone.

That being said, when I feel it’s safe and helpful to do so, I try to subtly avoid that and correct misconceptions. Let me give some examples:

• If I’m in contact with a hotel in advance, I’ll make it clear that I’m traveling with my husband, so that they’re clear on what the relationship is, and that booking a room with one bed isn’t a mistake; whether or not they process that correctly is a different story
• If I’m in a setting where it’s safe to do so (in my travels that’s a vast majority of places), and I’m referring to Ford in any context, I refer to him as what he is, which is my husband
• If someone refers to him as my friend, I’m typically not going to correct them right away, because I don’t think it helps to make anyone feel like they offended me (and I’m not offended, for that matter); that being said, if I interact with the same person multiple times, I might say “oh I’m just waiting on my husband, he should be here shortly,” or something, so that hopefully they get the hint

It’s also important to acknowledge that context matters:

• If I’m in a taxi in Moscow at 10PM and the driver is trying to get us to go to a strip club, we’re not going to correct him and tell him we’re gay (note: I’m not going to Moscow now, but this did happen when we visited many years back)
• Generally speaking I feel much more comfortable being openly gay when staying at a major international chain hotel, because they have global standards around acceptance and inclusivity; if I were (theoretically) at a small guest house in a very conservative country, it would of course be a totally different story
• Sometimes I’m just not in the mood to come out (because it’s exhausting), or the setting isn’t right; several years back I wrote about my experience getting a massage in Singapore, and the lady asked if I had kids, and when I said I didn’t, she asked “why not?” and said that after the massage I’d “be nice and relaxed and can make babies soon,” and I don’t really feel like that’s the time to come out (we did have kids in the end, but it wasn’t due to being nice and relaxed!)

There’s value in interactions at all levels

Even at a chain hotel, I think there’s potentially huge value in the individual interactions you can have with people. Perceptions don’t change overnight, but rather it’s a slow process. For example, take Dubai, which has workers from all over the globe.

The workers you interact with may be from countries that aren’t accepting of gays. But if you can be yourself around them, and they realize you’re not that different than others, I think there’s value in that, and that over time will lead to a shift in mindsets.

Peoples’ perceptions don’t shift because they take a one hour training course about inclusivity when they started their job. They shift through firsthand experiences.

Similarly, I’ve had people in countries that aren’t particularly accepting come out to me, and say how they could never come out to their family, etc. But it’s nice to be able to hear them out and be supportive.

Just as I hope people become more accepting of my community through firsthand experience, I similarly have evolved my perceptions of groups due to firsthand interactions. Maybe we have a negative perception of a certain country, only to find out that the people are actually very different than we were expecting.

Laws in different countries can be tough to rationalize

People often say “I’ll never travel to [insert country] because of the laws they have against gays.” That’s totally fair, and I get it. You’re not wrong, and in many cases the laws are very problematic.

But for countries like Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, the UAE, etc., I have absolutely no qualms being myself. If someone wants to generally boycott these countries because of the laws, I respect that (and I’ve also covered my thoughts on ethics of flying Gulf carriers). But I also think there’s some nuance to understand:

• Admittedly a lot of these countries have a lot of laws that aren’t actually enforced, and this goes way beyond being gay; this includes laws around public displays of affection, laws around unmarried people staying in the rooms, laws around sex, etc.
• For example, until 2020 it was technically illegal for unmarried people to share a hotel room in the UAE; yet how many tens of millions of unmarried couples visited the UAE over time, shared a hotel room, and had no issues?
• Essentially many Middle Eastern countries operate on a system of unenforced laws, which is a problem, but that also goes way beyond laws involving same sex relationships
• I have an endless number of gay friends who live in countries that are thought of as being anti-gay, yet they choose to live there, and have a positive view on things; it would be rich for me to come in and tell them how they should feel about their own lives and decisions
• My philosophy is that if you’re respectful to locals, including following local customs, then they’ll be respectful back to you

I also think it’s important to recognize when countries are making progress, even if they’re not as far along as other countries, or as far along as many of us would like them to be. I think we often forget that many countries in the Middle East have official religions, and are only a few decades old.

Yes, it’s the year 2026 for all of us, but there’s a difference between a country that has been around for hundreds of years and claims to not be guided by a particular religion, and a country that has been around for a few decades and is based on religious law.

As I also recently wrote about, there’s often nuance to this stuff that’s missing. Laws are generally in reference to sexual activity, rather than in reference to “being gay,” or whatever. Speaking of the complexity of laws, you can even run into trouble in countries with things having nothing to do with sexuality. I’ve basically been banned from Egypt for criticizing the airport in a blog post, so…

How does traveling with kids factor into this?

I do have to admit that my approach is a little different based on whether I’m traveling alone, traveling with Ford, or we’re traveling as a family, with one or both of our kids. As you’d expect, the travel experiences I’m willing to consider differ with each set of circumstances.

When I’m traveling alone, I have almost no limits to where I’m willing to go. When I’m traveling with Ford, I try to pick places where we’ll at least both feel relatively comfortable. Meanwhile if we’re traveling as a family, I try to have a really high standard in that regard.

Admittedly our older son is four years old and younger son is one year old, so we don’t have that much experience yet. But so far our travels have primarily been limited to the European Union, Mexico, and Caribbean, along with domestic travel.

The first two are generally pretty gay friendly in that regard (especially on the tourism front), while the Caribbean can be a bit trickier. Our only Caribbean trip was with our older son when he was a baby, and that went well. Admittedly you sometimes get a look or two, but everyone was nice enough, so I can’t really complain.

I’m still figuring out the limits of what I’d feel comfortable with, but that’s the experience we’ve had up until now.

Bottom line

I often get questions about my approach to traveling to countries that (on the surface) aren’t particularly accepting of gay travelers. Hopefully the above is a useful rundown of the approach that I take.

Personally I think it’s important to try to be “out” whenever you safely can, and for that matter, I just don’t have interest in traveling to destinations where I have to hide who I am. There’s admittedly a balance here, since local customs have to be respected as well. But those aren’t always as black and white as people might assume.

Again, I don’t claim that my approach is right, as I think there are lots of reasonable perspectives to have on this. I do think it’s important to disagree respectfully, though.

I’m curious how those in the OMAAT community approach this issue, if relevant?

With that in mind, I’d like to talk about that a bit in this post — is everything in airport lounges free? There’s a bit of nuance and grey area, so it’s not necessarily that straightforward…

Once you’re in an airport lounge, stuff is mostly free

If you’ve accessed airport lounges before, you know that there’s huge variance in terms of the quality of lounges, ranging from first class lounges, to business class lounges, to Priority Pass lounges.

One thing is relatively consistent, though — the basic services in the lounge are supposed to be included if you have access. So you can generally expect that food, drinks, showers, and other amenities, will be complimentary, unless noted otherwise.

As I’ll get into in more detail below, there are some exceptions, but that’s the general concept. Personally, I operate under the assumption that stuff in lounges is free, unless there’s an obvious reason to believe otherwise, whether it’s an explanation from an employee, or a menu with prices.

There’s also typically not a limit to how much you can consume (though there are exceptions). So regardless of whether a lounge has a buffet or a la carte dining, you can knock yourself out. Some lounges do have a cap on alcoholic drinks, both to manage costs, and to make sure people don’t get too wasted.

What might not be free in airport lounges

The truth is that there are so many different kinds of airport lounges, so there’s not going to be a single consistent policy as to what’s included and what isn’t. Where will you find situations where lounge amenities aren’t included?

Specific to lounges operated by US airlines (so this includes American Admirals Clubs, Delta Sky Clubs, United Clubs, etc.):

• All the food at the buffet is complimentary, though in some situations there may be premium meals available for purchase, with a price clearly indicated on the menu
• Basic alcohol is complimentary, while premium alcohol may be available for purchase, with a specific price listed on the menu
• Showers are complimentary, and available on a first come, first served basis

With Amex Centurion Lounge, Capital One Lounge, and Chase Sapphire Lounges, you’ll typically find even fewer things available for purchase, with just about everything complimentary.

Beyond that, there are some exceptions to be aware of globally. Here are some that come to mind:

• Some airport lounges offer spa treatments, which are only available to certain types of guests (sometimes a subset of those who have access to the lounge); also, there may be a complimentary basic spa treatment, with add-on spa treatment options at an extra cost
• While lounges with shower facilities offer them on a complimentary basis more often than not, some contract and Priority Pass lounges may charge extra for these, so you’ll be informed of those charges
• Some regions have quirks when it comes to what they include; for example, last time I visited a domestic lounge in Kazakhstan, food and drinks weren’t included, but rather had to be purchased at an extra cost
• Some top lounges (like the SWISS First Lounge Zurich) have cigars in their smoking rooms that are available for purchase, and those aren’t usually included
• Some lounges have lounges within a lounge; for example, the Qatar Airways Al Mourjan Garden Lounge Doha has a Louis Vuitton Lounge within it, where everything is available for purchase

Bottom line

The general expectation is that once you enter an airport lounge, most things are included, ranging from food, to drinks, to shower rooms. Now, there are some exceptions and quirks. For example, some lounges sell premium drinks at an extra cost, or charge extra for some additional amenities, like cigars, spa treatments, etc.

I realize the answer probably isn’t as straightforward as some had hoped. If you’re a lounge newbie, generally assume that once you enter the lounge, everything is included, unless told otherwise. This says nothing of tipping in airport lounges, which can also be a bit tricky (at least in the United States).

What has your experience been with airport lounge inclusions?