View from the Wing
Hyatt Hotel Puts Bathroom Soap And Lotion On The Counter Like They’re Free — Then Charges Guests For Using Them
Thomspon San Antonio Riverwalk is staging bathroom soap and lotion where guests expect complimentary amenities, even though using them can trigger extra charges. That's a textbook hotel dark pattern: make something look free, hide the price list, and count on guests not noticing until it's too late and they're stuck.
Travel Codex
Nearly ALL Airlines Increase Checked Bag Fees
American Airlines announced on Thursday that it would be increasing checked baggage fees, bringing it in line with pretty much every other major U.S. airline that has already made the same move over the past few weeks. The airline says the decision was made “in light of the current operating...
One Mile at a Time
Starlux Airlines’ A350 First Class: What’s The Strategy, And Will It Ever Change?
Starlux Airlines is Taiwan’s newest global airline. While it launched operations in early 2020, the airline has really ramped up its network in the past few years, including increasingly flying across the Pacific.
View from the Wing
Westin Detroit Airport Took Away Free Bottled Water, Left An Empty Carafe — Cost Cutting Is Now Called ‘Sustainability’
The Westin Detroit Airport appears to have removed complimentary bottled water from guest rooms and replaced it with an empty glass carafe and a sign urging guests to refill it at hallway water stations. It's the chef's kiss on the hotel trend of taking away something cheap, making the guest...
The Gate with Brian Cohen
30 Kilometers Per Hour is No Longer Equal to 20 Miles Per Hour: Fun With Road Signs
A road sign that was erected by the government of Canada just north of the border it shares with the United States announces that 30 kilometers per hour was — yes, the past tense was used — 20 miles per hour, which to me means that that was once to...
Live and Let’s Fly
Ralph Nader Is Upset After TSA Confiscates His Hummus…Because It’s A “Liquid”
Ralph Nader had his hummus confiscated at the airport and is not happy with the TSA. TSA Confiscates Ralph Nader’s Hummus And Proves The Liquid Ban Still Makes No Sense Former presidential candidate and longtime consumer advocate Ralph Nader took to social media yesterday to share a rather absurd airport...
One Mile at a Time
Review: Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP)
On the return portion of myexotic journey to Bangkok via Paris,I had an extended layover at the Lufthansa Lounge Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP). I was booked to fly to Zurich (ZRH) on SWISS, but my flight ended up being canceled, so my initially planned roughly three hour layover ended up...
Live and Let’s Fly
Air Canada Expands Its Brilliant Grab-And-Go Lounge Café Concept
Air Canada is expanding on what I consider one of the smartest lounge innovations in recent years: its grab-and-go “Café” concept. Air Canada Expands “Café” Lounge Concept The airline has just opened new Café locations in both Montréal (YUL) and Vancouver (YVR), expanding a concept that debuted in Toronto Pearson...
Eye of the Flyer
Air France Aborts Takeoff LAX, EU Airports Running Out of Gas, 1st Lady 70M Dollar Jet, TSA Helps ICE Arrests, Dubai’s Tourism is Dead and More Travel News
Here are this week’s travel and cruise headlines and news from around the web and interweb: Air France Jet aborts takeoff at LAX after another aircraft enters runway The First Lady is getting a $70,000,000 Boeing that could be the most lavish jet in government history EU airports warn of...
View from the Wing
Lawsuit Says American Airlines Carry-On Dispute Turned Into A Violent Arrest And Lifetime Ban
A dispute over carry-on bags at an American Airlines gate in Dallas escalated into a police takedown, visible injuries, dropped charges, and a lifetime ban from the airline, according to a new lawsuit filed by the passengers. The bodycam video suggests a messy, poorly explained confrontation, but it's not clear...
Frequent Miler
Bag fees fly high, Bilt points from bank bonuses, turning cash to miles and more [Week in Review]
I’ve been on vacation this week, visiting family in the San Francisco Bay area. Over the course of a week, we visited the children’s museum in San Jose, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Pinnacles National Park, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and we even squeezed in...
Live and Let’s Fly
Ryanair Sends Unruly Passenger To Jail After He Forces Go-Around On Landing
Airlines talk a lot about “not tolerating” unruly passengers, but Ryanair is matching tough rhetoric with tough action. Ryanair’s War On Unruly Passengers Just Landed Someone In Jail A disruptive passenger who caused chaos onboard a Ryanair flight has been sentenced to 10 months in prison, a striking example of...
Monkey Miles
All time high Hilton Honors Amex card offers are back with free nights!
Hilton Honors Amex card offers American Express and Hilton have tweaked their new offers slightly. I’m also including the Amex Hilton Aspire since it’s a card we keep and get a ton of value out of on an annual basis. The Hilton cards listed below are a mix of Affiliate...
Wild About Travel
Gulf Aviation After the Ceasefire: What Travellers Need to Know Now
A two-week ceasefire for Iran was announced on 7th April. On 9th April, several Gulf governments reported a full day without any new missiles or drones. The UAE’s defence ministry said the country was “free of any air threats” that day, after weeks of intercepting ballistic and cruise missiles and...
Points With a Crew
Save Up to 50% on Amazon with Amex Rewards Dollars (Targeted)
We’ve written about this deal before but it appears to be back! It appears to be targeted but if so, it seems widely targeted. Save 30% on Amazon, up to $30 in savings (offers vary), when you you purchase eligible products and use at least 1 cent in Amex Reward...
The Gate with Brian Cohen
One of the More Bizarre Hotel Rooms In Which I Have Ever Stayed: Tru by Hilton Hanoi Station. Hotel Review.
One of the more bizarre hotel rooms in which I have ever stayed was at the Tru by Hilton Hanoi Station hotel property, which is unlike its counterparts in the United States in many ways.
The overall theme of this hotel property is...
Frequent Miler
American Express changes referral limits to 5 per year, per card
American Express recently changed the annual referral maximums for cardholders. It used to set a limit on how many points could be earned in a calendar year from referral bonuses; now it has changed that to five referrals per card, per year, regardless of the amount of points earned. Here...
Frequent Miler
Free checked bags via credit cards | Frequent Miler on the Air Ep353 | 4-10-26
In this podcast episode, we’ll talk about how Rakuten doubles select credit card signup bonuses, JetBlue polishes its previously lackluster Premier card, and how to avoid paying those increasing checked bag fees. Free checked bags via credit cards Watch the full episode below, or listen on your favorite podcast platform....
Paddle Your Own Kanoo
Airports Say Full Introduction Of New European Biometric Entry Rules Went As Badly As They Feared On Friday
Friday marked the first day of the full rollout of Europe’s much-delayed biometric ‘Entry/Exit System’ (EES) system at airports across the bloc, and a major trade organization representing airports throughout Europe said it went as badly as it had feared. Passengers are facing wait times of up to three hours...
Frequent Miler
Southwest Airlines: Earn 2x Rapid Rewards points on flights booked this weekend
Southwest has launched a new promotion that is offering double Rapid Rewards points on all flights booked by April 12th, 2026, and completed by July 1st, 2026. Registration for this offer is required prior to booking. The promotion is officially targeted, but I haven’t heard of any Rapid Rewards members...
View from the Wing
American Airlines Let A Passenger Board, Then Said They Weren’t Checked In — And Kicked Them Off The Plane For A Standby
An American Airlines passenger scanned their boarding pass, answered the exit-row questions, took their seat, and thought they were on their way home to Austin. Then, after the whole plane had boarded, the airline gave that seat to a standby traveler, told the original passenger they were somehow “not checked...
