Congress Passes the ALERT Act to Strengthen Aviation Safety On a cold January evening in 2025, the skies above the Potomac River near Washington, D.C. became the scene of one of the most tragic aviation disasters in recent American history. An American Airlines regional jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), claiming all 67 lives aboard both aircraft. In the aftermath, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched a thorough investigation and issued 50 safety-related recommendations.

Congress Passes the ALERT Act to Strengthen Aviation Safety

Runway to Ruin: Why the United-American Merger Talk Should Alarm Everyone In aviation circles, few conversations ignite more debate than the prospect of a major airline merger. But when whispers began circulating that United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby has been quietly floating the idea of a merger with American Airlines, the industry collectively held its breath. This isn't your average industry gossip. If there is even a kernel of truth to these rumors, we could be looking at the most consequential consolidation in the history of commercial aviation — and not necessarily in a good way.

Runway to Ruin: Why the United-American Merger Talk Should Alarm Everyone

Review: Te Arikinui Pullman Auckland Airport Airport hotels are always a mixed bag, you never know what to expect from them. Some of them can be complete dumps and some of them can be fabulous upscale places to get some good night sleep. Thankfully the Pullman Auckland Airport hotel is the latter and for an airport hotel that is a short walk from the main terminal, it surprised even me at the quality of hotel that you can encounter.

Review: Te Arikinui Pullman Auckland Airport

Too Low, Too Close: Why an Icelandair 757 Retirement Flight Was Dangerous This past weekend, aviation social media lit up with videos showing what appeared to be an Icelandair Boeing 757 making an extraordinarily low pass over Vestmannaeyjabær — the main town on the Westman Islands, a volcanic archipelago sitting just off Iceland's southern coast. The footage, shot from the ground by what appeared to be residents and onlookers, immediately drew a mix of reactions ranging from awe to outright alarm.

Too Low, Too Close: Why an Icelandair 757 Retirement Flight Was Dangerous

Reading the Turbulence: A Realistic Look at the Airline Industry This Year If you've been paying attention to the aviation industry lately, you've probably noticed that things feel a little different in 2026. The energy in the market has shifted. For those of us who follow this industry closely, several trends are beginning to crystallize in ways that deserve serious attention — especially if you're planning travel for the months ahead. I want to walk you through what I believe we can expect for the remainder of this year, because I think being informed now could save you both frustration and money down the road.

Reading the Turbulence: A Realistic Look at the Airline Industry This Year

The Clock Is Ticking: Hyatt’s Devaluation Confirmed for May 7 If you've been sitting on a stash of World of Hyatt points and telling yourself you'll figure out where to use them "eventually," I need you to stop what you're doing and pay close attention. The devaluation that the points community has been dreading since February is now confirmed — and we have a hard date: May 7, 2026. Not "sometime in May." Not "later this spring." May 7.

The Clock Is Ticking: Hyatt's Devaluation Confirmed for May 7

Delta’s Q1 Guidance Is Out and It Signals Turbulent Skies Ahead for the Entire Industry Delta Air Lines kicked off 2026 the way it has become accustomed to — at the front of the pack. The Atlanta-based carrier reported adjusted total revenue of $14.2 billion for the March quarter, a record for that period and a 9.4 percent increase over the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings came in at $0.64 per share, a 44 percent improvement year-over-year on a non-GAAP basis.

Delta’s Q1 Guidance Is Out and It Signals Turbulent Skies Ahead for the Entire Industry

Cleared for Greed? Delta Pilots Want More, But At What Cost? Delta Air Lines pilots, represented by ALPA's Delta Master Executive Council, have formally filed their contract opener. With global economic headwinds swirling, tariff uncertainty rattling trade routes, and consumer confidence showing early signs of strain, the Delta pilots' Negotiating Committee appears to be sprinting toward a deal before the economic climate turns cold. If history has taught us anything about airline labor negotiations, it's that leverage evaporates quickly when load factors drop and quarterly earnings reports start going red.

Cleared for Greed? Delta Pilots Want More, But At What Cost?

NTSB Releases Final Report on Southern Airways Express Flight 246 That Landed on an Icy Highway

United Unbundles Business Class Fares Creating a “Basic” Business Class with Restrictions If you've been paying attention to the airline industry lately, you know that the race to unbundle — and then re-bundle — every aspect of flying has been relentless. United Airlines just fired a significant shot across the bow with a sweeping announcement: they are introducing tiered fare categories into their premium cabins. That means United Polaris and United Premium Plus passengers will now face the same "good, better, best" decision tree that economy travelers have been navigating for years.

United Unbundles Business Class Fares Creating a "Basic" Business Class with Restrictions

Wings of Wax: How Airlines Rise, Fall, and Vanish There is something almost poetic about an airline. A logo on a tail. A cabin crew that knows the regulars by name. A specific shade of blue or red that makes a gate feel familiar halfway around the world. And then, one day, it's simply gone — absorbed, collapsed, or quietly dissolved into aviation history. If you've ever wanted the full picture of commercial aviation — not just the survivors, but the whole audacious, reckless, magnificent story — a remarkable data visualization published by…

Wings of Wax: How Airlines Rise, Fall, and Vanish

Alaska Airlines “New” Business Class Debuts Alaska Airlines made waves this week with the announcement of its first-ever International Business Class, a product it describes as a landmark moment in its transformation into the West Coast's global carrier. Launching this spring aboard "brand-new" (ex-Hawaiian Airlines) Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners, the offering promises private lie-flat suites, elevated multi-course dining, premium lounge access, and the kind of polished long-haul experience that frequent international travelers have come to expect from the world's top airlines.

Alaska Airlines "New" Business Class Debuts

Review: Park Hyatt Auckland If you find yourself in Australia and haven't yet made it across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand is practically calling your name. The two countries feel like natural companions, close enough to visit on a whim, yet distinct enough to feel like a whole new adventure. So, with a few days to spare before my flight home, I did exactly that.

Review: Park Hyatt Auckland

What’s the World’s Most Valuable Loyalty Program? (Spoiler: It’s Delta Air Lines) Frequent flyer miles have come a long way from their humble beginnings as a simple reward for repeat customers. Today, airline loyalty programs are billion-dollar enterprises in their own right — financial pillars that, in some cases, are worth more than the airlines that spawned them. A new 2026 report from On Point Loyalty has put hard numbers on just how valuable these programs have become, and the results are striking.

What's the World's Most Valuable Loyalty Program? (Spoiler: It's Delta Air Lines)

How Airline Employees Travel Around the World for (Nearly) Free If you've ever known or met an airline employee and wondered how they're always traveling around the world, you might think how they can afford to always be traveling. But the big secret, is they're not paying at all. Working for an airline comes with one of the most compelling compensation packages in any industry, and the travel benefits alone are worth exploring in detail.

How Airline Employees Travel Around the World for (Nearly) Free

Six Years in the Making: United Flight Attendants Finally Win a Contract Worth Fighting For Let's not bury the lead: United Airlines flight attendants have been working without a meaningful contract update since 2020. Six years. Six years of holding the airline together through a global pandemic, staffing chaos, record passenger loads, and ballooning corporate profits — all while their pay scales collected dust. The fact that we're now applauding a new tentative agreement is genuinely great news, but let's be crystal clear: it is a travesty that it took this long.

Six Years in the Making: United Flight Attendants Finally Win a Contract Worth Fighting For

Is a Bulkhead Seat Worth It? If you've spent any meaningful time browsing seat maps before a flight, you've almost certainly paused over the bulkhead row. It sits right there at the front of a cabin section, separated from the row ahead by a solid wall rather than another seat — and that distinction alone is enough to make many travelers assume it's a premium pick. But is it actually worth going out of your way to snag one?

Is a Bulkhead Seat Worth It?

Points Are Not Free: Why Hotel Managers Who Call You a Freeloader Are Dead Wrong A recent piece published by Air Mail sent ripples through the travel community with a piece titled "The Bonvoy Problem," sporting the inflammatory subheading: "Points programs are destroying the luxury-hotel experience. Can anything stop the freeloaders?" The article recounts a hotel manager ranting at a confidential industry meeting about guests who dare to redeem the points they earned — describing them as though they had snuck in through a back window rather than checked in through the front door.

Points Are Not Free: Why Hotel Managers Who Call You a Freeloader Are Dead Wrong

United’s Big Bet: 250 Planes, New Cabins, and a Premium Experience for Every Traveler If you've been paying attention to the aviation world lately, you already know United Airlines has been on a tear. But what the Chicago-based carrier unveiled today, isn't just another fleet order — it's a comprehensive reimagining of what flying United should feel like, from the smallest regional hop to the longest transcontinental haul. The airline plans to take delivery of more than 250 new aircraft by April 2028, a pace that no other carrier in the world is matching right now.

United's Big Bet: 250 Planes, New Cabins, and a Premium Experience for Every Traveler

Tragedy at LaGuardia: Jazz Flight AC8646 Collides with Fire Truck with Major Casualties Reported The aviation world was shaken in the late hours of Sunday evening, as it appears a Jazz regional flight operating as Air Canada Express Flight AC8646 — a Bombardier CRJ-900 inbound from Montréal — collided with a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle on Runway 4 at New York's LaGuardia Airport. What We Know Jazz confirmed that Flight 8646 was en route to LaGuardia from Montréal-Trudeau International Airport (YUL), with a preliminary passenger list indicating 72 passengers and 4 crew members aboard.

Tragedy at LaGuardia: Jazz Flight AC8646 Collides with Fire Truck with Major Casualties Reported

WATCH: Multiple Aircraft Collision Warnings in San Francisco A viral video capturing multiple Traffic Collision Avoidance System alerts during final approaches at SFO has been making rounds in the aviation community, and for good reason. In it, you can hear the unmistakable synthesized voice of TCAS issuing Resolution Advisories, or RAs, commanding flight crews to climb, and watching those crews comply — not once, but repeatedly on the same approach sequence.

WATCH: Multiple Aircraft Collision Warnings in San Francisco

FAA Ends Visual Separation for Helicopters Near Busy Airports On January 29, 2025, the skies above the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) became the site of one of the most devastating aviation disasters in recent American history. Now, more than a year later, the Federal Aviation Administration has announced a sweeping new safety measure that directly addresses one of the most significant vulnerabilities exposed by that tragedy: the use of visual separation between helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft near busy airports.

FAA Ends Visual Separation for Helicopters Near Busy Airports

Global Entry vs NEXUS: Which Is Right for You? If you've ever stood in a customs line after a long international flight, bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, watching the queue snake endlessly through the arrivals hall, you've probably wondered whether there's a better way. There is. The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offers a suite of Trusted Traveler Programs designed to pre-screen low-risk travelers and fast-track their entry into the country.

Global Entry vs NEXUS: Which Is Right for You?

When the Weather Wins: Why Your Credit Card Is Your Best Travel Insurance There's a moment every traveler dreads. You're standing at the departures board, your gate number blinking in red, and a word you never want to see appears next to your flight: CANCELLED. What happens next separates the prepared traveler from the panicked one. And increasingly, the answer has nothing to do with travel apps, airline status, or a good attitude — it has everything to do with the credit card you used to book that trip.

When the Weather Wins: Why Your Credit Card Is Your Best Travel Insurance

What You Can (and Can’t) Legally Gift to a TSA Agent If you've spent any meaningful amount of time traveling through airports, you've likely witnessed a TSA officer doing their best — patiently guiding flustered flyers, explaining the liquid rule for the hundredth time that morning, or managing a chaotic security line during a holiday rush. It's natural to feel a sense of appreciation and want to express it in a tangible way.

What You Can (and Can't) Legally Gift to a TSA Agent

What are the Best (and Worst) Inflight Internet Options There was a time when the idea of browsing the internet at 35,000 feet felt like pure science fiction. Today, not only is inflight WiFi expected — passengers will openly complain about it the same way they complain about a delayed departure. But not all inflight internet is created equal. From the blazing speeds of Starlink's low-Earth orbit constellation to the near-extinct hum of air-to-ground towers straining to reach a passing jet, the technology powering your connection in the sky spans decades of innovation, dead ends, and genuine breakthroughs.

What are the Best (and Worst) Inflight Internet Options

Economy Tickets: Why Your Flight to London Might Cost Less Than Your Flight to Denver If you have ever booked flights with any regularity, you have probably stumbled across a head-scratching anomaly: a round-trip economy ticket from New York to London — crossing an entire ocean — can sometimes run you less than a one-way fare from New York to Denver. That is less than 1,800 miles versus more than 3,400. The math doesn't seem to add up, and yet here we are.

Economy Tickets: Why Your Flight to London Might Cost Less Than Your Flight to Denver

Oil Prices Skyrocket: Why You Should Buy Your Airline Tickets Immediately If you have been sitting on the fence about booking a flight — whether it is a summer vacation to Europe, a long-overdue visit to family across the country, or that bucket-list trip to Southeast Asia you have been planning for years — I am here to tell you with absolute urgency: stop hesitating and book it today. Not tomorrow. Not next weekend when you have more time to compare prices.

Oil Prices Skyrocket: Why You Should Buy Your Airline Tickets Immediately

Where in the World Are the Remaining Concorde Aircraft? Few aircraft in the history of aviation have captured the human imagination quite like Concorde. Born from an ambitious Franco-British partnership between BAC (British Aircraft Corporation) and Sud Aviation in the 1960s, Concorde was nothing short of a miracle of engineering. She could carry up to 100 passengers at over twice the speed of sound — cruising at Mach 2.04 and soaring at altitudes of up to 60,000 feet, where the curvature of the Earth was visible from the cabin windows.

Where in the World Are the Remaining Concorde Aircraft?

Gate Wars at Chicago O’Hare: United and American Are Fighting for Dominance and Passengers Are Paying the Price Chicago O'Hare International Airport has long been one of the most strategically important airports in the United States. Sitting at the geographic heart of the country, it serves as a critical connecting hub for transcontinental and international travel. For decades, two aviation giants — United Airlines and American Airlines — have called Chicago O'Hare home. But what was once a manageable coexistence has evolved into an all-out turf war, and if you are a frequent flyer at ORD, you are almost certainly going to feel the consequences before this summer is over.

Gate Wars at Chicago O'Hare: United and American Are Fighting for Dominance and Passengers Are Paying the Price