After a great week in Awassa, it was time to return to Addis Ababa and we received an unexpected equipment upgrade on Ethiopian Airlines from a Q400 to a 737-800 for the 55-minute flight back to the capital. Ethiopian...
Airport Lounges Are Now Where You Go For The Meals Airlines Took Away
With upgrades to first class virtually a relic of the past for frequent flyers, airport lounges have become not just a place to wait for your flight, but a place of sustenance for those who once dined onboard. Airport...
DHS Will Fly Its Own Boeing 737 Fleet To Deport People From The United States
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has quietly taken a big step toward building its own dedicated deportation fleet. With a new contract worth nearly $140 million, DHS will purchase a small fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft that will...
US May Force Tourists To Hand Over Five Years Of Social Media History To Enter The Country
The United States is considering new requirements that would force millions of foreign visitors to hand over years of personal online activity before being allowed to enter the country. It is part of a broader shift toward heightened screening...
American Airlines Will Offer Free Wi-Fi Across Most Of Its Fleet In 2026 (Yay)
American Airlines’ longtime delay in offering free in-flight internet is about to end. Starting January 2026, AAdvantage members will get free high-speed Wi-Fi, sponsored by AT&T, on roughly 90% of the carrier’s fleet. It is a major shift for...
What I Actually Did For Five Days In Hawassa, Ethiopia
As much as I enjoyed visiting places, my trip to Hawassa, Ethiopia, wasn’t for the hotel or the coffee or even the flight reviews…it was to fellowship with pastors and help equip them to better lead their churches. As...
Curious George Santos Brags About Turning Down $900 From Delta On An Oversold Flight
George Santos, the infamous former New York congressman who now owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution and other obligations, recently bragged on social media about turning down a generous compensation offer from Delta Air Lines on an...
Duffy And RFK Jr. Do Pull-Ups At DCA While Announcing $1 Billion For “Family Friendly Airports”
Yesterday at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. rolled out a plan to pour $1 billion into airports, but what stole the show was a fully public pull-up...
Alaska Airlines Will Fly Its 787 Dreamliner To London Heathrow And Tickets Are Now On Sale
Alaska Airlines is following a well-worn trend of aspiring global carriers in launching service to London. Tickets are now on sale for a new nonstop flight from Seattle to London Heathrow, marking Alaska’s first-ever flight to the United Kingdom...
Photo Essay: Hawassa, Ethiopia
I’ve written about my hotel in Hawassa and the great coffee in town, but here I want to share some more photos of my time in Hawassa. Hawassa, Ethiopia: A Photo Essay Hawassa, once a quiet lakeside settlement on...
American Airlines “Gift Guy” Hands Out iPads Again, But This Time The Marketing Twist Is Obvious
Last week, I wrote a story titled, “When ‘Holiday Cheer’ On An American Flight Looks More Like Content Than Kindness” about a man who presented flight attendants with Apple AirPods Max. He’s at it again, this time with iPads...
United Airlines Keeps Status Thresholds, But Your Upgrades May Get A Lot More Expensive
Earlier today, United unveiled a mixed bag of good and “better read the fine print” news about its 2026 version of MileagePlus. On the bright side, the thresholds to earn elite status remain unchanged and ugprading award tickets will...
Delta Air Lines Flirting With SkyMiles Redemptions That Cost More Than One Million Miles EACH
Delta is flirting with seven-figure redemptions for SkyMiles award tickets, with a simple round-trip to Europe costing as much as 990,000 miles round-trip in business class. There are even more egregious examples, however, and anyone collecting SkyMiles should stop...
Review: Haile Resort Hawassa (A Lovely Hotel In Ethiopia)
I spent five nights at the Haile Resort in Hawassa, Ethiopia and loved it…it was a great experience at a new hotel chain (for me), one that is, interestingly, owned by a famous athlete. Haile Resort Hawassa Review The...
My Seatmate FaceTimes Loudly From LA To London On United Airlines
My seatmate on my United Airlines Los Angeles to London flight was busily engaged in a rather loud in-flight FaceTime conversation, leaving me wondering why people are so clueless about respecting others on an airplane. Woman Yammers On FaceTime...
German Court Says You Can Skip Flight Segments, Even If The Airline Rats You Out
A German high court has handed consumers a big win, affirming that passengers may skip flight segments when plans change unexpectedly as long as they intended to fly the full ticket at the time of booking. The circumstances surrounding...
U.S. Preclearance In Dublin Was An Odd Half-Measure
Ireland is the only country in Europe that has a U.S. Preclearance facility (meaning you pass through U.S. immigration before the flight, then arrive in the U.S. as if it were a domestic flight) and I found the process...
American Airlines Passenger Hands Out AirPods Max To Crew Then Gets First Class Upgrade. Coincidence?
Something about this viral “holiday gift” aboard American Airlines and unexpected upgrade to first class felt a little too perfectly timed to be genuine…but maybe I’m just too jaded? When “Holiday Cheer” On An American Flight Looks More Like...
Aer Lingus A330 Business Class Was Underwhelming, But I Still Love The Irish Carrier
My trip is over, and my final flight was a mixed bag: the seat and food on my Aer Lingus A330 flight from Dublin to Los Angeles were underwhelming, but the warm Irish service on Aer Lingus somehow made...
The Frontier GoWild Pass Was Tempting, But Here’s Why I Walked Away
I passed on the Frontier Airlines GoWild Pass because ultimately it seemed more like a scam than a flight pass…I may regret it, but my body won’t. Why I Passed On The Frontier Airlines GoWild Pass As I mentioned...
