Friends,

Okay, posting today on my great flight back to Texas that closed out my 24-hour trip to New York City. I’ve got two things to share, plus a quick follow-on to yesterday’s commentary about CLEAR and a shoutout to my new friend and subscriber, Ashwin.

JFK = Icon

The New York airport scene has seen material improvement in the past few years, and JFK remains an icon. The Pan Am WorldPort might be gone, but the airport’s global reach still feels like magic to me.

I love New York because everyone belongs there: it’s a city that holds all of America, and in many ways, the world. JFK is like a microcosm of that reality, helped in part by no single carrier “owning” the airport. LAX is much the same—and in my opinion, that’s awesome.

JFK = Lounge Land

JFK’s competitive landscape, airline mix, and passenger volume make it something of a lounge mecca. Without getting too far into the weeds, Terminal 4 is the first in the U.S. to feature lounges from all three major U.S. bank-backed lounge programs: Amex, Chase, and now Capital One.

I spent just over an hour in the Capital One Lounge (full review to come), and it is very good. I highly recommend it, as it’s a cut above the others in terms of size and amenities.

As a sidebar, the terminal’s Delta One Lounge is at the top of my list for “lounges I most hope to visit”—I’ve yet to see it firsthand. It’s no doubt the best in the terminal (which is saying something, as there are nine lounge brands to my quick count currently in Terminal 4).

JFK = Free CLEAR for the Win

Yesterday I questioned the value of expedited security service CLEAR, and came to a reasoned conclusion: CLEAR is great if you’re not paying for it directly. While the time savings do add up, the increased speed—at present—is only marginally better than TSA PreCheck.

It’s a service I’m happy to have access to thanks to the Amex Platinum Card, but as of now I don’t think I could justify paying for it (at least not at full price) out of pocket. I’ll report back if an experience changes my opinion.

New Podcast Episodes

Last item for today — two new podcast episodes will drop this weekend. Let me know what you think?

You are the best part of this blog. Thanks for joining me here.

Fly well.

NEWS

Interesting article from Singapore’s The Straits Times on aviation jobs and AI.

CNBC tells us what the market already knows — Delta and United are winning. The story you tell (and how you tell it) matters.

Trump administration rolls back Mexican flying bilaterals (or something); Delta and Aeroméxico are going to take a hit.

DEALS

I am working on a better pipeline to source deals, as they are out there.

I also want to keep this section from simply becoming a revolving door of only credit card sign up bonuses. Standby!