Friends,
It feels like the travel world took a breath or something.
After weeks of shutdown chaos, capacity cuts, and nervous forecasts about Thanksgiving, the system has relatively smoothed out. Flights are steady-ish, airports settled, and the whole thing has a relatively familiar pre-holiday hum.
Underneath the calm was a genuinely interesting week, too.
JSX quietly announced turboprop service out of Santa Monica, a sentence I didn’t think I’d ever write. Brand-new ATRs in and out of one of the tightest airports in the country. That’s going to be fun to watch.
American is about to debut the A321XLR on JFK–LAX, which is wild in its own right. An AA narrow-body with true long-haul suites showing up on a domestic transcon is the kind of fleet shift that says more than any press release. It hints at where U.S. carriers are headed over the next decade if the economy allows and leadership isn’t too nearsighted.
And in the background, Hyatt loyalists are sprinting to finish out their 2025 qualifying nights, OneWorld status match shenanigans continue, and award space for 2026 spring break remains oddly healthy. Also my newest vlog dropped, which connects to the posted review of Turkish’s product.
It all adds up to a surprisingly hopeful moment: travel still works best when you know how to work with it.
I break the details down on today’s podcast, but this is one of those weeks where the headlines are worth reflecting on all by themselves. A messy system found its footing again, and the things happening at the edges are the things that will matter most in 2026.
Wherever you're heading for Thanksgiving, I hope the journey is smooth and the rest is real.
Fly well.
LINKS
Royal Air Maroc Status = Flagship Lounge Access (among other things)
The Hotel Booking Portal (reply to get your password to access!)
