Navigating the ever-more-complicated travel-reward cardsphere, frequent-flier programs, and Hawaiian stopovers, with help from 23 airline hackers.
Buying a plane ticket has never been easier — or more complicated. Online travel agencies claim to offer the greatest fares; fare aggregators claim to offer the greatest selection of online travel agencies. Low-cost carriers promise to fly you to the moon for a pittance — but, oh, you want to check a bag and pick a seat too? That’ll be $100 extra. The legacy airlines want you to be loyal and book direct, but they’re constantly shifting the goalposts on miles hounds. Miles hounds, in turn, take to deep-dive hobbyist forums like FlyerTalk to rap in Klingon about their juiciest travel hacks. It’s all so dizzyingly complex you would be forgiven for wanting to punch your monitor every time you search for a flight. And that’s just the ticket purchase. As the recent United debacle illustrates, you can sift through hundreds of options, find a flight, book a ticket, board a plane, and still get dragged off, nose broken and glasses askew. This is not a dignified era in which to be an airline passenger, and the in-flight caste system is more acute than ever. But it’s not completely hopeless. We asked 23 airline experts to help us make sense of the contradictions: Is there really a best day to book? Are points more valuable than miles? What’s the best travel-reward credit card? And why does it seem like everyone and their broke cousin is flying business class except us? The experts did not agree on everything — some, for instance, still see the value in using online travel agencies like Expedia, while most others pooh-pooh them — although a deep love of Alaska Airlines was nearly unanimous.
Deal Hunters: Follow These Nerds
Why struggle through a torrent of airline promos when so many experts already make it their business to sniff out the best deals?
Secret Flying
Denne historien er fra May 15–28, 2017-utgaven av New York magazine.
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Denne historien er fra May 15–28, 2017-utgaven av New York magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Drowning in Slop - A thriving underground economy is clogging the internet with AI garbage-and it's only going to get worse.
SLOP started seeping into Neil Clarke's life in late 2022. Something strange was happening at Clarkesworld, the magazine. Clarke had founded in 2006 and built into a pillar of the world of speculative fiction. Submissions were increasing rapidly, but “there was something off about them,” he told me recently. He summarized a typical example: “Usually, it begins with the phrase ‘In the year 2250-something’ and then it goes on to say the Earth’s environment is in collapse and there are only three scientists who can save us. Then it describes them in great detail, each one with its own paragraph. And then—they’ve solved it! You know, it skips a major plot element, and the final scene is a celebration out of the ending of Star Wars.” Clarke said he had received “dozens of this story in various incarnations.”
The City Politic- The Other Eric Adams Scandal The NYPD shot a fare evader, a cop, and two bystanders. He defends it.
On Sunday, September 15, Derell Mickles hopped a turnstile, got asked to leave by cops, then entered the subway again ten minutes later through an emergency exit. This was at the Sutter Avenue L station, out by his mother's house, five stops from the end of the line. Police said they noticed he was holding a folded knife. They followed him up the stairs to the elevated train, asking him 38 times to drop the weapon.
Can the Media Survive?
BIG TECH, Feckless Owners, CORD-CUTTERS, RESTIVE STAFF, Smaller Audiences ... and the Return of PRINT?
Status Update
Hannah Gadsby's fascinatingly untidy tour through life after fame and death.
A Matter of Perspective
A Matter of Perspective Steve McQueen's worst film is still a solid WWII drama.
Creator, Destroyer
A retrospective reveals an architect's vision, optimism, and supreme arrogance.
In Praise of Bad Readers
In a time of war, there is a danger in surveying the world as if it were a novel.
Trust the Kieran Culkin Process
First, he nearly dropped out of Oscar hopeful A Real Pain. Then he convinced Jesse Eisenberg to change the way he directs.
The Funniest Vampires on TV
What We Do in the Shadows is coming to an end. Its idiosyncratic brand of comedy may be too.
The Water-Tower Penthouse
Gigi Loizzo and Angel Molina's apartment on the Grand Concourse in the Bronx looks out on Yankee Stadium.
