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This week:
- FT: Virgin is poaching British Airways customers after switch to revenue-based status
- Qantas is inching closer to Project Sunrise flights
- FYI, AirTags are down to $64 a pack at Walmart
- American cut its A321XLR order by 20%
- Asking for the check in Japan
- There’s a “hidden” speakeasy inside Denver Airport
- American’s CEO is brilliant, says “CEO whisperer” who invites him to his summits
- Looks like the guy who crashed out at Hong Kong Airport was trying to get on a Qantas flight
- Fiji becomes the second oneworld airline to offer on-demand dining
February 22, 2026
FT: Virgin is poaching British Airways customers after switch to revenue-based status
Peter Campbell, reporting for FT:
Virgin’s latest campaign, called “Save Your Tiers” included posters in Heathrow’s Terminal 5, BA’s main hub, as well as across social media. It offered upgraded membership to anyone with an upcoming Virgin Atlantic flight booked, regardless of whether they are already a member.
Since launching the offer, “we’re firmly in thousands” of people joining, “and we’re only halfway through”, Anthony Woodman, head of Virgin Flying Club, told the FT this week. “We expect a lot of volume to come through in the next half… hopefully we’ll get into tends of thousands.”
Virgin has blanketed T5 with the posters.
February 20, 2026
Qantas is inching closer to Project Sunrise flights
The Associated Press, today:
Qantas has an update on Project Sunrise. Yesterday, on LinkedIn:
The second Qantas Project Sunrise A350-1000ULR has entered the final assembly line at Airbus in Toulouse, with the fuselage sections and wings now joined and the tail installed this week. The first Project Sunrise aircraft is in the advanced stages of ground testing, preparing to take to the skies for its flight test programme in the coming months.
First half of 2027 is still the plan for direct flights from Sydney to London and New York, but we don’t know which route will launch first.
Before then, Qantas told Executive Traveller that it will run test flights between Sydney and New Zealand.
February 20, 2026
FYI, AirTags are down to $64 a pack at Walmart
If you’re in the US, and in the market for AirTags, now is a great time to pick up a pack. Previous generation model, but for luggage tracking purposes, the difference between them isn’t significant.
4 packs are $64 (down from $99) at Walmart. The other big retailers have them for $70.
February 19, 2026
American’s new CCO also misses the airline’s glory days
Rytis Beresnevicius, reporting for The Engine Cowl:
American Airlines, which initially ordered 50 Airbus A321XLR aircraft, has confirmed that its order book now stands at 40 aircraft, including five that Airbus has already delivered.
…An American Airlines spokesperson reiterated the comments that Devon May, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the airline, made during the Q4 2025 earnings call, which outlined that the carrier has 40 A321XLRs on order.
Airbus announced that American had ordered 50 of the long-range narrowbodies back in 2019.
AA is using them on select JFK-LAX flights and the reviews range from preferable to “marginally worse” than older transcon business products. One of the more comprehensive YouTube reviews I saw called the layout a “hot mess.”
February 19, 2026
Jessica Kozuka, writing for Travel + Leisure:
When signaling for the check, miming signing a bill will sometimes work, but the more standard gesture is to cross your index fingers in an X, indicating you don’t wish to order anything else.
Nine other tips on traveling in Japan in the article, covering everything from resting disposable chopsticks to getting out of a taxi gracefully.
February 18, 2026
There’s a “hidden” speakeasy inside Denver Airport
Business Insider’s Kasia Kovacs reviewed Williams & Graham, a cocktail bar inside Denver International Airport. She enjoyed the drinks and the ambiance, and found it to be a welcome distraction from the airport atmosphere.
It’s a great idea, but I wish they’d commit to the bit. Photos show that the bar is concealed behind a bookshelf, but the host stand and red velvet rope give the whole thing away. So does the “world class cocktails” sign above the door. The point of hiding your bar is to make the customers feel like they’re in on a secret.
February 17, 2026
American’s CEO is brilliant, says “CEO whisperer” who invites him to his summits
Ben Schlappig of One Mile at a Time noticed something unusual today:
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld published an opinion piece in Fortune about how “the skies for American Airlines are clearer than you think.” For context, the 71-year-old is currently the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at the Yale School of Management.
The article, which sits behind a paywall on Fortune but was republished on MSN.com, paints a rosy picture of America’s fourth-most profitable major airline, and specifically of Isom’s leadership.
Sonnenfeld argues that Isom has never produced a loss, renegotiated labor contracts, runs the strongest domestic network, has accomplishments for which he receives “little to no credit” and that he’s being blamed for bad weather, among other things.
He says Isom is an “unheralded” and “underappreciated” CEO who “rolls up his sleeves and takes challenges head on,” and is “leading American brilliantly and boldly.”
Whether you agree with that praise or not, you might have wanted to know that Sonnenfeld:
- Introduced Robert Isom at a Leaders Forum Lecture in 2021
- Organized an award for Isom’s predecessor in 2022
- Invited Isom to a Yale CEO Summit in 2024
- Invited Isom to a Yale CEO Summit in 2025
You might also have wanted to know that both Sonnenfeld and American Airlines participated in a Business Insider article in 2021 that describes him as a “CEO whisperer” who said he sends the invitations to those summits “personally.” Or that he “earned the trust of the business elite over decades of relationship building” and has become so well-connected that “he’s attained an indirect influence over corporate America.”
Sonnenfeld says in the same interview that he’s not “beholden to any CEO,” and, to his credit, he also organized an award to Delta CEO Ed Bastian last year.
Still, I would’ve liked Fortune to mention that perhaps the reason Sonnenfeld is so well-informed about Robert Isom is that he invites him to a bunch of his events.
February 17, 2026
Looks like the guy who crashed out at Hong Kong Airport was trying to get on a Qantas flight
You may have seen a video this week of a man going to work on some check-in kiosks at Hong Kong International Airport.
The Telegraph reported that a British tourist was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and possession of pills without a prescription, and had been trying to purchase a plane ticket before he lost it.
Look a little closer, and you’ll see that his rampage started in Aisle J of the airport, and that he’s knocking down a Qantas check-in sign.
Pity. Had he booked his ticket online, he could have used in-town check-in to ease his stress.
February 17, 2026
Fiji becomes the second oneworld airline to offer on-demand dining
Tim Chan, writing for The Hollywood Reporter:
Fiji Airways first rolled out their on-demand dining program over the summer on routes to and from Dallas/Fort-Worth and Los Angeles to Nadi International Airport. Routes from San Francisco and Vancouver followed in November. Now, Fiji Airways has announced that on-demand dining will be implemented across their full network this year by April.
Business class only. Fiji will also continue to offer their popular Supper Sets, where the appetizer, main, and dessert are all on one tray.
Qatar is the only other oneworld airline to offer full meals at any time on board. Outside the alliance, only three other airlines are experimenting with this (Emirates, Etihad, and SWISS).