I’m back at PBI for one of my final trips before it gets officially renamed.

This isn’t a politics newsletter, but as long as PBI remains the most pleasant airport in South Florida, I’ll keep flying from there. (More on how my daughter and I are faring below.)

Meanwhile, I’ve got updates on basic economy, what it’s like flying Spirit nowadays, my April edit, and much more below.

But before that, one of the best travel sign-up bonuses ends on Monday. So if you’ve been on the fence about applying, now is basically your last chance.

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

American Airlines really doesn’t want you buying its cheapest fare.

The airline’s basic economy fare is getting much more restrictive for flights purchased on or after May 18.

The changes include:

American’s basic economy product always felt a little too generous, especially for elites, so I’m not surprised by this move. (Reminder, these tickets no longer award miles or status-qualifying Loyalty Points.)

A big reason basic economy exists is to get people to spend more, and with fuel costs rising, every airline is looking for new ways to squeeze more revenue out of each ticket.

I wouldn’t be surprised if other carriers move in a similar direction.

In Wednesday’s edition, I shared some of my latest outfit and gear picks for April.

I promised my wife would help curate a few picks for women, so here goes. Hopefully, these are helpful for upcoming travel-themed gifts!

Women

Men

Tech, packing, and family picks

Another day, another daddy-daughter flight.

I recently shared some of my surprising family travel hacks, including why I purposely choose the last row and always board last.

What I neglected to mention is how I think about our bags.

When we board last, that usually means there’s no room left for rollaboards.

In that case, I always surrender my bag first and try to keep my daughter’s with us.

I’m also pretty good at playing rollaboard Tetris, so I’ll often plead my case with the gate agent or flight attendant to see what I can squeeze onboard. (It never hurts to ask nicely!)

We always bring our $59 car seat onto the plane — that’s where she sits — and our phenomenal travel stroller actually fits down the aisle, so I usually try to find room for it in the overhead bin too.

I far prefer flying with my wife (for many reasons), but a big advantage is that one of us can board early and deal with the bags while the other brings our daughter on board last.

You’re probably expecting me to say I hated it. Turns out, quite the opposite.

I flew Spirit’s recently rebranded Big Front Seat from St. Maarten to Fort Lauderdale, and I loved it.

The bones of the seat haven’t changed. Spirit is just now marketing it as first class.

That now includes bags, free streaming Wi-Fi — which normally comes with Spirit’s surprisingly quirky pricing model — and snacks and drinks.

The two biggest drawbacks are that the seats don’t recline and there’s no power.

Still, I was using my M5 MacBook Air, which meant I landed with more than 85% battery remaining.

I’d happily do it again.

(But if you fly Spirit, just remember that if your flight gets delayed or canceled, there might not be another option until the next day or two. And there’s always a risk they go out of business.)

I have a confession.

When I built my live TSA wait-time tracker, I was hesitant to talk about it. I didn’t think many people would find it useful.

Turns out, it went mega-viral, and hundreds of thousands of travelers have bookmarked it.

I’ve been trying to incorporate AI into my workflow without letting it actually write or create content for me.

Building the dashboard felt like the perfect use case.

I consider myself fairly technical, but I’ve never written more than a few lines of code. With the help of Claude and Replit, I was able to go from idea to working dashboard in a single weekend.

A few random takeaways from the experience:

In the meantime, I’m busy trying to figure out what else to build for you. Hit reply and tell me what’s missing from your travel experience.

After three flights this week without power outlets, I’m once again reminded why you should always travel with a power bank.

I personally swear by Anker chargers and power banks.

Power banks have also been in the news lately as airlines begin imposing new restrictions on using them on board.

Southwest, for example, will soon limit travelers to one power bank per person, which must be kept either under the seat or on your person.

The goal is to reduce the risk of onboard fires or smoke from lithium batteries, a very real safety concern.

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