Happy Monday from NYC!

If you’re traveling early this week, watch out for major weather-related delays and cancellations on the East Coast. (For the first time in ages, I’m home all week, and I’m thrilled to be missing the chaos.)

Below, you’ll find the latest on what’s going on with TSA lines, Southwest’s new strategy, how to stay in a five-star French palace for free, and much more.

I’ve also recapped our luxe hotel in Buenos Aires and our flights with a toddler and will share itinerary recommendations later this week.

As always, thanks for reading. If your friends or colleagues also want to become better travelers, tell them to subscribe for free right here.

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

If you’ve been traveling recently — or just scrolling social media — you’ve probably seen viral videos of absurdly long TSA lines.

Most of the ones I’ve seen have been from Atlanta, Austin, and Orlando, three airports that already struggle with long waits during busy travel periods and staffing shortages (such as now during the partial government shutdown).

I can’t stress this enough: make sure you have TSA Precheck, and opt in to Touchless ID with every airline you fly.

Touchless ID remains the fastest and most reliable way to skip the lines. It’s free to use, and all you need to do is add your Trusted Traveler number and passport information to your frequent flyer profile.

The key: you need to do this with every airline you fly.

Have you experienced any crazy TSA lines lately? I haven’t, but I’m curious about your experience.

Last week, I did something I’d never done before: I took my one-year-old daughter as a lap infant in long-haul business class.

That meant she and I shared one pod on both red-eye flights.

Lap infants generally aren’t free on international tickets, and every airline handles pricing differently. On American, we paid about $450 for her outbound and just $88 for the return.

Honestly, I was nervous going into it. I thought other passengers might be annoyed (they weren’t), and I wasn’t sure the two of us would fit in one bed (we did).

The outbound flight to Buenos Aires was much easier than the return. She fell asleep during boarding and stayed asleep until the lights came on for breakfast.

The flight back to New York was tougher. She was super stimulated by everything at the seat — especially the light switch and the flight attendant call button (ugh) — and it took her nearly two hours to fall asleep.

She woke up again during breakfast, which meant less rest overall and a much crankier day afterward.

A few lessons for next time:

United just threw a big party in NYC, and it didn’t involve airplanes.

On Sunday, the airline once again sponsored the NYC Half Marathon, and it was a blast.

I ran a 7:47 pace — on brand — and enjoyed many of the aviation-themed signs and giveaways throughout the weekend.

Of the big U.S. airlines, United seems to be making the biggest marketing push in New York. It sponsors major local events and keeps rolling out city-specific campaigns. (The taxi-top ads comparing driving times to Newark and JFK are back.)

I’m not seeing the same effort from American or Delta, at least not as visibly. Then again, Delta hardly needs the help — it’s already super popular with New Yorkers. And American’s local network remains smaller than its two biggest rivals.

Have you ever wanted to stay in a palace — for free — using points?

We did exactly that on our trip to Buenos Aires, redeeming 25,000 points per night at the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, one of the city’s most iconic hotels.

The property is built around a 1930s French-style palace originally constructed for the wealthy Duhau family.

There are two buildings: the original palace and a modern 17-story tower with many more rooms. They’re connected either outdoors, through beautifully landscaped gardens, or underground, via an art gallery.

We loved the location in Recoleta and found the dining excellent, especially the breakfast buffet and the Italian food at Gioia.

The indoor pool was great, though the gym and spa felt a bit small and dated.

Still, I’d highly recommend this hotel. It’s one I’ll be thinking about for a while.

(I’ll share our full itinerary and what we did on Wednesday.)

Southwest is busy reinventing itself as a more traditional airline, and not everyone seems thrilled about it.

Maybe it’s just the algorithm, but I’ve noticed a lot more viral posts lately from frequent flyers upset about the changes. Many of the complaints center on assigned seating and how Southwest apparently won’t let travelers move seats on empty flights.

Others involve overhead bin space, which the airline is now trying to address.

The network is also shifting back to basics. Southwest will drop service to Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles on June 4.

Those major airports were added during Southwest’s big COVID-era expansion, but the airline hasn’t been happy with the results. Now it’s refocusing on its stronger airports in both markets: Midway in Chicago, and Baltimore and Reagan National in the D.C. area.

Are you a Southwest frequent flyer? What’s your experience been like lately?

Using these links supports my work. I only recommend what I use and love. Thanks!

From the Tray Table is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. This compensation may impact how and where links appear. Not all financial companies or all available offers are included. The opinions expressed are mine alone. Content is not reviewed or endorsed by an entity.