Good morning from 35,000 feet.

I'm off on a fun adventure that's taking me to Chicago and Europe. That'll mean yet another run-in with the new immigration system.

In case you missed it, I built an EES predictor tool. It'll give you a sense of how busy the lines will be based on airport, day of the week, and direction.

Meanwhile, here's everything else worth knowing today. And finally, go Knicks!

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

Note: This section is presented by Chase Sapphire.

Chase is really on a roll.

The issuer just launched a 100,000-point welcome offer on the newly revamped Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card. You’ll earn it after spending $5,000 on new purchases within the first three months of account opening.

Those 100,000 points can unlock long-haul business class, hotel suites, and more.

This go-to travel card, which still carries just a modest $95 annual fee, got some sweet new perks, too.

One of which — the boosted $100 Chase Travel℠ annual hotel credit — can easily offset the annual fee right off the bat.

Plus, the issuer added new 3x-points-earning categories (gas, EV charging, and vacation homes at select top brands like Airbnb and Vrbo) and is even including emergency evacuation and transportation coverage for trips booked with the card.

If you’re new to the Chase ecosystem or weren’t ready for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® welcome offer, this is the card for you.

And if you recently got the Sapphire Reserve or already have it, you can officially double up and grab the Preferred too.

I can’t believe we’re seeing such a strong offer on a $95-annual-fee card. If you don’t have it yet, this is a great time to change that.

(Quick note: If you apply through my affiliate link, I'll earn a small commission that keeps this newsletter free. Thanks in advance.)

Each month, I share a few items I've been wearing or using on my travels.

I also ask my wife for her picks — they're far more fashionable than mine. You can find the full June edit below.

Women

Men

Gear

Over the past few weeks, my Verizon service has gone downhill, especially at airports.

Even with a bar or two of signal, data barely loads. Switching between LTE and 5G doesn't help. (If anything, I find the older LTE standard more reliable.)

Verizon has been my primary carrier for years, but I'm now considering a switch.

I use Google Fi (which runs on T-Mobile's network in the U.S.) as my secondary number, and lately I find it more reliable than Verizon, especially when I'm bouncing around domestic airports.

I’d love to hear from you. Click your answer below — then hit reply and tell me if you've been through the same thing.

Back in the day, scoring an upgrade with elite status — on a flight or in a hotel — was far easier.

For one, elite ranks are ballooning. And more travelers are simply buying the fancy seats outright. When they're not, airlines and hotels have gotten better at offloading unsold last-minute inventory to buyers.

Take the $604 business-class buy-up Air France offered my friend on a recent Paris–New York flight. How could you say no to that?

American, Alaska, Delta, and United have all gotten much better at discounting last-minute upgrades.

And now hotels are getting in on the fun.

In many ways, United is on its way to becoming the most consumer-friendly airline — especially for those carrying a cobranded credit card.

This latest move, though, is good news for everyone.

You can now redeem pooled miles across all United partners, not just on United-operated flights.

United lets up to five friends or family members pool miles for free to get closer to a redemption. The airline never allowed partner redemptions with pooled miles — but that restriction is now gone.

I once created a pool thinking I could redeem miles for Swiss business class, only to find out the hard way that I couldn't.

So this one's great news to me.

Every week, airlines tweak their schedules. Sometimes they'll shift your flight times by a few minutes.

The best changes are the big ones.

If you get hit with a significant schedule change, you can cancel a nonrefundable flight and get a refund. Better yet, you can also make a no-fee switch to a better option — like a nonstop or a flight from a nearby airport.

That's why I never recommend canceling a flight until the last minute. Schedule changes, delays, and cancellations can happen at any time.

Stop voluntarily taking a credit when you don't have to.

Using these links is the easiest way to support FTTT — and I only recommend what I actually use.

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.