Happy Friday! The snow hasn’t arrived yet, but based on what's left on the grocery store shelves, it seems everyone thinks the storm will be as major as predicted.

(Honestly, I sometimes wish I had chosen to become a meteorologist. Even when their predictions are wildly off, they get to keep their job.)

Either way, it seems like this will be the real deal. If you’re traveling to or from any of the affected areas, I’d definitely look into backup options and take advantage of flexible travel waivers.

I’m supposed to fly from New York to Honolulu on Sunday for a fun 36-hour trip. None of the backup options work for my schedule, so I’m just hoping for the best.

Speaking of which, if you have off-the-beaten-path suggestions for what to do and eat when I’m on Oahu, I’m all ears. In fact, I haven’t even booked a hotel yet (just in case my flight gets canceled…)

It’s been yet another busy week in travel. Catch up on everything you need to know below.

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

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I promise this newsletter won’t turn into a credit card sales pitch, but I’ll be upfront: making all this content isn’t cheap, and using my links will help keep the lights on.

To that end, I just put together a list of my top six recommended credit cards. You’ll find all the heavy hitters on there, and whenever you’re considering opening a new card, start here.

I’m going to keep this link bookmarked at the bottom of the newsletter going forward, and as always, reach out anytime with questions. ([email protected] is the best way to reach me.)

Thanks to generous donors, I’ve collected 330 free drink coupons for Delta. Most of them expire on Jan. 31, 2026, but some are valid through Jan. 31, 2027.

If you want one, open this Google Drive, log in to your Google account, download one (or three), and then move the files you downloaded into the “USED” folder. (Click “Organize” then “Move.”)

This way, everyone can keep track of which ones were used. Cheers!

There’s no travel story more interesting than what’s happening in Chicago right now.

American and United both consider O’Hare as one of their most important hubs, and they’ve been fighting tooth and nail for dominance at the airport.

Much to American’s dismay, United won five additional gates at ORD last year. (American spent millions on legal fees trying to appeal the decision. It lost.)

United has since announced plenty of new routes, and American has too.

This week, the battle just turned up a notch. United CEO Scott Kirby said that American will not “win a single gate at our expense.”

A day later, American announced three new Chicago routes and two from L.A. (another battlefield for the two carriers).

I’ll be watching this one closely, but if you’re based in Chicago, enjoy all the excess capacity being dumped into the market.

Which airline will win?

Last week, Bilt finally revealed the details of its three new credit cards. The initial reaction from many was “this is all too confusing.”

Two days later, Bilt announced a second, simpler structure for earning points from rent or mortgage payments. I already shared my analysis, but adding another choice to the mix doesn’t actually make it simpler.

This week, Bilt released all the ways you can use Bilt Cash. And it’s basically a coupon book on steroids. By my count, there are 19(!) redemption options for Bilt Cash, and each has its own terms and conditions.

Bilt went from offering one of the simplest, most rewarding cards on the market to being one of the most confusing programs out there. (Maybe that’s good for me because it’ll keep me employed.)

I have two issues with Bilt’s 2.0 launch:

Don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. I’m sure Bilt is working on addressing these concerns.

And if you’re new to Bilt, you don’t even need to pick up a card to earn points. The simplest strategy is to sign up for a free rewards account and just link your existing credit cards.

You’ll earn bonus Bilt points on everyday spending without needing to pick up a Bilt card.

I’ve historically been a Google Maps user, but on our roadtrip to D.C. this week, we used Apple Maps. (I swore off Waze years ago after it repeatedly sent me through some shoddy areas to save three minutes on traffic.)

The visualizations have gotten so much better, and I found Apple Maps to be far more accurate than Google at predicting traffic.

I just wish Apple Maps were better for discovering points of interest. That’s where Google still shines.

Verizon had a major outage last week. I was affected (but quickly swapped to an Airalo eSIM to restore data service).

If you were also affected, Verizon is offering $20 credits per account. But you need to request it manually.

And surprisingly, the credits are negotiable.

I chatted in this week, and instead of getting $20 per account, I got $20 per line.

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.