Konnichiwa from Tokyo!

Instead of heading straight home from Hong Kong, I decided to make a pit stop in Japan.

That’s never a bad idea, but it’s especially true when there’s a newly renovated luxe points hotel and some of the best airline products flying between Tokyo and New York.

For those just catching up, I was in Hong Kong earlier this week to attend the unveiling of Cathay Pacific’s iconic retro lettuce leaf livery on a Boeing 747.

I’ll have more to share about my trip, including some Hong Kong and Tokyo recommendations, in the next edition of FTTT following the holiday weekend.

In the meantime, I’ve got updates on new lounges, my go-to cheap rideshare app, more Starlink installations, and much more below.

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

If you’re tired of mediocre airport food, join the club.

The good news is that there’s an incredible new option at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA) that may just win the title of best airport restaurant in the country.

It’s called the Capital One Landing, and it opens on Feb. 18. It’s located in Terminal B, making this concourse the third in the world to be home to an Amex, Capital One, and Chase outpost. (Pop quiz: what are the other two?)

I previewed the new Capital One space before I left on my trip, and it’s not only stunning but also has extraordinarily tasty food and drinks curated by the Jose Andres Group.

If you’ve been on the fence about picking up the Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card, now is the time if you regularly fly through LaGuardia.

Catch my full review, along with all the details you need to know about access (along with my affiliate links — thanks!) below.

But do I actually care?

If you’re an FTTT reader, you know that I’ve moved almost all of my rideshare business to Empower, which is a new app in NYC, D.C., Miami, Baltimore, and Winston-Salem/Greensboro.

The premise is that drivers pay a monthly platform subscription fee while keeping all their earnings from rides. Empower then passes along the savings in the form of fares that are generally 20% lower than Uber or Lyft. (On Sunday, I took a $50 Empower from Manhattan to Newark — unheard of with the other platforms.)

Empower is supposedly flouting local NYC and D.C. rules, and New York’s Taxi and Limousine Commission even set up a web page warning against “illegal apps,” Gothamist reported.

Call me crazy, but as a user, I don’t actually care, especially in NYC, where rides are provided by TLC licensed drivers anyway. (I’d much rather Empower invest in better tech for its app than fighting legal battles.)

If you’re looking for the cheapest ride around town, you can sign up for Empower today using my referral code ZACH for $10 off your first ride.

Every time I visit Asia, I’m reminded just how much more fun it is to fly around there vs. basically anywhere else.

Case in point: I flew Cathay Pacific (as a guest of the airline) for the 3.5-hour jaunt from Hong Kong to Tokyo. The seats were spacious (if not a bit dated), the service was personalized and polished, and there was a printed menu with a multi-course dinner. Plus, you can’t beat the lounge access that’s included with a business-class ticket.

Take a three-hour short-haul flight basically anywhere else in the world, and you’d be lucky to be offered more than three drinks refills, even in the pointy end of the plane.

It’s not even like we have it that bad in the U.S.! A similar-length business-class flight within Europe generally doesn’t even include a bigger seat, let alone an extensive multi-course meal.

On the heels of offering free points to basically anyone (mine were just deposited — hope you grabbed yours), Frontier Airlines just made a far less exciting announcement.

Dubbed a “fleet optimization transaction,” the airline is returning 24 Airbus A321neos before their leases expire. Furthermore, the airline and its lessor, AerCap, have agreed to 10 future sale-leasebacks, which should improve Frontier’s short-term financial position.

All this to say, the airline is shrinking, which is bad news for everyone but the major network airlines.

Let’s just hope Frontier doesn’t pull out of the Denver-to-Las Vegas market before I plan to fly them.

Southwest announced that it’ll install Starlink on more than 300 Boeing 737s by the end of the year.

Sadly, the airline stopped short of saying it’ll install Starlink fleet-wide, but hopefully it’ll make that investment down the road. All Wi-Fi access on Southwest is free after logging in to your Rapid Rewards account.

Starlink’s low-Earth-orbit satellite tech is currently the fastest and most reliable for inflight connectivity. Maybe I’m just growing impatient, but I seriously can’t wait for more planes to feature Starlink.

From a work perspective, I hate being in Asia. I go to bed as the East Coast is waking up, and then I wake up to everything that I missed during the day. (My tip is to set my alarm for an hour earlier than usual to catch up on emails and news.)

When I woke up the other day, I saw news that the FAA had closed airspace around El Paso Airport. When I went to research the story, the airspace restrictions had already been lifted.

The details are still a little unclear — was it U.S. military or Mexican drug cartel drones that caused the FAA to issue the order? — but either way, it seems like we may never need to find out. (If you do have more details about what happened, I’m always happy to talk off the record. I even have a Signal account.)

Question: Which NYC airport should I fly into?

Answer: All else equal, it really boils down to where you’re headed after landing. If you’re going anywhere east of Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, I’d generally suggest LaGuardia or JFK.

If you’re west of Fifth Avenue (like me), then Newark becomes a compelling option.

Personally, I fly through all three interchangeably (and look at fares for the NYC region whenever I’m booking).

For public transit options, my ranking is JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia. For lounges, my ranking is LaGuardia, JFK, and Newark.

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