I’m back!

After four days vacationing around Buenos Aires, we landed in New York this morning.

This is just my second newsletter of the week, and the news has piled up, so I’ll get right to it.

Below you’ll find big updates on American’s Austin strategy, a welcome move from Marriott, overdue catering changes at United, and much more.

I’ll recap our trip — including flights, hotel, and what we did — next week. Until then, catch everything you need to know below, and have a great weekend!

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

Bad news: Thrifty Traveler’s Premium flight deal service is increasing in price starting tomorrow, Saturday, March 14.

Good news: You can secure the current price for life if you sign up today. Plus, if you use my promo link, you’ll get $20 off your first year of Thrifty Traveler Premium.

Why should you care?

This is the service that alerted me to Air France business-class award drops, Emirates first-class deals, and paid business-class fares to Europe for around $1,500.

Apple’s cheapest laptop ever just hit store shelves.

Ahead of the launch, I took the $599 MacBook Neo on a trip (operated by an Airbus A321neo, no less) to see how it performs for travelers.

The verdict: it’s about as good as it gets for $599. (Or $499 with education pricing.)

The machine weighs the same as a MacBook Air and features a crisp display, immersive speakers, a full-size keyboard, and up to 16 hours of battery life. It handled everyday browsing and light editing without an issue.

The two downsides for travelers: no keyboard backlighting and no MagSafe charging.

Still, for $599, those are tradeoffs I’m comfortable making — and you probably should be too.

I’ll recap our trip next week, but I wanted to share one quick update. After a 17-day suspension, Global Entry is officially back online.

When we arrived at JFK Terminal 8 this morning, we scanned our faces at the kiosks in just a few seconds.

However, the CBP officer performing the final check encountered several system issues, and many travelers — including us — were directed to manual processing.

I’ve also heard reports of Global Entry queues still closed or understaffed at other airports.

So yes, it’s back, but you might want to temper expectations for a few days.

Marriott just made a long-overdue improvement to its Free Night Awards.

Effective immediately, you can now top off a certificate with up to 25,000 points, up from the previous 15,000-point cap.

I’ve lost count of how many times I couldn’t redeem an 85,000-point certificate because a night costs, say, 102,000 points. Suffice it to say, I’m excited about this change.

To coincide with the update, Marriott and Amex also launched several elevated credit card welcome bonuses, offering up to 200,000 bonus Bonvoy points or 5 free-night awards, depending on the card.

Personally, I’m not adding another Marriott card to my wallet right now. But if you are looking for a new card, start with my recommended picks below.

Over the past few years, American has been on a mission to increase the utility of AAdvantage miles. To that end, the airline now allows you to redeem miles for gift cards.

While more redemption options are always welcome, you should skip this one.

Gift card redemptions are hovering around 0.7 cents per mile, far below what I personally value AAdvantage miles at.

If you’re reading From the Tray Table, you probably already know that non-flight redemptions rarely make sense.

The good news? When other travelers redeem miles for gift cards, they’re effectively subsidizing the sweet-spot redemptions for the rest of us. Thanks!

Fun fact: United CEO Scott Kirby has never eaten dinner on a transatlantic flight to Europe. (Thanks to my former colleague David Slotnick for pointing that out.)

Honestly, I don’t blame him, even if he were flying with a competitor serving better food. Eastbound flights are usually about maximizing sleep anyway.

But that might change later this year. United just announced a partnership with Chef’s Table, which will curate new menu options for Polaris business-class passengers.

Starting on Aug. 1, the airline will introduce 10 new meals designed by 11 chefs. Each of United’s seven domestic hubs, along with London, Tokyo, and Sao Paulo, will feature a Chef’s Table meal.

Will Kirby finally eat on a flight to Europe? We’ll see. I, for one, will report back.

American just announced — for the second time — plans for a new Admirals Club in Austin.

The big headline: it will be the first Admirals Club with an outdoor deck. The 12,000-square-foot lounge will also feature zone-style seating and locally inspired design touches.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because American’s Austin strategy has been in flux in recent years.

Back in 2021, the airline scheduled nearly 100 daily departures from Austin and had planned a 15,000-square-foot lounge with live music.

Today, American operates roughly 50 daily flights from the airport. No word on whether the new lounge will feature live music.

Question: Where can I find your Japan content?

Answer: I’ve received a few notes from readers looking for trip content they might have missed.

I publish three newsletters each week, and you can find the full archive here (this is also where you should send friends and family to subscribe).

You can search the archive for topics like “Japan” or “Centurion Lounge” to pull up all relevant posts.

Searching my Instagram isn’t nearly as easy, which is why I now recap many trips in the newsletter — so they’re easier to reference later.

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

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