Happy Friday from Park City!

I’m back at the Waldorf Astoria for the weekend. While I was flying around the country this week, snow was falling here, so I’m excited to hit the slopes.

In total, I took seven domestic flights this week. Remind me not to do that again anytime soon.

Here’s a recap of everything you need to know. There’s a lot!

Advertiser and Editorial Disclosure

It’s not often that four big events pop up in the same week. I’m really bad at saying no, so I attended them all. (All for you, of course.)

Here’s what I checked out:

In case you missed it, one of the best (and simplest) travel credit cards has a limited-time welcome offer.

The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is offering a $250 travel credit and 75,000 bonus miles. Here’s how it breaks down:

Capital One miles can be redeemed directly via the issuer’s travel portal or transferred to 15+ partners. (I send most of my Cap One miles to Air Canada and regularly redeem them for at least 2 cents/mile.)

The Venture card earns 2x miles per dollar on all purchases and 5x miles on select Capital One Travel bookings.

Alternatively, you could splurge for the pricier Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card with a $395 annual fee — this card also pays for itself.

Questions? Hit reply. (Using these card links helps support my work — thank you!)

I’ve known about Quince for just over a month now (I have my wife to thank for my fashion intel), and I’m starting to really like their stuff, especially for the price.

Quince’s styles are similar to brands that cost two or three times as much and are perfect for travel.

I just got three new pieces (gifted, for the record), and if you saw photos of me this week, odds are I was wearing one of them.

Here’s what I picked up — I genuinely recommend all three for guys.

A hard pass in my book.

Unless you love clipping coupons, I’d skip the new Robinhood Platinum Card.

The card advertises up to $3,000 in annual credits across hotels, travel, DoorDash, restaurants, autonomous vehicles, wearables, and more. But the fine print makes the perks look far less appealing.

Take DoorDash: the credit comes in two $10 monthly chunks, but they only apply to orders of $50 or more. Another credit applies to autonomous rideshares — something that doesn’t even exist in most cities.

Meanwhile, the earning rates are mediocre: 5% back on dining (up to $50k annually) and 1% everywhere else.

Oh, and did I mention the card has a $695 annual fee?

If you’re looking for a new card, you’re probably better off with something simpler, like the Capital One Venture card.

I know this isn’t the first time I’ve mentioned the rideshare service Empower, but I’m becoming a big fan.

This week alone, I saved more than $250 using Empower instead of Uber or Lyft for airport rides.

Yes, the app is clunky, and the cars aren’t always as nice. (And technically, Empower might even be operating illegally in D.C.)

But I’m consistently saving 20%+ on rides, and honestly, that’s what matters.

Empower is currently available in NYC, D.C., Baltimore, South Florida, and Winston-Salem.

Get $10 off your first ride with invite code “ZACH"

This week reminded me why I love sharing travel hacks that most people don’t talk about.

Four of the seven flights I took had loose power outlets.

The solution: use an international plug adapter, even on domestic flights.

I like the two-prong EU pins, but really, any adapter tends to stay in place better than standard U.S. plugs. I like this one from Epicka or this from Anker.

For years, ExpertFlyer has been my go-to tool for improving the travel experience.

It lets you set seat alerts, check upgrade availability, and search for award space across multiple airlines. (Not as many airlines as before, but still helpful.)

The service just rolled out two upgrades:

The catch? Prices increased by as much as 70%.

If you’re looking for an alternative, I’ve been using Seats.Aero, which offers many of the same features and more.

Question: Would you rather sit in a full first-class cabin or an empty economy row?

Answer: Call this a throwback to the Covid era, but my Newark–Denver flight Monday night had just 33 passengers on a 200-seat Airbus A321neo.

Here’s the wild part: 20 of them were sitting in a packed first-class cabin.

I was one of them, but I voluntarily moved back so I could have nearly the entire economy cabin to myself.

Personally, I’ll take an empty row in economy over a full first-class cabin any day. Am I insane?

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.