Michael Chen is the founder and editor of The Frequent Flier, where he covers the business of flying — fleets, routes, alliances, and the loyalty programs that shape how the world travels.
He writes from the seat, not the sidelines: 1.2 million-plus lifetime miles, 50+ countries, and top-tier standing across an airline and two hotel groups, earned one trip at a time. A committed oneworld flyer based at San Francisco — a United fortress hub — Michael keeps that allegiance the hard way, which is exactly the vantage point The Frequent Flier's analysis is built on.
Travel résumé
- American Airlines AAdvantage
- Executive Platinum · 1.2M+ lifetime miles
- oneworld
- Emerald
- Marriott Bonvoy
- Lifetime Platinum Elite (787 nights)
- World of Hyatt
- Globalist
- Reach
- 50+ countries · based at San Francisco (SFO)
Briefings by Michael Chen
- United Adds 10 International Cities for 2027, Six of Them on Single-Aisle JetsFive of the new routes go to the A321XLR and one to a 737 MAX 8. The three European widebody cities get 767s that average 25 to 30 years old.
- Spirit's LaGuardia Slots Sold for $58.5 Million. Its Pricing Systems Drew $10 Million, Then $12.5 Million.The estate has sold an office building, a maintenance hangar, and 22 takeoff and landing rights at LaGuardia. The cheapest thing on the list is the only one anybody is fighting about.
- American's Seatback Screen Reversal Is What Nine Years Without a Product Strategy CostsThe airline is still pulling screens out of its oldest Airbuses this summer. In 2028 it starts putting them back into the same airframes, after nine years of arguing the opposite.
- All Three of Austin's European Nonstops Belong to Foreign AirlinesDelta is expected to announce a Paris route on August 13, five years after American began dismantling the Austin network it built.
- Why Delta Turned Down a Merger With UnitedScott Kirby went to Delta before he went to American. The two networks barely overlap, and Delta still said no.
- Status by the Dollar: American, Delta, and United Built the Same Program at Three Different PricesAll three US majors qualify elite status on a currency denominated in dollars, and at two of them a credit card can do the whole job with no flying at all. What they charge for the top tier differs by more than double.
- Southwest's Record Quarter Is the First Real Read on Its ReinventionBag fees, basic fares, and assigned seating all hit the books together for the first time, and revenue set a record at $8.4 billion. Southwest still cut its full-year outlook. The two facts fit together: the rebuilt revenue engine works, and fuel decides what it earns.
- How Google Makes Money on a Trip It Never SellsFifteen years after Google Flights was going to end the online travel agencies, Booking and Expedia are bigger than ever. Google's new AI booking tools explain why — and hint at how the next decade of travel gets paid for.
- American Brings Back Chicago–Tokyo Narita, Daily on the 787-9American cut this route in January 2020 and announced a Seattle Pacific gateway a month later. The Seattle plan is dead, O'Hare is back, and the map looks like 2019 again.
- Gulf Carriers Are Taking Back the Europe Traffic Asian Airlines BorrowedEmirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad carried a third of Asia–Europe passengers before the Iran war closed their hubs. Their schedules are back to roughly 90% — and the record loads Asian carriers posted all spring are deflating month by month.
- Riyadh Air Is Now Flying. Meet the Gulf's Fourth Super-Connector.Saudi Arabia's sovereign-wealth-backed startup put a deep-violet 787-9 in the air this month, with Safran "Business Elite" suites up front and an order book topping 120 jets. A look at the product, the routes, and how it stacks up against Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad.
- The Biggest World Cup Ever Is Here. U.S. Airlines Added 0.6% More Seats.Forty-eight teams, 104 matches, three countries. For the largest sporting event ever held in North America, U.S. carriers grew June–July capacity by less than a percent — and the high-value international fan they would add seats for is the part of the crowd that didn't show.
- IATA Halved Its 2026 Airline Profit Forecast. The Same Fuel Shock Hits Six Regions Six Different Ways.The industry's fuel bill jumps from $252 billion to $350 billion this year, and profits shrink to $23 billion. The regional table underneath is the story: the Middle East swings from the world's best per-passenger profit to its worst, Europe's hedges buy a year, and largely unhedged North America keeps the top of the ladder anyway.
- Philippine Airlines Joins oneworld. The Alliance Is Adding Coverage, Not Scale.PAL signed on as oneworld’s 16th member at the IATA meeting in Rio. By revenue, fleet, and passengers it lands in the middle of the pack. What it actually brings is a Manila hub and the Southeast Asia gap the alliance had been flying around.
- Why United Doesn't Need to Buy JetBlue: Blue Sky Is the Merger Without the Balance SheetScott Kirby called a JetBlue merger "idiotic" and ruled out consolidation for the foreseeable future. United doesn't need it. Blue Sky — the partnership it struck a year ago — already hands United JFK slots, New York feed, and reciprocal loyalty, and it's built to clear the antitrust wall a merger never could.
- The FAA Just Cut Its Controller Target. Three Rules Made the Old Number Impossible Anyway.The 2026–2028 workforce plan trims the goal by about 2,000 controllers. The shortage is built into an entry-age cap, a forced retirement age, and a training pipeline that runs for years.
- United's New Flight Attendant Deal: How It Compares to American's and Delta's, and What It Costs UALUnited settled with its 30,000 flight attendants on May 12 — a 31% raise, boarding pay for the first time, and $741 million in retro. Here's the deal in context: side by side with American's 2024 APFA contract and Delta's non-union compensation path, plus what the contract costs UAL's bottom line.
- 787 vs A350: The Whole New-Widebody Market Until 2030Boeing's 777-9 just slipped to 2027 again. With the bridge airframe out of the picture for the rest of the decade, every major full-service carrier's premium-cabin strategy is committed to the 787 or A350 bet it placed years ago.
- Six US Airlines Cut Summer Capacity. Frontier Added 3 Million Seats.After Q1 earnings, the US airline industry split in half on capacity strategy. Same fuel curve, different math. The split tells you something the fuel narrative doesn't.
- A 777 Premium Retrofit Costs ~$23M. The Real Bet Is Premium Demand Through 2030.Every full-service carrier with a long-haul operation is in the middle of a multi-billion-dollar premium retrofit cycle. Here's what it actually costs, what the payback math says, and what the spreadsheet doesn't tell you.
- American + Alaska JV Isn't a Smaller Merger. It's the First Step of a Bigger One.American and Alaska are reportedly negotiating Alaska's entry into AA's joint ventures with British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, Aer Lingus, and Japan Airlines. Most coverage reads this as the consolation prize for a merger that won't happen. The cleaner read: a JV is the move you make before a merger, not instead of one.
- Jet Fuel Doubled. Here's What's Already Different About Your Trip.Routes cut, snacks gone, fares up 24% on domestic. The carrier holding up best isn't the one you'd guess — it's the one that bought a refinery in 2012.
- Hyatt Mayday: A Devaluation Shaped Like Marriott Circa 2022Hyatt's award chart expands from three pricing tiers to five at the end of May. Marriott made the same change in 2022, then scrapped the chart entirely a few months later.
- The Alaska / Hawaiian Merger Is Done. Except for the Pilots.April 22 was the last major customer-facing step on the announced integration roadmap. From a passenger's chair, Alaska and Hawaiian function as one airline now. From a labor-contract chair, the merger has another chapter to go.
- Every Day Robert Isom Stays Is a Question About AA's BoardThe stock has stopped responding. The peers are 31–45× more profitable. Both unions have publicly lost confidence. A competitor publicly pitched buying the company. The board has had every reason to act and hasn't.
- Spirit is gone. Here's the map of who actually won and lost.The 'Spirit failed' headline writes itself. The interesting story is who got rewired — and the fact that most of Spirit's roughly 125 active aircraft will end up flying for international airlines, not American ones.