A London hotel offers a service where a barman knows your name. Guests can expect a personalised experience that feels like a classic drink served with care.



Today's briefing
Today's briefing

Lead story
Airlinesthepointsguy.com
JSX will launch its semi-private jet service from Boston in February with new routes to New York City and Miami.
Also in this edition

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Emirates will take ownership of six Airbus A380-800 aircraft currently operated as part of its fleet under a….

Airlinesindependent.co.uk
BA says Melissa Phillips ‘descended the steps without looking, or adequately looking’
In brief
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‘Not Served In Exit Rows’: United Airlines Passenger Refused A Drink, Gets 5,000 Miles
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This cruise line is sailing on the Arkansas River for the first time
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Sunwing and WestJet Vacations put a game-show spin on advisor training
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“The relationships developed by our Globus Team in Italy have made all the difference to our itineraries,” said Harper.
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Two-thirds of customers are overpaying for spa hotels, research reveals
Researchers found that 66 per cent of customers paid full price directly when hundreds of pounds in savings were available elsewhere
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The six warmest holiday destinations in Spain for winter sun
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Archer Aviation and Formula 1 partnership could see air taxi flights at races
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How Santorini is making a bid to be a year-round destination
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The airline chief says passengers should have to show their boarding passes when ordering alcohol, arguing airports are profiting from excessive drinking.
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United Airlines tightens AI booking restrictions amid security and distribution concerns
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Vertical says new quality certification matches Airbus and Boeing standards
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Airline Growth, Mergers, and What Comes Next with Breeze Airways’ CEO
Independent airlines can pursue growth by creating demand in markets that established carriers have overlooked.
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Why The Airbus A321XLR Often Gets Stuck Climbing For The 1st Few Hours Of Flight
Understanding the flight profile of the world's longest-range narrowbody jet.
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‘A web of canals and cobbled streets’: a city break in Haarlem in the Netherlands
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Canadian Trips to U.S. Up Just 3% in October as Recovery Slows
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These epic new Nile cruises put Egypt's ancient wonders within reach
Viking's new 19-night Grand Nile Journeys includes sailing along the entire 600-mile stretch of the river between Cairo in the north and Aswan in the south.
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Boeing slide in 737 MAX deliveries hampers recent progress
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Air India’s Losses Are Still Bigger Than Singapore Airlines’ Profit
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Delta Air Lines Cancels 18 Boeing 757 Routes: See Full List Now
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Five-star luxury is booming in Italy, but you don't need celebrity-sized pockets to enjoy a slice of the good life. Here's where to check in.
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Visit Portugal showcases regional diversity to Canadian travel trade
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Grand Canyon hotels set to reopen after flash flooding: What to know if you’re visiting soon
Arizona's Grand Canyon National Park was affected by flash flooding, with severe damage to infrastructure along the Colorado River. Here's what you need to know.
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World Aviation Festival 2026: How AI is transforming work behind the scenes
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Cuba outlines five entry requirements for Canadian travellers
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Air Canada Exec: Airline Needs Reliability to Be Fully Premium
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FAA expands AI traffic planning tool to all 22 US en route centers
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Magnifica Air confirms order for 10 A220 ACJ jets
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American Airlines CCO Prioritizes Premium and Loyalty
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London Hotel Served Like a Dry Gin and Tonic
A London hotel offers a service where a barman knows your name. Guests can expect a personalised experience that feels like a classic drink served with care.
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Japanese Comic Drives Tourist Boom in Cotswolds Village
A Japanese comic may be behind the tourist boom in a Cotswolds village. Visitors are flocking to the area, drawn by the story's popularity.
Read the full storyToday's briefing
Airlinesthepointsguy.com
JSX is bringing its popular semi-private flights to Beantown.
The boutique air carrier plans to begin flying from Boston this winter, JSX said this week. The company's service will be based out of the nearby Laurence G. Hanscom Field (BED) in the town of Bedford, Massachusetts.
The Boston service will launch with a route to New York City on Feb. 8, followed by flights to Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (OPF) in Florida beginning on Feb. 11.
More: JSX eyes more turboprops and new mountain routes after strong passenger response
JSX will operate four daily flights between Boston and New York from Monday through Friday, with two flights on Saturday and three on Sunday. The Miami service will run once per day five times a week: Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Notably, JSX did not specify which New York airport would host the Boston flights. A spokesperson did not immediately answer TPG’s request for further details. JSX typically flies to New York’s Teterboro Airport (TEB) and Westchester County Airport (HPN), although various restrictions set by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey mean that JSX cannot publicly promote TEB as a destination.
Because of those restrictions, anyone looking to fly to or from New York has to sign up for the free Club JSX program, which offers rewards and has no minimum spending or flying requirements. Passengers can also earn United MileagePlus miles under a partnership between the two companies.
The carrier will use its Embraer E145 aircraft on both routes, which can seat up to 30 passengers in a 1-1 configuration. Fares start at $199 one-way between Boston and New York, with one-way flights between Boston and Miami starting at $599.
Club JSX: Earn rewards and fly in comfort with JSX’s new loyalty program
“Greater Boston represents an exciting new chapter for JSX, marking our first entry into Massachusetts and an important milestone in the continued expansion of our East Coast network,” JSX CEO Alex Wilcox said in a statement.
“As one of the nation's leading centers for business, innovation, and higher education, Greater Boston is a natural fit for our unique approach to flying,” he added.
JSX operates as a “hop-on charter” service, which essentially operates private charter flights that anyone can buy a seat on. It means that JSX flights operate more like private flights than commercial, using posh private Fixed-Base Operators (FBOs) instead of public airport terminals and allowing passengers to venture from curb to seat in just 20 minutes.
The flight experience itself is equally luxurious with no middle seats, lots of legroom, Starlink Wi-Fi, complimentary snacks and drinks and checked luggage that’s returned right at the side of the plane. Overall, the service pitches the idea of private jet convenience for a fraction of the cost.
The public charter service — which does not bill itself as an “airline,” due to different regulations between charter carriers and public airlines — operates out of 29 airports across the U.S. and Mexico. Although private jet passengers typically bypass TSA screening, JSX implemented a more thorough in-house screening process in 2025 to address security concerns.
Still, the process is remarkably quicker than going through the public terminal, making JSX an appealing option for those looking to skip the hassle of a regular flight.
JSX's flights from Boston are already on sale, with service scheduled to start in February.
With the entry to New England, JSX adds its 29th city, and brings its own entry to the competitive business of moving premium travelers between Boston and New York.
Airlinesaerotime.aero
On November 10, 2026, Lesha Bank confirmed it had reached an agreement to sell six Airbus A380s to Emirates, two of which have already been completed.
Sale of the remaining four A380s are due to be concluded in stages through April 2028, as their respective leases conclude.
“We are pleased to have concluded this sale with Emirates, a long-standing and valued partner.” Jonathan Skirrow, Co-CEO of Lesha Aviation Services, said. “Completing the sale of the two aircraft marks an important milestone, and the phased transfer of the remaining four underscores both the strength of our relationship with the airline and our continued focus on delivering well-structured, value-accretive transactions for our investors.”
Lesha Bank added that the transaction reflects its “growing track record in aviation” and demonstrates the company’s “ability to structure and deliver seamless aircraft transitions that generate strong outcomes for clients and investors alike”.
The six A380s were leased to Emirates through Amedeo Air Four Plus which was acquired by Lesha Bank in June 2026.
It is understood that the aircraft include A6-EEY, A6-EOB, A6-EOM, A6-EOQ, A6-EOV and A6-EOX. All are aged between 10 and 12 years old.
According to the most up to date ch-aviation data, two of the A380s are actively operating as part of Emirates’ fleet while four are currently in maintenance.
Emirates currently operates around 86 A380-800s, with 31 marked as inactive, according to ch-aviation.
Additionally, Amedeo Air Four Plus leases two Boeing 777-300ERs to Emirates and four Airbus A350-900s to Thai Airways.
Airlinesindependent.co.uk
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An American traveller who broke her leg in a fall while disembarking from a plane at Heathrow Airport is suing British Airways (BA) for more than £50,000, according to High Court documents.
Melissa Phillips, 49, sustained spiral fractures in her left fibula and tibia because of the fall in March 2023.
Her lawyers said in court documents the fall was caused by the airline’s “negligence”.
Ms Phillips, who lives in Maryland, was travelling back to the US from Israel with BA, via Heathrow in London.
But her barrister said in court documents that there was “minimal crowd control or direction” from cabin crew as passengers went down “damp” steps to leave the aircraft, leading to Ms Phillips being “jostled and knocked” and then falling.
BA is defending the claim, with its barrister saying that Ms Phillips was negligent as she “descended the steps without looking, or adequately looking”, and that the most likely cause of the fall was Ms Phillips “simply losing her footing”.
The airline denies liability for the incident, but has offered to pay Ms Phillips £6,987 for her medical expenses.
Katherine Deal KC, for Ms Phillips, said in court documents that disembarking passengers from the flight from Israel to Heathrow was “chaotic”.
She said: “Had the steps not been full of jostling passengers, the claimant would not have been knocked off balance.”
Ms Deal also said that the airline failed to “avoid or materially reduce the risk of passengers jostling each other on overcrowded steps”, and “otherwise failed in all the circumstances to provide reasonably safe air transport services”.
The lawyer said that Ms Phillips underwent surgery after being taken to hospital, before being flown back to the US days later.
She said: “The claimant underwent therapy and treatment but continues to experience pain, some limitation of movement and loss of amenity affecting aspects of her daily life over and above her pre-accident symptoms.
“Her ability to run her home was impaired.
“The claimant has some psychological distress as a result of her ongoing pain and immobility. Her symptoms are expected to be permanent.”
Christopher Loxton, for BA, said in its defence to the claim that passengers were not going down the steps in an “unusual or unexpected manner” and denied that the steps were damp.
He said that it was “not normal operating procedure” for crowd-control measures to be in place or for cabin crew to give directions, adding that staff did not see “any disorderly or unusual passenger disembarkation”.
He said: “It is the defendant’s case that the likely cause of the claimant’s fall was simply paying insufficient attention to the way in which she was descending the steps and that she lost her footing and fell down the same steps.”
Mr Loxton said that BA claimed that Ms Phillips “caused herself to come into contact” with other passengers or their luggage and failed to hold on to the handrails, meaning she “failed, in all the circumstances, to exercise reasonable skill and care”.
A hearing in the claim is yet to take place.
Airlinessimpleflying.com
Virgin Atlantic has confirmed that it'll no longer fly from Manchester to Las Vegas. The SkyTeam member will not return in 2027. Partly because of the freed-up equipment and basing a fifth aircraft at the Northwest England airport during the peak summer, the carrier has boosted frequencies on its three remaining US routes from Manchester.
The airline has US service from three UK airports. In 2026, OAG data shows that 84% of flights are from London Heathrow, very distantly followed by Manchester with 15% and Edinburgh with 1%. Virgin previously flew from Belfast International, Glasgow, and London Gatwick.
Covering 4,420 nautical miles (8,186 km) on a great circle basis, Virgin's debut service from Manchester to Sin City was in April 2011 on the Boeing 747-400. The route initially existed until October 2019, and returned in June 2024. When flights resumed nearly two-and-a-half years ago, the 397-seat Airbus A350-1000 was primarily deployed.
Virgin has two configurations for the A350, with the 397-seater having the highest capacity. This is the airline's highest-capacity equipment across the airline's entire fleet. It is, therefore, no surprise that the economy-heavy layout is deployed to the leisure-driven Orlando, with the high volume helping to offset the lower yields.
In 2026, Virgin flew to Las Vegas between April and October. The plan was for the summer-seasonal service to return on April 13, 2027, and operate until at least October 31. Three weekly services were scheduled, reduced to two during the peak summer. They will no longer operate. In the 12 months to July 2026, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) shows that Virgin only filled 72.3% of Manchester-Las Vegas seats, ten percentage points lower than from Heathrow.
Other airlines have operated between Manchester and Las Vegas. bmi did so with its A330-200s between 2004 and 2009. MyTravel operated in 2007 and 2008 on the A330-200 and 767-300ER, although only briefly. Thomas Cook flew between 2008 and 2019 on the A330-200. None of these carriers still exist. Virgin's exit means that four airlines have stopped serving the market in 22 years.
The airline's debut from Manchester to the US was in 1996, when it flew to Orlando. Las Vegas materialized in 2011, followed by Atlanta in 2015 (it replaced Delta Air Lines, with the route operating in partnership with that carrier). Service to Boston, New York JFK, and San Francisco started in 2017, along with Los Angeles in 2019. Virgin's interest in some of these places was because of the rise of Thomas Cook, with some routes launching around the same time.
Now that Las Vegas has gone, only Atlanta, New York JFK, and Orlando remain. Virgin is the only operator to all three places, although Aer Lingus flew to JFK until February 2026 and Orlando until March 2026. Looking ahead to July 2027 shows that Virgin had planned 24 weekly departures on the three remaining US routes (26 if Las Vegas is included). They'll now rise to 40 weekly services. The increase is probably partly because Norse Atlantic has applied for slots to begin flying from Manchester to New York and Orlando.
The carrier only serves this route because of its partnership with Delta, which also owns equity in the UK long-haul operator. In the 12 months to July 2026, the US DOT indicates that 139,011 round-trip passengers were transported. Compared to the prior 12 months, traffic rose by 7.4% on the back of 8.3% more seats for sale. As capacity outstripped traffic, the load factor fell to 79.3%. Obviously, this was driven by the winter, especially February 2026 (68.8%).
Booking data suggests that about 70% of the route's passengers connected to a Delta flight at the world's busiest airport. The top 15 segments were Manchester to/from Orlando, Las Vegas, New Orleans, Miami, Nashville, Memphis, Tampa, Houston, Fort Lauderdale, Cancun, Dallas, Fort Myers, Kansas City, Austin, and Columbus. Expect Las Vegas to now become the top market.
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Today's list
Planning a trip can be overwhelming, but with the right tools, you can streamline your journey and make the most of your travels. From booking flights to discovering hidden gems, here are the top travel apps and tools to add to your arsenal.
Organizes your itinerary, provides real-time flight updates, and offers personalized recommendations for activities and restaurants.
Helps you create a packing list based on your destination, activities, and the time of year.
Centralizes your travel documents, itineraries, and flight information in one place.
Provides turn-by-turn directions, real-time traffic updates, and street view imagery to help you navigate unfamiliar cities.
Allows you to compare prices across multiple airlines, online travel agencies, and meta-search engines for the best deals on flights.
Offers user-generated reviews and ratings for hotels, restaurants, and attractions to help you make informed decisions.
Translates languages in real-time, helping you communicate with locals and navigate foreign languages.
Every item above is summarised from the source named beside it.Today's editionNewsletter
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