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Imagine spending $2,500 or more for a lie-flat business-class ticket only to find out you have to pay extra to select your seat. Sound a little like basic economy? It could be coming to a premium cabin soon. Best airlines report 2025: Delta tops TPG’s rankings for seventh straight year After Delta Air Lines last week dropped hints about offering a bare-bones, “basic business” fare in the future, United Airlines was similarly coy on the subject on Thursday. “Not everybody wants the full experience,” Andrew Nocella, United’s chief commercial officer, said while speaking on the Chicago-based airline’s second-quarter earnings call. It’s the same argument airlines have long made about basic economy fares, which strip away some of the once-included perks of flying (think: seat selection and full mileage earning) in exchange for a lower fare. Now? It’s looking increasingly likely that the cheapest Delta One and United Polaris tickets could someday come with new restrictions, too. Only breadcrumbs so far To be fair, neither Delta nor United has explicitly used the term “basic business” or confirmed for sure that it’s coming. But both have left breadcrumbs. In Delta’s case, the hints have been coming for about a year. Last week,

A dream I’ve had for over 15 years was to go to the island of St. Lucia. The rolling, lush, green mountains; the clear, blue water; the litany of relaxing resorts. It captured an obsession of sorts from me back in the impressionable days when I was up all night with a newborn. A gorgeous brochure about visiting St. Lucia I somehow ended up with became my mental distraction and fuel when I was up all night caring for a newborn back in those long days. But, at that time, St. Lucia felt out of reach. Too expensive. Too far. SUMMER HULL/THE POINTS GUY As a points and miles traveler, St. Lucia was not at the top of my active trip planning board for many years, as while it was home to some outstanding resorts, they weren’t really the kind I could book with hotel points … at least, not until recently. Fast-forward to the present day, and there are now multiple ways to use your points and enjoy that tropical island vacation of your dreams, which is exactly what we just did thanks to being able to use World of Hyatt points at the new Secrets St. Lucia Resort

United Airlines has “resolved” the problem that led the carrier to turn off brand-new Starlink Wi-Fi systems on regional jets last month, executives said Thursday. That’s great news for passengers hoping to use its fastest inflight internet yet, which is free for MileagePlus members. In early June, TPG was first to report that the Chicago-based carrier had to disable its Starlink service after pilots reported static interference on channels they use to communicate with air traffic control. This problem occurred on some of the first United Express jets to get the Wi-Fi upgrade. Best airlines report 2025: Delta tops TPG’s rankings for 7th straight year It was an unexpected hurdle in an ambitious rollout of the high-tech internet service, for which United had accelerated the timeline. ZACH GRIFF/THE POINTS GUY United executives shared three encouraging updates on Thursday. The first update was that the problem has “pretty much been resolved,” United’s chief operations officer Toby Enqvist said on the company’s second-quarter earnings call. The second: United doesn’t expect to encounter similar delays on its larger planes. The problem, Enqvist said, was that the antennas used by Starlink and the flight deck were too close together on the smaller regional jets