In November, I typed the first issue of my travel newsletter in the attic of my in-laws' house. Last month, From the Tray Table was on a billboard in Times Square. I spent nearly seven years as the de facto reporter-at-large for The Points Guy. But with media changing, I decided to lean into my personal brand, which now reaches 500K+ followers. In addition to my social content, I wanted a new home for my writing and reporting. Instead of spinning up a blog to compete in the dying SEO space, I wanted to earn a spot in your inbox. That's why I launched From the Tray Table. I write it 3x/week, share the latest travel updates, and build tools to help improve your travel experience. This journey is just taking off. Thanks to @beehiiv for putting independent creators on the biggest stage in the world. Not on the list yet? You're missing out: newsletter.fromthetraytable.…

Big news: Newark’s new Terminal A is already getting expanded! 8 new gates are coming: 2 to the south side, 6 to the north side. Expect more concessions, bathrooms, and maybe even some lounges. The south expansion is supposed to open in 2029. North will start opening in 2030.

Last night, I caught up with Nat Pieper, @AmericanAir's chief commercial officer. The conversation was off the record. But it got me thinking about American's latest premium push. For years, American has lagged behind Delta and United. While United rolled out seatback screens, free Starlink Wi-Fi, better tech, and posh new planes, American passed on many of those passenger-facing upgrades. Instead, it doubled down on its Sun Belt strategy, adding domestic flights at fortress hubs like Charlotte and Dallas. That's changed since Pieper, a Northwest, Delta, and Alaska veteran, took over the commercial side nearly 11 months ago. In that time, American has: → Rolled out its most premium plane ever → Announced Starlink Wi-Fi → Unveiled a retrofit plan to add seatback screens → Expanded its lounge portfolio (Plus, its catering is underrated.) It's too early to tell whether travelers and investors will buy the turnaround. But at least American has a plan. My challenge to Pieper and his team is: what can you do to out-innovate your peers? Do you think American's turnaround plan will work, and what's one thing you'd want American to do that no carrier is doing yet?

So @Delta just quietly cut three routes. (Reposting bc of typo in my previous tweet.) ✈️ JFK-DFW ✈️ LGA-NAS (summer service cut, TBD if it returns for winter 2027-2028) ✈️ PHL-SEA That last one is the most interesting. Last week, Delta announced a major expansion from LAX, including new PHL-LAX service. New transcons are always noteworthy, but I guess Delta doesn't think PHL can support/need both SEA and LAX service. One Delta West Coast gateway is probably enough for Philly, but I'm surprised Delta doesn't want to fight with Alaska on the PHL-SEA route.

Call it a hot take, but AI hasn't revolutionized my travel experience. At least not yet. However, if you asked my social media feeds, they’d say that AI has already changed the game. In today’s newsletter, I wrote that I’ve seen people (or bots?) say that AI agents have planned their entire trips. A new AI concierge app called Miso, which has been clogging my algorithm, promises to make booking more seamless. Then, you have airlines and hotels running AI revenue management, which is a fancy way of saying higher fares. My experience says otherwise. AI still has a long way to go to truly revolutionize travel. I'm already outsourcing the menial stuff, like monitoring flight and hotel prices, to AI. But booking and managing a trip is too messy to hand off to today's tools. Or am I totally off base?

Here's the full list of new and expanded routes. New: ✈️ LAX-MRY — 2x daily starting Dec. 19, E175 ✈️ LAX-PHL — 1x daily starting June 7, 2027, A321neo Expanded service: ✈️ LAX-RDU — 2x daily, as of April 12 ✈️ LAX-BOS — 5x daily, as of May 6 ✈️ LAX-SAN — 5x daily, as of June 7 ✈️ LAX-CVG — 2x daily, as of July 11 ✈️ LAX-IAH — 3x daily, as of July 11 ✈️ LAX-SAT — 3x daily, as of July 11 ✈️ LAX-SEA — 8x daily, as of July 11

Woah, @Delta is making a major move to become LAX's top airline: 2 new routes (red) and more flights on 7 existing routes (blue) were just announced. Delta will operate 200+ peak-day flights from LAX next summer. Los Angeles is the country's most competitive airport. Every major U.S. carrier has a hub there, and none of them outright dominates. At least not yet. If there's one thing I'm certain of, it's that Delta operates the nicest, most premium terminal at LAX (excluding TBIT).

These JD Power airport rankings have me lol'ing. I can't believe Miami beats Boston, Seattle, and Denver. And how about Tampa beating Portland? And LGA only being 4th?

Hallelujah. The @flySFO delays should get much shorter! The runway repaving project is ahead of schedule. It'll reopen by Sept. 29. Combined with the FAA's revised parallel landing procedures, 45-48 flights will be allowed to arrive each hour. (Down from a max of 54.)

The fastest way to upgrade a domestic flight is to find a better plane. So I just vibecoded a free tool that does this in seconds. 🛌 Shows every domestic lie-flat ✈️ 5 airlines, ~400 flights/day 🧑‍💻 Filter by carrier, aircraft, product, route, time 👉 lieflat.fromthetraytable.com…

.@Delta is adding a new U.S. city to its route map: Monterey, CA. Flights to MRY commence on Dec. 19, 2026. LAX-MRY: 2x daily SLC-MRY: 1x daily Service operated by SkyWest on the E175. The airline hasn't flown to Monterey in nearly 20 years.

I just flew cross-country with Apple’s AirPods 5 a week before they even go on sale. Here’s how it went, and what you need to know ✈️🎧🍎

Trying out the 3 wild new camera features exclusive to the foldable iPhone Duo. What else do you want to learn about this phone?

Can you spot the crease on Apple’s new foldable iPhone Duo?

Hands on with the new $129 AirPods 5 — totally the sleeper hit from the Apple Event