Virgin Atlantic shifts to dynamic pricing in award seat shake-up — but is it all bad?

Oct 3, 2024 • 7 min read

Spirit Airlines is making more big changes to its network.

After nearly a day-and-a-half of flights that took me from Phoenix to Dallas to Tokyo to Ho Chi Minh City, I was exhausted but thrilled to finally reach my destination.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, September 27, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Southwest Airlines' new assigned seating model — complete with its first-ever extra-legroom seats — is set for takeoff in early 2026.

Wells Fargo Rewards has added a seventh transfer option to its growing list of airline and hotel partners. Consumers can now transfer their reward points to Virgin Atlantic Flying Club or Virgin Red at a 1:1 ratio.

As a fashion industry veteran, the men’s wear designer Jesse Rowe has been to countless stores. The one he can’t stop thinking about is Marcello, a hidden shop in Fukuoka, Japan. “You walk into a nondescript building, go up a couple of flights of stairs to the rooftop, walk along a stone path, then go down a fire escape to this completely transporting clothing shop,” says Rowe. The designer has brought that spirit of discovery to Zebra Room, a boutique in Germantown, N.Y., that’s equal parts coffee shop, cabinet of curiosities and listening lounge. Housed in a converted barn, Zebra Room devotes most of its square footage to a collection of midcentury Scandinavian furniture that Rowe’s brother imports from Copenhagen (highlights include an Inca chair by Arne Norell). There are also secondhand clothes and goods, from vintage marinière shirts to handmade leather dog collars. A coffee bar (which serves everything from Mexican café de olla to cold brew tonics topped with yuzu) is set up in a cube leftover from an exhibition held by the shop’s next-door neighbors Alexander Gray Associates. Rowe and his wife, the interior designer Loren Daye, clad the plaster installation with hemlock wood to keep with the natural feel of the space, which also has a 1970s cast-iron stove and retains the barn’s bluestone dirt floors. The cube houses Rowe’s record collection and sound system, which the designer has modeled after those in Japan’s kissa cafes. He alternates between vinyl and streaming, but the shop’s soundtrack is always played through a restored vintage SunValley/Dynaco tube amplifier and Klipsch LaScala speakers; similar tube amps, turntables and speakers are also for sale. “I want it to feel like someone’s living room — you might have to yell over the music,” says Rowe.

Dallas-Fort Worth travelers who want to take high tea overlooking Victoria Harbour at the Peninsula Hong Kong or chow down on dim sum have a new way to get to the bustling Asian metropolis next spring.

Luxury hospitality company Four Seasons is wowing travelers with a brand-new around-the-world private jet trip from California back to Canada, touching on three different continents.

Frontier's latest sale has major discounts for a fall getaway.

Back in March, Alaska Airlines launched a new subscription service requiring a $5-per-month payment to get early access to Alaska fare sales, a personalized fare page and free Wi-Fi credits — the Seattle-based airline calls the service "Alaska Access." I was excited to test it out since, at the time, Alaska said it would give subscribers advance notice to some of its biggest deals of the year.

A new nonstop flight from Dallas Fort Worth straddles three days. On Wednesday, Cathay Pacific announced it will launch services from Hong Kong to and from the Texan hub.