Throughout the week, our team shares articles they’ve stumbled upon that may interest our readers, even if they might not otherwise merit a full post. Here are some of the posts we found interesting this week: More affordable one-way fares, stacking Chase Sapphire hotel credits, upgrades that aren’t upgrades, and a 40-year murder gets solved.
Are Airlines Ditching Higher One-Way Fares for International Flights?
Thrifty Traveler has been examining “thousands” of long-haul routes, and they’ve noticed a recent departure from the norm. Where it used to be fairly commonplace for one-way routes to be more than half the cost of a round-trip (sometimes significantly more), they’re now seeing one-way routes at half, or even less than half round-trip prices from North America (primarily the US) overseas in basic or standard economy. No one knows if this trend is here to stay or if this is just a temporary blip.
Sapphire Stack – How to double (or triple) up on Chase Sapphire hotel credits in 2026
This post has a full list of all 100+ properties where you can stack the $250 Edit credit with the $250 Chase Travel℠ credit. The idea is that properties that are both part of Chase’s Edit collection and also part of eligible hotel groups (IHG, Montage, Pendry, Omni, Virgin, Minor, or Pan Pacific) may trigger both the $250 Edit credit and the $250 Chase Travel℠ credit on the same reservation.
My sister has this little trick with her kids where she’ll put the toys they don’t play with anymore in a box. Then, instead of rewarding their good behavior with something brand new, she’ll often just let them retrieve something from that box. It feels new enough to them that they often feel appropriately rewarded, despite the fact that she didn’t have to give them anything they didn’t already own. Delta and Marriott have been giving the same vibes with some of their “rewards” for elite members. In Delta’s case, it’s the “extra legroom” seats in economy, which are now possible upgrade options. In Marriott’s case, it’s the shift from “Suite Upgrade Awards” to “Nightly Upgrade Awards”, which give them the opportunity to really stretch what could be considered an “upgrade”. A higher floor, for example, not necessarily a suite. In other words, they’re hoping we don’t notice they’re repurposing standard amenities as “rewards”, just like my sister does with her box of forgotten toys.
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