University Of California Buys A Ritz-Carlton For $193 Million—And Southwest Flyers Get Surprise Platinum Emails [Roundup]

News and notes from around the interweb: Virgin Red is offering 6,000 points each to new members and the people referring them through November 30, but both must be U.K. residents. The new member needs a qualifying earning transaction within 18 months (shopping through Virgin Red counts, bank transfers and buying points don’t) and referrers can earn up to 60,000 points from ten referrals. Eligible readers are welcome to drop their referral links in the comments. (HT: Head For Points) This summer, a Priority Pass-accessible ‘Poppin Lounge’ (‘pop in’) opened in Atlanta offering grab ‘n go. Airport Dimensions, which operates The Club lounges, opened this right next to The Club ATL there. Airport Dimensions is owned by Collinson Group, which also owns Priority Pass. It’s an opportunity for them to get more card swipes and bill the banks paying for the cards. They opened discussions with Seattle airport over adding one in March. When Southwest Airlines announced the introduction of Platinum status next year they said that you wouldn’t start qualifying for it until January (that 2026 activity wouldn’t earn Platinum). However folks are getting surprise emails saying they’ve qualified. Platinum Early…Didn’t see that coming. by u/jcfowler79 in SouthwestAirlines University of California system buys Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay for $193 million (HT: @crucker) Cut it out. Another day of gate agent forcing checked bags in Zone 5 from ATL to IAH and the bins are empty by u/Toomanyredditors333 in delta Owls on a plane? New delay reason: owl refuses to deplane. Found on the walk-around. Flight’s delayed. Just sitting in the inlet.. Looking at us like we were interrupting his nap. https://t.co/gRBcJVhQ8b — Fahad Naim (@Fahadnaimb) November 6, 2026 If you fly American flagship business class and don’t get branded headphones, here’s why: AA: The Bang and Olufsen headsets are getting a little long in the tooth at this point and are not working as well. Formal replacement due for next year but for now, generic AA branded headsets as a stopgap measure — JonNYC (@xJonNYC) November 7, 2026 She was wrong about Jewish Space Lasers, but not about this. Atlanta needs a second airport somewhere north of the city. Major cities all over the country have at least 2 airports. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is gigantic. Parking is often times full. Security lines can be long. The trains to the terminals are crowded and it can take up to 40 minutes if you just walk all the way to the last terminal. And one of the biggest problems is the never-ending terrible traffic in Atlanta if you are driving from anywhere on the north side literally whether it’s down 75, 400, or 85. — Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) November 7, 2026 Topics on this page