• ✈️ Airline Drama: United A321neo loses nose wheel in Orlando landing—airport ground stop issued

• 🏨 Hotel Bonus: World of Hyatt card drops massive 5 free night welcome offer

• ✈️ Premium Cabins: Singapore Airlines shares new timeline for first & business class retrofits

• 🚨 Shopping Portal: Apple purchases earn up to 4x airline miles today only

Estimated read time: 5 minutes and 30 seconds

I nearly did a double-take when I saw the photos from Orlando yesterday.

A brand-new United Airbus A321neo—just two years old—had what witnesses are calling a "wild landing" that left the aircraft's nose wheel scattered across the runway. But that's not even the most interesting story today.

World of Hyatt just dropped one of the best hotel card bonuses I've seen in months, and if you've been waiting for the right time to grab this card, this might be it.

How many free nights can you earn with the new World of Hyatt Credit Card welcome bonus?

🏨 3 free nights🏨 5 free nights🏨 7 free nights🏨 10 free nights

The answer is waiting for you near the bottom... keep scrolling. 👇

Yesterday afternoon, United flight UA2323 from Chicago to Orlando had what can only be described as a rough arrival. The two-year-old Airbus A321neo (registration N14502) touched down at MCO shortly after 12:30 PM, and something went very wrong.

The aircraft's nose wheel detached during the landing sequence, leaving debris scattered across the runway. Orlando International Airport immediately issued a ground stop while crews cleared the runway and assessed the damage.

Photos from the scene show the aircraft tilted forward with its nose resting on the runway—not exactly the landing anyone imagines when they book a ticket. The good news? All passengers and crew are safe, and no injuries were reported.

The aircraft is only two years old, which makes this incident particularly unusual. The A321neo is one of Airbus's newest and most popular narrowbody jets, and United has dozens of them in its fleet.

The incident triggered delays at Orlando as crews worked to clear the runway, but operations have since returned to normal. United hasn't released details about what caused the nose wheel to detach, but you can bet the FAA will be investigating thoroughly.

Speaking of better news—World of Hyatt's credit card just launched a welcome bonus that's worth your attention.

The card is offering five free night awards after you meet the spending requirement. Let me walk you through why this is such a big deal.

Here's what you need to do: spend $10,000 within the first six months of opening the card. Once you hit that threshold, you'll earn five free night certificates valid at Category 1-4 Hyatt properties.

Now, before you dismiss this as "only" Category 1-4 properties, consider this: Category 4 includes some incredible hotels. We're talking Hyatt Regency properties in major cities, Hyatt Place locations in prime destinations, and even some resort properties.

The standard welcome bonus on this card is typically 30,000-60,000 bonus points. Five free nights at Category 4 properties would cost you 75,000 points if you booked them separately—and that's assuming standard pricing. During peak periods, those same nights could cost significantly more.

The World of Hyatt Credit Card carries a $99 annual fee (not waived the first year), but you get an annual free night certificate that offsets much of that cost. Add in category bonuses on Hyatt spending and other perks, and the card pays for itself pretty quickly.

If you've been thinking about picking up a hotel card, this is one of the strongest offers available right now. The five free nights give you immediate, tangible value—no complex transfer strategies or award chart analysis required.

It's been well over a year since Singapore Airlines announced its massive premium cabin upgrade, and travelers have been asking the same question ever since: when can we actually book these new products?

The airline announced plans for all-new first and business class cabins back in November 2024, along with plans to expand first class across more of its fleet. The new seats will appear on dozens of Airbus A350s through retrofits, plus they'll be installed on future Boeing 777-9 deliveries.

Singapore has started sharing more concrete details about timing. The A350 retrofits are moving forward, and the airline expects to begin rolling out the new cabins gradually over the coming months.

Here's why this matters for award travelers: Singapore's current first class product is already excellent, but it's also becoming harder to find award space on. When the new cabins launch, there will likely be a brief window where availability opens up as the airline wants to fill those premium seats.

If you're sitting on a stash of transferable points, this could be your opportunity to book Singapore first class at standard award rates before everyone else catches on. The airline partners with Chase, Amex, Citi, Capital One, and Bilt—so most major point currencies transfer directly.

Keep an eye on our coverage for specific routes and timing as Singapore releases more details. You can check Award Travel Finder to track Singapore Airlines award availability across multiple programs.

If you're planning to buy anything from Apple, today is your day.

Multiple shopping portals are offering up to 4x bonus airline miles on Apple.com purchases—but only for today, January 20th.

Here's how this works: instead of going directly to Apple.com, you click through a shopping portal first. The portal tracks your purchase and awards you bonus miles on top of what you'd earn with your credit card.

So if you buy a $1,000 MacBook and earn 4x miles through the portal, that's 4,000 bonus miles—plus whatever your credit card earns. If you're using a card that earns 2x on all purchases, you're looking at 6,000 total miles for that transaction.

Different portals offer different rates, so it's worth checking multiple options. Some might offer United miles, others Delta or American. Pick whichever program makes sense for your travel plans.

Pro tip: Shopping portal bonuses don't stack with Apple's education discount or other promotional pricing, so you'll need to decide which benefit is more valuable to you.

This one is wild.

A confrontation erupted in Air France's La Première cabin—the world's most exclusive (and expensive) first class product—when one passenger objected to being filmed by fellow travelers.

La Première is Air France's ultra-premium cabin that typically costs $15,000-$30,000 per ticket and features just four seats in a private cabin. It's so exclusive that most frequent flyers will never experience it.

According to reports, a streaming CEO was creating content in the cabin when a lone fellow passenger repeatedly asked not to be filmed. The situation escalated quickly—both sides started recording each other, and accusations of racism flew.

Here's the broader issue: airlines have rules about filming other passengers without consent, but those rules rarely get enforced. Air France crew apparently didn't intervene during this incident, even as the confrontation intensified.

This isn't the first time content creators have turned premium cabins into filming sets. As travel influencing grows, these conflicts are becoming more common—especially in first class cabins where passengers expect maximum privacy.

The lesson here? If you're planning to create content on a plane, be extremely mindful of other passengers. And if you're on the receiving end of unwanted filming, know that you have every right to object—regardless of the ticket price.

Quick reminder for business owners still evaluating the Sapphire Reserve for Business—the card launched last summer with a $795 annual fee, and many readers are still trying to decide if it's worth adding to their wallet.

The math depends heavily on your spending patterns. The card earns 3x points on travel, dining, and select business categories, with points redeemable through Chase's travel portal at 1.5 cents each (or transferred to partners like Hyatt and United).

If you're spending heavily in those bonus categories and you value Priority Pass lounge access, $300 annual travel credits, and trip protection benefits, the card can justify its fee. But if your business spending is mostly outside those categories, a different business card might serve you better.

We covered this extensively in our guide to Chase business cards—worth checking out if you're comparing options.

Earlier I asked: How many free nights can you earn with the new World of Hyatt Credit Card welcome bonus?

The answer: 5 free nights at Category 1-4 properties after spending $10,000 in six months.

Those five nights are worth at least 75,000 Hyatt points if you booked them separately—making this one of the strongest hotel card welcome bonuses available right now.

Which hotel loyalty program do you find yourself using most? Are you all-in on Hyatt, spreading points across multiple chains, or gravitating toward Marriott or Hilton? Hit reply and let me know—I read every response and genuinely love hearing about your strategies!

That's it for today, my friends. Stay safe out there, and if you're flying United through Orlando anytime soon... well, fingers crossed for smooth landings.

See you tomorrow with more!

Before we wrap up, I wanted to share some timely opportunities I've been tracking (courtesy of our friends at AwardTravelFinder). These deals won't last long, so let's dive in.

Airline programs:

Hotel programs: