Travel News Briefing

Airlinesaerotime.aero9 Nov

Emirates opens $8 million Dubai cabin crew hospitality hub to UAE businesses

Emirates announced that it is opening the Dubai hospitality training center it built for its cabin crew to companies in the UAE.

The airline said on November 9, 2026, that UAE organizations can now book courses of one to five days at its Centre of Hospitality Excellence. According to Emirates, government entities, universities and regional companies have already taken part since it began running external programs.

Emirates unveiled the US $8 million center in October 2025 as a training facility for its roughly 25,000 cabin crew, and said at the time it expected more than 10,000 to train there by the end of that year.

The center sits within the Emirates Crew Training Centre and includes a restaurant and lounge for up to 170 guests, presentation kitchens, eight classrooms and a training kitchen modeled partly on an aircraft galley.

The facility grew out of a 2020 partnership with Switzerland’s Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, which helped Emirates define its service approach around four values: excellence, attentiveness, innovation and passion. It opened seven months after the airline launched a 24/7 Crew Zone at its Dubai headquarters in March 2025.

Organizations choose from modules on hospitality fundamentals, fine dining service and etiquette, wine (taught by WSET Level 3-certified trainers), culinary techniques with Emirates chefs, team-building, and leadership sessions with Emirates executives.

Tours of the airline’s training facilities, including its aircraft simulators, are also offered, and programs can be customized. Emirates did not disclose pricing.

Thomas Ney, Divisional Senior Vice President Service Delivery at Emirates, said the airline wanted to share expertise built up over decades. “Delivering exceptional hospitality requires more than technical training,” he said.

The center remains part of Emirates’ crew training. All cabin crew complete an eight-week program at the Crew Training Centre covering safety, security, medical care and service. At the hospitality center, crew are also served a four-course meal of First and Business Class dishes as guests, practice plating, and take part in a three-level wine program introduced in 2024.

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Staysskift.com9 Nov

Expedia Goes Live on Muse, but Its AI Wins Are Inside Its Own Apps

Meta’s Muse agent can now book Expedia hotels, about six weeks after the companies announced the integration. But there are limits.

While discussing third-quarter results last Wednesday, Expedia Group CEO Ariane Gorin teased the release, saying the connection was going live in the U.S., “potentially while we’re on this call today.”

In a follow-up, Expedia confirmed to Skift what the integration can and can’t do: It covers natural-language search and booking, but not cancellations or rebooking.

"Travelers can describe their destination, dates, and hotel preferences in their own words, and Muse can surface relevant hotel options from Expedia," a spokesperson said. "Because Expedia is the merchant of record, changes can be made through Expedia’s customer support, just like when a booking is made directly with us."

Muse offered more detail when Skift ran a limited test. In a chat, the agent explained that the integration can book only

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Tags: artificial intelligence, expedia, meta, muse, online travel, online travel newsletter, skift intelligence, the prompt

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Airlinessimpleflying.com9 Nov

United Airlines Launches 9 New Routes From Major West Coast Hub: See Full List Now

Journalist – Aaron is an aviation and travel journalist with 14 years of experience in the travel and tourism industry. His background spans airport operations, aviation infrastructure, and travel consulting, having worked with global organizations across New Zealand, Europe, and North America. Combining industry expertise with firsthand travel experience across more than 52 countries and five continents, Aaron covers airlines, airports, aviation policy, and the wider travel sector. He is based in Canterbury, New Zealand.

His work has been published in Simple Flying and featured by MSN, SAM CHUI Aviation & Travel, EIN News, Pakistan Defence, and Climate Depot.

The world's largest airline by fleet size, United Airlines is gearing up for a busy 2027, with the airline already announcing a total of nine new routes from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) that will take flight in the New Year.

United, a Star Alliance partner, is the largest operator at San Francisco and maintains the hub as a strategic port for its West Coast and Pacific operations. United will add two new international routes from San Francisco in 2027, along with seven new domestic links.

With all of these new routes beginning in 2027, the vast majority will fly between the US East and West Coasts. Beginning on March 28, a total of four domestic routes will take flight, connecting San Francisco to Hartford (BDL), Charleston (CHS), Oklahoma City (OKC), and Richmond (RIC).

All of these routes are set to be operated year-round. Hartford, Charleston, and Richmond will be operated with the airline's Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, while services to Oklahoma City are operated by United Express on the Embraer E175.

United has expanded its domestic network from one of its busiest airports, primarily to capture growing demand and rebuild its domestic footprint to feed passengers through its West Coast hub.

March 28 is set to be a busy day for United route resumptions at San Francisco, with the airline also preparing to resume its nonstop flights to Tel Aviv (TLV). The airline historically served the route, due to heavy demand from tech and startup business at both ends. The airline had suspended the route due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Israel, and continued security assessments.

As the conditions have stabilized, this has permitted the airline to restore its long-haul corridor to Israel. The route will be served three times a week on the airline's Boeing 787-9.

San Francisco will become United's fourth direct route to Tel Aviv when it comes back online in March, complementing the airline's existing services from Chicago (ORD), Newark (EWR) and Washington Dulles (IAD).

The final four new routes for United from San Francisco in 2027 include the airline's exciting seasonal service to Okinawa (OKA). This popular tourist destination in Japan becomes the airline's sixth Japanese gateway, after Haneda (HND), Narita (NRT), Nagoya (NGO), Sapporo (CTS) and Osaka (KIX). The route will operate seasonally with the Boeing 777-200ER.

Services to Jacksonville (JAX) and Traverse City (TVC) have been recently announced, with the service from San Francisco to Florida operating year-round from March 29, while services to the 'Cherry Capital of the World', in Michigan, beginning on June 19 and will run seasonally.

Flights from San Francisco to Norfolk (ORF) will begin on March 31, operating year-round on the 737 MAX 8.

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Airlinesthepointsguy.com9 Nov

American launches award sale: 1 million seats discounted, starting at 8,000 miles

If you’ve been frustrated by soaring airfare, now may be your best chance to book flights without the sticker shock.

American Airlines just launched one of its biggest AAdvantage award sales of the year. And you'll want to act quickly: It’s only scheduled to be live for 72 hours.

American has put more than 1 million main cabin seats on sale for the winter months.

If holiday fares were out of your budget this year, this could be a chance to redeem miles for a long weekend getaway in the Caribbean in January — or to hit the ski slopes over President’s Day weekend in February.

American’s winter AAdvantage award sale covers flights from Jan. 11 through Feb. 28, 2027.

The deals are slated to run through 12:59 a.m. EST on Nov. 12.

These aren’t the cheapest AAdvantage award redemptions we’ve ever seen (a similar award sale last year offered award prices even lower than this year’s).

And some of these redemptions are in the range of what I typically look for in the quieter winter months.

The good news here is that these cheaper award prices are widely available. And that’s significant in a year where fares (and award prices) have surged.

As an AAdvantage member myself, I'd feel pretty good about booking at any of these price points.

You won’t find these discounted award prices on every flight, date or route. Instead, American simply says it’s discounting more than 1 million main cabin seats across its network.

Fortunately, there aren't blackout dates — which means you don't need to fly at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday to take advantage of this deal. There are options on Fridays, Sundays, peak long weekend travel days and during other popular times.

These deals apply to economy bookings; American is not offering up these discounts on premium economy, first class or business class.

However, these cheaper award redemptions could be a way to get a spot on the plane and then watch for a targeted upgraded offer to a premium seat.

You can find domestic bookings within the 48 contiguous U.S. states for as low as 8,000 miles one-way.

That includes longer transcontinental flights.

For instance, here’s a January flight from Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

There are also short-haul international redemptions to warm-weather island destinations at that rate, too — like this February flight from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to Turks and Caicos.

As a Raleigh-based flyer, I could book this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend flight from North Carolina to Zurich, Switzerland, for 22,500 miles one-way.

There are a ton of AAdvantage redemptions to Europe at that price point, with options for both nonstop and connecting itineraries, depending on your final destination.

I also found pretty open award availability for 25,000 miles one-way.

Here are some examples: LAX to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport (HND), and another to Sydney, Australia.

Passengers in Chicagoland are the biggest winners.

American's award sale includes discounted AAdvantage redemptions starting even lower than the rest of the country, at 7,000 miles one-way.

These AAdvantage deals for the winter months aren’t the cheapest award discounts American has ever offered. But they’re pretty solid — and widely available — for the upcoming winter months.

And for consumers plagued by high prices this year, that could be reason enough to lock in a winter getaway.

Just be sure to book by Wednesday night to take advantage of these deals.

Full details about this award sale can be found here.

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