Almost at Alaska MVPGOLD75K Status, an Airbnb With a Surprise Family Portrait, United’s “New” Blocked Middle Seat Trick, and This Week’s Travel News — Weekly Recap

A couple of things worth mentioning before we get into this week’s posts. I am just a handful of points away from reaching Alaska Airlines MVPGOLD75K status — earned entirely through card spend — and I’ll share soon why that matters more than it might sound. The short version: in 2027 I’ll hold that alongside my lifetime Delta Gold status, giving me flexible elite perks across two major alliances. More on that strategy in an upcoming post.

Now, on to this week’s content.

📋 In This Recap

• Sisters check into a San Diego Airbnb and find themselves on the wall
• United’s blocked middle seat is nothing new — I’ve been doing this for years
• This week’s news: Alaska tsunami risk, river cruise bus tours, and more

😳 Sisters Check Into a San Diego Airbnb and Find Themselves — Literally — Framed on the Wall

I cannot make this stuff up. Two sisters checked into a San Diego Airbnb this week and spotted a large photo on the wall — a beach scene with a couple dozen people in it. Then one of them said “we have those swimsuits” and they realized they were looking at a picture of their own family. Their dad. Their brother. Libby herself, in the shot.

Whether the video is staged or the host genuinely had no idea their wall art featured their own guests, either way it’s a story. The TikTok went viral, the Twitter commentary is worth reading, and the comment section on the post has some takes you won’t want to miss. The full post — including the TikTok embed — is here.

💺 United’s Blocked Middle Seat Is Nothing New — I’ve Been Doing This Since 2017

Oh wow. United just announced it’s blocking middle seats on select Economy Plus rows of its new A321XLR jets and the travel world is acting like this is some revolutionary idea. It is not. I’ve been buying myself an EXST extra seat on Delta since 2017 for exactly this reason, Chris wrote up how to do it with a Companion Certificate back in 2021, and European carriers have been selling blocked-middle “business class” on short-haul flights longer than I can remember. United just put a leather table on it and figured out how to charge more.

Here’s the part nobody’s saying out loud: this isn’t really about your comfort. United hits a 150-seat threshold on the A321XLR that requires only four flight attendants instead of five under FAA staffing rules. Block two seats, save a salary, sell the “extra space” you just created as a premium upsell. That’s not generosity — that’s a staffing loophole with a marketing department attached.

It also connects directly to what Chris covered last week with Delta’s Basic Business fare — three airlines, three different directions, all running the same underlying play: unbundle the cabin, sell a discount version to price-sensitive buyers, protect full-fare revenue from everyone else. United is upselling coach toward business class. Delta is downselling business class toward coach. They’re meeting in the middle. Pun fully intended. My full take — including links to all three related posts — is here.

📰 This Week’s News: Alaska Tsunami Risk, River Cruise Bus Tours, and a German Fan Who Stayed Three Extra Weeks

Collapsing glaciers in Alaska are triggering massive tsunamis near popular cruise fjords. This is the one to read before you book any Alaska cruise excursion. High Country News published a deep-dive on retreating glaciers destabilizing mountainsides above Southeast Alaska’s fjords. Last August, a landslide at the end of Tracy Arm — a port of call for dozens of cruise ships near Juneau — triggered a tsunami with a wave run-up of 1,580 feet. Three kayakers 30 miles away barely survived. Nearly every major cruise line has already rerouted Tracy Arm sailings for 2026. A similar unstable slope above Portage Glacier near Anchorage could collapse within years. This is genuinely important reading if Alaska is on your travel radar.

Low water on the Danube and Rhine is turning river cruises into bus tours right now. Avalon, AmaWaterways, Uniworld, and Tauck passengers are currently being put on coaches for stretches their ships can’t navigate due to summer heat dropping water levels across Central Europe. Some travelers are spending the first three days of their “river cruise” on a bus. One Danube gauge dropped to 51 centimeters below its low-water reference point this week. If you’re considering a European river cruise, July and August carry real risk — ask about water-level contingency policies before you book.

Delta and Amex are celebrating $9 billion in co-brand card revenue. Seven consecutive quarters of double-digit spending growth. Delta CEO Ed Bastian is thrilled. Here’s the other side of that coin: all that spending is generating SkyMiles, which most points experts now agree are among the worst-value miles in the industry. Dynamic pricing, no award chart, opaque redemption values. Know what your miles are actually worth before you swipe — other than for a new card welcome bonus, that is.

Boeing is finally close to FAA approval on the 737 MAX anti-ice fix that has blocked the MAX 7 and MAX 10 for years. Southwest, which holds around 289 MAX 7 orders, expects approval by August 2026 with deliveries starting early 2027. This has been one of the longest-running dramas in commercial aviation — genuinely meaningful progress for the airlines that have been waiting.

A German World Cup fan came to America expecting the worst and stayed three extra weeks. Bastian Matti’s viral Twitter post about American hospitality — he came for the soccer and stayed because of the people — is a good reminder that travel is still the best antidote to second-hand impressions of places.

A Princess Cruises crew member died after going overboard near Cancún. Our condolences to his family. Worth noting: the Regal Princess, like nearly every major cruise ship, still does not have an automatic man overboard detection system, despite a 2010 federal law requiring it. That gap continues to cost lives.

The full roundup — including the NASA X-59 supersonic test pilot interview and a drug arrest on Virgin Voyages — is here.

In case you missed them:

• Sisters Check Into a San Diego Airbnb and Find Themselves — Literally — Framed on the Wall
• United’s Blocked Middle Seat Is Nothing New — I’ve Been Doing This With Delta for Years
• NASA Test Pilots Say Crossing the Sound Barrier Today Is No Big Deal, Collapsing Alaska Glaciers Are Triggering Massive Tsunamis Near Popular Cruise Fjords, and More Travel News!

– René