As the boarding door closes on 2025, we're signing yearbooks and handing out superlatives on what was officially the biggest year for travel yet. Think of it like a high school yearbook for the travel industry – minus the “Never change, love ya!” signatures at the back.

There are plenty more memorable moments, big changes, and unforgettable characters to cover from the past year in travel. So we doled out some Senior Superlatives to celebrate (and shame) some of the biggest travel stories from 2025. 

From the most adorable couple, to best glow up, the best dressed, and best hair, read on to see who – and what – got a spot in our 2025 travel yearbook. 

Want the audio version? This week's episode of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast dives deep into this list to celebrate (and also occasionally mock) our winners and losers!

 

In this post

 

Cutest Couple: Bilt and Japan Airlines

Bilt Rewards – the novel travel rewards platform for renters that's adding new transfer partners like it's speed-dating – folded in perhaps the most valuable example to date this year … and at a 1:1 ratio, to boot.

That'd be Japan Airlines (JAL) and its little-known Mileage Bank program. And while it might have flown under the radar, it's time to get acquainted. 

With miles that were borderline impossible to earn previously, there was little reason. With Bilt now in the mix, we're learning just how incredible this program can be, including:

  • One-ways to Tokyo in Japan Airlines business class for 55,000 miles each way – and plenty more dates available for around 75,000 miles
  • Lower award rates and more reasonable fees than you'll find on virtually any other airline program to book Oneworld airlines like British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and many more
  • And un unbelievable quirk that allows you to fly those Oneworld awards – plus other partner carriers like JetBlue and even Emirates – at a steep savings when you book roundtrip instead of one-way!

 

Japan Airlines (JAL) business class seat on the Airbus A350-1000
Japan Airlines' newest business class suites are dreamy

 

You might be thinking, “Well, Capital One added JAL as a transfer partner, too. Why aren't they cutest couple?” 

OK, so maybe there's a bit of a love triangle going on here – high school drama, right? But you can send Bilt points to JAL on a 1:1 basis, so 10,000 Bilt Rewards gets you 10,000 JAL miles. But with a poorer transfer ratio (of 2:1.5), that same Capital One transfer would net you just 7,500 JAL miles.

Sorry, Capital One. 

 

Best Glow Up: Citi

Citi has been, frankly, an also-ran in the travel rewards space for years. Clunky tech and unheralded points redemptions gave the bank a mixed reputation. It just couldn't hold a candle to competitors like Chase, American Express, and Capital One.

But like a student shaking off Senioritis to ace its finals, Citi started turning things around in 2025 with a handful of moves that officially put the bank on the map:

Citi showed up at school one day with a full makeover, a new wardrobe, and a new attitude. They're still a relative runt in the world of, but we're here for the glow-up. 

 

Worst Glow Up: Chase Sapphire Reserve

The Chase Sapphire Reserve used to have it all … but now, it's just trying too hard.

Long one of the most beloved premium travel credit cards, the Chase Sapphire Reserve offered easy ways to redeem Chase Ultimate Rewards points at a reasonable annual fee of $550. Most importantly, that fee was easy to offset with a no-strings-attached $300 annual travel credit, rock solid travel insurance, and other perks that cardholders loved.

Everything changed in 2025. 

 

Chase Sapphire Reserve w/ Roses, a book, and glasses.

 

In a revamp of the card this summer, they followed American Express's lead and jacked the annual fee up to $795 while throwing use-them-or-lose-them credits at cardholders: two $250 hotel credits, $300 toward dining at a few hundred restaurants usable twice a year, ditto for a Stubhub credit, and then monthly credits for Lyft, three monthly DoorDash credits, and more. 

At the same time, the card made some unpopular subtractions. The bank removed its flat 1.5-cent-per-point redemptions for cardholders booking through Chase Travel portal in favor of new “Points Boost” redemptions focusing on premium cabins and hotels. And rather than doling out 3x points per $1 spent on any travel purchase – be it a plane ticket, an Airbnb stay, or Uber ride – the card now instead earns 4x points … only on flights and hotels booked directly.

While Chase itself insists that it's been a smash hit, all signs point toward the new Reserve Card underperforming expectations. Within months of launching, the bank tweaked (and arguably improved) its welcome bonus and also adjusted one of the card's marquee new benefits for luxury hotel stays – even adding another, one-time $250 sweetener for next year. That kind of quick turnaround is unprecedented for premium travel cards.

Read more: Did Chase Fumble the New Sapphire Reserve Card?

 

 

 

Most Popular: The Amex Platinum Card

Yes, really. An even more expensive card with tons of equally frustrating credits won the popularity contest.

We can hardly believe we're saying it, but Amex did it: In 2025, they raised the annual fee on their flagship American Express Platinum Card® and made it even more popular. The energy around the Platinum Card's updates this fall is undeniable, and it remains notably absent for the Reserve Card – at least among the points and miles-obsessed sickos who read (or write) sites like this one.

They did it by practically going overboard: tripling the card's annual hotel credit, adding up to $400 a year toward Resy restaurants, and adding flashy credits like up to $75 a quarter toward Lululemon. All the while, they left all the card's existing benefits wholly intact.

 


 

“Wait,” you might be asking yourself. “Didn't Chase do exactly the same thing?” 

You're right. But as my friend, coworker, and boss Kyle eloquently wrote earlier this year, Chase forgot to put the frog in the water first. And Amex has spent years boiling that water for us frogs.

You know the old allegory: Throw a frog into a pot of scalding water, and it'll jump right out. But put the frog in the pot first, and it won't notice as the water eventually warms to a boil. 

American Express has spent the last decade steadily introducing more credits for travel, dining, and shopping over time to more and more of its travel cards … to the point that most longtime Platinum cardholders celebrated this year's unveiling of an $895-a-year card with more than a dozen different use-them-or-lose-them statement credits.

Read more: How Amex Made a (Nearly) $900 Travel Card Mainstream

 

Class Clown: Hilton Honors

Who else could win class clown but the hotel chain now expecting members to fork over a minimum of 250,000 points per night – yes, a quarter million points for a single night – at some of its best properties? 

Hilton Honors did us all dirty with not one, not two, but three nasty devaluations over the course of the last year and change. OK, only two of them happened in 2025. Still, it hurts. 

It started in December 2024, when Hilton first raised award rates at dozens of top properties without warning, effectively ending many long-time sweet spots. Then came May 2025, when a second wave of increases hit even more luxury hotels, primarily across the Waldorf Astoria and Conrad brands. And just this fall, Hilton did it again, hiking rates at another batch of high-end resorts and pushing the most expensive standard rooms to a staggering 250,000 points per night.

 

Waldorf Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal award night for 250,000 points
A year ago, the Waldorf Astoria in Cabo cost just 120,000 points per night…

 

Hilton has since rolled back some of these painful increases – though only at a select few prized properties. And fortunately, its insanely valuable free night certificates have escaped unscathed … at least for now.

But there's nowhere near as much value in the Hilton Honors program as there was this time last year. So put on your clown nose, Hilton. You earned it.

Read more: Where You Can Still Find Value with Hilton Honors

 

Most Ambitious: Bilt

Bilt isn't exactly a newcomer anymore. But boy, does this company have audacious plans.

It burst onto the scene a few years ago as the only program allowing you to earn points on rent – a boon for travelers who were tired of watching their checking accounts get drained of rent payments without anything to show for it. But since then, Bilt has done so much more. It's become a loyalty program for every facet of life, from your Walgreens purchases to your business class flights and everything in between. 

This year, they unveiled Bilt 2.0, coming next year with a new suite of credit cards that promise to let members earn points on their mortgages, too – no matter who their mortgage lender is! 

Bilt points were already among the very best in terms of travel value thanks to a murderer's row of transfer partners – especially during their splashy Rent Day (i.e. the first of the month) promotions with transfer bonuses that can hit or even exceed 100%. 

It became clear in 2025: Bilt wants to be everything to everybody. That's ambition, baby.

 

Most Likely to Succeed: Premium Cabins & Fancy Travelers

Rich people win again. It's the best travel advice I can give: Don't be poor. 

In episode 32 of the Thrifty Traveler Podcast, we broke down all the ways in which airlines are doubling and tripling down on the premium travel experience. The 1% are more important to the airlines than ever. That's why they're investing in first class and business class cabins as well as in lounges and premium check-in areas, and so much more. 

 

 

Why? Because the big spenders are making the airlines way more money. Those folks are far more likely to keep coming back and buying those pricier tickets – and, more importantly, swipe their premium airline credit card day in and day out.

On our podcast, I argued that there may be more opportunity for every day travelers to capitalize on this trend. But one thing is crystal clear in air travel right now: It pays to pay. 

 

Best Dressed: American's New Retro Plane

Step 1: Check out this new American Airlines 100th Anniversary Retro Livery on our Instagram.

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

A post shared by Thrifty Traveler | Cheap flights & points deals (@thriftytraveler)


 

Step 2: Swoon.

This certified beauty is an easy best dressed. A retro livery is a soft spot for us, but this is crazy good. 

One of the airline's Boeing 777s has been painted with this signature new look – and honestly, it looks even better in the flesh. While it sports an old school look on the fuselage, AA has upgraded the interiors with new Flagship business class suites inside.

 

Most Likely to Get Cancelled: Newark Airport

… not cancelled in the modern internet, social discourse way, but like in the “we're not going to Florida tonight” kind of way. 

Newark (EWR) struggled this year. Planes lined up on the tarmac, delays and cancellations came in waves, and operations at the already strained airport were brought to its knees by the government shutdown. 

But even well before that air traffic control issues were hurting things at the airport – even as far back as May. 

By the looks of it, 2026 should be better. But there's no denying 2025 was a rough one for Newark and its flyers. 

 

Best Hair: Turkish Airlines 

Sometimes high schoolers are mean to each other, so for this one … we got mean – just not as mean as Ryanair, whose crack social media team beat us to the punch with this savage tweet. 

If anyone was going to take this title, it had to be Turkish Airlines … or should we say, Turkish Hairlines? Congrats to the easiest joke on the internet, and the first-ever repeat winner of our travel superlatives! 

It's true that Türkiye is a popular destination for medical tourism, including – you guessed it – hair transplants. Social media is awash with videos and memes of Turkish Airlines passengers walking around the Istanbul (IST) airport – dubbed the “Hair-port”  – fresh off their procedures. But don't expect to see a bunch of beautiful, flowing locks on your next Turkish flight, though … try more like bandaged scalps. 

 

Most Likely to Cheer You Up: Ryanair

We could go on for days with examples, but Ryanair's social media is absolutely hilarious. Someone on that team has elite timing and is seemingly unafraid of consequences. 

The latest hilarious salvo this tweet of someone who whipped up an AI image of travelers in standing room seats envisioning the future of aviation and suggesting Ryanair might overcharge you if you have large feet. Their reply? Well, just see for yourself.

 

 

Self aware, truly funny, pithy and perfect. Comedy gold, no notes. 

Follow Ryanair on Twitter; you'll be glad you did. 

 

Most Likely to Ruin the Group Trip: The Gov't Shutdown

Is this really a high school yearbook superlative? I'm not sure, probably not. But we wanted to shoehorn in a mention of the worst thing in travel this year: The Government Shutdown. 

The record-setting, 46-day shutdown of the federal government crippled operations at many major U.S. airports, canceling tens of thousands of flights, delaying countless more, and generally making things all over the country tense. 

As air traffic controllers, who weren't being paid, started skipping work, the government forced an unprecedented reduction of flights ensure the safety of the skies. The end result was a cascading effect of far more than just 10% of flights being canceled. 

We're glad it's over. Let's not do it again in 2026.