A blown tire in Newark caused rolling delays and some pretty poor customer service in Portland. Delta struck a nerve in Georgia that could hurt it on the fuel tax front. Also, some talk about battery fires and lots of other news this week.

Every now and then you’ll find us together somewhere around the world. This trip ended up in Sofia, Vaduz, Stuttgart and Munich because we suffered from indecision paralysis. Some fun stories along the way, though.

Welcome to 2018, where hotel loyalty programs are updating their rules and one is starting over completely. A late 2017 bankruptcy is finally getting resolved and new seats are coming (yes, slimlines) to a major European airline. And somehow we’re still relatively optimistic about the whole thing.

Computers are creating challenges for airlines and hotels these days. But it still isn’t a “glitch.” Another airline is disappearing and the CSeries may be flying further south than previously expected.