Good morning. It's Tuesday, Aug 04, 2026. Before we dive in, one quick reminder: the Boarding Soon Chase Sapphire Preferred® referral link is still showing the 100,000-point welcome offer for some applicants. If you've been thinking about applying, it's worth checking while it's still available.

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Starting Aug. 15, Chase Sapphire Lounges will exit the Priority Pass and LoungeKey networks entirely. That ends both the free annual visit and the discounted $75 entry fee for travelers who don't hold an eligible Chase card.

If you're a Priority Pass member relying on that yearly Sapphire Lounge visit, this is your last call, use it before Aug. 15 if you've been saving it.

For eligible Chase cardholders, nothing changes: unlimited complimentary access, the same generous two-guest policy, and complimentary Priority Pass Select membership all stay intact. There's also a genuine upgrade coming: cardholders on connecting itineraries can now access a lounge up to five hours before their next flight, up from three.

The bigger picture: as lounge networks grow more popular, issuers are increasingly narrowing access to protect the experience for their core, fee-paying cardholders.

Travel Smarter: If you only have Sapphire Lounge access through Priority Pass, check your calendar and use your remaining 2026 visit before Aug. 15. After that date, you'll need an eligible Chase card to get back in.

A third of travel insurance claims get denied, and it's rarely because of the incident itself. It's missing paperwork.

Insurers want proof: receipts, photos, timestamps, and confirmations showing what happened and what it cost you. Most travelers lose the claim battle simply because they didn't document things in the moment.

The fix is simple. Photograph every receipt right after you get it, screenshot booking confirmations, and film your rental car's condition before and after your trip. For cash purchases, snap the receipt immediately since there's no digital trail otherwise. Keep everything centralized in one dedicated folder, whether that's Google Drive, an app like Expensify or TripIt, or even just your phone's photo album.

A short nightly review habit, just a few minutes reviewing and filing the day's receipts, makes the biggest difference. One traveler's disciplined documentation helped her recover a full $3,500 claim after a Barcelona luggage delay.

Travel Smarter: Before your next trip, check your travel insurance policy for exactly what documentation they require for a claim, medical records, police reports, receipts, and create a dedicated phone album or Drive folder before you even leave. Building the habit before something goes wrong is far easier than scrambling for proof after the fact.

American Airlines is overhauling its Admirals Club membership starting Aug. 23, and prices are jumping significantly for most travelers.

The traditional membership, which includes guest privileges and access to partner lounges, now costs $1,200 to $1,400 per year depending on your AAdvantage status, up from a previous max of $850. A new lower-cost single membership option launches at $750, but it only covers you, no guests, no partner lounges.

Household memberships are being phased out, and discounted renewal pricing is going away too, meaning some current members could see a bigger jump than new buyers.

There's a workaround worth knowing: the Citi/AAdvantage Executive card still includes full Admirals Club membership, and while its annual fee is rising from $595 to $695, that's still far cheaper than buying a top-tier membership outright, especially with added perks like Lyft credits and travel statement credits bundled in.

Travel Smarter: If you fly American often and want lounge access with guest privileges, run the math on the Citi/AAdvantage Executive card before buying a standalone membership. At $695 a year, it's likely to save you hundreds compared to purchasing Admirals Club membership directly, especially once you factor in the card's other travel credits.

Southwest is running a flash promotion that makes earning its coveted Companion Pass far easier than usual. Normally this benefit takes serious flight volume or credit card spending to unlock. Right now, you just need one round-trip flight.

Register with your Rapid Rewards number, then book a qualifying round-trip (or two one-ways) by 11:59 p.m. CDT on Thursday, Aug. 6. Flights must be completed by Nov. 18. Do that, and you'll earn a promotional Companion Pass valid Jan. 5 through March 3, 2027, letting a designated companion fly with you for just taxes and fees, starting around $5.60, on unlimited flights during that window.

All fare classes qualify, including Basic, and points or Cash + Points bookings count too. If you already have a Southwest flight booked before Nov. 18, you can cancel for a travel credit and rebook the same flight to qualify, just don't touch your itinerary after Aug. 6, or you risk losing eligibility.

⏰ This deal expires Thursday, Aug. 6 — don't sit on it.

Travel Smarter: If you've been sitting on unbooked fall travel plans, book a Southwest round-trip before Aug. 6 even if it's a smaller trip. The taxes-and-fees-only companion perk alone can be worth hundreds of dollars if you already travel with a partner or friend a few times a winter.

Tampa → Lisbon 🇵🇹
✈️ 47,800 SkyMiles + $75
💵 Instead of paying ~$705

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Hotel theft costs the industry hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but not everything you take home is actually stealing.

Single-use items are fair game: mini toiletries, tea and coffee sachets, shower caps, sewing kits, and welcome snacks are written off by hotels the moment they're placed in your room. Slippers fall into a gray area, but most hotels expect guests to keep them.

Robes and towels are a different story. They're the most commonly taken items worldwide, despite being designed for reuse hundreds of times, and can cost hotels over $100 each to replace. Many hotels track missing items quietly and simply absorb the cost rather than confront guests, though some now use RFID tracking sewn into linens to monitor what's disappearing.

The takeaway: if it's single-use or clearly a welcome gift, it's yours. If it's reusable hotel property, like a robe, towel, or kettle, it's not part of the stay you paid for.

Travel Smarter: When in doubt about an item in your room, check the in-room guide or ask the front desk. Most hotels now clearly label what's complimentary versus what's for sale, and asking takes thirty seconds compared to the awkward follow-up email if you accidentally pack something you shouldn't have.

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— Socrates

Written by the Boarding Soon Editorial Team

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