The Trail

Saudi Arabia suspended operations at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport after weekend attacks by Yemen's Houthis, with a notice to airmen keeping it closed until October 17. Cirium said 46.4% of scheduled flights across Saudi Arabia were cancelled on Monday. Etihad cancelled Abu Dhabi–Riyadh flights until October 19, Lufthansa Group until October 16, Gulf Air from October 12 to 17, Air France-KLM until the end of the month, Philippine Airlines until November 29, and Cathay Pacific pushed its Riyadh return to January 31, 2027.

Etihad Rail's Dubai station, Al Yalayis next to Jumeirah Golf Estates, opened on September 30, linking Dubai to Abu Dhabi by passenger train. Condé Nast Traveler's writer reports the trip to Mohamed bin Zayed City takes 1 hour 4 minutes at an average of about 200 km/h, through industrial zones, farmland and desert, and that a planned high-speed service will cut it to 35 minutes. Ten passenger stations are due to open by the end of March 2027.

Landline will start its first West Coast route on November 17, from Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport to San Francisco International. Passengers check bags and clear security in Santa Rosa, then ride a coach that pulls up at Gate A3 in SFO's International Terminal, a trip of a little over two hours. There will be eight daily round trips; adult fares are $55 one way, children under 15 ride free, and rides do not earn airline loyalty points.

Condé Nast Traveler's fall list includes The Selvedge, an English country-style inn in Healdsburg from the team behind three-Michelin-star SingleThread; The Observatory, a Viceroy resort in Sun Valley, Idaho, near the Idaho Dark Sky Reserve, which the magazine calls the nation's first Gold Tier International Dark Sky Reserve; Recess Hotel & Club in Savannah; The Warbler Hotel in New Orleans; Oyster Estate in Greenport, New York; The Nora in West Palm Beach; and Park Hyatt Riviera Maya.

United told MileagePlus members that from 2027 it will stop counting Premier Qualifying Flights toward elite status, so status will depend only on Premier Qualifying Points earned from spending on flights and United's co-branded credit cards. Top-tier 1K will require 4,000 more PQPs, 32,000 in total. It is the second significant change to the program this year.

Budget airline Breeze will add four cities: Latrobe, Pennsylvania (from February), Boston (May 4), and Buffalo and Santo Domingo (both in June), plus 16 new routes, many from Myrtle Beach, where Breeze says it will be the largest airline by destinations and seats by the end of 2027.