{"podcast":{"title":"MTM Travel - The Fun Side of Points & Travel!","slug":"mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388","podcast_index_feed_id":251388,"rss_url":"https://milestomemories.libsyn.com/rss","website_url":"https://milestomemories.com/podcast","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/4/b/a/f/4bafcdeae464719de55e3c100dce7605/Copy_of_Copy_of_Copy_of_MtM_Vegas.jpg","author":"Shawn Coomer","episode_count":403,"summary":"The fun side of miles, points and travel! Hosted by Shawn Coomer and Mark Ostermann, MTM Travel dives into the points hobby & the lifestyle of travel with topical conversations and plenty of laughs along the way. Mark & Shawn have a combined 18 years of experience covering these topics on Miles to Memories and Travel on Points and are cohosts of the popular MtM Vegas Youtube Show on the Miles to Memories Vegas channel. They also host the 20 Minute Travel news show on this same feed where you can keep up with the latest deals, news and happenings.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-17T08:17:05.407415+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388"},"episode":{"title":"A Robot Flew Southwest, Spirit Went Away, and JetBlue Has a Pricing Problem!","slug":"a-robot-flew-southwest-spirit-went-away-and-jetblue-has-a-pricing-problem","published_at":"2026-05-05T19:16:13+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388/a-robot-flew-southwest-spirit-went-away-and-jetblue-has-a-pricing-problem","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388","url":"https://milestomemories.libsyn.com/a-robot-flew-southwest-spirit-went-away-and-jetblue-has-a-pricing-problem","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/milestomemories/MTM_Travel_May_5_27_audio.mp3?dest-id=1462559","summary":"Get $200 after making your first $500 payment with Melio! (affiliate) https://www.milestomemories.com/go/melio Spirit Airlines is gone, and even travelers who avoided Spirit may feel it in their wallets. Shawn and Mark talk through the fallout for cheap flights, the JetBlue and Frontier merger mess, and why low-cost carriers have such a hard time making the model work in the U.S. They also get into JetBlue's pricing lawsuit, data tracking worries, a robot that bought its own Southwest seat, and the cheap travel items that actually earn space in the bag. Yes, that includes Benji's forever stamp. What we cover: Spirit Airlines disappearing and what it means for airfare Why JetBlue, Frontier and Spirit all ended up tied together in this story The difference between Ryanair, Allegiant and the U.S. low-cost model JetBlue's lawsuit over pricing, cookies and tracking claims Whether airline pricing algorithms and shared pricing data hurt consumers A robot flying Southwest with its own seat Cheap and free travel items worth packing, from plastic bags to backup headphones Episode Guide: 0:00 - Welcome to MTM Travel 0:20 - Spirit Airlines disappears 3:06 - The JetBlue and Frontier merger fallout 5:02 - Why U.S. low-cost carriers struggle 7:45 - What losing Spirit means for fares 10:38 - Low-cost carriers need a new plan 12:30 - JetBlue lawsuit and pricing tracking claims 15:47 - A robot gets its own Southwest seat 17:06 - Cheap and free travel items worth packing 21:00 - The travel gear we actually keep packed 24:10 - Freebies, bottle openers and fancy hotel pens Track your travel credit cards for free Free newsletter Join our free Facebook group Diamond Patreon - bonus shows + Slack community Gold Membership Subscribe on Apple Podcasts Miles to Memories website","meta_description":"Get $200 after making your first $500 payment with Melio! (affiliate) https://www.milestomemories.com/go/melio Spirit Airlines is gone, and even travelers…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1599,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388/episodes/a-robot-flew-southwest-spirit-went-away-and-jetblue-has-a-pricing-problem/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/mtm-travel-the-fun-side-of-points-travel-251388/a-robot-flew-southwest-spirit-went-away-and-jetblue-has-a-pricing-problem.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}