The briefing in brief: United and American prepare a raft of A321XLR routes while Delta disses narrowbody international flying. Alaska Airlines adds more Europe routes from Seattle while Delta launches a Sea-Tac-Tokyo/Narita to harass the hometown carrier. JetBlue opens a club at Boston/Logan. Delta and Aeromexico win a court case to keep their joint venture. JetBlue rids itself (almost) of Carl Icahn. Do you want a hot pretzel from an airport kiosk? And more.

NARROW AIRLINE MINDS AND NARROWBODY AIRCRAFT
United and American this week announced a slew of international routes for their new, narrowbody Airbus A321XLR aircraft. But as if to sneer at the very idea of the new trend in international flying, a Delta Air Lines executive has told large corporate customers that Delta wouldn't think of flying narrowbodies on overseas routes. As you probably know, carriers such as Iberia and Aer Lingus already fly the 321XLR between their hubs and several U.S. gateways. But United won't deploy its first XLR aircraft until next month, initially using them on domestic test routes. United sees the XLR as a replacement for its aged fleet of narrowbody Boeing 757s. American's XLR variant already is flying domestic test routes. American sees its aircraft as much-needed new capacity for secondary overseas routes. Examples: American will start flying the A321XLRs next year on two New York/Kennedy runs (Amsterdam and Nice) and two Philadelphia routes (Porto and Vienna). United's XLR roster includes two French runs (Washington/Dulles-Toulouse and Newark-Marseille); two Spanish routes (Newark to Ibiza and Valencia); and Newark to Luxembourg City. Which brings us to Delta. Joe Esposito, the chief commercial officer, derided narrowbodies as not "best in class" international products and claims Delta will not fly them. Of course, Delta operates aging Boeing 767s with dated premium classes, so take his comments with appropriate grains of marketing salt. That said, Delta will roll out some minor business class improvements later this year, including new food and beverage options and better bedding.

ELSEWHERE ON THE INTERNATIONAL ROUTE MAP
Although the Airbus A321XLR was the star of their new international route announcements, United and American did add a passel of other runs. American will add a Charlotte-Barcelona route on May 27 using Boeing 777-200ERs. The same day, it will revive its Philadelphia-Reykjavik run using Airbus A321neo aircraft. United's went even bigger. It'll add three weekly flights between San Francisco and Okinawa using Boeing 777-200ERs starting March 27. There'll also be a flood of new runs from its Newark hub: to Ljubljana, Slovenia; Olbia, Sardinia; Catania, Sicily; and Terceira in the Azores. All but the Azores run will be served with Boeing 767-300ERs. The Terceira (TER) route will operate with Boeing 737 MAX8s. United is also bulking up some other international destinations, with new service to Osaka (from LAX); Milan/Malpensa (from Dulles) and Paris/CDG (from Denver).
        Alaska Airlines launched its first continental Europe flights this year and will add two more next year. Starting May 12, it will add three weekly flights between its Seattle hub and Athens. Two weeks later, it launches five weekly flights to Paris/CDG. Boeing 787-9s will service both routes.
        Delta Air Lines is adding more service from Seattle/Tacoma, too. But the choice is curious: On March 27, it will add daily flights to Tokyo/Narita using Airbus A330-900s. Delta abandoned its Narita hub seven years ago and already flies from Seattle-Tacoma to Tokyo's close-in Haneda Airport. The one conclusion you can reach? Delta is trying to harass Alaska Air, which already flies between Seattle and Narita. Separately, Delta is also launching a seasonal nonstop from its Austin focus city to Paris/CDG. That route will begin March 27 with Airbus A330-900neo aircraft.

BOSTON/LOGAN GETS A JETBLUE LOUNGE
JetBlue Airways has opened a second lounge for premium customers. After the premiere of a BlueHouse at its New York/Kennedy hub, the airline opened a 12,000-square-foot club in Terminal C at Boston/Logan. Located across from Gate C25, the Logan BlueHouse leans heavily into Boston culture, including a garish room dominated by a faux green manual scoreboard a la Fenway Park. The entry fee is $39-$79 depending on your fare and status level, but it is free for TrueBlue Mosaic 4 elites, JetBlue Premier cardholders and most transcontinental and international Mint Class flyers.
        Memphis International has officially been renamed for Frederick W. Smith, founder of FedEx, which maintains a huge hub there. Unlike the recent renaming of Palm Beach for President Trump, however, the Memphis three-letter code will remain MEM.
        Cincinnati may not be a hub anymore, but it can boast the nation's first pretzel-vending kiosk. Amish Pretzel Co, probably best-known for its frozen, bake-at-home treats, has opened an automated, on-demand hot pretzel kiosk near the airport's B Gates. The firm behind the machine, Evolvending, is also the company that has placed a White Castle slider machine at Boston/Logan and Farmer's Fridge salad machines at other airports. By the way, Evolvending doesn't call them machines. Its term of art is "unstaffed restaurants." Okay, then …

TRAVEL NEWS YOU NEED TO KNOW NOW
Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico can continue their code-share/joint-venture partnership. The airlines bested the Transportation and Justice Departments in Atlanta's 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. That means Delta can also keep its 20% stake in the Mexican carrier. Enforcement action against the carriers began during the Biden Administration and continued under the Trump Administration. The DOT says it will consider its legal options. Who knows? Maybe it'll prevail on Aeromexico to change its name to Aeroamerica …
        JetBlue is essentially rid of Carl Icahn. The "activist investor" (fka corporate raider) took a nearly 10% stake in the airline two years ago and placed two loyalists on the JetBlue board. At the time, Icahn claimed the airline was undervalued. Instead, JetBlue shares plunged 22% while Icahn was involved. Last week, the 90-year-old Icahn disclosed he had cut his stake to 3.3%. His two board representatives resigned this week. Icahn, you recall, once acquired TWA, took it private and put it into bankruptcy several times before American Airlines purchased the carrier in 2001.
        WestJet is taking full advantage of Canadian travelers' disinterest in winter "snowbird" visits to Florida now that President Trump is waging a tariff-and-taunt war against them. Starting in November, the airline will add weekly service on five new warm-weather routes: from Calgary to Merida, Mexico; from Ottawa to Liberia, Costa Rica; from Winnipeg to Belize City and Punta Cana; and from Regina to San José del Cabo, Mexico.