Men's Journal's Blog, page 108

Southwest Airlines Has Lost What Set it Apart

Throughout the past several months, Southwest Airlines announced a number of controversial policy changes as the airline ended its longstanding "Bags Fly Free" and open seating policies. But while the moves were designed to boost profits for the airline, there's a chance the plan could backfire.

Over the years, Southwest Airlines has built a reputation as a customer-friendly budget option for travelers, offering two free checked bags for every passenger and an open seating plan with no premium seats or packages. However, with all of these changes, it's clear that Southwest is changing its identity.

As Kyle Stewart of Live and Let's Fly points out, these short-sighted changes could actually pose a major problem for Southwest in the long run since the airline has done away with all of the things that set it apart from the other major airlines without any major advantages.

"Change fees? Technically still free, but now they’ll gladly keep your fare difference as a travel credit (and if you forget about it? Their gain as they have reduced the eligible period for those credits). Wanna get early boarding? Pay for EarlyBird. Seat assignments, baggage charges (something a few choice commenters said would never happen when I called it out months ago) are all extra now just like they are at every other carrier. Southwest is no longer the rogue alternative to the majors—it is a major, and it behaves like one. What’s worse is that Southwest went from underperforming but profitable to underperforming and posting losses in some of the highest demand periods on record," Stewart wrote for Live and Let's Fly.

These changes actually now lead to some major disadvantages.

"The charm is fading. So is the differentiation," Steward added. "Southwest is just like every other carrier in the US but it has a disadvantage: its lack of an international market. It sought to change that this week, filing for every market in which OpenSkies agreements apply, along with its recent tie up with IcelandAir. It knows the problem, but can Southwest start flying to London from Boston with its current 737 fleet? Maybe, but does the market need more capacity? Probably not."

As Stewart alluded, Southwest has taken some initial steps toward expanding its international offerings. We'll have to see whether or not that is enough to allow it to be competitive with the other airlines after eliminating all of the things that set it apart.

‘The Boys’ Creator Explains How Far Butcher May Go to Defeat Homelander

After four seasons of chaos, off-the-wall decision-making and attempts to one-up the world's strongest television (anti) superhero, things may get even more unhinged in Season 5—at least for one star.

Billy Butcher, played by Karl Urban, was the initial leader of 'The Boys,' and he's held that role sporadically in recent seasons, but hardly at all in Season 4. Butcher's usage of Temp-V, a serum that gives people superhero abilities for a brief period, ultimately destroyed his body.

Butcher's declining health after using Temp-V and his decision to continue to do so have sparked questions about his storyline's direction in the final season. During a recent interview with TV Insider, The Boys creator, Eric Kripke, was asked if there's "any shred of goodness" left in Butcher after turning full Supe for the final stretch of Season 4.

Karl Urban, from the series 'The Boys,' poses at the Variety Studio at SXSW 2022 at JW Marriott Austin.

Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images

Although Kripke wouldn't give any spoilers, his answer offered at least a glimpse of how bad things may have to get for Butcher to take down the person he's chased since Season 1: Homelander.

"Is he a man or a monster? And does he have to turn himself into a monster in order to defeat Homelander? And is there any part of him left that’s still human?" Kripke responded. "I think what you’re asking is the big question of the series, and so I don’t want to give that away. It’s a big concern."

Homelander's case as the strongest force of the entire show is nearly impossible to argue. In turn, is there any legitimate reason to believe Butcher, or any singular person—superhero or non-superhero, could defeat him?

'The Boys' has never pulled punches; fans have seen it push the limits in multiple fashions. Most importantly, it's never put a focus on the "good guys" emerging victorious, and considering where things stand for Butcher, there's a debate over whether he's even considered to be on that side of the fence, as Kripke insinuated.

If Butcher is going to go toe-to-toe with Homelander, which continues to sound like an expected outcome, the debate over whether he remains "human" or a "superhero" may need to go out the window quickly.

Related: 'The Boys' Creator Makes Big Homelander, Butcher Admission Ahead of Final Season

Costco’s Al Pastor Sandwich Debuts to Mixed Reviews

Costco’s food court just got a little bigger—at least south of the border. A new item, the Al Pastor Torta, recently landed on menus in Mexico, featuring al pastor pork, gouda cheese, and avocado sauce on a ciabatta-style roll. But based on online reactions, it’s not exactly being welcomed with open arms.

The sandwich was first spotted on Reddit, where users posted a photo of the new item and its description. Some called it “a good idea,” while others were less kind. “Tortas are awesome but that looks sad,” one person wrote. “Looks gross,” added another. A third chimed in: “It will be a difficult competition here in Mexico, you can find a local torta de pastor in the next block from almost any Costco, and most likely will be cheaper.”

Still, not everyone hated the idea. In fact, several users asked why the U.S. food court hasn’t added it. “Every other country food court beats ours,” one person said. "We need this in US along with the poutine from Canada menu," another wrote. As of now, the torta is only available in Costco Mexico.

Related: Costco Just Rolled Out a Major Change for Shoppers

One redditor actually tried the new offering, writing, "I just tried it. The bread and Gouda 10/10, the avocado dressing is ok but not really a replacement for salsa. The pastor though 6/10, can’t match local fresh pastor which is cheaper. I have a feeling this product would do much better in the US than here in Mexico."

Costco’s U.S. food court remains rooted in fan favorites: the $1.50 hot dog combo, pizza slices, chicken Caesar salad, chicken bakes, smoothies, and big chocolate chip cookies. Executives have repeatedly reassured shoppers that the hot dog price isn’t going anywhere despite economic pressures.

The new torta may not win any food styling awards, but the online debate shows that fans still care deeply about what makes the cut at Costco’s food court. And whether they’re applauding or cringing, they’re definitely watching.

For now, if you want to try the sandwich, you’ll have to head to Mexico.

Related: Energy Drink Ingredient Flagged in New Cancer Study

Wes Anderson Gives Honest 3-Word Description of Gene Hackman

Without a doubt, one of the greatest films of Gene Hackman's career was the 2001 Wes Anderson masterpiece The Royal Tenenbaums. But, somewhat infamously, the veteran actor didn't exactly mesh with the much younger Anderson, and, because Anderson paid all the actors a flat-rate, Hackman, was, by many accounts, frustrated.

"We had friction," Anderson said bluntly in an interview with The Times, just ahead of the debut of his new film, The Phoenician Scheme, at the Cannes Film Festival. "Gene was very annoyed about the money...He was furious. Also, he didn’t want to do the film anyway. I talked him into it," Anderson added.

Related: Gene Hackman's Net Worth Proves He Was No Lex Luthor

When Anderson was making The Royal Tenenbaums, he would have only been in his early 30s. At the time, even though Bottle Rocket and Rushmore had been well received, Anderson was still an indie director with a relatively small following. Today, we tend to think of Anderson as one of the great modern-day auteurs. But that reputation partly comes from the success of Tenenbaums, a movie that transformed the global perception of Anderson from a twee curiosity into a cinematic powerhouse.

Following Hackman's death earlier this year, Tenenbaums co-star Bill Murray also recalled that Anderson and Hackman had a rough relationship on the set of the movie, saying that "He was really difficult, we can say it now, but he was a tough guy."

As Anderson pointed out in the new interview, Hackman did eventually tell him that he'd liked The Royal Tenenbaums. "He liked [the movie]. But he told me he didn’t understand it when we were shooting," Anderson said.

Wes Anderson's new film, The Phoenician Scheme, stars Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, and Hope Davis. After its debut at Cannes, it will hit theaters on May 30.

The Royal Tenenbaums streams on Hulu.

Related: 'The Phoenician Scheme' Trailer Is the Most Wes Anderson Thing Ever

Referee Issues Statement on Caitlin Clark's Foul on Angel Reese

Saturday's season-opening showdown between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky was largely uncompetitive, with the Fever beating the Sky by 35 points to begin the season. However, there was one moment in the game that ignited a lot of discourse.

During the third quarter of Saturday's game, Caitlin Clark knocked Sky forward Angel Reese to the ground with a hard foul that was eventually upgraded to a Flagrant 1 foul after a video review.

After the game, Clark downplayed the foul as she made it clear that there was no malicious intent with the foul. Clark insisted that the foul was just a good basketball play given the situation.

"It's just a good take foul," Clark explained to ESPN's Holly Rowe after the game. "Either Angel gets wide open two points or we send 'em to the free throw line. Nothing malicious about it. It's just a good take foul, every basketball player knows that."

However, crew chief Roy Gulbeyan did not agree with Clark's assessment of the foul, deeming the play "not a legitimate basketball play" and "unnecessary contact."

"Okay, the foul on Clark met the criteria for Flagrant Foul 1, for wind up, impact, and follow through for the extension of the left hand to Reese's back, which is deemed not a legitimate basketball play, and therefore deemed unnecessary contact. After the foul, there is a physical taunt technical on Boston and a verbal technical on Reese, which offset," Gulbeyan said after the game.

Regardless, it was just another chapter in the rivalry between Clark and Reese.

Delta CEO Calls For Air Traffic Control Modernization

While most aspects of air travel have become much more modern over the past several decades, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian says there is one area that the airline industry has failed to modernize over the years – air traffic control.

During an appearance on "The Today Show" on Thursday, Bastian claimed that the Delta flight between Hartsfield Jackson Airport in Atlanta and LaGuardia Airport in New York City actually takes longer today than it did when the airline began offering the route in the 1950s.

"What happens is in order to keep it safe, everything gets slowed down at the sign of any kind of risk," he said, according to Business Insider.

Bastian claimed that the reason for this delay is the air traffic control system, which has not been modernized and uses many of the same systems and instruments that it used in the 1960s.

"That's the air traffic control system. It's very slow, it's congested, but it's not congested; there's plenty of space if you modernize the skies and you can kind of bring greater efficiency," he said.

Bastian says that air traffic control could and should modernize, making use of satellite technologies and GPS. He also suggested updating the radar and radio systems that air traffic controllers are still using from the 1960s.

US Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy recently addressed this issue on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, highlighting the problem of old, antiquated equipment.

"The equipment that we use, much of it we can't buy parts for new," Duffy said via Business Insider. "We have to go on eBay and buy parts if one part goes down. You're dealing with really old equipment. We're dealing with copper wires, not fiber, not high-speed fiber, and so this is concerning."

Clearly, this is a significant problem for the airline industry. It will certainly be interesting to see how it is solved in the coming years.

Jack Quaid Announces 'Novocaine' Is Available to Stream

Actor Jack Quaid has made a big announcement about a popular movie.

The actor and son of Hollywood royalty has been in demand with a number of movie projects, two of which have hit major streaming platforms.

His movie Novocaine is now available to stream on Paramount+.

Quaid made the announcement on his YouTube page. "👍🏻Hey there! Nathan Caine here. NOVOCAINE is NOW STREAMING on @paramountplus. Check it out if you haven’t already, it’s a brutally fun ride that I’m so unbelievably proud to be a part of. #novocaine #novocainemovie #paramountplus," Quaid wrote on May 13, 2025.

Quaid included a series of photos and videos from the Novocaine set with his Instagram post. Jack Quaid has more than 2 million followers on Instagram.

Quaid is the son of actors Dennis Quaid and Meg Ryan.

Novocaine has proved popular with audiences. The film has an 85% positive score with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes and 81% with critics.

"When the girl of his dreams (Amber Midthunder) is kidnapped, everyman Nate (Jack Quaid) turns his inability to feel pain into an unexpected strength in his fight to get her back," the caption on Rotten Tomatoes reads.

According to CBR, Novocaine "has earned $34.2 million worldwide against a budget of $18 million." It debuted in the number one spot during its first week in theaters, CBR reported.

Meanwhile, Quaid's Instagram page says his other hit movie Companion is available to stream on Max.

On April 18, Quaid wrote on Instagram, "Psst @companionmovie is now streaming on @streamonmax. Check it out if you haven’t already."

Quaid is definitely in demand. "Two heads are better than one. Heads of State is coming to Prime Video July 2," a promotional post on his Instagram page reports, referring to another project he's involved in.

Related: Tom Cruise Reveals Honest Thoughts on 'John Wick' Spin-Off 'Ballerina'

TSA Issues Statement on New Facial Recognition Technology

If you've flown commercially in the United States over the past several months, it's likely that you have encountered new technology at the TSA security checkpoint that uses a real-time photo of your face to confirm your identity. However, passengers have begun to have questions about what happens to their facial scan after that photo is taken.

For years, the TSA's Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) has been used to verify the identity of travelers and their flight details. However, the new CAT units, referred to as CAT-2 have been equipped with a camera that captures a real-time photo of the traveler, allowing for enhanced security.

The new technology has already been rolled out in 84 airports across the nation and is expected to be in more than 400 airports “over the coming years,” according to the TSA website.

The TSA has said that this new technology enhances security and allows the agency to better confirm the identity of travelers.

“Identity verification of every traveler prior to flying is a key step in the security screening process,” said Gerardo Spero, TSA’s Federal Security Director for Pennsylvania and Delaware, in a TSA news release. “This technology enhances detection capabilities for identifying fraudulent IDs such as driver’s licenses and passports at a checkpoint and it increases efficiency by automatically verifying a passenger’s identification. We just want to ensure that you are who you say you are.”

 “This latest technology helps ensure that we know who is boarding flights,” Spero continued. “Credential authentication plays an important role in passenger identity verification. It improves a TSA officer’s ability to validate a traveler’s photo identification while also identifying any inconsistencies associated with fraudulent travel documents.” 

Still, there has been some pushback against the new technology, with a recent piece in Huffpost urging travelers to opt out of the facial recognition technology. However, the TSA insists that those photos are used in real time for identification purposes only and are not stored.

A TSA spokesperson told Huffpost in a statement that “a real-time picture simply means that an image is taken at the kiosk and that ‘live’ photograph is matched against the image on the identification credential.”

This statement is in line with what the TSA has previously said about the technology.

“Photos are not stored or saved after a positive ID match has been made, except in a limited testing environment for evaluation of the effectiveness of the technology,” TSA states.

Still, if a traveler has any reservations about the new technology, they are free to opt out of the facial scan.

“There is no issue and no delay with a traveler exercising their rights to not participate in the automated biometrics matching technology,” the TSA says on its website.

'Outdoors Boys' Dad Luke Nichols Quits Beloved YouTube Channel

The beloved YouTube channel Outdoor Boys is no more.

According to Outkick, Outdoor Boys is "run by father-of-three Luke Nichols."

In a May 17 video on his YouTube channel titled "Goodbye," Nichols announced he was retiring the channel. The video has more than 6 million views in less than 24 hours.

"Hey, everyone. This is going to be my last video for a while," he announced.

He said he's made 1,110 videos. "It's been a wild ride," Nichols said, adding that there have been "so many late nights " editing, camping, and running the channel.

He said in the YouTube video that he's made "wonderful memories," but "even good things can be taken too far." He said the attention that his videos bring means that his family has been viewed billions of times.

"The sheer volume of fans trying to talk to me... can be overwhelming at times," Nichols says. He said he and his wife were concerned about the impact of the attention on their family and whether they could live normal lives if they continued.

The news surprised and disappointed fans.

"YouTuber Outdoor Boys (14.8m subs) just announced he’s retiring the channel for now. One of the most wholesome creators on the platform stepping away due to the fame and to focus on helping others/his children’s channels. End of an era," wrote a fan on X.

Nichols started his channel in 2015 to "share his love of fishing, camping, and enjoying the wilderness with his boys," Outkick reported.

Along the way, he posted a series of videos that highlighted "surviving in nature," according to Outkick.

The Outdoor Boys channel says, "Me and my boys, Tommy, Nate and Jacob are the Outdoor Boys. We love all things outdoors: family projects and adventures, travel, forging, camping, campfire cooking, fossil hunting, magnet fishing, metal detecting, goofing around whatever we darn-well feel like!!"

Nichols' page has 14.9 million subscribers.

Nichols said he is going to focus on other things for now. He said he has three kids who want to run YouTube channels. He wants to step back and "focus on helping other people for a change."

He said he does have some half-finished videos, and he might post them at the end of the year "in one big dump."

Nichols said he's hoping people can go find people they can help if they found his videos helpful to them.

Related: Youtuber’s Investigation Leads to Car, Possible Human Remains of Missing Marine

Mexican Navy Breaks Silence After Ship Crashes Into Brooklyn Bridge, Leaves 20 Injured

Those going for a walk along the water near the Brooklyn Bridge were treated to a truly frightening scene when a ship collided with the bridge.

Two large masts were seen splitting in half as horrified onlookers watched the ship cruise in their general direction before coming to a halt just before hitting the pier. Three people are in critical condition, with 17 other people injured in the incident, according to a report from CNN.

The New York Police Department revealed a sailboat hit the bridge around 8:26 p.m. and multiple people are being “aided." Multiple reports emerged revealing there were more than 200 people aboard the ship - which was later identified as the Cuauhtemoc of the Mexican Navy.

The New York Post shared details of the ship:

The vessel, built in Spain in 1982 with the sole purpose of training cadets, had been in the city as part of a promotion for next year’s Sail4th tall ship event, which celebrates America’s 250th birthday.

The stop is just the third in the vessel’s eight-month voyage around the globe, which offers the Mexican cadets the opportunity to flex their sailing muscles in environments like Jamaica, Iceland, Portugal and more.

This year’s class boasts 175 cadets, the largest class the nation’s navy has seen yet.

Video of the incident was caught from several different perspectives, equally terrifying.

A massive pirate ship just hit the Brooklyn Bridge pic.twitter.com/eWRvh8Ognn

— Corso (@Corso52) May 18, 2025

Just watched the Brooklyn Bridge get smoked live by a boat with a massive Mexican flag pic.twitter.com/R8eJKwJaJ2

— Nelson Slinkard (@TheWillieNelson) May 18, 2025

Not long after the incident, the Mexican Navy issued a statement on social media.

"During the sailing maneuver of the Cuauhtémoc sailboat in New York, a mishap occurred with the Brooklyn Bridge, causing damage to the training ship, preventing the continuation of the training cruise for the time being," the translated statement read.

"The status of personnel and equipment is being reviewed by naval and local authorities, who are providing support. The Navy reaffirms its commitment to personnel safety, transparency in its operations, and excellent training for future officers of the Mexican Navy."

Victims are being transported to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, with those in critical condition being taken to a nearby hospital for additional treatment, according to the NY Post.

Related: Grocery Store Chain Suddenly Closes All Locations