But what if your commute was a flight that was just over 90 minutesand that you could take as often as you wanted for a flat fee?

Star Flyer, a regional airline in Japan, is testing that idea with a 30-day package of unlimited flights between Tokyo and Kitakyushu, a city of around 900,000 on the northern coast of Japans southern Kyushu island that serves as the airlines home base. The 30-day period began in mid-May and will end June 13.

Those under the age of 26 can book as many flights as they want in three time slotsmorning, midday and eveningon any weekend and weekday for just $286, according to Bloomberg.

Millennials and older generations dont get quite as nice a deal, however, with the unlimited flights costing them $1,100. 

The airline has, so far at least, issued 90 passes through a lottery from a pool of 550 applicants, according to the report.

Remote work

Star Flyer has suggested that it wanted to target remote workers as early as last year, seeing them as a way to revive the airlines fortunes during the COVID pandemic.

In October, the airline announced plans for a monthly subscription allowing unlimited flights between Tokyo and the southwestern city of Fukuoka, just under two hours flight away. The package would have cost between $1,300 and $2,600, but came with a perk: rented accommodation in Fukuoka, with cheaper living costs than the capital of Tokyo.

Demand for business travel is still weak, which is one of the reasons we consider relocation as a way to cultivate new demand, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg at the time. 

Like other firms in Asia, Japanese companies did not embrace remote work as much as their American or European counterparts during the COVID pandemic. 

Even during the countrys COVID wavesand despite the governments urging that people should stay at homeJapanese employees often continued to commute into the office due to an office culture that prized in-person interaction and a slow adoption of remote working tools.

Opinions on remote work among Japanese companies appear to be evenly split. Almost 40% of Japanese companies plan to return to pre-COVID working practices, according to a May survey from financial research company Teikoku Databank. A slightly smaller proportion suggested they would maintain their remote work policies even after COVID. 

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of plaintiff Combs Wines and Spirits LLC, claims Diageo, the U.K. company behind Guinness beer and Johnny Walker scotch, treated Mr. Combs and his brands worse than others because he is Black.

Both Diageo and chief executive Ivan Menezes, according to the entrepreneur, have put their feet on the neck of Mr. Combs brands. The hip-hop artist is seeking billions of dollars in damages over the alleged breach.

While Diageo has undoubtedly violated its contractual obligations and unfairly lined its own pockets, this case is not an ordinary contract dispute in which a party chooses to disregard its contractual promises due to greed and profit, it asserted. Rather, and similar to the realities experienced by many people of color in the United States, Diageos treatment of its business relationship with Mr. Combs was tainted by racial prejudices.

Shares in the beverages group, the sixth largest in the world by value with a market cap of about $96 billion, rose marginally in London trading on Thursday.

In a statement provided to Fortune, the company rejected the claims in the strongest possible terms, categorically denying his allegations and pledging to vigorously defend itself against the meritless lawsuit.

This is a business dispute, and we are saddened that Mr. Combs has chosen to recast this matter as anything other than that, the company said, adding the music industry magnate ignored its attempts to resolve the issue amicably. While we respect Mr. Combs as an artist and entrepreneur, his allegations lack merit, and we are confident the facts will show that he has been treated fairly. 

The founder of Bad Boy Records is a legend in the music scene, with author and music industry expert Zack OMalley Greenburg estimating in October Combs wealth at $1 billion, making him only the third hip-hop artist to be minted a billionaire after Jay-Z and Kanye West. 

In 2007, Combs agreed to use his name and influence to help Diageo market its Ciroc brand, promoting the vodka in exchange for a portion of the revenue.

The partnership proved so successful the two sides later teamed up in 2013 to acquire DeLeon tequila in a joint venture that gave Combs a greater role. 

According to the entrepreneur, however, Diageo withheld resources from the brand in particular after the U.K. company purchased two new luxury tequila brands for a combined $1.4 billion in the following four years. One of them, Casamigos, was co-founded by white celebrity George Clooney, Combs lawyers pointed out.

Following its acquisition of these competing brands, Diageo effectively abandoned DeLeo, the claim stated. 

Combs claims Diageo leadership resented him for making too much money

The core of the argument seems to rest with a belief that Diageo mainly was motivated by a desire to appear as if it supported diversity and inclusion, but behind closed doors treated DeLeon as an ethnic brand to be marketed primarily to black inner-city consumers. 

This led to the spirit being distributed to just 3.3% of all possible outlets as of last year versus 34% and 36% for Diageos wholly-owned Casamigos and Don Julio brands. 

Combs said Diageo intentionally starved retailers of inventory and even neglected to provide DeLeon the agave needed for distilling tequila amid a 2020 shortage.  

Moreover the complaint cited an apparent admission made to him by Stephen Rust, Diageos president in charge of new business as well as the groups luxury portfolio dubbed Reserve.

Rust directly acknowledged the companys racist undertones in 2019, telling Mr. Combs that some within Diageos leadership resented him for making too much money, it asserted. 

The complaint also said Rust admitted that Combs race was part of the reason Diageo limited the neighborhoods where the products were sold.

If Mr. Combs were [white celebrity] Martha Stewart, Mr. Rust said, things would be different, the lawsuit alleged, adding cloaking itself in the language of diversity and equality is good for Diageos business, but it is a lie.

The U.K. company disputed that portrayal, claiming it had made significant investments in their joint business ventures amid the groups steadfast commitment to diversity.

Skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow (Fed policymakers) to see more data before making decisions about whether to further increase rates, said Fed Governor Philip Jefferson in a speech Wednesday. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker made similar comments Wednesday.

Jefferson has been nominated by President Joe Biden to be the Feds vice chair, though he has yet to be confirmed by the Senate. But his nomination places him close to the center of Fed policymaking.

Including Jefferson, three top Fed officials have been united in support of the idea of skipping a rate hike in June, despite a slew of tough talk from other Fed policymakers and a disappointing inflation report last week.

On May 19, Fed Chair Jerome Powell hinted that he also supported pausing rate hikes at the June meeting, to give the Fed time to evaluate the economic impact of its previous rate increases.

And John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, another key member of the Feds leadership, has also indicated he would prefer to hold off from lifting rates at the June meeting.

All the pieces of a skip are here and told more forcefully than in past weeks, Tim Duy, chief U.S. economist at SGH Macro Advisors, said.

The Fed has implemented 10 straight rate hikes over the past 14 months, pushing its benchmark interest rate to about 5.1%, the highest in 16 years. The rate increases have made mortgages, auto loans, credit card borrowing, and business loans more expensive. Fed officials hope that higher rates will slow spending, cool the economy, and bring down inflation.

Tough talk on inflation from other Fed officials continued this week. Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, expressed support for another hike in June during an interview published Wednesday in the Financial Times.

I dont really see a compelling reason to pause meaning wait until you get more evidence to decide what to do, she said. I would see more of a compelling case for bringing (rates) up.

And last Friday, a report showed that U.S inflation picked up to 4.4% in April, compared with a year ago, up from 4.2% in March, according to the Feds preferred inflation measure. That is far above the Feds target of 2%. Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, core prices rose 4.7% from a year ago, also higher than the previous month.

The inflation figures and comments from officials such as Mester caused Wall Street traders to put the odds of a rate hike in June as high as 70% early Wednesday.

But Jeffersons remarks, as well as similar comments by Harker, reversed traders expectations, with markets pricing in 65% odds of no hike in June later Wednesday afternoon.

I am definitely in the camp of thinking about skipping any increase in this meeting, Harker said. He is a voting member of the Feds interest-rate setting committee this year, while Mester is not.

Both Jefferson and Harker were much more explicit, however, than Fed officials have been previously about their willingness to return to rate hikes at upcoming meetings, should inflation show few signs of declining.

A decision to hold our policy rate constant at a coming meeting should not be interpreted to mean that we have reached the peak rate for this cycle, Jefferson said.

We might have to do more in subsequent meetings, Harker said. And Im willing to do that, but I want to give it a little bit of time.

Not sure what the difference is or how they work? Heres a breakdown of FICO vs. VantageScore and how they impact your finances.

FICO vs. VantageScore 

FICO and VantageScore are two widely used credit scoring models that help lenders determine your risk as a borrower. Theyre also often used by landlords, utility companies, and even employers to evaluate your history with borrowing money and paying bills. Both scoring models range between 300 and 850 and evaluate factors such as your payment history, amount of credit used, length of credit history, and more.

However, thats where the similarities end. FICO and VantageScore calculate your scores differently, and are used in different situations. Heres an overview of some of the main ways these two scoring models differ. 

Understanding how both your FICO and VantageScore credit scores work is important, because theyre both widely used in lending decisions and other important financial situations. What one lender considers as a good credit score, another lender might consider as just fair, depending on the credit-scoring model used, says Carlos Medina, senior vice president and head of sales, strategic partnerships, operations and business development at One Technologies, the developers of ScoreSense. So read on for a more in-depth overview of each.

What is FICO?

A FICO score is one brand of credit score. It stands for the Fair Isaac Corporation, which was one of the first companies to develop a credit scoring algorithm based on information contained in consumer credit reports. The FICO credit score was introduced in 1989 in an effort to democratize fair access to credit by helping to replace human judgment with a data-driven credit assessment and took prejudice out of the equation as the analytic tool does not consider race, age, gender, or marital status.

Today, there are many companies that provide credit scores, all based on their own scoring models. However, FICO is still the most common score used by lenders and creditors when evaluating borrowers. In fact, FICO estimates that its scores are used by 90% of top U.S. lenders when making lending decisions.

How FICO scores are calculated

FICO notes that there are some key differentiators between its score and other models. The most important distinction is that FICO requires a minimum scoring criteria in order to provide an accurate number. This means that in order to receive a valid FICO score, your credit report must reflect: 

• At least one account opened for at least six months or more, and 
• At least one account reported to the credit bureau in within the past six months, and
• No indication that the individual is deceased

FICO Scores are calculated using a variety of data points from your credit reports. However, this data can be categorized into five main factors that impact your score: payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%), and credit mix (10%)

You might also be surprised to learn that you actually have several FICO scores, all of which are a bit different. Quite a bit has changed since the first FICO score was introduced, and its scoring model has been updated over the years to account for changes such as lender requirements, data reporting practices, consumer behavior, and more.

Medina says the most widely used version today is FICO Score 8, though FICO Score 9 is also used often. He adds that there are also industry-specific FICO scores based on the type of credit youre attempting to get, including the FICO Auto Score and FICO Bankcard Score. 

FICO score ranges

In general, the higher your FICO score, the more attractive you appear as a borrower. On the other hand, the lower your score, the less likely you are to be approved for credit. And if you are approved, youre more likely to pay higher interest rates.

Each lender has its own strategy for incorporating FICO scores into lending decisions, and each will have its own cutoff for whats considered an acceptable level of risk for a borrower. That said, FICO scores generally fall into the following ranges:

The good news is you dont have to have excellent credit to borrow money at affordable rates. Based on these ranges, a good FICO credit score would be considered anywhere from 670 to 739. Scores in this range are near or slightly above the average of U.S. consumers, according to FICO, and are strong enough to qualify for the lowest rates and best loan terms in many cases. 

How to check your FICO score 

There are a few ways to check your FICO score. Many credit card issuers allow cardholders to view their scores for free, either on their monthly statements or by logging into their online account portal. Keep in mind, however, that most issuers only provide your score from one of the credit bureaus, not all three. American Express, for instance, provides FICO scores based on Experian credit reports, while Citibank provides scores based on Equifax reports.

If you dont get free access to your score through a credit card provideror you want a more comprehensive overview of your scores from all three bureausthere are services that provide this information for a fee, such as MyFICO. 

What is VantageScore?

VantageScore was created to introduce much needed competition into the credit scoring market, according to Jeff Richardson, senior vice president of marketing and communications at VantageScore Solutions and host of THE SCORE podcast. Founded by Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion in 2006, our mission is to use data analytics to drive innovation and inclusiongiving consumers more credit access, and helping lenders make better lending decisions, he says.

VantageScore isnt used quite as often as FICO by lenders, but it has gained quite a bit of traction over the years.

Research conducted by Charles River Associates found VantageScore credit score usage among banks, fintechs, and other financial institutions grew 46% year-over-year, from 6 billion credit scores in 2021 to almost 9 billion in 2022. Non-financial institution usage (such as telecom and utilities companies) also grew 18% year-over-year from almost 9 billion to more than 10 billion.  

How VantageScores are calculated

If youre building credit from scratch, your VantageScore can be established much faster than FICO. In fact, your score can be calculated in as little as one month of an account appearing on your credit report. Richardson notes that VantageScore can also score those that havent used credit for more than six months.

VantageScores consumer-friendlier model can issue credit scores to 3035 million people considered unscoreable by FICO, Medina adds.

However, the way your VantageScore gets calculated depends on the exact version. VantageScore 3.0 remains the most commonly used one. The newer VantageScore 4.0, which was released in 2017, is used less often. This version is similar to 3.0, but emphasizes payment history and new credit a bit more, and depth of credit a bit less. 

Here is a closer look at how these two versions of VantageScore compare.

VantageScore score ranges

Like FICO, each lender determines a borrowers acceptable level of risk based on their VantageScore, which can vary. In general, though, VantageScores can be broken down into the following ranges: 

The best rating you can have under the VantageScore model is superprime, which indicates that youre a financially responsible borrower and you can be trusted to pay back what you borrow. However, you are still considered a trustworthy borrower with prime credit and likely wont have much trouble getting approved by lenders if you fall in this range.

On the other hand, you might struggle to qualify for the best interest rates and terms if you have near-prime credit, or get approved at all if youre considered a subprime borrower.

How to check your VantageScore 

There are many ways to see your VantageScore for free. Again, many financial institutions offer free VantageScores, even to non-customers. For example, Capital One offers the CreditWise tool to anyone who signs up. Non-Slate Chase customers can view their VantageScore and credit report for free through the Credit Journey platform. Again, these banks tend to provide a single score from one of the credit bureaus and not all three.

You can also sign up with a site such as Credit Karma or Credit Sesame to see multiple VantageScores for free. However, if you want to get a comprehensive look at your VantageScores, again, youll need to sign up for a paid service.

The takeaway 

Building and improving your credit score is the key to borrowing money at affordable rates. Good credit also helps you get approved to rent an apartment, open a utility account, and more. Understanding how your scores work and how theyre calculated can help you make better decisions that lead to higher scores.

However, the best way to understand your credit is to look beyond the credit score and focus on the details in the credit report and make sure there are no discrepancies, Medina says. You can pull a free copy from all three credit bureaus at annualcreditreport.com.