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Here’s a reminder to always listen to the safety briefing before your flight takes off. On Wednesday morning, Qantas Flight 94 took off from Los Angeles (LAX), bound for Melbourne (MEL) on board an A380. During the flight, a passenger seated in the business-class cabin dropped their phone underneath their seat and reclined the seat in order to retrieve it, resulting in a crushed phone — and fire.Passengers on the flight reportedly told the Herald Sun that before the incident was tended to, a burned rubber scent could be smelled throughout the business-class cabin....

Just because your flight is a quick hop doesn’t mean you can’t travel in style — at least in the case of this new option from Emirates. Starting December 1, 2016, the carrier will operate the world’s shortest A380 flight, from Dubai (DXB) to Doha (DOH).Prior to this announcement, the airline already flew the shortest A380 route: Dubai to Kuwait. But now Emirates is breaking its own record; the distance between DXB and DOH is all of 235 miles, and the flight is blocked at 1 hour and 10 minutes to 1 hour and 20 minutes....

Each month, airlines around the world launch and announce dozens of new flight routes and service changes — and today, TPG Senior Editor Kaeli Conforti shares just a few of the latest flights that will take to the skies this month or in the near future. Keep in mind that exact flight details (e.g., flight schedules, aircraft and more) may change based on travel dates.NEW ROUTES LAUNCHED IN MAY 2016It’s now even easier to get to Ireland from the West Coast thanks to a new Aer Lingus route....

Over the next couple weeks, I’m going to be assembling basic guides on the major frequent flyer programs. Since I know Delta best, I’ll start there and continue to edit it with more information as time goes on. If you have any questions, post them in the comments box and I’ll update them in the thread. Hopefully we can all create a constantly evolving source of information on the best way to redeem SkyMiles....

On Wednesday, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People warned African Americans about traveling with American Airlines and the potential for unfair treatment when flying with the carrier. The Department of Transportation allows air passengers to file complaints about discrimination if they feel they were discriminated against for a number of reasons.Complaints about discrimination against airlines happen with more frequency than you might think. In August 2017, the Department of Transportation received a total of 11 complaints from passengers for discrimination....

The only Iceland-based full-service carrier, Icelandair, is getting rid of its premium economy product. As of April 7, 2018, Icelandair will reportedly quit offering its Economy Comfort product to flyers.Icelandair has long offered passengers three different products: economy, Economy Comfort (premium economy) and Saga Class (business class). However, as reported by Wandering Aramean, Icelandair sent out the following note to travel agents:“In order to remain innovative and competitive, Icelandair is excited to announce changes to our Booking Class Structure, effective 07APR18....

While Russia has found its way into the news a lot lately, it seems the old adage still rings true: There’s no such thing as bad press.Travel Weekly recently reported that tour operators in the US are noticing an upswing in demand for travel to Russia by American travelers. And while there may be many reasons for the sudden renewed interest in visiting — whether due to recent news stories about the country, a strong US dollar or a natural increase following reduced travel to the region after political struggles developed with Ukraine back in March of 2014 — it’s seems Americans are once again ready and willing to explore this complicated nation....

There are some products that, while otherwise prohibitively expensive — like Emirates’ first class and Singapore’s new suite — are possible to book with points. And then there are some that aren’t.Unfortunately most of us will never get to travel on Crystal Skye, the Boeing 777-200LR owned by Crystal Cruises (and operated by a company called Comlux Aruba NV). Unlike many private wide-body planes, it is possible for anyone to book a trip on this decked-out Boeing jet, however — you’ll just need to shell out a considerable amount of money, or have some very deep-pocketed friends....

I flew JetBlue for the first time yesterday and while my experience wasn’t earth shattering, I now understand why the airline has such a cult following. In general, I feel that people are treated equally and the in-flight standard amenities are impressive. Here are the main things I liked and disliked most about my experience:Likes (in no particular order):1) Free Dunkin Donuts coffee and snack basket (one that rivals Delta’s first class snack basket)2) DirectTV....

The NAACP lifted its travel advisory against American Airlines because the carrier has made adequate changes to issues that the NAACP worried left African Americans in danger or discriminated against while flying.Speaking at the organization’s annual meeting in San Antonio, Texas, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said he is encouraged by AA’s “commitment to improve upon their internal processes and increase inclusion across their airline. We’re pleased with the outcome we’ve seen....

A city council member in charge of Paris’ housing wants to ban all Airbnb and other home-share rentals in the center of the city.“If we don’t regulate Airbnb, we will no longer have citizens in our city centers,” Ian Brossat, the city councilman, told Le Parisien. According to Brossat, Paris has lost about 20,000 homes in five years due to home-share rentals. He wants to ban the home-shares from the city, along with purchasing second homes....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Just a friendly reminder, Hyatt Diamond suite upgrade certificates expire today. However, Hyatt is flexible and will let you use them for a future booking. You might as well make a future refundable booking using the certificate and then cancel if it you don’t end up needing it!...

IAG, the owner of British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, announced today that it’s going to offer more options for flyers by adding a long-haul, low-cost carrier to its portfolio. Enter LEVEL, IAG’s latest airline, which will launch in June 2017.LEVEL will begin service from Barcelona (BCN) to Los Angeles (LAX), Oakland (OAK), Buenos Aires (EZE) and Punta Cana (PUJ) — and it plans to continue expanding its route network....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Chase Sapphire ReserveTO THE POINT: The points and miles game is certainly evolving, but it’s far from dead. Read on to learn why points and miles still matter to all kinds of travelers.Pictured above from left to right: Brian Sumers (Skift), Brian Kelly (TPG), George Hobica (Airfarewatchdog).Yesterday, TPG faced off against Airfarewatchdog’s founder and Editor-in-Chief George Hobica in a debate moderated by Brian Sumers at Skift Global Forum 2016 on the state of the loyalty industry and whether you should use points to book travel or just pay the cash value for tickets and accommodations....

Is it just me or does United seem to end up in the media with some regularity over issues related to “kicking families off the plane” or similar? Maybe I just key into those stories more since I fly United most frequently, but I just don’t seem to hear stories with the same frequency about the other airlines. Anyway, it’s another day and there is another story about United (well to be more specific, a Skywest operated flight) kicking a mom and one-year-old off a plane for crying, or unruly behavior, or being in the aisle, or being a threat…depending on which version you believe....

Ride-sharing giant Uber has settled with all 50 US states after failing to disclose it had a massive data breach.In November 2017, Uber revealed that it had been hacked and that attackers stole information from 57 million riders and drivers including phone numbers, email addresses and driver’s license numbers. Uber covered up the attack by paying $100,000 to the hackers to destroy and not release the information, an illegal act in all US states....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.Tons of dates in Jan/Feb/March. $160 roundtrip is a pretty good deal for these routes and you can even fly on UA 777s!To see these fares on United/CO, go to continental.com -> Advanced searchThen select My Dates are FlexibleChoose a random date in Jan/Feb/March and you’ll then see the calendar with what days the $139+tax fares exist....

Iceland is the latest European hotspot — at least when it comes to new nonstop routes from the US. Following a massive expansion from low-cost carrier WOW Air, the island nation now offers service from a surprising number of US gateways. New flights are planned from some of the country’s smallest international markets, too, including Cincinnati (CVG), Cleveland (CLE) and St. Louis (STL), catapulting Keflavík International Airport (KEF) into the spotlight throughout the United States....

Sign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions. The Points Guy will not share or sell your email. See privacy policy.I recently wrote about Delta’s targeted Double Elite Qualifying Promotion and bonuses for hub travel, for flights originating from Pittsburgh, Nashville, St. Louis and Raleigh-Durham.American simplified the promo by offereding double elite qualifying and triple redeemable miles for the same cities (register for each using these links PIT, RDU, BNA, STLUS Airways recently matched the promo from SAN, PIT, RDU and STL and added RIC, BOS and Delta hub MSP....

Most frequent travelers have been there: You board an aircraft early, ready to store your trusty carry-on in the overhead bin. But, when you go to open the bin, it’s filled with emergency equipment, service items or flight attendant bags. So, you either have to swim back upstream to store your bag over someone else’s seat or head farther back in the plane, delaying you on arrival.Well, on display at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany, this week are two solutions for how to give you back that overhead bin space, and both solutions look remarkably similar — adding storage compartments to the middle of the aisle....