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People in China will not be able to travel on planes or trains if they’ve committed recent “social misdeeds,” the Chinese government announced Friday.The list of “misdeeds” includes things like causing problems on planes, attempting to use expired tickets or smoking on trains and not paying fines, to more nefarious accusations, like spreading false information about terrorism.Any of these infractions would mean the citizen has “bad social credit,” and would be barred from traveling on planes and/or trains for up to one year, according to statements from China’s National Development and Reform Commission....

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.Emirates is currently working on updating and reconfiguring a small sub-fleet of 10 Boeing 777-200LR aircraft which it operates on very few routes, including Dubai (DXB) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL). As part of the reconfiguration, these aircraft will lose the first-class cabin as well as the middle seat in business class....

Today, TPG Assistant Editor Matt Zuzolo shares news of exciting new airline routes, including some that have just launched or are slated to begin in the future. Read on to see several new routes to look out for this month through the middle of next year.NEW ROUTES LAUNCHED IN AUGUST 2015Southwest expanded its service from Dallas Love Field. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.Dallas Love Field (DAL) to eight new cities on Southwest (starting August 9, 2015)Details — Southwest launched new flights to:Boston Logan (BOS)Charlotte (CLT)Detroit (DTW)Omaha (OMA)Philadelphia (PHL)Pittsburgh (PIT)Raleigh/Durham (RDU)Salt Lake City (SLC)These new flights began operating on August 9, 2015 with one-way fares starting at $69....

Sneaking out for a drink with some friends on a work night? Skipping out on the gym in favor of more Netflix and chill? Your boss or your spouse may never know… but Google does.The Associated Press revealed that Google tracks user information via location data on a number of Google products, including Google Maps, even when users explicitly opted out of allowing the company to store that information. The privacy issue affects around two billion global users of devices running Google’s Android operating software, as well as hundreds of millions of worldwide iPhone users who rely on Google for maps or search functionality, according to the AP....

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 always love when airlines add partners - in essence it increases the value of the points since new partners mean more redemption opportunities are available.Starting March 4, 2011, Jet Airways is now a partner of US Airways Dividend Miles....

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.Over the last few years, JetBlue’s business class product known as Mint has steadily grown in popularity. TPG was on one of the first Mint-ed flights and hasn’t stopped raving about it since. Other TPG contributors have enjoyed their experience in what’s known to be a very affordable and comfortable way to fly across the country....

Racial profiling is a serious claim, so it came as a surprise when popular travel guide book publisher Lonely Planet accused police in Switzerland of doing so. Naturally, Switzerland’s tourism team is not too happy about it.The Lonely Planet warned its readers about racial profiling in Switzerland on both its website and in the guide book, pointing out under the “Dangers and Annoyances” that “Swiss police aren’t very visible but have a reputation for performing random street searches of questionable necessity on people of non-European background or appearance....

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.This week, the Make-A-Wish Foundation launches Wishes in Flight, a month-long campaign to raise airline miles donations for wish-related travel. Each year, 10,000 kids and their families travel for wishes granted by the organization. Nearly 75% of all wishes involve travel to places including cultural sites, theme parks, sporting events and everything in between....

Update 10/4/17: TPG social media editor Samantha Rosen had an opportunity to join one of Marriott’s Master Classes, with chef Daniel Boulud in New York City.At the event, she toured the kitchen with none other than Daniel Boulud himself — and even snagged a picture with the celebrity chef.He and his staff helped Master Class participants prepare one of five courses for this truly one-of-a-kind dining experience. Each dish was paired with a wine tasting, making each course even more memorable....

Each Saturday, we round up news stories that you might have missed from the week before, including several that already appeared on The Points Guy and some more that we haven’t covered yet. If you’re an avid TPG reader, scroll down for the new stuff. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you might have missed this week.The Best and Worst US Airlines in 2018It’s still the beginning of the new year, so now is the perfect time to know the best and worst airline for the year....

This has been a busy holiday week what with killer Black Friday and Cyber Monday travel deals, and with 2013 quickly coming to an end, I’m sure more than a few of you made some mattress-running hotel reservations for the final sprint towards status.However, just to inject a little bit of fun back into the travel game, and to take the pressure off when it comes to elite status, for this week’s Thursday Giveaway, the folks over at Club Carlson have given me two $500 gift cards and two of their highest-tier Concierge level status valid through February 2015 to give away to lucky readers....

Fast on the heels of the recently ended 100% bonus on purchased US Airways miles comes another promotion, this time for a bonus of up to 50% on shared or transferred miles. This offer is good until July 31, 2012 and accumulates in the following increments:Miles : Bonus1,000-9,000 miles : 10%10,000-19,000 miles: 20%20,000-29,000 miles: 30%30,000-39,000 miles: 40%40,000-50,000 miles: 50%Not ImpressedBefore you even ask if this is worth it, I’m going to say that I’m pretty unimpressed with both the fact that you can only take advantage of this on a single share either as donor or recipient, and the figures look a bit dismal as it costs 1 cent a mile to share plus a $30 processing fee per transaction (and a 7....

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.The Sheraton Lisbon hotel is celebrating 40 years in business by running a sale for rooms at 40 Euros a night ($52). There are four rooms per night available and a quick look at availability here showed lots of nights still available- even during peak summer weeks....

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.An American Airlines executive has confirmed that the carrier will offer lie-flat seats with its 757s on some transcontinental routes.American’s Vice President of Planning Vasu Raja told employees on Thursday that the future of the airline’s 757s with lie-flat seats is on domestic routes....

Tuesday night around 7:10pm at New York’s JFK airport, the wingtip of Delta flight 2503 bound for Seattle struck American Airlines flight 290 bound for Dublin, while both planes were on the ground. The collision, which damaged both aircraft but was far harder on the AA jet, resulted in no injuries to passengers or crew onboard. American Airlines said 121 passengers and nine crew were on board.While the official FAA accident report will tell us exactly what happened, initial reports put both aircraft on an active taxiway when the collision occurred....

US airlines have become rather sqeamish about involuntarily bumping passengers ever since United Airlines was lambasted by the public after the Chicago police dragged a semi-conscious passenger off one of its planes earlier this year so that the airline could instead puts its own employees in the seats. However, on Friday, Delta took being cautious to the next level when it paid $4,000 in compensation to get a single passenger to give up her seat on a flight less than two hours long, all while still making it to her destination later the same night....

Emirates Airlines Flight EK203 from Dubai (DXB) was quarantined Wednesday morning, away from Terminal 4 at New York John F. Kennedy Airport, after dozens of passengers on board reported feeling ill during the flight.Initial reports said that at least 100 passengers fell ill on the flight with fevers of 100 degrees or more and coughing. That number has since been downgraded, but it remains unclear exactly how many passengers have fallen ill....

Another week, another controversial viral airline incident. This time JetBlue was caught up in the mix, only two months after getting flack for removing a family off a flight over a birthday cake. Now, video has emerged of a family of five being kicked off a JetBlue flight after one of their children kicked the seat in front of them. While the incident occurred on June 21, the footage is just appearing now....

Hurricane Ophelia is less than a day away from a direct hit on the Irish coast near the city of Cork. The weakening cyclone is expected to pound Ireland with hurricane-force winds on Monday. The Met Éireann — Ireland’s National Meteorological Service — has extended its highest possible “Status Red” weather alert to cover the counties of Wexford, Galway, Mayo, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford.As of the 11am Eastern update on Sunday, Hurricane Ophelia has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane with top sustained winds of 90 mph....

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.As a reminder, today’s the last day to earn 1,000 free American AAdvantage miles. AAdvantage members have up until 1pm ET today to earn 1,000 AAdvantage miles by taking a simple course and quiz on the AAdvantage program....