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This is an installment in my Maximizing Elite Status series. Articles include; The Basics and Why People Mileage Run, Using ITA Matrix to Find Cheap Flights, How Much is Elite Status Worth?, Comparing Top Tier Status, Comparing Mid-Tier Status, Comparing Low Level Status, How to Get Elite Miles Without Flying, Understanding Elite Status Bump Thresholds, The Lowdown on Soft Landings, How to Cope with Losing Elite Status.While most airlines have stated qualifications, usually in miles or segments, needed to achieve elite status levels, they often give some wiggle room....

As part of United’s rollout of the new Polaris business-class product, the airline is slowing phasing out its international first-class cabin, which is still available on the 747-400 and select 777-200s and 767-300s. Those latter aircraft types are in the process of getting the new Polaris seats, and United’s removing first class at the same time. Meanwhile, the 747s are gradually being retired — the final plane is expected to operate its last scheduled flight at the end of October....

No matter where it’s been, Hurricane Irma has created some incredible sights. From utter destruction in the Caribbean to major flooding in Cuba, Irma has already made history before making landfall in the Florida Keys on Sunday morning. But, there are new visuals from the powerful storm that some have never seen before.Irma is expected to cause a life-threatening storm surge across hundreds of miles of Florida coastline, which might lead some to wonder where all of this water is coming from....

The inspiration for this post came from a friend of TPG who had a difficult experience when she traveled for the first time since having a baby. She did her due diligence before the flight since she’d be traveling with a cooler, ice and breast milk, but unfortunately didn’t contact American Airlines ahead of time to inquire about carrying on her breast pump, purse and roll-aboard suitcase. At check-in, the agent told her that she could only have two carry-ons....

Until April 2018, United offered its new Polaris business-class seat on just 14 Boeing 777-300ERs, along with a small number of retrofitted 767-300ERs — if you wanted to experience the airline’s latest product, you had to fly one of a handful of -300ER routes, or hope you’d land a last-minute swap to the refreshed 767.United has since begun to step up its Polaris game, opening a second Polaris Lounge, at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), and launching service with its first retrofitted 777-200....

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.Valentine’s Day goes far beyond traditional teddy bears and chocolate these days. Hotels around the world are turning up the romance factor in some of the most unexpected and over-the-top ways possible — booking the best suite in the house is already a given, but how about booking an entire palace?...

Q: Why did the gator cross the runway?That question may have crossed the minds of more than one passenger on Spirit Airlines Flight NK 389 from Baltimore (BWI) to Orlando International Airport (MCO), delayed Monday by an unauthorized intruder.“Only in Florida… a gator held up our Spirit Airlines plane crossing the runway at MCO on the way home from DC,” passenger Anthony Velardi posted on Facebook, along with a 10-second video of the large reptile making its way across the landing strip toward a nearby puddle....

It’s been a while since there’s been a significant change to American Airlines’ AAdvantage mileage program. So, we were anxious to see new changes loaded to the AAdvantage award chart website Thursday morning. Turns out, it’s not a massive change — but still one that might limit travelers’ upcoming award redemptions.Effective immediately, AA has capped the number of segments that you can fly on a one-way award booking. For domestic award flights, you’re limited to just three flights....

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 biggest twinjet made by Airbus will soon be able to go farther. In April, Airbus rolled out the first A350-900 ULR (Ultra Long-Range), making it the longest-range aircraft in the world. However, that’s not the only model in the the A350 family to receive a boost in range....

Update 12/28/2017: The Turkey-US visa spat has been resolved and now Americans are able to easily apply for Turkish e-visas once again.Update 10/10/17: TPG reader Richard S. was able to speak with the Turkey Consular Hotline by calling +90 312 292 2929. I called this number using my Google Voice account, and the call cost 4 cents per minute. A friendly agent picked up right away and was happy to address my questions, including:1....

After much planning and testing, we released the first TPG app, TPG To Go, back in 2014. More than a year later and after receiving some great feedback from users, we’re thrilled to announce the follow-up version of the app, TPG To Go 2.0!Along with all the tools from the first version of the app, including favorites like Pay With This, TPG Tracker and TPG Now, version 2.0 will include new features that are more customizable, making it even easier to track how you spend and monitor all of your credit cards....

This afternoon, TPG sat down with new British Airways CEO Alex Cruz. Based on reader feedback, one of the most pressing questions was about fuel surcharges: Why does British Airways continue to charge excessively high fuel surcharges on award tickets when fuel costs are so low?While he didn’t directly answer this question, he used it to pivot to another very interesting topic — the future of the Executive Club (Avios) program:The solution to all of this is the setup that I had previously at Vueling where the actual earning of points was value-based (value of the ticket) and the redemption was actually value-based (based on the actual price of the ticket at that time)....

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.Now through December 31, 2012, US Airways is offering double miles on flights booked using a Mastercard, and double elite-qualifying Preferred miles on flights paid for with a US Airways Dividend Miles Mastercard with the promo code MCDM....

Until now, the best ways to search for Star Alliance award availability have been to check the best search engines of member airlines like ANA and United. You could also have used Expertflyer to search availability on Aegean, Air Canada, Air China, Air New Zealand, Avianca, Brussels Airlines, Copa, LOT, Swiss (though ExpertFlyer shows the availability of awards that they release to their own members, which is more than what they release to Star Alliance partners), TAM and Turkish Airlines....

Update 12/23/16: It appears Garuda has pulled this promotion early (h/t Doctor of Credit) though it’s not clear if tickets on hold will be honored. Did anyone manage to book?Update 12/22/16: Based on the experience of travel expert and friend of the site Cynthia Drescher (below), this deal might be a bit too good to be true.Wow! Garuda International is currently running an unbelievable promotion: 90% off award tickets! Garuda Indonesia is calling this the “Best Deal of the Year,” but that actually might be understating it....

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 to all TPG readers in Chicago today - you can snag a free Hilton night if you are free today at 3pm Central time to Tweet them something (details announced at noon) and stop by the Wit Hotel at 201....

Icelandair is adding one more destination to its US route network. The Reykjavik-based Icelandair will launch service between Baltimore (BWI) and the capital of Reykjavik (KEF) on May 28, 2018.The BWI-KEF route will offer 4x weekly service, operated by one of Icelandair’s Boeing 757-200 aircraft. Here’s the operational schedule for the route, operating on Mondays, Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays:FI642 Baltimore (BWI) 8:35pm Departure ⇒ Reykjavik (KEF) 6:20am (+1) ArrivalFI643 Reykjavik (KEF) 3:05pm Departure ⇒ Baltimore (BWI) 7:25pm ArrivalIcelandair’s 757-200 features three cabins: Saga (business class with recliner seats), economy comfort and economy....

When I was living in Southeast Asia in the mid-1990s, Singapore had a weird reputation. On the one hand, it was a dream country for Western expatriates: developed, modern, clean, peaceful, English-speaking, with great housing and plenty of international restaurants—if you were living there for work, you were likely making serious bank. On the other, it was boring and repressive. The expats I knew there couldn’t wait to hop flights to Vietnam or Cambodia—anywhere that didn’t shut down at 10:30 on a Saturday night....

Disney is bringing back their special PhotoPass Day this year on Aug. 19 at both the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida as well as Disneyland in California. During PhotoPass Day, guests can meet rarely seen Disney characters and take cool photos with special effects and props.PhotoPass is a Disney service that has been around for years, featuring roving photographers and pre-set picture backdrops throughout the parks. Having a Disney photographer take your photo with their camera (or yours!...

Qantas is leaving Dubai, a little more than four years after setting up shop there. Dubai International (DXB) has been the stopover point on Qantas flights between London (LHR) and Sydney (SYD) since April 2013, when Qantas and Emirates formed an alliance. With the axing of Dubai from Qantas’ route network, the airline has announced it is going back to Singapore (SIN) as the replacement, meaning all Qantas flights between London and Sydney will now stop in Asia, rather than the Middle East....