Posts

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.Airports bring out some of the best people-watching opportunities and expose some peculiar travel habits worth exploring. Whether you frequent airports or not, you’ve definitely seen travelers wheeling around their tightly plastic-wrapped suitcases, for whatever reason. And, if you’ve ever wondered why people do this, you’re not alone — we have, too....

Winter is almost upon us, which means ski season is inching closer too. What better way to celebrate this polar vortex than a ski trip? Alaska Airlines flies to some of the most popular ski destinations, and is working with different ski resorts in various destinations to offer opportunities to ski for free by simply showing your Alaska Airlines boarding pass.The best things in life are free!The participating offers are outlined below by destination....

TPG Assistant Editor Melanie Wynne checks in on the in-flight WiFi situation on major US and international carriers and gives us a snapshot of where we can expect to connect at high speeds in the near future.Last July, we published a post called Routehappy Unveils First US & International In-Flight WiFi Report: The Best and Worst Airlines For In-flight Connectivity and in March, we posted a roundup of International Airline In-Flight WiFi....

For last week’s Thursday Giveaway, the good folks at Hyatt sent me 50,000 Gold Passport points to reward one of my readers. The point of the contest was to tell me what inspires you to travel in a 15-second video.I got a ton of great entries via Instavid, YouTube and Vine, with live-action shots, photo collages and even some animation. Team TPG and I pored over the entries - we laughed a little, we teared up a little, and most importantly we were inspired to keep traveling ourselves....

Times are good for the tourism industry in Asheville, North Carolina — a quaint, artsy town in the heart of the state’s Blue Ridge Mountain range.Asheville, known for its bevy of craft breweries, the Biltmore Estate and burgeoning local art scene, is not only growing its hotel capacity by 40% over the next four years, but also it has a booming aviation market to accommodate waves of new tourists.Over the last two years alone, Asheville Regional Airport (AVL) increased its flight capacity on weekly departing seats by 33....

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.In addition to a boarding pass, there’s one other credential adults need to get through airport security: personal identification. But, that’s not the case for travelers under the age of 18 if they’re with an adult.If someone under 18 is traveling with an adult companion in the US, they don’t need one of the government-issued ID documents in order to get through security — they just need a boarding pass....

Here’s another promo I’ve been meaning to cover for a little while now, though there’s plenty of time left to take advantage of it, so if you have upcoming hotel stays or car rentals and are looking for ways to pad your US Airways Dividend miles accounts, take a look.Now through December 31, 2012, US Airways is offering up to a 100% bonus on airline miles when you book a qualifying hotel stay or car rental with one of their partners....

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.Amex is offering 5,000 Membership Rewards points if you spend $100 on Delta by October 31, 2011. I was not eligible for this as Platinum Cardholder, but it seems like some Flyertalkers were, so I thought I’d share it....

The City of Angels has always been pegged as a dream destination for world travelers. It was named the sixth-most instagrammed city in 2016 — an indicator of its 21st century popularity — and as a testament to its status as one of the world’s great cultural destinations, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) just named Los Angeles as the host city of an upcoming Olympic Games.But not everyone has the time — or the points and miles — to travel there, so if you haven’t yet planned your beach vacation or are waiting for the summer season to cool off before heading to Disneyland, we have some some amazing Instagram photographers to satiate your LA travel appetite....

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.Chicago is getting a new nonstop option to New Zealand. Air New Zealand announced on Tuesday that it’s set to begin nonstop service between Chicago (ORD) and Auckland (AKL), beginning November 30, 2018.Air New Zealand will operate the 8,184-mile journey between ORD and AKL with one of its Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners....

Alaska Airlines just announced significant changes to its first-class upgrade policy. The impact on your upgrades will depend on how you fly the carrier — including the fare classes you purchase and more. From Alaska’s announcement, here’s a quick summary of what’s changing:Complimentary first-class upgrades on award travel, beginning December 5, 2016Qualifying fare class changes for flights booked on or after December 5, 2016Complimentary upgrades into Premium Class, launching January, 2017Changes to first-class upgrade waitlist order, beginning for flights booked on or after December 5, 2016Now, let’s dive into the details of each of these....

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 AirAsia X flight scheduled to fly from Sydney (SYD) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL) accidentally flew in the wrong direction and landed in Melbourne (MEL) on March 10, 2015, according to a report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)....

This week, I’m joining the 2017 Star Alliance MegaDo, which includes stops in Vienna, Brussels and Mallorca. We spent much of Wednesday with Austrian Airlines, getting an exclusive first look at the carrier’s brand-new premium economy seat, which launches on all long-haul flights in March 2018.Premium Economy SeatThis is the first time we’re seeing Austrian’s version of the seat, called ZIMmagic, which is manufactured by a German company called ZIM. This particular model is nearly identical to what you’ll find on Lufthansa, Austrian’s parent company....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here - British Airways Visa Signature CardJust a friendly reminder that today is the last day to apply for the 100,000 mile Chase British Airways Visa. Even if it takes a couple days to approve your application, as long as you apply today, you will be eligible for the 100,000 miles.Even if you have several other Chase cards, you are eligible for the 100k miles as long as you haven’t gotten the BA card in the past....

A large-scale study of flight attendants has found that they are significantly more likely to get cancer in their lifetimes, and that the prevalence of non-melanoma skin cancer among female flight attendants is more than four times that of the general population of women in the US.Published last week in the the medical journal Environmental Health, the study relied on data volunteered by 5,300 flight attendants in 2014 and 2015, and on the ongoing Harvard Flight Attendant Health Study, which has collected information on current and former cabin crews since 2007....

It’s no secret that the world is becoming more urban at a rapid rate. Perhaps no city is more emblematic of this trend than Lagos, Nigeria, which is on track to become the world’s most populated city, with a predicted population of nearly 100 million by the end of the century.The study on population was completed at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. According to Daniel Hoornweg, Associate Professor at the University and author of “Population predictions for the world’s largest cities in the 21st century,” Lagos isn’t the only city in Africa that will see a boom in its population....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American ExpressTPG contributor Jason Steele takes us through some of the unique transfer partners of the Starwood Preferred Guest program. The welcome bonus on both the personal and business American Express Starwood Preferred Guest cards is currently 30,000 points after $5,000 spent within 6 months, with the $65 annual fee waived the first year....

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’ve been getting a lot of requests lately to help plan mileage runs. To be honest, I’m simply not an expert at finding the best routing/deals on revenue flights. Even when I “mileage run” I usually stay a night or two and make a mini-vacation out of it and I travel enough regularly to only do it once or twice a year max....

Earlier this week, United, the official airline of the PGA Tour, announced it has partnered with the PGA to offer MileagePlus members a slew of unique new insider benefits including special discounts and access to the 32 North American golf courses within the PGA Tour’s TPC Network.MileagePlus Premier members can get up to 20% off on starting times and golf club rentals at a dozen of the Tour’s courses, including Deere Run, Las Vegas, Scottsdale and Tampa Bay, while all MileagePlus members can get up to 10% off....

With summer turning to fall, the time is now to discover Long Island’s North Fork. Filled with wineries, farmland and fresh produce, it’s a gastronome’s dream. Contributor Adee Braun is your guide to the sweet and slowed down good life just a few hours from Manhattan.Jutting into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island’s North Fork is the hard-working cousin of the daintier South Fork with its beach clubs and chic Hamptons villages....