Now is a great time to go, as Delta is offering cheap fares from a number of US cities to the Azores, with fares from $400 round-trip.The Azores, an archipelago of nine volcanic islands belonging to Portugal, came in at number one on the TPG list of must-visit destinations to visit in 2018. What’s so amazing about these islands in the Atlantic anyway? Read on to find out why they should be on your list to visit in 2018....
Frequent flyers have been up in arms since April over non-PreCheck travelers being filtered into PreCheck lines. The Transportation Security Administration began rearranging lines after deploying more explosive detection canines to speed along the security process.Passengers who had been sniffed by the bomb-detecting dogs were allowed through PreCheck, even if they weren’t PreCheck members, slowing down the PreCheck lines.Our TPG Lounge members saw the policy at airports in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Orlando and Atlanta....
Don’t worry - these enhancements are actually good ones! US Airways just sent out an email to Preferred (elite) members of its Dividend Miles program announcing the airline has revamped its Preferred Upgrade procedures “to increase your chances of an upgrade,“ by using “new technology” that checks for upgrades several times a day (presumably instead of just once), thereby upping their chances of scoring an upgrade.This is for elite flyers, and as usual, if you’re the highest-level Chairman’s member, you are eligible starting 7 days from departure, 4 days for Platinums, 3 days for Golds and 2 days if you’re Silver....
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.Quora.com is a question-and-answer site where content is written and edited by its community of users. Occasionally we syndicate content from the site if we think it will interest TPG readers. This article originally appeared on Quora.com in response to the question, How Many Engines Can a Boeing 747 Fly On?...
Last month, Cathay Pacific announced a devaluation of its Asia Miles program, increasing the number of miles needed for many award flights. The changes took effect on Friday, June 22, but there appear to be some bumps in the road in regards to the switchover.Normally, in order to search for Cathay award availability, you’ll want to use either British Airways’ or Qantas’ websites. But according to TPG reader Matt and others, Cathay currently isn’t showing award availability to either of these Oneworld partners....
The bad news keeps piling up for shamed ride-sharing giant Uber. In November, news surfaced that the personal information of roughly 57 million Uber users was hacked. Not only that, but the company confirmed that it had paid the hackers $100,000 to delete the stolen data and keep the breach quiet. Now, we know that the hacker responsible for it all was a 20-year-old Florida man.Three sources close to the hack confirmed to Reuters that the person responsible for the hack is a 20-year-old living in Florida, however, his identity couldn’t be established....
For you shopaholic European United MileagePlus members out there, the Chic Outlet Shopping Villages are offering members one bonus mile (award miles, not Premier-qualifying miles) for every Euro or pound sterling spent in any of the boutiques at the nine European Chic Outlet Shopping Villages.To get the credit, you have present your receipts for your shopping from the day at any Welcome/Tourist Information Center at the Village on the same day that you’ve done your shopping there and your miles should be credited to your account within 6-8 weeks....
Beloved 1980s budget airline PEOPLExpress has re-opened for business. Domestic service in the Northeast and Southeast U.S. will begin on June 30th, with fares starting at $76 each way.The new incarnation of PEOPLExpress will fly all-economy Boeing 737sPEOPLExpress originally flew from 1981-1987 until it was absorbed into Continental, and was known not only for low fares, but friendly, efficient customer service. In the current climate of fierce (and often frustrating) competition amongst budget airlines, PEOPLExpress has taxied back onto the scene with new, all-economy Boeing 737s based at Virginia’s Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport (PHF) and largely focuses on underserved routes....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Hyatt Credit CardTPG reader Victor sent me a message on Facebook to ask about a shortcut to earning Hyatt status:“I read that Hyatt Diamond status translates to M Life Platinum status, but does this work the other way around? I’ll likely reach M Life Platinum on my next visit to Las Vegas, and I’m planning a honeymoon at the Andaz in Costa Rica, so it would be great if I could boost my Hyatt status and maybe score an upgrade there!...
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.When you gotta go and the toilets are broken, well, you do what you gotta to do. For passengers on a Delta flight from New York (JFK) to Seattle (SEA) on Saturday, December 2, that meant making an emergency landing at Billings Logan International Airport in Montana after the bathrooms on board the Boeing 757 stopped working....
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.If you currently don’t have every single one of your debit and credit cards linked up to an I-dine program, you are making a huge mistake. There is no cost involved and once your cards are linked, you automatically get miles/points every time you spend money at a participating restaurant/bar....
After a big profit drops, Emirates is bouncing back. The Dubai-based carrier announced on Thursday that its first-half net profits rose 77%, with net income increasing to 2.3 billion dirhams ($630 million) in the six months that ended on September 30. In addition, sales rose 6% to 49.4 billion dirhams — it carried 29.2 million passengers, which is 4% more than the same period in 2016.The drastic increase in profits is a big change for the airline owned by the Dubai government....
If you’ve flown United within the past few months, chances are you’ve seen the airline’s Polaris branding — in the terminals, on the jetways, and, if you’re fortunate enough to land a seat in the forward section of a 777-300ER (77W), in United’s new business-class cabin itself.But while the airline has ordered four more 77Ws, that brings United’s total to just 18 of this aircraft type — for one of the world’s largest carriers, that isn’t many planes....
This post comes to us courtesy of one of our new TPG Contributors, Max Bloom. His work has him coordinating events at hotels all over the country and he’s become an expert on meeting planning, and how it can earn you both points and status. Max recently attained SPG Platinum by spending over $100,000 a year on meetings at their properties.Remember, we’re still on the lookout for new contributors to TPG who are experts on various credit cards, airlines and hotel programs and can give our readers inside tips and tricks they can’t find anywhere else....
I prefer fancy pants lie-flat airplane seats and a little bit of pampering from time to time during my travels just like anyone, but I’m by no means “addicted” to only traveling that way, so when the opportunity arises to earn or use Spirit Airlines miles, I’ll take it. Even if I can’t use the miles myself, I may be able to help someone else take a vacation they otherwise might not afford using the miles (before they expire!...
There are indications once again that the cabin electronics ban that was put in place in March on flights from 10 airports in 8 countries primarily in the Middle East and Africa will soon be expanded to flights from Europe to the United States and possibly even to flights outbound from the US to Europe.CBS News is reporting that Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have been considering expanding the ban for some time now and have met regularly with airline officials regarding the plan, with a final decision on implementation possible in the next few weeks....
Lyft is expanding its service of offering free rides to cancer patients.As part of Lyft’s existing partnership with the American Cancer Society (ACS), the company and charity are growing the Road to Recovery program that provides complimentary rides to cancer patients headed to and from their treatments. The ride-hailing company launched a test of the program in Miami last fall, and it’s proven to be successful.The program’s now available in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia St....
In a previous post I discussed the different ways you can use your current elite status to get status on another carrier by simply asking or completing a “challenge”- a shortuct toward elite status that airlines offer to lure customers away from their competitors. Elite status is extremely valuable and generally when you request a match or challenge after July 1 of each year, that status is then good until February of the year after next....
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 around the country are dealing with massive security lines, causing people to wait for hours and even miss flights on multiple occasions. Airlines have invested millions of dollars in hopes of speeding up the process for passengers, and while that may take some time, other process improvements may help reduce waits at another part of the airport....
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.From belts that loosen when you’ve eaten too much to trays that detect just how fresh your eggs are, the “smart” revolution has crept into seemingly every corner of the universe — and not always with much of a practical purpose....
