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TPG reader Marie will be traveling to Japan this summer and wants to know how she should prepare for possible tensions between the US and North Korea and how it may affect her trip:“My friends and I are all set to travel to Japan this July. I personally booked an award ticket via United Airlines for as low as 65,000 miles and $50.50! While proud of my low mileage cost and excited with our plans, I cannot help but think of how our Japan trip will be affected if North Korea continues on with its threat towards the US and the world....

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.Virgin Atlantic shared on Wednesday the details of some additions and changes to its route map. First up, the airline shared that it’s going to start nonstop flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and Las Vegas (LAS) beginning March 31, 2019, with tickets available for sale beginning Saturday, May 19, 2018....

TPG reader Teresa sent me a message on Facebook to ask about travel apps:“Can you recommend an app for tracking points, miles and promotions?”Keeping rewards and loyalty accounts organized is a good way to avoid making some costly award travel mistakes. Thankfully, there are a number of tools out there that can help you stay on top of your points, miles and more. Best of all, many of them are free....

You might want to flash a smile in your next passport photo, according to a new study.The University of York has found that smiling in your passport photo could potentially thwart identity fraud. Their researches studied ways to better identify people through photos — an important issue for authorities trying to identify fake or forged passports. The study found that some people had difficulty identifying people when their facial expression was neutral, and that it was easier to match photos where the individual was smiling in both pictures....

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.Not too long ago, the UK experienced a beer shortage and pubs were rationing the potent potable. Now, a chain of London pubs are offering up pints of it to customers for free.Young’s & Co. Brewery, a British pub chain with more than 100 establishments, is celebrating its 187th birthday on Thursday, Sept....

Yesterday, Houston-bound United Flight #1031 hit a patch of severe turbulence, which left at least 14 injured. According to a statement from United, “paramedics met the aircraft to provide medical care” with nine passengers and one crew member taken to the hospital for further treatment and evaluation. Some reports show passengers being wheeled out of the airport wearing neck braces.According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Boeing 737 “reported encountering severe turbulence in Mexican airspace about 80 miles east of Cancun....

Are you headed to Dublin on your next adventure? Easily navigated by scanning the cathedral skyline and winding River Liffey, the Irish capital is a booming hub for nightlife and day tours alike. Stop for a roadside chicken burger and a pint on Grafton Street on your way to the National Museum or Dublin Castle, or simply enjoy any decent weather that comes your way. However you like to explore new cities, Dublin is sure to accommodate any taste during your trip to the Emerald Isle....

With sky-high airfares this summer, I’ve been looking for any way to bring down the costs of my frequent JFK-LAX roundtrips. As I wrote about last week, I actually used miles for one-way because roundtrips were pricing at nearly $900 in coach. Granted it was somewhat last minute, mid-week travel, but still - it was an unpleasant experience on the wallet.Today, Gilt City announced a Virgin America deal, which I think is pretty awesome....

American Airlines’ recent route expansions have focused on international flights — including new upcoming service from Philadelphia (PHL) to Budapest (BUD) and Prague (PRG), from Chicago (ORD) to Venice (VCE) and from Dallas (DFW) to Reykjavik, Iceland (KEF).But today, the world’s largest airline is unveiling new domestic routes and the addition of new shuttle service between Chicago’s O’Hare (ORD) and New York City’s LaGuardia (LGA).Chicago-NYC Shuttle ServiceLess than a month after Delta announced the shutdown of its West Coast shuttle route, American Airlines is adding new shuttle service “between the Windy City and the City that Never Sleeps....

Marriott has an interesting promotion where you can actually buy back your elite status if you didn’t re-qualify in 2010. While I think it might make sense to buy back to Platinum or Gold simply because of the free breakfast, internet, and room upgrades, Silver doesn’t get much besides a 20% point bonus. (Full list of Marriott Elite benefits).Overall, I like what Marriott is doing - giving people who may have been laid off in 2010, but returning to work in 2011, a chance to get back in the traveling game without slumming it with no status....

We’re all familiar with the idea of staying in a hotel we didn’t choose thanks to Hotwire. But, what if your destination itself was unknown when you booked your flight?This week, Lufthansa is making that idea a reality by launching Lufthansa Surprise — a new program that lets you book a flight to a surprise destination.Choose from one of nine categories to see the possible destinations.Don’t worry, you do get some say in the matter....

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.Though drone technology has gotten a lot of media attention in the past couple of years, pilotless aircraft are hardly a new invention, with some of the earliest models dating back about 100 years. But as we’ve found new uses for these clever little gadgets — for airline inspections and pizza deliveries, most recently — questions of safety, security and privacy have become of increasing importance....

Delta is currently making an aggressive push to expand even more in the New York City market, including an extensive JFK renovation and a new expansion at LaGuardia.The LaGuardia expansion was made possible due to a slot swap with US Airways which will increase Delta’s presence at LaGuardia by 60% and will give US Airways more space at Washington Reagan. This could be a game-changer for many NYC flyers, who value the proximity of LaGuardia to the city....

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.It’s been a busy week for United, to say the least — and we’ve been there to experience it all, from the media-only preview flight on Monday to today’s inaugural flight between Newark (EWR) and San Francisco (SFO)....

I’m putting out a call for contributors to all TPG readers who have something valuable to say. My managing editor, Eric, and I are looking for experts on different airline, hotel, car and credit card programs who want to share their insider tips and tricks - and make some cash while doing it.I will still be blogging daily with my take on the best promotions and expert tips, but I personally believe there are so many insider tips out there that I simply cannot be the expert on everything....

The A321LR, Airbus’ newest single-aisle jet, has just made its first flight. Before entering service, it’s going to go through a cycle of rigorous tests to explore how it fares in any conceivable flight situation. Airbus tells us that the jet will visit the US in the coming weeks in the course of its flight tests.The new jet has one big selling point: as its LR moniker indicates, it’s a long range plane, meant to take up to 240 people on routes up to 4,000 miles....

“Imagine being in the airport, and your plane starts to board in five minutes. You realize you don’t have anything to watch during the flight, so you scramble to try and download your favorite movie before you need to go,” Conor Campbell, senior manager of corporate communications at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., told The Points Guy. “Today, you’d be lucky if you can get that whole two-hour movie downloaded in time. But with 5G, our simulations show that you can download that same movie in just a minute or so....

It was a roller coaster 72 hours at the beginning of January. Hours after the ball dropped on New Year’s Eve, Southwest announced that points transferred from a hotel program would no longer count towards earning the Companion Pass. Then, a few days later, the airline reversed the decision by giving a three-month window when transferred hotel points would still count. Now, members have through March 31 to earn this incredible perk through hotel transfers — and many of you may be planning to take advantage....

Officials at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (FCO) on Monday disarmed a potential explosive device — well, what they thought was an explosive device, but actually turned out to be a bag full of coconuts.According to Ned Donovan, a journalist who was in the airport to witness the situation, airport authorities detonated the suitcase full of tropical fruit in the airport’s Terminal 3 at about 1pm on Monday.According to Donovan, the terminal was practically shut down while officials addressed the coconut debacle....

If there’s one thing I think the world needs more of, it’s peace. Violence and war is rampant and while it may be easy to put our heads in the sand and feel helpless, I firmly believe we have to be optimistic and strive for a more peaceful world — and the best way to do that is by starting with our youth.Today, I’m thrilled to announce the Points for Peace Campaign, a partnership between TPG and the PeaceJam Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit....