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You’ve seen the ads in magazines: A celebrity wearing a shiny Breitling watch, coupled with images of aircraft zooming through skies. What the ads are selling is so-called “pilot watches,” which typically feature a black dial and bold, white and luminescent hands.There’s real history behind these watches. But as it turns out, most airline pilots don’t wear pilot watches at all.Some HistoryWatches and aviation have an intertwined history. Time-elapsed, distance traveled and fuel burn calculations are essential to pilots, and before computers did the job, the watch was the tool to use....

TPG contributor Nate is a US expat living in Singapore. His posts will shed light on choosing the best airline and hotel loyalty programs for Americans living abroad in Asia, starting with this post on deciding between Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer and United MileagePlus. We realize this content isn’t useful to everyone, but from time to time we thought we’d publish some basic posts on various foreign carriers’ frequent flyer programs for TPG readers living abroad....

New members who enroll in Club Carlson can receive a sign-up bonus of 4,500 Gold Points through the following link. Just be sure that the promo code ERWD2012 appears in the appropriate box.Per the terms and conditions, this offer is for new members of Club Carlson without a previous account, and is limited to 4,500 Gold Points per person. Members must enroll by May 31, 2012. The bonus points will be deposited in the new account within 6-8 weeks of enrollment....

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.Ever wonder how huge airports manage to safely land one plane after another, spaced only a minute apart? In big cities with crowded airspace, commercial jets routinely follow one of many STAR arrival procedures, or “Standard Terminal Arrivals....

Earlier this month, Uber and other ride-hailing companies faced one of their biggest legislative blows when New York City capped the number of ride-hailing cars in the city.It’s the first major US city to impose such a cap in the largest market for the companies that have completely disrupted the taxi-cab industry. The law also established a minimum pay for drivers, similar to a minimum wage, which may be a model for other cities who may want to implement similar regulation and clamp down on an industry that they think is out of control....

My theme this week is maximizing award discounts and one of the best values for discounted transatlantic travel is the ever-changing Flying Blue Promo awards.Flying Blue, the frequent flyer program of SkyTeam partners Air France and KLM, runs 50% off promo awards all year long, but changes the gateway city pairings every two months. That means you can fly roundtrip from certain North American cities to Europe and beyond for as low as 25,000 miles in coach and 50,000 miles in business class on Air France, KLM and Air Europe – each of which have different cities and cabins they discount....

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.Low-cost carrier Jetstar spidey-pimped one of its planes this week to promote the release of the new movie, Spiderman: Homecoming — which comes out July 7 here in the US — inviting passengers to get in on the action for the jet’s maiden flight....

Being an aviation geek often results in memorable adventures while chasing a particular airplane in faraway places — sometimes, places that can be very hard to get to. That is the case of North Korea, the isolated, nuclear-armed dictatorship currently locked in a standoff with the United States: a land few Westerners have ever visited, but which many AvGeeks, attracted by its vintage Soviet-era airplanes, know better than most.And among AvGeeks, there is no one who knows North Korea better than Charles Kennedy, a London-based record company owner who has been there, by his own account, 20 times — thanks to his side gig as a guide for Juche Travel Services, a British-owned tour company specializing in North Korea....

Historically, planes have been the one place where we can go to totally disconnect (from phone calls, at least). And that worked both in terms of avoiding calling people, but also having to listen to passengers around you chatter incessantly. That might be changing soon, however, as the US Transportation Department said yesterday that it’s considering allowing passengers to make in-flight calls.In order for that to be passed, there are two important conditions....

Qatar Airways will begin flying its Qsuite business-class product to Chicago (ORD) beginning later this year. The carrier quietly made a change in its seat map showing that it’s going to launch its new business-class product, which is widely considered to be the best in the sky, between Doha (DOH) and ORD beginning April 1, 2018, on one of its Boeing 777-300ERs.As One Mile at a Time reports, the route will be the longest operated by a product featuring Qsuite — coming in at 7,133 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.Back in September, American Express announced that its annual Small Business Saturday promotion where Amex cardholders can get statement credits for using their card on purchases at participating local merchants would be taking place on Saturday, November 30 this year....

Delta loyalists, take note: You’ll be doing yourself a favor by bookmarking SkyTeam’s new Find Flights portal. Fresh out of the coding oven, the revamped metasearch tool allows you to evaluate your paid routing options across all 20 member airlines, including the likes of Delta, Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Korean Air and Aeromexico. One of the most powerful elements of the new tool is its ability to integrate and surface many airlines that are lesser-known among US-based flyers: Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines and XiamenAir, for example....

On February 1, the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) announced the ban of smoking and littering of cigarette butts and packets on 24 beaches in Thailand. In a push to protect its coastal environment, smoking is now illegal on major beaches including tourist hot-spots like Phuket, Koh Samui and Krabi in Thailand.The ban started as a trial run last November and with the ban now in effect, those who fail to comply will be subject to a fine of 100,000 baht (over $3,100) and/or a maximum jail sentence of one year....

Southwest Airlines has contacted passengers who might have been exposed to the measles virus on four different flights in the state of Texas.The passengers in question shared a plane 16 days ago with a Southwest flyer who was later diagnosed with the ultra-contagious illness. The Centers for Disease Control helped the carrier track down all the people who might have been exposed to the virus. The health departments of Dallas and Houston are also assisting in the investigation....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American ExpressDelta recently launched two targeted promotions:1) A 100% rebate when you transfer miles. I’ve been told this offer is only eligible to people who received an email directly from Delta. The bonus miles get deposited into the account of the person who initiates the transaction. So if I were to transfer 60,000 miles to my Dad for $630, he’d get those 60,000 plus I’d get 60,000 back....

Looking to book a trip on one of the many new transpacific flights between the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand? TPG Special Correspondent John Walton says kia ora and g’day to youse all with some tried-and-tested recommendations for the best seats in first and business class on Qantas, Virgin Australia, American, United, Delta, Air Canada and Hawaiian Airlines to help you make the all important ultra-long haul decision.With flights from a half-dozen gateways in North America to slightly fewer airports in Australia and New Zealand, here are the airlines — and planes — to choose, and the ones to avoid....

Sunday was the last day of ITB Berlin, the “World’s Leading Travel Trade Show” (which, yes, is a registered trademark). While at the show, I stopped by all 100 airline booths to ask about new routes, products and developments. One of the most entertaining bits of talking with so many airlines is hearing some of the interesting claims they have. These four were the ones I found most surprising.Qatar Airways: “World’s Fastest Growing Airline"Qatar’s press conference was quite entertaining, as I wrote about earlier this week....

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.Some of the best promotions we see in the hotel, airline and credit card realms are targeted for specific members. Whether it’s an offer for complimentary elite status, the chance to earn bonus points or more, targeted promotions can represent some great value....

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.US Airways recently acquired a bunch of new gates at Reagan National airport as part of the slot swap that gave Delta more space at LaGuardia. To celebrate, they are offering double miles (regular, not elite) for all flights to/from DCA....

In a stunning unanimous (4-0) decision Friday, the US International Trade Commission handed Canadian planemaker Bombardier a victory over Boeing, striking down punitive tariffs imposed by the US Department of Commerce on Bombardier’s CSeries aircraft. No reasons were immediately released by the body, which is comprised of international trade experts, and is a quasi-judicial administrative entity that advises the US executive and legislative branch on trade matters.Boeing had complained that the Canadian planemaker had taken advantage of government subsidies to price the CSeries below cost and unfairly win a huge 75-aircraft order from Delta Air Lines....