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Airlines around the world experienced a major growth spurt in 2016, with a total of 3,042 new routes launched. According to Anna Aero, this nearly matches the growth rate of 2015, when 3,109 new routes were added.Europe’s low-cost carriers led the way for route expansion in 2016, as 13 of the top 20 growing airlines are based on the continent. Ryanair topped the list, having added 200 new routes. EasyJet and Wizz Air added 206 and 100 new routes, respectively, while Vueling added 76 new routes to its network....

Want high-speed satellite Wi-Fi when flying Alaska Airlines? Come 2020, you’ll be guaranteed to have it. On Tuesday, the carrier shared plans to equip its entire fleet with Gogo’s much-improved 2Ku satellite Wi-Fi, which the carrier quotes as offering “20 times more bandwidth than Gogo’s air-to-ground (ATG) product.” So if you’re used to using the Gogo internet available on most planes today, this new variety will represent a huge step up....

I don’t have any AA travel coming up, so someone might as well use this.Purchase a ticket until Dec 14, fly by Dec 15, 2010.Discount can be used for up to six passengers on a single purchase.Valid any AA destination worldwide.Must book on AA.comDoes not apply to past reservations or reservations on hold.Questions? www.aa.com/promotioncodeSign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions....

American Airlines is running a special bonus offer of up to 30,000 miles as part of its “Travel Like a Spy” Bourne Legacy campaign.To be eligible, you must register your AAdvantage account with the promo code AABRN by September 15, 2012, and book a trip by then for travel between September 4-November 15, 2012. Unfortunately, fares booked in N, O and Q classes do not qualify.The more you fly, the more you earn....

This is surprising: There is currently no American Airlines award space showing on British Airways’ website. A TPG reader let us know that they weren’t able to find any award space on the BA site, so we looked into it and found that — indeed — nothing is showing up.Here’s an example for a mid-October flight from New York to St. Louis on AA’s site. As you can see for the entire month, there’s pretty great award availability at the SAAver level — 12,500 AAdvantage miles plus taxes and fees:However, when searching the BA site for AA award availability during one week of the month, there was absolutely no availability....

TPG reader Allisa sent me a message on Facebook to ask about earning miles:“My family booked a trip to Hawaii on United, but at check-in we were rebooked on Delta. That worked out fine since our original flight was delayed, but we didn’t earn any miles or elite credits for the Delta leg. Should I be able to get credit for that flight?“Delays, cancellations and missed connections are a routine part of domestic air travel....

Reading this at your desk job, longing for adventure? Would you describe yourself as a “dedicated, service-oriented professional who loves to be on-the-go, help others and enjoys variety in their work?“If yes, Delta may well be the right next employer for you.The carrier announced Monday that it’ll hire more than 1,000 new employees in 2019, the majority of which being flight attendants — arguably one of Delta’s most competitive job roles....

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.Delta is running quite the sale in between Boston and Denver. A ton of dates, including weekends this winter from Boston to Denver and vice versa. If you route through Atlanta, it comes to 4,290 elite miles for $130, or 3 cents per elite qualifying miles, which is pretty awesome....

Earlier this summer, Delta tried to help Brooklynites find love on a street corner at Williamsburg’s #DeltaDatingWall. Now that mural is gone and in its place, 133 unique airport codes — representing every single city that Delta services out of John. F Kennedy (JFK) and LaGuardia (LGA) airports — adorn the corner of Wythe Avenue and North 10th Street.A passerby stares up at the hand-drawn codes. Image courtesy of Wieden+Kennedy.Illustrated by London-based artist Celyn Brazier and created by advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, the doodled codes capture each city’s flavor through symbols, themes and motifs....

For years, hotels throughout Asia, Europe and other regions have offered smartphones to their guests to use free of charge for the duration of their stay.The service, provided by a company called Handy, includes an Android handset loaded up with popular apps and support for free international phone calls, mobile data and even room-to-room calling. Hotels, not guests, pay $1 per device per day.Handy is apparently available in roughly 650,000 hotel rooms in 82 countries around the world, so I was surprised to learn that hotels in the United States hadn’t yet offered the service....

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.India revealed its 100th airport this week, and it might be the world’s most beautiful runway yet.India’s new Pakyong Airport (PYG) sits 4,593 feet high in the Himalayan mountains and will serve Sikkim, a northeast state in India with breathtaking landscapes....

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.That oddly specific dream you had of surveying the Canadian Arctic Coast with Alex Trebek and a couple of narwhals is about to come true.It turns out that the beloved (and recently bearded) “Jeopardy!” host is also the Honorary President of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society (RCGS), and, in conjunction with Arctic Kingdom, will be embarking on a week-long excursion to the northern section of Canada’s Baffin Island....

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.Delta Airlines is tightening its restrictions on smart luggage, requiring customers to remove their lithium batteries in all instances, whether carried on, checked regularly or checked at the gate.The airline’s addition to the rules is another step in the increasing limitations the industry is putting on smart luggage, which has built-in batteries and chargers for electronic devices and, in some cases, can even turn into miniature vehicles that allow their owners to ride rather than walk to their gates....

On Thursday, rap mega-star Kanye West visited the White House and spoke with President Donald Trump about a myriad of issues including criminal justice reform, mental health and stop-and-frisk.During a 10-minute soliloquy, with media present and capturing the entire conversation, West pulled out his phone to show Trump what he should be flying on instead of Air Force One.“This right here is the iPlane One. It’s a hydrogen powered airplane and this is what our president should be flying in,” West said....

Norwegian Air, the low-cost carrier that’s expanded its presence around the world, is making its way to another country. On Thursday, Norwegian announced that it’s entering the Canadian market with three routes.Beginning in late October, Norwegian will launch seasonal service from Montréal (YUL) to the French Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe (PTP) and Martinique (FDF). In addition, beginning in 2019, Norwegian will launch daily service between Hamilton International Airport (YHM) — located near Toronto — and Dublin (DUB)....

Delta recently announced their 2011 SkyMiles program changes and I have to say, they are looking pretty positive. While nothing fundamental is changing, here are a couple key benefits:1) Elimination of expiration date. This is an advantage that will be of special value to the infrequent flyer and I hope all other airlines follow.2) SkyTeam ElitePlus for Gold Medallions begins March 1, 2011. I wrote about this in October and I’m glad Delta is following through....

On Tuesday morning, President Donald Trump took to Twitter to comment on the status of commercial aviation. As has been widely reported, 2017 was the safest year on record for commercial air travel worldwide with just 111 accidents leading to 13 fatalities in two incidents, in Angola and Russia.In Tuesday morning’s tweet, President Trump commented on the report, expressing his “very strict” stance on commercial aviation but without specifying how he has been “strict” about 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.Virgin America is celebrating it’s ninth birthday today, and the San Francisco-based airline has a present for you: a special promotion where Elevate members can earn 999 Elevate bonus points just for enrolling, booking and flying between now and September 30, 2016 — if you’re not already an Elevate member, you can still create an account in order to be eligible....

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.This week started off on an alarming note as several Middle Eastern countries cut diplomatic ties with the State of Qatar. An immediate impact of the move? All Qatar Airways flights were suspended from flying into or over any of the countries involved — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates....

Uber has hired its first executive solely focused on protecting users’ data.The ride-sharing company hired a chief privacy officer, Ruby Zefo, who will be “responsible for the development and implementation of privacy standards, procedures, and processes in every market where we operate,” Uber’s Chief Legal Officer Tony West wrote in a company-wide memo.Zefo’s new position is “a critical global role,” West wrote. Uber has employed privacy professionals before, but never someone of this senior level....