Posts

TPG reader Jimmy messaged me on Facebook to ask about the American and US Airways merger and how it will affect his lifetime elite status:“I’m an American Airlines Million Miler with Lifetime Gold status, with no miles flown on AA this year. However, I have 72,000 Elite Qualifying Miles on US Air (from flights, credit card elite points and US Airways Club promotions). Will I be able to combine my AA Gold Status with my 72,000 US Airways miles to achieve 97,000 Elite Qualifying Miles?...

Daily Getaways continues its bonanza of cheap travel deals today, featuring Hertz points for as low as 4.3 cents a point each, which is a huge discount from the regular price of 20 cents a point. I am a loyal Hertz #1 Club Gold 5 Star member, so I’m very much a fan of my Hertz points. As a NYC resident I can redeem 500 points for free weekend nights and I’ve never once not been able to redeem points when I wanted a rental or even had to pay the peak point prices....

One of the great things about taking a cruise is the convenience of being able to visit a ton of places with a single reservation: book a trip, hop onboard and set sail for a few days (or weeks) of sightseeing. But who says that kind of journey has to be limited to the open seas? Certainly not Crystal Cruises. Though the company has made its name as one of the world’s most beloved luxury cruise lines, its latest endeavor — Crystal AirCruises — is an attempt to elevate the water-based cruise experience to 35,000 feet....

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 past Tuesday I experienced a redeye flight I’ll never forget. I traveled from Los Angeles to Detroit onboard the final domestic Delta 747 flight. Well, except I didn’t — there’s another final flight; it’s even in the same week!...

As a Delta frequent flyer, you can choose an array of benefits when hitting the 75,000 and 125,000 Medallion Qualifying Mile marks. System-Wide Upgrades (SWUs) are an option, but they have always been a sore point with Delta elites because they require booking into expensive fare classes (Y,B,M) when flying internationally. Many times, these fares are more expensive than discounted business class fares, so the SWUs can sometimes be useless.However, Delta just announced that they can be used to upgrade one class of service on Air France....

Buy discounted Disney tickets here through MickeyVisit.comDisney has always been known as the world’s leading storyteller; it upended the animation industry with the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937, then reinvented thetheme park concept by launching Disneyland in 1955. Now, it wants to revolutionize your stay — by building an immersive luxury Star Wars Hotel at Walt Disney World.Image courtesy of Disney/Lucasfilm.The hotel concept is like a mashup of Westworld and Star Wars — except in real life....

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.Here’s a rundown of points, miles and travel industry news you may have missed this week:The Department of Transportation’s ruling this December could result in a ban on in-flight cell phone calls. (Image courtesy of Shutterstock)Department of Transportation Considers Ban on In-Flight Cell Calls: In response to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)’s December 2013 proposal to overturn technical rules barring in-flight cellphone use (as well as a general public outcry about the potential annoyance of other passengers gabbing away for hours on end), the DOT is contemplating its own stance on whether passengers can safely make in-flight calls, or if this will interfere with plane controls....

Each Saturday, we round up news stories that you may have missed from the week before, including several that already appeared on The Points Guy, and some more that we haven’t covered yet. If you’re an avid TPG reader, scroll down for the new stuff. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you may have missed this week.Emirates Saves the A380 for Now, Places $16 Billion Order for up to 36 New SuperjumbosEmirates has (likely) saved the superjumbo Airbus A380 from an imminent death....

For three months this summer I had something I absolutely never thought possible, a private jet membership. Thanks to an awesome (and short-lived) JetSmarter promotion, those who could demonstrate they had certain airline elite status or a million miles and points could have a free JetSmarter Simple membership for three months. While I didn’t take a flight at all for the first half of this trial as life with two small children doesn’t align well with jetting off at a moment’s notice, I did become a bit more addicted to the allure of the JetSmarter app in the second half of the trial....

JetSuite has lost no time putting its Qatar investment money to good use: On Monday, aviation startup Zunum Aero announced that the private jet charter company will be its inaugural customer for a new hybrid-electric aircraft, with an estimated delivery date sometime in 2022. While no financial details were released, JetSuite could potentially commit to purchase up to 100 planes from Zunum Aero.Zunum Aero’s aircraft for JetSuite will primarily be built of composite materials....

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.Hola from 30,000 feet above Ohio! I’m currently sitting in first class on my Delta flight to Las Vegas that I got, essentially, for free using this promotion I posted about a couple weeks ago.I got upgraded on both of my JFK-LAS-JFK legs and I have a room waiting for me at the Bellagio....

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 4:20 somewhere. And that somewhere is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).Following Proposition 64, a referendum passed in California that legalized the use and possession of recreational marijuana within the state, LAX has announced on their website that the law also applies on airport grounds....

It’s no secret that United has invested a great deal of time and money into its new Polaris business class offering. Earlier this week, the airline started its a la carte dining option at Chicago O’Hare Airport. While TPG Editor-in-Chief Zach Honig already reviewed the United Polaris Lounge at ORD, I had a chance today to stop by and try out the new food options. Spoiler alert: It’s all really good!...

SpaceX, the space tourism venture by mega-inventor Elon Musk, announced the name of its first paying customer, who will be launched around in the company’s Big Falcon Rocket (aka BFR, which is still in the works) for a flight around the moon.Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese tech billionaire, said at a press conference on Monday night that he has submitted a down payment for the moon launch, which will reportedly take place in 2023....

This week, I got an email from TPG reader Gene asking a question that is on a lot of people’s minds:“Can you address the question of “targeting” and why some people are and some are not targeted for big credit card bonuses or discounts like the latest Amex promotion with hotel gift cards at the reduced level of 9600 points. I am sure you have other readers like myself who have not been recipients of this ‘targeting’ and yet like myself, spend a substantial amount with Amex each month (about $20,000-$30,000 average per month for me)....

When people think of robotics specialists, they don’t normally think of luggage makers. But San Fransisco-based company Cowarobot is most certainly both of those things.At CES Asia earlier this year, the brand announced its first flagship product, the Cowarobot R1. Scheduled to ship in November 2016, the product sports minimalistic good looks and a feature your run-of-the-mill Samsonite would faint over — autonomous following with obstacle avoidance. Yeah, that’s straight out of The Jetsons....

Most Americans are familiar with the Department of Homeland Security’s “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign. The program, which encourages citizens to report suspicious activities to local authorities, has been in place in Los Angeles since 2009, according to the Los Angeles Times. And with the launch of iWatchLA, a new anti-terrorism smartphone app, the Los Angeles Police Department is making it even easier for residents to help keep the City of Angels safe....

I jumped on the Global Entry bandwagon in 2014, when United used to cover the cost for Premier Platinum members. I then expected everyone would join me when premium credit cards became mainstream and automatically reimbursed the $100 Global Entry application fee.However, I still see far too many travelers without Global Entry, which also includes the benefit of TSA PreCheck. I’ll remind you of why you should apply. But first, I’ll share the story of my favorite US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) debacle — one that would have been avoided completely with Global Entry....

Now through March 14, 2014, Virgin America is offering bonuses of up to 60% on purchased miles. Unlike some past Virgin buy miles promos, which were just a flat bonus no matter how many points you purchased, this one is tiered in the following way:Buy 500 – 2,000 points to get a 30% bonusBuy 2,500 – 5,000 points to get a 45% bonusBuy 5,500+ points to get a 60% bonusSo ordinarily, Virgin America Elevate points cost about 5....

Cruising has always been convenient. You pack once, and then travel from site to site without hauling luggage or looking at maps. But sexy? Nobody would call it sexy — not until now. New cruise lines created by long-established travel companies, the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Virgin Voyages, are hoping to reinvent the genre.To understand where cruising is going, you have to understand where it’s coming from. Twenty years ago, the cruise experience was rooted in the past....