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On March 24, 2018, the new longest commercial flight in the world will launch from Perth (PER) to London (LHR). For the first time ever, Europe and Australia will be connected by a nonstop flight. And operating that 9,010-mile route will be Qantas’ newest addition to its fleet — the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. We recently got a look at the jet in Los Angeles.The carrier currently has two of the aircraft in its fleet — “Waltzing Matilda” (VH-ZNB) and “Great Southern Land” (VH-ZNA)....

Passengers making their way through Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) will no longer be able to use “a travel day” as an excuse to not hit the treadmill, and you have ROAM Fitness to thank — or blame — for it. The Oregon-based startup thinks airport gyms are “the next big thing,” and recently opened its first facility at BWI to prove it.ROAM’s maiden gym is a 1,175 square-foot-space located between Concourses D and E — post-security, so that you can get your sweat on before your flight or during a long layover....

In June of 2017, we declared Qatar Airways’ 777-300ER Qsuite to be the world’s best business class. Well, now there’s something better… Qsuite on the Airbus 350-1000!TPG and I had an opportunity to join the delivery flight for Airbus’ very first A350-1000 — which also happened to be the first Qatar Airways Airbus plane to feature the carrier’s fantastic Qsuite business class, with sliding doors at every seat.I like the A350 version even better than what you’ll find on the 777....

Here’s an interesting development in the aviation world: Eurowings, the low-cost subsidiary of Lufthansa, has announced its new business class, possibly making it the first budget airline in Europe to offer fully lie flat seats.Eurowings posted a picture of its new product, which looks exactly like Lufthansa’s business class, except in a different color scheme.BIZclass, as Eurowings has dubbed the seats, will go into service by the end of April 2018 on selected long-haul flights....

Speaking this week from the Skift Forum in New York City, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian reiterated that he’d love to make onboard Wi-Fi free. This isn’t the first time he’s publicly made such a wish, but one has to wonder if it’s truly feasible in the near-term.Currently, the only domestic airline offering free inflight Wi-Fi is JetBlue.Those who have been flying long enough to remember the earliest days of inflight Wi-Fi have plenty of battle scars....

When Delta merged with Northwest Airlines in 2008, they touted “the world’s largest airline” and a frequent flyer program that was “best in class”. Unfortunately, Delta’s frequent flyer program is far from being best in class. While there are some positive aspects of the SkyMiles program, primarily with their Medallion elite status program, the majority are negative and I hope they will serve as a wake-up call to Delta management.Points a....

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.Discover is getting rid of the need to sign on the dotted line after making a purchase. Beginning in April 2018, Discover will no longer require cardholder signatures at the point of sale for all credit and debit transactions across its card network....

An Albanian immigrant family from Ohio lost their life savings of $58,100 at an airport in October after US Customs and Border Protection seized it at a security checkpoint.Rustem Kazazi, a 64-year-old Albanian immigrant who lives in Ohio, planned on traveling back to Albania in October for six months to visit extended family who were struggling financially and to purchase a vacation house for his upcoming retirement. In preparation for the trip, Kazazi reduced his family’s life savings to cash to avoid bank fees, according to a federal lawsuit Kazazi filed Thursday against US Customs and Border Protection....

Southeast Asia is the perfect place for a vacation. Its abundance of chilled-out beach bars, insanely beautiful sunsets, exotic wildlife, mysterious temples, gorgeous waterfalls and emerald jungles makes it the ideal — and affordable — destination. Unfortunately, it’s been discovered, which means you definitely will not be alone in your obsession with vacationing in the region. As more and more tourists frequent countries like Thailand, travelers are constantly on the lookout for the next supposedly undiscovered destination....

We know – you’ve good intentions. You catch a whiff of inspiration, fire up your favorite search engine, and start planning what will undoubtedly be the trip of a lifetime. Then, someone calls. Or, your kid discovers some strange residue that demands your immediate attention. In any case, your epic trip planning process gets sidetracked, and it’s a coin-flip whether or not you’re able to pick back up where you left off....

The major hotel chains have started their summer promos already, so I thought I’d compile one big post with all of them so you can compare and contrast, and earn the most points for your upcoming summer travel.138,000 Club Carlson Gold PointsAs we reported on yesterday, on Tuesday, May 15, Club Carlson is launching its “Big Nights” promos for Radisson/Radisson Blu (50,000 points), Country Inn & Suites (44,000 points) and Park Inn by Radisson (44,000 points) with the possibility of earning over 138,000 Gold Points total if you register for all three and complete a stay of at least one night within each family of properties anywhere in the world by July 15, 2012....

With the announcement of yet another US Airways 100% Buy Miles Bonus this week, TPG Reader Vincenzo tweeted me to ask:"@thepointsguy Is it ever a good idea to buy US Airways bonus offers in order to redeem them for economy seats? The difference between economy and business class is a lot - 30,000 miles +!“Unsurprisingly, US Airways has launched yet another 100% bonus for purchased miles. This brings the purchase price (at the maximum benefit) down to 1....

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.Israel and luxury travel are not exactly synonymous, and the Holy Land is certainly not home to Gulf-style vertical excess, but luxury properties across the board have definitely been on the climb in recent years — and not just in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Herzliya, where Lady Gaga hung out in 2014, but in more remote areas like the Negev Desert....

TPG Contributor Max Bloom explains how planning meetings can earn you elite status at the major hotel chains. Last post he gave an intro to planning meetings.Every major hotel chain allows meeting planners to earn elite status through meetings, though their criteria vary. Some award status based upon the amount of money you spend, while others award it based on the number of qualifying meetings held or the number of base points accumulated in a calendar year....

I’ve been successful at dodging the TSA nudey machine bullet recently, but my luck ran up tonight. I was going through security in Miami Terminal D and I thought I had chosen the correct security lane- the one where everyone was going through the metal detector. This method has worked pretty well in the past, but not tonight. When it was my turn to go through, the TSA man threw me a curveball and told me to go through the nudey machine....

As firefighters hope that they may have finally turned the corner on the wildfires that have ravaged northern California, especially Napa and Sonoma counties, wineries are beginning to try to get a sense of the devastation they and the area’s tourist industry have suffered.Though three out of every four bottles of California wine are made in the Central Valley, Napa and Sonoma counties’ more than 100,000 acres of vineyards attract the lion’s share of the 24 million tourists who visit California wineries every year....

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.A new Wi-Fi enabled system developed by Delta Five could revolutionize how the service industry deals with unwanted bug problems. Its new Automated Insect Monitoring (AIM) device is a small, three-inch box that hooks up to existing Wi-Fi and constantly monitors the space around it using internal cameras, which are activated whenever they detect motion....

It’s no secret that Starwood Preferred Guest is TPG’s favorite loyalty program, due in no small part to the incredible value you can get from Starpoints. Of course there’s speculation that SPG will become less rewarding following the merger with Marriott, despite assurances from Marriott’s CEO. For now, though, Starpoints remain the most valuable loyalty currency, with redemptions ranging from five-star resorts in Hawaii to luxury suite tickets to Knicks games in New York....

We’ve reported on some weird things recently — like the person who tried to bring a grenade-shaped grinder through security and caused an entire airport to evacuate — but this one brings home the bacon.Literally.Back in April, 68-year-old Ronald James allegedly promised his granddaughter she could have a bacon roll on their TUI airlines flight from Palma (PMI) to Exeter (EXT). When cabin crew told him they didn’t have any available because they weren’t serving hot food, chaos broke out....

The Pacific Northwest is the place to be based these days. Flyers in Seattle and Portland have been benefiting from the battle between partners-turned-rivals Delta and Alaska, and it looks like American is muscling in on the territory now as well. Portland-based TPG reader Edwin got a targeted offer from American this week, and Tweeted me with a question:"@thepointsguy: I am Platinum Medallion with Delta. PDX is home. AA offered me Platinum status in a targeted mailing....