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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.If you’re one of the many who have broken up with Uber, American Express has a new offer to sweeten up your next relationship — earn $15 back after spending $75 or more on on Lyft.In order to take advantage of this deal, you’ll need to add the offer to your card first....

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is certainly a fan of luxury travel accommodations.Congressional probes have recently looked at accusations of a litany of wasteful travel spending, often using taxpayer money to fund frequent first-class trips to destinations he personally wants to visit, telling aides to “find me something to do [in those locations]” as a pretext to justify the use of government funds.He even wanted to sign a charter for a private jet for $100,000 per month — until aides were able to talk him out of it....

Editor’s note: This is a recurring post, regularly updated with new information.From waived change fees to complimentary upgrades to a VIP customer service line, we’ve shared our thoughts on maximizing the many perks of elite status with Delta Air Lines. In our tier-by-tier evaluation of Delta’s Medallion status program, it’s clear that the top two levels — Platinum and Diamond — are in a class of their own.For more TPG news delivered each morning to your inbox, sign up for our daily newsletter....

I have written extensively about traveling while pregnant, as I myself flew at least 28 flights with my second pregnancy in 2014 and 2015, not to mention the ones I flew in 2009 while pregnant with my first daughter. Flying while you are pregnant can be much easier than flying once the baby is born and bundled in your arms, so in theory I’m a big fan of hitting the skies before hitting the delivery room....

United’s launching Polaris business (and first) class in just over two weeks — December 1 is the big day! While it’ll be a few months before the new seats begin rolling out (initially only on the 777-300ER), the “soft product” will be available beginning in December, including improved food and beverage, new bedding, refreshed amenity kits and new Polaris lounges, with the first opening in Chicago on December 1.As part of the changeover, United explained that existing reservations would be updated to reflect the new class of service — that just happened today, as you can see on this sample booking for Newark to Frankfurt:United Polaris is now for sale....

If there was one passenger that United CEO Oscar Munoz wanted to recognize on Tuesday’s final 747 flight, it was Tom Stuker. He’s a Global Services member, sure, but so were plenty of other lucky travelers on this week’s farewell hop to Honolulu.Tom, on the other hand, happens to be the airline’s best customer — he’s traveled nearly 19 million miles on United flights alone, having just hit the 18-million mark earlier this 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.Seeing the passengers walk up a jet bridge toward the terminal is a normal sight at any airport. But it’s far from normal to see passengers deplaning on a jet bridge that has no airplane parked at it....

Any parent worth even half their salt only wants the best for their kids. You don’t want them to hurt, or be scared, or in pain, or danger, or distress, etc. Being a parent means that you would take any and all of those unpleasant and treacherous scenarios on for yourself ten-fold before having your little one suffer. Of course, life is at times as hard as it is wonderful, and sometimes you can’t take the pain away, even if you hurt equally right alongside them....

This week TPG follower @TravelChaz tweeted:“Flying from US to London, which product is best - Delta, British Airways or American?“Without considering frequent flyer miles or anything of that nature, the best product for a transatlantic flight in my opinion is the new American Airlines First Class, which I recently flew from JFK to Sao Paulo in April. I thought it was pretty similar to Cathay Pacific’s fully lie-flat seat, although on AA they are “open suites” that offer a little less privacy but were still very comfortable....

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.Get 1,500 free miles for signing up for a Dividend Miles account (see details here). Join by September 30, 2010, so act soon!They are also running a Grand Slam promotion, which encourages partner activity. My analysis of the promotion is coming shortly, so if you want to bank some US miles (one of the more valuable frequent flyer mile currencies), sign up for an account now....

British Airways just sent out an email announcing 50% off award redemptions. However, it’s only on British Airways flights and only for economy, premium economy or intra-European business class awards.Dear Mr Kelly,“Get 50% off with your BA Miles. Wherever you want your reward flight to take you, you’ll need 50% fewer BA Miles if you book by 12 August 2011.So you can go either sooner or further than you expected. And use 50% fewer BA Miles on British Airways, whether you fly in World Traveller, World Traveller Plus, Euro Traveller or Club Europe....

The Greek islands in winter? With great deals on Emirates making nonstop flights to Athens a year-round option, it almost seems foolish not to go Greek during the off season.Though any mention of the Greek Islands instantly evokes images of epic sunsets in Santorini, Gigi and Bella Hadid cavorting on somebody’s yacht and Pierce Brosnan trying very hard to sing Abba hits (in other words, they’re synonymous with the balmy Greek summer), there’s no reason to limit your trips here to the hot months....

I have logged more than 684,000 miles in my travels — with many more miles prior to 2006 that aren’t logged — but had an in-flight experience yesterday that I’ve never had before: I was vomited on.First off, I feel bad for the sick passenger, who seemingly couldn’t handle the turbulence and banking on approach to Honolulu (HNL). Surely she didn’t want to be sick, and she seemed somewhat sincere when she apologized as we finally disembarked about 30 minutes after the accident....

Air Tahiti Nui has announced the first routes for its Boeing 787 Dreamliner. And for US-based flyers, you’ll have the option to check out the carrier’s new product.As reported by One Mile at a Time, Air Tahiti Nui will take delivery of the first four of its 787-9s later this year. At that time, it’ll begin phasing out its dated fleet of A340s, which it expects to complete by 2019. For the first of its 787-9s, Air Tahiti Nui will fly the aircraft on the following routes and frequencies:November 7, 2018 — Papeete (PPT) to Auckland (AKL); 3x weeklyNovember 7, 2018 — Papeete (PPT) to Los Angeles (LAX); 3x weeklyFebruary 4, 2019 — Papeete (PPT) to Tokyo Narita (NRT); 2x weeklySo, beginning in February, passengers traveling from LAX will be able to fly a Dreamliner to Tahiti....

An American Airlines flight was forced to divert to El Paso (ELP) on Sunday after severe weather and turbulence caused damage to the aircraft.AA Flight 1897 from San Antonio (SAT) to Phoenix (PHX) took off at 6:57pm local time. Mid-flight, hail and severe weather began to damage the Airbus A319 aircraft (registration N806AW) that was operating the route. The pilots decided to divert to El Paso (ELP) and safely landed the plane after just over two hours in the air....

American Express frequently runs promotions through its social media outlets (including Facebook, Twitter, FourSquare, and TripAdvisor). These promotions, known collectively as Amex Sync, typically involve statement credits for purchases made at various retailers and other businesses with an eligible Amex card, and require only an active Facebook or Twitter account and a few clicks to sign up.Amex is currently offering $50 off of $250 spent at Hilton Hotels and Resorts, and a free night plus $25 hotel credit when you stay at participating Fairmont Hotels and Resorts....

Sights of near-complete Boeing 737s sitting grounded at the plane manufacturer’s Seattle-area hub has become the norm. As production delays continue to plague 737 manufacturing, Boeing is now taking to bringing back some of its old employees to help get operations on track once again.A union official told Reuters on Monday that Boeing is bringing retired workers back on the job to help fix delays at its Renton-based 737 plant. The delays have been triggered by a series of supplier constraints, ranging from engines to fuselages — a problem Boeing knew would be coming....

We’re now into the third month of a political rift in the Gulf pitting Qatar against several of its neighbors, which has affected Qatar Airways by blocking Qatari aircraft from entering the airspace of neighboring nations. That has forced Qatar Airways to take longer routes, and has also led to the suspension to flights between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.But on Monday, Qatar got some good news, in the form of the opening of airspace corridors over the Gulf shortening the current flight times into the capital and Qatar Airways hub, Doha....

TPG reader Precia tweeted me to ask:@thepointsguy- “I’m new to lounges; how do you make sure you get from the lounge to your gate in time for your flight?“This question hits home for me because I often fly out of New York, and the Centurion Lounge at LaGuardia Airport is located before security, so timing can be difficult. It’s a great place to relax before you board, but you won’t remember the experience fondly if you end up missing your flight....

Update 9/23/16: Josh wrote in to let us know that he received a refund of 31,250 SkyMiles to compensate for his unused JFK-DEN segment. Additionally, Delta has confirmed that it will reimburse the cost of his hotel and transportation. Well done, Josh!Update: Note that the below policy only applies to flights departing the EU, or flights departing another destination for the EU operated by a EU carrier (or one based in Iceland, Norway or Switzerland)....