For those of you social-media-savvy flyers jetting in and out of San Francisco this summer, Klout and Cathay Pacific have partnered to offer a pretty cool perk. People who have downloaded Klout’s new iPhone app (they introduced it last month) and have a score of 40 or higher can show their Klout score at the reception of Cathay’s SFO First and Business Class Lounge for free entry from now through July....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.One of the foundational elements of the points and miles hobby is that you should maximize every online purchases by going through a shopping portal. This doesn’t just apply when buying stuff online; you also can score bonus points, miles or cash back on hotel reservations and flight purchases by using these shopping portals.A new offer popped up this weekend that makes it especially valuable to book through a portal....
This is an installment in my series on my January 2012 trip to China. Posts include: Help Me Plan My Trip To China, Flight Review: American Airlines 777 International Business Class to Beijing, Hotel Review: St. Regis Beijing, Beijing Overview: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and Peking Deck, A Great Day at the Great Wall of China, Flight Review: Air China 777 Domestic Business Class, Hotel Review: Andaz Shanghai, Trip Report: Terra Cotta Warriors and a Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian, Hotel Review: Sheraton Xian, and My China Trip Wrap Up: China Eastern, Hainan Airlines and the Westin Beijing....
Remember the paper airplanes you used to make as a kid? The precision with which you folded the corners and the pride and glory felt when yours went further than your friend’s planes? Well, your childhood paper-plane glory days have just burst into flames.Meet Luca Iaconi-Stewart. He is building a Boeing 777-300ER model that’s 1/60th the actual size of the plane completely out of manila folders and glue. That’s it. (Apologies to your inner child....
As if things weren’t bad enough in Miami with the extraordinarily dangerous Hurricane Irma bearing down on the city, the Miami International Airport (MIA) Terminal J was shut down for a “police-involved shooting” Thursday night.While details are still emerging, reports indicate that the situation involved one suspect and the Miami-Dade Police. One report indicates that the suspect was a man armed with a knife and was attempting to get to the roof of the airport....
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.HotelTonight is one of the best ways to save some money on last-minute hotel stays. With it, you can book hotel rooms at sometimes tremendously discounted rates. And every time you book, you earn points toward its new rewards program, HT perks....
A couple weeks ago I booked a one-way domestic flight on delta.com for $152. A week later my plans changed and I had to go a day earlier. Unfortunately, that meant I would essentially lose out on all but $2 of my original ticket since Delta charges a $150 change fee plus fare difference on domestic flights. If I simply didn’t show up for my flight, I’d automatically get an e-credit for $2 for future use on a domestic flight....
The new push for faster-than-ever supersonic jets will likely harm the environment, a study released Tuesday says.Supersonic aircraft will not be able to comply with regulations for fuel efficiency and pollution in place for normal, subsonic planes, according to the study by the International Council on Clean Transportation, a US non-profit research group. The modified engines that will enable the aircraft to travel long distances — like LA to Tokyo in just three hours — will burn 5x to 7x more fuel than standard subsonic jet engines....
It looks like Primera isn’t ready to quit the US. After launching a number of new routes and then cutting back on a few of them — with more cuts coming soon — the low-cost carrier announced three new transatlantic flights between the US and Europe, but not before next year:Newark (EWR) to Brussels (BRU): Daily starting May 9, 2019Washington Dulles (IAD) to Brussels (BRU): 3x weekly starting June 2, 2019Boston (BOS) to Brussels (BRU): 4x weekly starting June 4, 2019Flights are already on sale via Primera Air’s website, with prices starting at $149 one-way or $342 round-trip:Following Primera Air has been quite the roller-coaster over the past year....
Twice a week, we share travel snafus sent in by our readers, as part of our Reader Mistake Stories series. Some are fairly straightforward, like the reader who accidentally let a flight credit expire, while others could easily affect just about anyone, like the customer who had to pay cash for a no-show award stay. They’re all meant to teach a lesson, and I’ve learned quite a bit.Even very frequent travelers make mistakes, though, especially when outside of their comfort zones....
Anyone who saw Luca Guadagnino’s Oscar-nominated film Call Me by Your Name likely left with unforgettable, beautiful images stuck in their head — like Armie Hammer awkwardly dancing, Timothée Chalamet on the piano and a charmingly disheveled Italian villa complete with peach trees. Much has been written about the dreamy country retreat, called Villa Albergoni — a run-down estate in Lombardy that dates back to the 17th century.In the movie, Villa Albergoni served as the summer home for a history professor and his family, with Chalamet as the professor’s Bach-playing teenage son, Elio, who becomes smitten with Hammer, portraying a (gorgeous) American research assistant named Oliver, who lives at the villa with the family for the summer....
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.Crosswind landings can look harrowing when viewed from the ground (or online), but rest assured that pilots spend many hours training for exactly these kinds of situations. In this crazy aviation video, watch an Airbus A350 make a landing at Stornoway Airport (SYY) in Scotland as part of its training for difficult crosswind landings....
TPG reader Christina sent me a message on Facebook to ask:“I have a question regarding the 110,000 mile US Airways round the world ticket in business class. Do I have to complete my travel before the merger with American Airlines, or do I simply need to book my ticket before then?“Some time during the second quarter of 2015 — my sources tell me mid-May, but don’t bet the farm — the US Airways Dividend Miles and American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyer programs will fully merge....
When it first launched US service in 2013, Norwegian Air was best known for its operational issues, including a few days-long delays. Now, with plenty of flights under its belt, the airline has improved dramatically. Last night, TPG Editor-in-Chief Zach Honig flew Norwegian from JFK to Oslo. Here are five reasons he really enjoyed the flight.Two very unexpected things happened to me within the past 24 hours: 1. I flew Norwegian Air and 2....
Flying new airlines is one of my favorite things to do. I always see interesting looking jets at airports and wonder what it’s like inside their cabins. And when I spot decked-out flight attendants I wonder if their in-flight service is even half as good as their immaculate outfits!Last summer I tested out Air Seychelles, which was a really unique experience (see those reports here and here). While the seats were outdated recliner style business class, the service was great and the food and amenities truly unique....
The Airbus A380 is the world’s largest commercial jet, and has now been flying with airlines for ten years. If you’ve ever flown one, you know it’s an incredible plane, not only for its size, but also in its passenger comfort.The superjumbo, known as “The Whalejet” by aviation geeks, has brought on some of the most innovative and luxurious designs ever found on commercial planes. For example, Emirates was the first to install showers aboard its A380s for first-class passengers....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit Card, Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus Credit CardTPG follower Ben is looking to qualify for Southwest’s Companion Pass, and tweeted me the following question:“@thepointsguy are points earned towards Southwest’s Companion Pass cumulative? If you have 50,000 points, redeem 10,000 leaving a 40,000-point balance, would you now have to earn 70k or still 60k to qualify?...
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.Two weeks from today, on Monday, February 13, United will operate its very first flight with the brand-new 777-300ER. It’s a charter, so you can’t purchase tickets directly, unfortunately, but the airline is giving two lucky MileagePlus members a chance to join — in Polaris business class, no less....
Blockchain is one of the most frequently used buzz words in today’s business environment. The technology is based on a system that uses a digital ledger to record transactions. Rather than storing information about those transactions, the exchanges are stored in a secure and verifiable manner inside cryptographic “blocks.” Those blocks are connected in, you guessed it, a chain. The term has earned plenty of recognition for powering Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but the technology itself is doing much more than reinventing the way we look at currency....
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.I was pretty happy to read this post from The New York Times’ Frugal Traveler, Seth Kugel, about getting value from points and miles. When Seth was researching this story, he reached out and asked me to meet with him to talk about my favorite subject: points and miles....
