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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.While I’m not the biggest fan of Las Vegas, I always end up going there a couple of times a year, whether I like it or not (and free flights certainly help!). However, I’m always disappointed at the number and quality of points earning hotels....

The world’s largest fish market has resumed operations at a new location in Tokyo after two years of planning, but its first day back didn’t go smoothly.The new $5 billion Toyosu market replaced the 80-year-old Tsukiji fish market on Thursday and, according to Reuters, was welcomed with a minor truck fire and traffic jam. The 5:30am tuna auction was filled with shouting and bells ringing — the new location is something Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike says will need some getting used to....

Two Richard Branson-backed airlines are cozying up even more. Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia are expanding their codeshare partnership the airlines announced Tuesday.The new agreement is adding another route to its network, offering a new daily connection between London (LHR) and Sydney (SYD) via Hong Kong (HKG).Flights are available to purchase now, although the new service doesn’t begin until July 2. The two airlines launched a similar relationship earlier this year with a connection in Hong Kong when traveling from London to Melbourne (MEL)....

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you have probably encountered some of our guest posts recounting trips we have taken (examples here and here). Generally, they are of the “bucket list” variety. Bucket lists are what you do when you realize that there is a lot more sand at the bottom of the hourglass of life than there is at the top. So, before the proverbial bucket is kicked, you want to see some things and do some things....

I’m currently on a Delta flight in first class (thanks to my Diamond Medallion upgrade clearing 6 days in advance) and will be landing in Vegas in about an hour. And not surprisingly, I haven’t done much planning on what to do. I haven’t been to Vegas since a quick mileage run last December, when Expedia.ca was giving away trips for free! Too bad my blog had a fraction of the readership then, because I imagine many of you would have gotten in on that amazing deal....

“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.We here at The Points Guy definitely prefer earning points for free over paying for them, but sometimes there’s a good reason to buy points. TPG reader Thomas wonders if this might be one of those good reasons…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Thomas”]If I purchase miles from Marriott, do they count toward lifetime status?...

On Tuesday, Hawaii passed a first-of-its-kind law to ban the sale of certain over-the-counter sunscreens deemed harmful to coral reefs.Senate Bill 2571, which received almost unanimous support across the House and the Senate this week, will prohibit the sale and distribution of sunblock containing chemicals found to be especially toxic (specifically, oxybenzone and octinoxate) to marine ecology.According to Senator Mike Gabbard’s floor comments, the legislation was heavily influenced by the scientific findings of experts like Dr....

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 need to bump up your account balance to reach a reward, Starwood is running a 20% bonus on purchased miles until December 31,2010. 1,000 points is normally $35, but with this promo it costs $28. Hardly a bargain, but if you need some more points to reach a reward, this may make sense....

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 recently did a Program Score Card for the Southwest Rapid Rewards program and was pretty impressed. Its a generous program that gives a free flight for every 8 roundtrips. Additionally, when you hit 100 credits in a year (whether by flying or credit card spend), you get a free companion pass that is good for 13 months....

United’s Polaris product comes in many shapes and sizes. There’s the “real” Polaris seat, of course, available on all of the airline’s 777-300ERs, in addition to eight 767-300s and three 777-200s. But beyond that, it’s a bit of a hodgepodge.If you can’t get a seat on one of the planes mentioned above, your next best bet for comfort would be a Polaris first seat on United’s older 3-cabin planes — United’s phasing out long-haul first class soon, but the original end date of June 20 has been pushed out, to August 20 as of now....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Platinum Card® from American Express, Premier Rewards Gold Card from American Express, Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American ExpressAmerican Express and the US Travel Association (a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting US travel) have partnered to offer discounts and deals with various travel brands and loyalty programs during the next month, including hotel packages, points/miles purchase promos, rental car discounts and more....

TPG reader Cynthia tweeted me this week to ask:"@thepointsguy - Regarding the Southwest devaluation: since Southwest doesn’t have change fees, could I buy award tickets now and change dates later to get a better rate? Or will I end up paying the higher post devaluation fee anyway?“Sadly, 2014 is the year of the airline devaluation. As of February 1, 2014 United increased the amount of miles it takes for an award ticket, especially for partner awards....

Nick Swardson is the John Belushi of travelers — asking the actor-comic about packing tips is like going to Larry King for marriage advice. But we asked Swardson how to pack anyway and we’re still reeling from his answers. Here, Swardson, who is currently on tour with his buddy Adam Sandler, talks about his worst Las Vegas trip ever and why he’ll never travel to Mars.How often do you fly?I fly a lot....

Per this Flyertalk thread, there are currently some cheap fares if you’re planning to head to Istanbul early next year. I was able to find fares on Air Canada from New York JFK to Istanbul via Toronto Pearson starting as low as $522 for dates beginning in January 2014 through March 2014, and even further out, though there was less availability the further out I looked. The cheapest fares were on 4-7 night stays, so if you were hoping for a same-day turn back it doesn’t look like it would be possible....

Update 5: As of 3pm ET on Thursday, August 11, Delta reports that “flight operations have returned to normal,” more than three full days after the outage was originally reported.Update 4: Delta canceled more than 500 flights on Tuesday, August 9, after having canceled “around 1,000” during and following Monday’s outage. The travel waiver now applies to Tuesday flights as well.Update 3: If your flight was canceled or delayed more than three hours, you can request a $200 travel voucher as compensation....

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.For decades, it has endured as one of the aviation world’s great unsolved mysteries: What happened to famed pilot Amelia Earhart on her fateful 1937 attempt to circumnavigate the globe? According to photographic evidence at the center of an upcoming History Channel documentary, Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan survived....

Buy discounted Disney tickets here through MickeyVisit.comIt’s time to embrace your inner child — while eating some pizza (is there any better combination in this world? I think not).Disneyland will be turning Red Rockett’s Pizza Port into Toy Story’s “Pizza Planet” — the restaurant where Woody and Buzz Lightyear go to find Andy. It will be called “Alien’s Pizza Planet — A Better Place.” No word yet on if slices will be named after “the claw,” the device that the Little Green Men think is taking them to said better place....

After weeks and weeks of back-and-forth about a possible electronics ban expansion to European — and maybe even domestic — flights, we’re hearing reports that yet another attempt will be made to expand the ban. However, this time around, we finally have some details about what airports can do to avoid being included in the rumored expansion.Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary John Kelly spoke with CNN about the possibility of expanding the ban....

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.Both Emirates and Turkish Airlines have announced that effective immediately, the US electronics ban no longer applies to their flights to the US. The news means passengers on nonstop flights on either carrier from Istanbul (IST) or Dubai (DXB) to the US can now bring their large electronic devices on board rather than checking them in the cargo hold....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Hyatt Credit CardWhile in town for the launch of the new TPG To Go App, Points and Miles editor Peter Rothbart stayed at my go-to Los Angeles hotel, the Andaz West Hollywood. Here’s his review of this swank Hyatt property.The Andaz West Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard.Looming over a posh, winding stretch of Sunset Boulevard, the Andaz West Hollywood is hip but elegant, and a quintessentially LA experience....