TPG reader Tiffany tweeted me to ask a question about air travel lingo:@thepointsguy – “What is the difference between a connection and a stopover?“A connection is when you change planes in an airport, but you’re only there for (typically) 4 hours or less on a domestic flight, or 24 hours or less on an international flight.For example, let’s say you’re flying on American Airlines from Los Angeles to London and then on to Beirut....
Travel with young kids can be hard. Traveling with young kids by yourself is harder. Traveling by yourself with a young special needs kid I can only imagine is harder still. But, people do it, and just by looking you often can’t tell if someone has a special situation going on or not, but you don’t really need to know that in order to be helpful and compassionate. It sounds like helpful and compassionate were unfortunately not the words of the day for a mom who was recently traveling on Air Canada with her (adorable) three-year-old daughter from Vancouver to San Francisco to get some specialized treatment....
Up until this week, Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers Airport had never seen a Boeing Dreamliner. In fact, widebody passenger aircraft are an especially unusual sight here — OKC is a much more common destination for regional jets than large international planes.Air Tahiti Nui decided to shake things up on Tuesday, though, making the Sooner State its very first 787-9 stop. I happened to be on board the airline’s delivery flight, and like Boeing’s Dreamliner, I also made my Oklahoma City debut....
Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Delta is flying into a hurricane. Seemingly emboldened after being the last to fly into San Juan (SJU) Category 5 Hurricane Irma, the Atlanta-based airline repeated the feat on Tuesday by flying into SJU hours later than any other airline ahead of Hurricane Maria’s destruction of the airport.Despite Hurricane Maria’s forecast pass just north of Cibao International Airport (STI) in Santiago, Dominican Republic, Delta is continuing to operate in and out 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.It’s incredibly difficult to get aboard Air Force One and it’s not generally open to public tours. NBC 10 News is reporting, however, that an old 747 at Quonset Point in Rhode Island is undergoing a full-on refurbishment that’ll make it look like a exact replica of the famous presidential plane....
I know a lot of you were able to get in on the amazing 100,000 mile BA Visa bonus, so I wanted to let you know of a benefit that seems to have gone unnoticed.When you book a British Airways flight using your BA Visa through this site, you get $50 off the roundtrip.T&C"*$50 discount valid on qualifying round-trip British Airways published fares purchased at www.britishairways.com/get50 only beginning March 23, 2009....
A security checkpoint at Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport (HOU) shut down for a period on Thursday when a suspicious item was found in a passenger’s bag. The item was later determined to be a toy grenade.According to a Houston Airport System spokesperson, a Transportation Security Administration agent spotted a suspicious item in a passenger’s bag around 4:35am local time. When the item was discovered, airport officials forced hundreds of passengers waiting in the line to move away from the immediate area....
On the northeast coast of Catalonia stands one of our favorite Spanish cities: Barcelona. The colors, designs, tastes and textures of Barcelona are unparalleled; it’s a perfect place to vicariously take your Instagram followers. Whether you’re in town for great eats and drinks (like fideuà, which is similar to paella, but with noodles instead of rice), or there to find a great party (at Sala Razzmatazz or La Terrrazza) or to take some time to relax and explore, Barcelona has something that can cater to every itinerary....
Many of us have some special destinations or events we enjoy traveling to with regularity, and one of those special times and places for us is New York City during the winter holidays. It helps that we have family in Connecticut who we usually get to see when we go to the NYC area, but even without that draw, seeing the real Santa at Macy’s on 34th Street, the outdoor ice skating rinks, the department store windows, the Rockefeller Tree, and more just makes NYC a favorite of ours and a destination we highly recommend to other families looking for similar holiday experiences....
Last month we learned that British Airways wants to wet lease three A330 aircraft from Qatar Airways this summer to reduce operation disruptions caused by ongoing engine issues with some Boeing 787s. Qatar Airways owns a 20% stake in IAG Group, the parent company of British Airways, and has leased BA A320s during a strike last year, so this request was not completely out of the blue. Additionally, the carrier has a lot of spare short-haul aircraft at the moment, due to the suspension of its flights to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt....
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.When you’re flying in a premium cabin, chances are you’re heading to a lounge before you board the plane. Lounges available to premium travelers can be luxurious — from the dining to the drinks and the service. They can be a place to relax before a flight — not to mention the meal you’ll get there is oftentimes a much better option than what you’ll find on board — unless, of course, you’re traveling in The Residence with a personalized Thanksgiving dinner....
It’s been just over a year since the US and Cuba came to an agreement that paved the way for Americans to fly nonstop to the Caribbean island nation after years of only being able to enter via a charter flight or through a third country. While in the wake of the announcement, all of the major airlines immediately began scrambling to become the first to offer passengers the opportunity for a quick weekend jaunt to Havana, a lot has changed since then....
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.Delta’s currently running its monthly SkyMiles Flash Sale promo — and this month it’s put Canada (one of the top destinations of 2017) on sale. In order to take advantage of the sale, you must book by tomorrow night (June 14) at 11:59pm ET for travel between September 5 and November 14, 2017, which, according to Delta, is ‘peak leaf season’ at our neighbor to the north....
The beachfront Park Hyatt St. Kitts opened in late 2017, and in early 2018 we flew east over the ocean to make our first visit to the new points-friendly property. We went there shortly after the resort opened not only to enjoy some relaxing time on a new-to-us island, but also specifically to check out the new property and share our thoughts here to help you decide if this is the right spot for you and your family....
Invitation: Come spin with me in Miami on Monday, June 6 at 7:30pm for a great cause!Points for Peace has hit the ground running — and we are well on our way to achieving our goals of flying Nobel Peace Price laureates all over the world to teach the world’s youth about peace. But none of that would be possible without your help and kind donations. So far, we’ve raised a large amount of money that’s going directly to PeaceJam:TPG Readers — $13,123TPG — $150,000Brian Kelly Match — $13,123NYC SoulCycle — $4,300Miami SoulCycle — $1,500PeaceJam Alumni Challenge — $4,986For a total cash donation amount of $187,032....
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.The ridesharing world is about to be disrupted. While part of the appeal of services like Uber and Lyft stems from their on-demand nature — you’re umbrella-less on a rainy day and, with a couple of clicks on your phone, can make a car come to you — Lyft may be soon be blurring the lines between ride-hailing and traditional car service....
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.Members of Congress, international diplomats and members of the Supreme Court used to have it made when it comes to traveling through Washington’s Reagan National Airport (DCA). For years, they’ve been able to use one of 89 VIP parking spots at the airport, which were close to the terminal....
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.Beginning July 1, some Americans’ credit scores may increase by as much as 20 points. Effective Saturday, the three major credit reporting companies — Equifax, Experian and TransUnion — will reevaluate two pieces of information that have, in the past, negatively impacted credit scores....
While I’ve been a Delta Diamond for the past couple years and I enjoy my top-tier status, as a Oneworld Mega Do participant I was recently offered the opportunity to complete a relatively easy challenge to achieve American Airlines Executive Platinum status: simply fly 20,000 miles between October 9 and January 13, 2012.To be completely honest, I haven’t had many good experiences with American Airlines. I’ve flown them in coach, business and international first within the last year and each experience was just eh (see my trip reports Buenos Aires- JFK and JFK- Madrid for examples)....
TGP Contributor Kevin Song recently flew in business class on American Airlines’ 787-8 Dreamliner from LA to Shanghai. Read on for his impressions. (All photos are by the author.)I recently used some fantastic fares from the US to China as an excuse to do a mini mileage run to Asia so I could earn a bunch of miles before the American Airlines devaluation and use up my expiring systemwide upgrades.Since the fares I found were fairly flexible in routing, I chose to fly Chicago-Dallas-Los Angeles-Shanghai to not only maximize my mileage earnings, but so I’d also be able to fly on not one, but three separate Boeing 787 Dreamliners — one from Chicago to Dallas, and another two from Los Angeles to Shanghai and back....
