Posts

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.Last week, Airbnb launched what was possibly its most enticing giveaway yet: a stay atop the Great Wall of China. Now, six days later, it’s announced that the contest is off.The vacation rental company had partnered with the Beijing Tourism Development Committee to send four winners and their guests to spend a night atop the Great Wall, hoping to promote sustainable tourism to China....

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 time has come for the Virgin America Elevate program to completely become a thing of the past. As Alaska’s acquisition of Virgin America comes to a close — they’re now operating as one airline under a single operating certificate — the next thing to go is your stash of Elevate points....

Per Paul5795 on Flyertalk, American and US Airways are offering incredible round-trip fares from Philadelphia to Beijing for $441 starting January 7 and going through March 7th, though there may be even more dates after that. This is a great way to bank tons of miles and visit a great country. You’re looking at 14,516 miles for $446 meaning you’re looking at a cost of 3 cents per mile- a true mileage run (if the elite qualifying miles are what you’re after)....

Last week there was a rumor going around Flyertalk and the frequent flyer blogosphere that London based Star Alliance carrier bmi would automatically grant silver elite status to anyone who signed up for their frequent flyer program.Whether it was the right decision or not, I chose not to post about it because I didn’t think the offer would ultimately work, because it clearly stated that it was targeted and non-transferable. Even if it did temporarily work (we all know airline IT is not the savviest), I figured they would rescind the status anyway....

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.‘Tis the season for new airline uniforms. Back in May, Delta announced its new Zac Posen-designed uniforms — and now, British Airways is stepping up its game as well.The airline just announced that Ozwald Boateng OBE will be designing new uniforms for nearly 32,000 BA employees....

US Customs and Border Protection’s Biometric Entry-Exit Program was developed to catch people overstaying their Visas by using facial scanning technology when foreign visitors leave the country. It’s live in nine US airports, including Washington Dulles (IAD) and Orlando (MCO), and CBP hopes to raise that to 20 airports by 2021.The Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security issued a report this week detailing the roll-out of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) biometric security program....

A massive data breach. A CEO’s departure. Communication failures. It’s been a bumpy ride for Equifax since nearly half of Americans discovered that their personal information may be floating around the underworld of the internet due to the credit reporting agency’s inability to protect its data. After the initial news of Equifax’s breach, technology attorney Mark Grossman told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” that he was skeptical of the company’s ability to stay in business....

On Wednesday, EVA Air Flight 56 from Taipei (TPE) to Chicago (ORD) encountered turbulence off the coast of Japan. The incident left 11 injured: three passengers and eight cabin crew members. According to an initial report released by Taiwan’s Aviation Safety Council on Friday, the injured “suffered abrasion and contusion injuries” and one of the cabin crew was dealt “a serious injury,” although the extent of that injury wasn’t detailed.The incident is considered serious enough that the Aviation Safety Council has assigned an “Investigator-In-Charge and an investigation team” to look into the incident....

Now that airlines have begun flying nonstop from the US to Cuba, it’s become much easier to book flights to Havana, Cienfuegos and a number of other destinations throughout the island nation. But, while airlines have been selling tickets for months, it hasn’t yet been possible to search for airfares using our beloved Google Flights. Fortunately, that just changed. As of today, you can now search for round-trip, one-way and multi-city flights from anywhere in the world to Cuba....

Using a flight search engine is a great way to compare prices across carriers, but results on many can leave out some of the most important details. Today, Hipmunk announced that it’s adding improved functionalities to its website that will give travelers more information when searching for flights than ever before.Now, meta-OTA Hipmunk displays flight-specific details and amenities when conducting a search on the website. While some search engines like Google Flights already display many details like legroom and what type of aircraft you’ll fly, Hipmunk goes a step beyond that by allowing users to filter these categories....

Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is taking a cue from aircraft design by installing something to help travelers avoid an awkward encounter.Just like aircraft have lights to tell you when someone is in the bathroom, LAX has installed “Tooshlight” technology to alert people when an airport bathroom stall is in use.The technology works like so: When a bathroom stall is open, a light above the toilet will be green. When someone is inside the stall, sensor technology will find that someone is there and turn the light red....

A man is suing United Airlines after the crew on his flight to Rome (FCO) refused to land the plane for him to obtain treatment for his acute pancreatitis.Lewis Christman and his wife Roseanne were flying with United in May 2016 from Chicago (ORD) to Rome (FCO). In Christman’s complaint against the airline, he alleges that he suffered such severe pain and nausea that he was unable to sit up straight....

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.Denver is the central, ever-growing hub for international travel. Recently, Edelweiss Airlines said it’s starting flights from DEN to Zurich (ZRH), Copa Airlines announced that it’ll begin service to Panama City (PTY), Lufthansa added DEN to Munich (MUC) service, Southwest launched flights to Belize City (BZE) and low-cost Norwegian announced transatlantic service to London (LGW)....

2017 is turning out to be a bittersweet year for classic Boeing airplanes in the US. United and Delta are both retiring their last 747s by the end of the year, but those aren’t the only Boeing jets from decades past hitting the scrapyard in 2017. Alaska Airlines just retired, with a final flight on Tuesday, its unique Boeing 737-400 Combi — a weird hybrid of an airplane that stood out for its unique combination (hence the name) of cargo in front and passengers in back....

… Danielle returns for week 7 …The most recent episode of Pan Am swirls around the romantic attachments of our two sister stewardesses, Kate and Laura, set to the backdrop of 1960’s race relations. The two’s traditional character roles seemed reversed, however, when the normally controlled and covert Kate finally gets vulnerable with Nico, and it’s mild-mannered Laura engaging in the risqué and bold behavior. No wonder the episode is titled “Truth or Dare” - these sisters cover both challenges!...

This is a guest post from my dad, Grandpa Points. He and my mom are in their late-60’s, are (mostly) retired,and are ticking off “bucket list” destinations quicker than they ever thought possible thanks to miles, points, and travel deals. They have an intense love of this country, of its National Parks and treasures, and have no problem with a clean budget hotel room and an economy airline seat on a low-cost airline as long as it gets them where they want to be....

Since Bali’s aging volcano Mt. Agung began erupting five days ago, authorities have advised residents and those visiting to remain calm. However, on Monday morning local time, Denpasar’s Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) was forced to close due to the volcano’s ash — and TPG himself is stuck on the island. You can follow along with him on both Instagram and Facebook as he navigates the situation. He also did a Facebook Live from the airport to show how the closure is affecting both him and the folks at Denpasar:TPG also posted a number of photos from Denpasar showing the activity there during the closure:According to The Telegraph, the alert for Mt....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here - United MileagePlus Explorer CardTPG reader Jason tweeted me to ask@thepointsguy – “Is it worth signing up for the United MileagePlus Explorer card now?“Right now the United MileagePlus Explorer Card from Chase is offering a sign-up bonus of 30,000 miles after you spend $1,000 in the first 3 months. My advice is not to sign up for the card just yet, because it’s possible (or even likely) that you could get a better deal....

In January 2017, British Airways removed free food and drink from economy on short-haul flights between London and Europe. In its place, the British flag carrier rolled out a Mark & Spencer-branded menu of paid drinks and food.Having bounced back and forth between London and mainland Europe quite a bit over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten quite familiar with this menu. And I’ve found for myself how both the size and presentation can really vary from the menu photos:However, it seems that this menu is an interesting look into the “revenue-based” Avios model that British Airways CEO Alex Cruz has been vocal for years about introducing....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here - Southwest Rapid Rewards Premier Credit CardChase just launched a new Southwest co-branded card which comes with 50,000 Rapid Rewards points after your first purchase, which is up to $833 in Wanna Get Away fares. This offer is similar to their previous 50,000 point Premier Visa Signature offer (update: the Premier still appears to be available when you look at the bottom of the page of the Plus card link - I was told it was no longer available so if you apply I’d take screenshots), but this annual fee is only $69 vs....