My mind is one that has to plan way ahead in order to function at its best. It’s a blessing and a curse, but it means that now that the calendar has rolled into 2018, there are some things I like to at least have outlined in terms of planning outside of just travel. In large part because I do not take celebrating another year together for granted, we pretty much always throw relatively big birthday parties for my daughters....
The Colorado Springs Airport (COS) will remain closed on Tuesday for all commercial departures and arrivals following a fire on the roof of the main terminal, which was extinguished early Tuesday morning.The three-alarm fire broke out around 11:30pm Monday on the roof of the main terminal. It took firefighters about an hour to get the fire out, but crews are still in the process of assessing the smoke, water and fire damage....
TPG reader Creighton sent me a message on Facebook to ask about airline elite benefits:“I have Cathay Pacific Silver status, which earns me Oneworld Ruby status. Since AAdvantage Gold also corresponds to Oneworld Ruby, can I use my Cathay Pacific status to get AAdvantage Gold?”Airline alliances can help you maximize travel by giving you access to rewards across a global network of carriers. You can earn miles and elite credits for flights on member airlines, and even receive some reciprocal elite benefits if you have status with an alliance partner....
Israel’s flag carrier, El Al, has come a very long way in recent months, thanks in no small part to the introduction of Boeing’s 787-9 Dreamliner, which offers a product far superior to the airline’s dated 747, 767 and 777 fleet.TPG’s Emily McNutt reviewed business class on the inaugural flight, and enjoyed the experience overall. Unfortunately there wasn’t any Wi-Fi onboard, however, which can make it challenging to be productive on the nearly 9....
Exactly how much power does an airline have to kick off sick passengers?That’s the question some flyers asked themselves after an Alaska Airlines crew recently kicked off a passenger who’d vomited before the flight took off.Patrick Hess, who has Down Syndrome, and his parents were ready to travel from St. Louis (STL) to Seattle (SEA) on Flight AS779 when Patrick “threw up a little,” his sister Meaghan said in a statement....
As I announced yesterday, today is my last day at my “day job” and the first day of my life as a full-time points consultant and blogger. When I made the decision to become The Points Guy full-time, I also decided to go on a memorable (and exotic) “emancipation” trip to kick it off.With a trip to Europe planned for later in the summer, and the tropics being a little too muggy right now, where did I decide to go?...
A Southwest Airlines aircraft was involved in a collision with an airport pickup truck at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI) on Monday morning.Southwest Flight 6263 had just landed at BWI from Fort Lauderdale (FLL) at about 12:06am Monday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. The Boeing 737-800 (registration N8655D) had taxied to and was pulling into its gate at approximately 12:36am when it was struck by the truck.Passengers on board the aircraft took to social media with images and complaints about the subsequent delays caused by the collision....
Tuesday was a big day for Qatar Airways and Airbus. The European aircraft manufacturer handed over the first A350-1000 to Qatar Airways today at a ceremony in Toulouse, France.The aircraft is Airbus’ newest twin-aisle jet, and Qatar Airways had already been the launch customer for the shorter -900 version, in 2015. The first route for the new jet will be between Doha (DOH) and London Heathrow (LHR) with the inaugural commercial flight taking off on Saturday, February 24....
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.On this year’s “most wanted” list, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has released a number of its most wanted transportation-related safety improvements. On that list is the recommendation that the FAA disallow lap infants who can currently ride (often for free) in parents’ laps until they turn 2 years old. The NTSB states that “children are safest when they are properly secured in a child safety seat, in their own seat, when flying” and would like the FAA to remove the exemption that permits babies and young children to fly as lap infants....
Here’s a recap of the interesting points and miles news from the week:Take Three Trips On Amtrak’s Acela And Get One Free: If you take three qualifying roundtrips on the Acela train by March 14, 2014, you will earn one free roundtrip for travel July 1 – August 31, 2014. A minimum $90 spent per one-way segment is required for travel to qualify, and there is a limit of two qualifying one-way segments per day....
TPG reader Matt sent me a message on Facebook to ask about redeeming airline miles:“Do airline miles offer good value for booking hotels? Specifically, should I redeem 200,000 United miles for four nights in a 4-5 star hotel in Napa?”Frequent flyer programs offer a wide variety of ways to redeem miles. Aside from flight and upgrade awards, you can use miles to pay for hotels and rental cars, merchandise, experiences and more....
Much to the shock, amazement, or disbelief of many in the miles and points world, I redeemed (my dad’s) points to fly Spirit Airlines yesterday. Sure I have miles to fly on a variety of carriers, but this was only 2,500 miles for a non-stop flight from Las Vegas to Houston at the time I wanted to fly. Flights on airlines like United were selling for $300+ each way, so this seemed like basically flying for free....
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.Ever wondered what it’s like to be in the cockpit of a jumbo jet on approach to one of the busiest airports in the world? What type of controls are required? What do the pilots have to communicate to the air traffic control tower?...
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.Earlier this week, we wrote Travel Rewards March Madness Is Here: Cast Your Votes, and in honor of March Madness for this week’s Thursday Giveaway, we are given away a $500 American Express Gift Card that can be used anywhere that accepts American Express, meaning you could put this towards some basketball tickets if you’d like....
One of Asia’s best airline’s is lowering its standards. In May, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced it would be launching a budget carrier, and now its executives are planning on making serious cutbacks to passenger comforts for the new airline.JAL plans on launching the low-cost carrier, temporarily named TBL Co. Ltd., in the summer of 2020 — just in time for the Tokyo Olympic Games. It will use two Boeing 787-8s, likely taken from JAL’s current fleet that contains 29 of the widebody jets....
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.We’ve all been there — standing at the baggage claim carousel impatiently wondering why our bags are taking so long to arrive. Delta hopes to take some of the guessing out of this situation with an exciting new feature in its mobile app....
Believe it or not, the most-hated and worst-ranked airline in the US isn’t the worst performing airline in the US. Instead, Virgin America and JetBlue’s on-time percentages are making Spirit Airlines’ 75.5% on-time percentage look pretty good.Based on statistics from January through October 2017 — which is the most recently released data — both Virgin America and JetBlue have less than a 70% on-time percentage.AirlineOn-Time% Late% Cancelled% DivertedHawaiian88.9%10.8%0.27%0.08%Delta84.8%14.1%0.87%0.20%Alaska82.4%16.5%0.80%0.28%United81.2%17.4%1.20%0.24%American79.4%18.8%1.55%0.23%Frontier77.8%21.0%1.03%0.15%Southwest77.7%20.6%1.49%0.19%Spirit75.5%20.6%3.75%0.14%JetBlue69.6%26.8%3.27%0.25%Virgin America67.9%30.2%1.59%0.34%Data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics year-to-date through October 2017....
St. Maarten’s Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) is known to AvGeeks as one of the best places in the world for plane spotting. Maho Beach is just steps away from the runway, and beachgoers can watch as the giant metal birds pass right over their heads before landing at the airport. But, this also means that the landing can be tricky for pilots.Last week, an incoming WestJet Boeing 737 narrowly avoided a disastrous encounter with the water while making its approach into SXM....
The first United 777-300ER enters scheduled service bright and early tomorrow morning at 7AM with a flight from Newark to San Francisco. This is not only the first aircraft of that type to be operated by United, but it is also the first one that will feature the new direct aisle access Polaris business class seats.These may not be the best business class seats in the sky, but they are pretty darn nice....
Here are some fun travel contests and sweepstakes from around the Web this week – and here’s hoping you win a trip somewhere you’ve always wanted to go!Win a trip to Cartagena, ColombiaWin a Trip to Cartagena, Colombia: Agree to receive email communication from LAN and TAM airlines and you could win a trip to Cartagena, Colombia. The prize package includes round trip flights for two to Cartagena from Miami and three nights in the Hotel Casa San Agustin, including breakfast....
