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.Plenti, the coalition loyalty program managed by American Express, is officially ending on July 10, 2018.In an internal memo, Rite Aid, which is one of the members of Plenti, detailed phasing-out plans for the program’s final months. As reported by Doctor of Credit, Rite Aid employees are directed in the memo to not tell customers that the Plenti program is ending until April 16 — almost three months before it’s officially a program of the past....

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.Absolutely! The airlines are raking it in with their frequent flyer programs. I just read the Delta Investor Day presentation (great reading for any airline dorks) and on slide 15 it shows a chart with ancillary revenue sources: Cargo: $900 million, Commercial Aviation Services $1....

A former pilot for Alaska Airlines has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison and fined $10,000 as of yesterday after flying while intoxicated back in 2014.David Hans Arntson had been a captain for Alaska for more than 20 years before a random drug test on June 20, 2014, unveiled a serious danger to Alaska Airlines passengers: Arntson’s blood alcohol concentration was at 0.134 percent and 0.142 percent after piloting two flights....

Last night, a federal judge in Seattle issued an order temporarily blocking the travel ban instituted last Friday by President Donald Trump. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security has stopped enforcement of the President’s executive order and is instructing airlines to allow travelers with proper documentation to board planes heading for the United States.In addition, the State Department has reversed the cancellation of visas that had previously been issued to nationals of the seven countries covered by the order....

Puerto Rico is reeling from the utter destruction that Hurricane Maria dealt to the Caribbean island, and one of the casualties of the natural disaster was San Juan Luis Muñoz Marin Airport (SJU) which appears to have been significantly damaged. SJU is the island’s main international airport and is served by all of the large US carriers including American, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United.Radio Isla 1320 shared four images from the airport revealing a flooded terminal and a runway full of debris — with entire window panes knocked out of their frames....

It’s nice work, if you can get it: the 55-year-old captain of your airliner from New York to Tokyo is earning upwards of $300,000 per year. He’s flying this leg once per month, with a domestic trip or two wedged in. He’ll have many days off to play golf, hang out with his family or fly little planes for fun. Couple this with profit sharing, and this experienced airman will have banked millions of dollars in earnings by the time he retires in 10 years....

Delta currently has a 100% bonus when you transfer Delta miles between accounts until September 30, 2011, which basically equates to them selling miles at roughly 1.1 cents a piece. I have been getting a lot of emails about this promotion, so I thought I’d lay out a couple different scenarios so you can decide if this makes sense for you. While Delta SkyMiles are among the hardest to redeem at low levels, it can be done, especially when redeeming for partner awards (like Air France, KLM, V Australia and China Southern)....

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 Azores islands are steadily becoming one of the most talked about vacation destinations, but its airline, Azores Airlines, continually struggles financially. However, relief may be coming in the form of Icelandair — the carrier today filed a firm Statement of Interest for purchasing a 49% stake in Azores Airlines....

Following in the footsteps of other cross-promotional partnerships like Delta/Starwood’s Crossover Rewards (sort of), this morning, American Airlines and Marriott announced a partnership where members of American’s AAdvantage program and Marriott Rewards can earn miles on their hotel stays, joining the roster Marriott’s other airline partners.Unlike the Delta/SPG Crossover program where elite members of both programs earn both miles and points on both hotel stays and flights, this partnership is limited to members of both programs now being able to earn AAdvantage miles on Marriott stays....

It began, like many things in the Middle East do, with a mix of fascination and frustration. I was scrambling to get to my gate at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport for a midsummer flight to Mykonos via Athens when I saw one of the monitors flash details of a nonstop flight to my same destination, JMK, that hadn’t turned up on any of the major flight search engines I had looked at....

On Tuesday March 1, Southwest officially launches their Rapid Rewards 2.0 program. The key changes, which I highlighted in January, are:1) You no longer earn a flat 1 credit per 1 way and redeem for a free roundtrip at 16 credits2) You earn points per dollar spent: 6 points for Wanna Get Away fares, 10 points for Anytime, and 12 points for Business Select3) You can now redeem for any flight, but the amount of points a flight requires will depend on the fare class available: 60 points gives you one dollar towards a Wanna Get Away fare (a $100 cheapo fare will cost 6,000 points), 100 points gets you a dollar towards Anytime fares (10,000 for a $100 ticket), and 120 points is a dollar towards Business Select fares (12,000 for a $100 ticket)....

For those looking to ditch their 9 to 5 and escape the Northeast’s bomb cyclones— Richard Branson has the perfect job opportunity for you. Branson’s company Virgin Group posted a job listing looking for a personal assistant to work on Necker Island, Branson’s private isle in the British Virgin Islands.The job responsibilities include managing emails, general correspondence, filing and archiving, booking travel, among other typical administrative tasks for Branson’s office as well as being the personal assistant to Keny Jones, the island’s general manager....

Since Hurricane Irma made its way through the Caribbean, St. Maarten’s Maho Beach and famed Princess Juliana International Airport (SXM) have been left with devastating damage. Travel companies have made efforts to help the island by bringing supplies and helping survivors evacuate to safety — from KLM bringing its 747 back to SXM to Royal Caribbean sending one of its ships. Now, Royal Jordanian has shared that it’s sent one of its aircraft to help evacuate Jordanian citizens....

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.A Cayman Airways passenger “caught the spirit” on a flight from Grand Cayman (GCM) to Kingston (KIN) this week. When the flight was delayed because of a mechanical issue, a female passenger was recorded yelling “Jesus” over and over again....

About a year ago, JetBlue shared the details of a major expansion of its beloved Mint product to many more transcontinental and Caribbean routes. Though you’ve been able to book Mint seats on flights between Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO), the airline hadn’t released any other information on when the rest of the routes would be available — until now.Today, JetBlue has shared when you’ll (finally) be able to fly Mint on the following routes:New York (JFK) to Las Vegas (LAS) — first Mint seats available November 6, 2017; available as of November 10 on a second daily flightNew York (JFK) to San Diego (SAN) — first Mint seats available August 15, 2017; available as of October 10 on a second daily flightBoston (BOS) to San Diego (SAN) — first Mint seats available December 10, 2017; available as of December 20 on a second daily flightThe carrier is staggering the rollout of planes equipped with Mint seats on these routes, so if you’re planning to book a ticket before the premium product is available on the second daily frequency, make sure that you’re selecting the correct flight....

Passengers on board a Delta Air Lines flight from Minneapolis (MSP) to San Jose (SJC) were glad to see the ground when they landed at SJC.Delta Flight 1732 reported that it was landing at SJC with multiple sick passengers on board, triggering an emergency response. When the aircraft landed at SJC at 7:10pm PT, emergency crews stationed themselves not only in front of the gate, but in front of the airport’s Terminal A....

Update: This is actually a promo for Membership Rewards points. You must pay with a Membership Rewards linked card (Platinum, Premier Rewards Gold, Gold, Green - not a Starwood Amex, for example).Starwood Preferred Guest is offering 1,000 bonus American Express Membership Rewards points when you stay at Aloft, Element and Four Points by Sheraton from August 10 to November 15, 2011. Registration required.To be eligible to earn bonus points, you must be enrolled in the Membership Rewards program at the time of stay and you must charge your stay on an eligible, enrolled American Express Card....

While rooftop bars feature impressive views — and sometimes from nosebleed-inducing heights — there’s a different sort of attraction to bars that are hidden underground or underwater since they offer a shared sense of intimacy and are often in spectacular or historic hideaway venues. These 9 subterranean bars from the Maldives to lower Manhattan each have their own visual flair and special atmosphere — the one thing they all have in common: they’re not recommended for anyone who gets claustrophobic....

On Tuesday, Air France published hard-to-pass-up fares from both Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) to London (LHR) in its ultra-luxe La Première first class — starting at $1,514 round-trip. While there was always the possibility that the carrier wouldn’t honor the fare for those who jumped on it, it’s starting to look more and more like those tickets will be — or already have been — cancelled.Several TPG readers are reporting that their tickets are simply no longer showing up on Air France’s site....

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.This one is a real snoozefest- receive a 30% savings on purchased miles until Sunday 4/23/11. The only way I can see this making sense is if you are close to an award and need to buy miles quickly or if you want to top up to lock-in million miler status, since American (for now) counts all mileage activity towards lifetime status....