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.US passport holders are used to having nearly unrestricted access to travel anywhere we’d like, but there are a few notable exceptions. Brazil is one — the country usually requires that any visitor entering with a US passport secure a 10-year tourist visa, which comes along with a hefty $160 application fee....

The town of Nipton, California was built on gold and furthered by railroad development, but now a new commodity is taking over and turning the former gold mining town green.Founded in 1905, Nipton is located in a corner of San Bernardino County near the Nevada border. Over a century later — and with a population totaling 20 — the town is now owned by American Green, the country’s largest publicly traded marijuana company....

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.Arguably one of the coolest things airlines can do is to come up with special liveries, which will not only attract the attention of potential customers sitting in airports across the globe, but will also allow airlines to partner with other companies in marketing campaigns....

Now through June 30, 2012, Delta is offering 50% bonus on purchased miles. For every increment of 2,000 miles they purchase, they’ll get 1,000 bonus miles up to 60,000 purchased miles and 30,000 bonus miles.T&CBefore we get started, a quick look at the Terms and Conditions says that this offer is only open to recipients of the original email from Delta, though if any readers who did not get the email were able to score the bonus, tell me about it in the comments below....

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.Emirates is known for providing a luxurious travel experience, particularly in the front of the plane. While customers thoroughly enjoy Emirates’ dining experience, with up to 76 passengers in the business-class cabin, mistakes can be made. The airline has decided to make an attempt at cutting down on errors as well as providing more efficient and personalized service through new technology....

Ask anyone to name their favorite travel booking site and you’ll likely hear Booking.com, Kayak, Expedia, TripAdvisor, Airbnb and Priceline. But if Expedia, Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi is right, Facebook may soon be joining that list.Yes, the same site that reconnected you with your best friend from kindergarten might very well become your first stop when you’re searching for an affordable oceanfront suite with free Wi-Fi. In a wide-ranging interview with Skift, Khosrowshahi predicted that, given Facebook’s current trend toward e-commerce, it seems inevitable that the social media giant will use its vast reach to enter the online booking industry in a big way — particularly in the wake of Google’s recent foray into the travel realm....

As you know, ExpertFlyer is one of my favorite tools for finding seat availability and award seats on flights, now it’s even better thanks to a few recent additions to the award availability it shows.Korean Air AwardsPerhaps the biggest news is that ExpertFlyer is now showing business class award space on Korean Air flights. Though the site previously showed A fare (first class) award space and O fare (business) upgrades, it will now also show outright O fare business class awards as well starting on March 1....

One of our picks for the top hotels to check out in 2014 was W hotel brand’s first foray into the ski resort world opened in Verbier, Switzerland, in December. TPG Contributor Casey Hatfield-Chiotti recently visited the town in the Swiss Alps known for some of the best off-piste (backcountry) skiing in the world and got an exclusive tour of the property.The slopes of Verbier.Verbier is an idyllic town set high in the hills in the Val de Bagnes, south of Martigny....

TPG Contributor “Marty McFly” is a pilot for a major US-based airline. In his next few Insider posts, he’ll give you a behind-the-scenes look into what the average day is like for an airline pilot.I was at an amusement park recently, riding a fairly aggressive roller coaster with my son. As the shoulder harness came down, people on the ride were chatting about how awesome the ride is and how many times they’d been on it that day....

It’s been nearly two weeks since “Bumpgate,” and United is still getting flack about it. Comedian and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel jumped into the fray when the controversy originally arose — his parody of the incident in which a United passenger was violently dragged off a plane to make room for its own employees was a hit — and continued his coverage this week by unveiling a new United “ad” with celebrity spokesman Matt Damon....

On many US-based mileage programs, you’re going to be charged 30,000 miles each way for flights between US and Europe. Even with low-cost carrier competition driving down cash prices, airlines have stubbornly kept their award rates unchanged.But, now there’s a short reprieve. Now through June 17, you can book British Airways economy awards to/from London for 50% fewer Avios. On some routes and dates, this drops the price to just 6,500 Avios each way between the US and London....

Virgin America Elevate members can now use points to redeem for flights on Virgin Atlantic and Virgin Australia, but before you get too excited, fasten your seatbelts because the fuel surcharges, taxes and fees can get out of this world.Elevate points can normally be used towards any Virgin America flight for about 1.6-2.1 cents per point towards airfare. So you can buy a $400 New York to Los Angeles flight for between 19,000 and 25,000 points....

Although we’ve heard rumors about other dates, we have the best indication yet for when Qatar’s Qsuite business class product is going to make its debut: June 24.We still don’t have official confirmation from Qatar that this will be the first revenue flight of its revolutionary new business class product. However, this morning Qatar loaded a new business class seating arrangement starting June 24 on QR Flight #7 from Doha (DOH) to London (LHR)....

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.In a move to incentivize their loyal members to stay at their cheapest properties, Starwood is running a promotion where each stay at an Aloft, Element or Four Points by Sheraton will count double towards your elite qualification....

Our experience at the Andaz Maui at Wailea was fantastic overall, but even though the suite we were in was nice, that is not what made the experience. Everything else at and near the resort make the visit special. These are things like the spa, the service, the beach, the snorkeling, the food, and the pools. I think many of those elements of the resort deserve more than a passing mention, and so this post is dedicated to the pools....

There aren’t many things I’ve seen lately that have left me with renewed hope in humanity — this video is an absolute exception.Adam, the world’s most adorable future pilot, managed to get some time in the cockpit on a recent Etihad flight from Morocco to Abu Dhabi. The Captain was able to capture a couple minutes of the interaction, and the video went viral, with 27 million views and counting on Facebook alone....

With all the travel I do, sometimes by the time that I get on the plane and climb into my seat, all I ever want to do is just close my eyes and pass out. Obviously this is easier said than done most days. Between passengers boarding and shuffling about and cabin crew announcements, relaxing can be difficult on a plane, and especially during a long-haul flight. People have different strategies - for some it’s a strong inflight cocktail, for others, it’s a Xanax or perhaps a nice book…Puddy from Seinfeld preferred to just stare at the back of the headrest, so to each his own I guess....

Employees of one more European airline are about to go on strike, causing a disruption to flights throughout some of its network. Brussels Airlines’ pilot union has called for strike actions on May 14 and 16.Because of the strike, Brussels Airlines, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, has proactively canceled several of its flights. In addition, even if your flight is not canceled and you’re scheduled to travel on either May 14 or 16, Brussels is allowing passengers to rebook travel at a later date (as long as it’s before June 30), or to get a full refund of your ticket....

From now through May 13, 2013, Air Canada’s Aeroplan mileage program is running a promotion that could mean up to 40,000 bonus miles for transferring points from their partners. Unfortunately, Amex Membership Rewards points transfers to Aeroplan do not count for this promo, but it could be a good way to boost your Aeroplan balance. Note: while Aeroplan awards are bookable on Star Alliance carriers, they levy huge fees on many partner awards- for more information on fees on each Star Alliance carrier, check out our recent series....

Airline million miler status programs, glamorized by George Clooney in Up in the Air, are real programs that encourage longterm loyalty to a particular airline. While each airline has its up and down years, these programs are meant to cement the most loyal flyers and keep them when they might think about defecting to a competitior. No US legacy airlines match Million Miler status, so flyers who are close to attaining such status need to debate whether its worth it to start from scracth at a new airline, even if that airline matches elite status (see here for a rundown of status matching)....