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The Oneworld Megado madness continues in Los Angeles this weekend, and seatmate contest winner Conor, Eric and I have been busy in Dallas and Seattle this week hanging out with the folks at American Airlines and Boeing.We’re still in the midst of all the events, but I thought I’d share some of the lighter moments from our day in Dallas at American Airlines’ CR Smith Center. Don’t worry, I’ll give you the inside scoop from the new head of AAdvantage, Suzanne Rubin, soon, as well as glimpses at a simulated water evacuation, the high-tech flight simulators they use to train pilots, the bustling Systems Operations Control room, and a few interesting facts and figures from the morning seminar....

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.If you’re sprawled across the couch right now, flipping through TV channels debating a Law & Order marathon and wondering what fun and free activity you might use to fill your Saturday, look no further because September 23 is Museum Day Live!...

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.Just a quick reminder that The Freddie Awards are being held tonight at the Renaissance Newark Airport. This is the premier award ceremony for travel loyalty programs and millions of votes are cast by travelers around the world for their favorite airline, hotel and credit card promotions....

After a slow roll out of Polaris, United’s new business class product, the airline has announced the next route that will feature the new seat. The carrier will debut a new 777-300ER with Polaris on the San Francisco (SFO) to Tel Aviv (TLV) route starting May 23, 2018. United currently flies a 787-8 between the two cities.United Polaris on a 777-300ER.The move comes just weeks after El AL announced they would be operating their new 787 on the same route, which features El AL’s new hard product that is quite similar to Polaris....

Here’s the link to sign up for SEEN, or head to the App store and search for “SEEN - Travel Community.” Once you’ve downloaded the app, enter the code “The Points Guy” to gain access.Planning out a trip is a bit of yin and yang. There’s the fun part of figuring out where you’re going to go and how you’re going to get there. Redeeming miles for a flight or points for a hotel makes that experience even sweeter....

TPG reader Dennis asks:“My parents each have 13,000 Delta SkyMiles and want to transfer them to me. Since they don’t fly Delta very often, is it worth it to pay the $130 each, $260 total for them to transfer them to my account?I just made Gold this year without any of the cards. I travel quite a bit (42 segments, 50K+ miles). Does it make sense for me to pay for the transfer?...

Like it or not, none of us will ever get the chance to know what it feels like to walk in Brad Pitt’s shoes for a day. But in the very near future, we’ll be able to experience what kind of thread count he likes in his sheets and what his stance on free Wi-Fi is like. The rumor is the Oscar winner has been spending some time in the tiny town of Zablaće, Croatia, where he’s reportedly planning to build a $1....

I travel a fair amount each year, often with multiple trips to different places every month. For this reason, I have routines I follow when researching travel dates and locations. But every system has its flaws, and I discovered a major flaw that almost ruined my anniversary trip to Telluride. It’s called human error.This year, to celebrate our 10th anniversary, my husband and I wanted to get away to somewhere with cooler weather....

Update 4/6/17 9:18am: As the Boston Globe reports, of the some 71,000 Uber and Lyft drivers who recently underwent background checks in Massachusetts, more than 8,000 have failed.For almost as long as ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have been in existence, the debate over how stringent these companies’ background checks for potential drivers has been a hot-button topic. The media is regularly reporting on Uber- and Lyft-related crimes and there are now even dedicated websites, like Who’s Driving You, that track these incidents....

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.Before you get too excited — no, you can’t book a seat on any of these flights, although there might still be a chance to join the final voyage of United’s soon-to-be-retired Boeing 747. Employees have another option, though....

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.If you think NYC’s skyline is impressive when landing at one of the city’s airports, then you’ve got to check out Congonhas Airport (CGH). Located only five miles from São Paulo, Brazil’s sprawling city center, the airport is a small patch of land among an endless sea of high-rise buildings that make up the Southern Hemisphere’s largest city....

Over the last few days, I have spent hours upon hours with miles and points enthusiasts living, eating, sleeping, and breathing miles and points. Basically, one of my own forms of Heaven. One of the awards given out at both the Freddie Awards on Thursday and at the Frequent Traveler University this weekend was related to the best rewards credit cards. The one at the Freddie Awards was voted upon by hundreds of thousands of travelers whereas the award of “Best Credit Card in the Galaxy” at the FTU were voted upon by the hundred plus people in that session....

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.American AAdvantage is running a summer promotion to build awareness around their Kids in Need charity program, which allows AAdvantage members to donate miles to children in need.By visiting the Facebook page here and entering your AAdvantage number and email address, you’ll automatically get 100 miles posted to your account within 6-8 weeks....

Horizon Air has hit some bumpy air this summer, with mass flight cancellations due to a pilot shortage. Horizon, a regional carrier and Alaska Airlines subsidiary, was forced to cancel more than 318 flights recently.The airline has now announced that it will be cutting even more flights through August. And according to a tip from TPG reader Herb M., his Monday flight from Calgary (YYC) to Seattle (SEA) was canceled with only two days of notice due to “shortage of pilots....

Tuesday was a good day to be an employee of the US’ largest and third-largest airlines (by passengers carried). Both American Airlines and Southwest Airlines announced $1,000 bonuses to all employees.Southwest was the first to announce the good news. Airline CEO Gary Kelly “applaud[s] Congress and the President for taking this action to pass legislation,” and announced three ways of reinvesting the anticipated tax savings. The most immediate initiative will be that:All Fulltime and Parttime Southwest Employees employed with Southwest on Dec....

Don’t you hate it when the boss asks you to cancel your vacation plans? Well, a lot of American Airlines pilots are potentially facing this situation after a bug in the pilot scheduling system allowed too many pilots to request time off around the holidays. Now, the world’s largest airline is scrambling to get enough pilots for flights departing just weeks from now.According to a Allied Pilots Association (APA) press release Tuesday, AA management explained the situation to the pilot union last Friday....

American Airlines has been working to expand its presence in Los Angeles (LAX) over the last year. So far in 2016, AA has added new international routes, many new domestic routes, rolled out a new marketing campaign (#BestInLAX) and signed on to be the primary sponsor for the Hollywood Bowl.In total, American Airlines had plans to operate 220 daily flights from LAX to 70 different destinations starting this June. While this rapid expansion has led to major operational issues — leading AA to now scale back LAX flights — AA seems to still be committed to becoming the primary airline at LAX....

With the launch on Monday of transfer bonuses from American Express to both British Airways (20%) and Virgin Atlantic (30%), I wanted to talk about options other than the ones I discussed yesterday for redeeming on the airlines themselves to ways in which you can get value by redeeming their miles on partners. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but just a couple of my personal favorites that can mean getting a lot of value for not only those BA or Virgin miles, but also for your Amex points thanks to the transfer bonuses....

In the email that Southwest Rapid Rewards sent out today to their members, there is a link under “News For Our Valued Members” that takes you to what I assume is bad news for the Rapid Rewards program. The update says (bolding mine):We created Rapid Rewards® because we think you deserve to actually feel rewarded. And, from time to time we must make some updates to our program. Beginning April 17, 2015, the number of Rapid Rewards Points needed to redeem for certain flights will vary based on destination, time, day of travel, demand, fare class, and other factors....

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.Bombardier announced on Wednesday that Delta has signed a firm agreement to buy 20 CRJ900 regional jets — making it the launch operator of Bombardier’s new Atmosphere cabin for CRJ Series regional jets. The actual price paid by Delta for the 70-seat planes hasn’t been announced, but the order is valued at about $961 million based on the list price....