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.Planning to book a stay at IHG’s Crowne Plaza brand? For a limited time, American’s AAdvantage eShopping portal is offering 10 miles for every dollar spent on eligible reservations. Best yet, you’ll be booking directly through IHG in order to qualify, which means you’re eligible to earn points, elite credit and more....

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 new promotion from Starbucks is offering enough rewards points to cash in for two free drinks or food items.All you have to do is make a single Starbucks purchase using Chase Pay by March 19, and you will earn 300 bonus Starbucks Stars....

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.Looking to travel to the Hamptons without all that nasty traffic? If you travel by helicopter, the trip becomes one of the best parts of the whole experience, especially when you can get there in under 40 minutes....

After a wild year of Equifax recovering from its massive data breach, which exposed personal information of millions of Americans, a new credit reporting bureau is in hot water.A report by NerdWallet has revealed a serious flaw in Experian’s security system, which was supposed to protect the pins of customers who wanted to unfreeze their credit reports.Experian explains what a credit freeze is on its website, but issues in its own system allow criminals to do exactly what the company says a credit freeze is supposed to prevent in the first place:“A security freeze will prevent potential lenders from accessing your credit report, stopping a thief from opening an account or getting credit—even if they have your personal information,” Experian writes....

Norwegian Air, the carrier dominating the world’s low-cost long haul market, is planning to expand yet again: this time the airline led by CEO Bjoern Kjos is looking to begin flying to Africa and the Middle East. Norwegian already operates a vast long haul network from Europe to the US and Asia — and from today also to South America, with the launch of its London (LGW) - Buenos Aires (EZE) route on Wednesday....

TPG Managing Editor Eric had an all-too-common experience while traveling home from Mexico on Alaska Airlines this past weekend: a flight delay which no one could say for sure how long it would last. Here’s what he did and what the airline did. What would you do?I spent a few days outside Puerto Vallarta last week in the beach resort of Punta Mita. I flew there from San Diego on Alaska Airlines and though my outbound flight went off without a hitch (and even got me in early for some extra beach time!...

Some people won’t leave their home on Friday the 13th. Others won’t even get out of their bed on the dreaded day. But, those on Finnair flight 666 from Copenhagen (CPH) to Helsinki (HEL) didn’t think anything of flying on the notoriously unlucky day.That’s right, a Finnair A320 transported passengers nonstop to HEL on flight 666 — on Friday the 13th. And as if the superstitious coincidences weren’t enough, Flight Radar identified that the aircraft (tail number OH-LXM) is 13 years old....

The other hotel I stayed at during my Thanksgiving trip with grandma out to Santa Barbara was the newly opened Hyatt Santa Barbara.Now, this wasn’t a new-build hotel. Rather, this used to be the Hotel Mar Monte, an 80-year-old property that Hyatt bought and redid to the tune of $9 million before reopening the first 92 rooms this past summer. There are still 79 left to go, and all the hotel’s function space, but they’re expected to be completed early next year....

Ask someone — anyone — to explain the basic way a hotel makes money and the answer is likely to sound something like, “They charge out-of-towners $150 or so a night for a temporary home away from home.” While this does sum up the basic business strategy of any type of lodging facility, today’s hotels have an entirely new customer in mind: the residents in their very own neighborhoods who aren’t looking for a place to rest their weary heads....

Update 9/8/17: United has clarified that one-way airfares for additional evacuation flights were capped at $399, however the average fare was $285. The airline added a total of 11 evacuation flights.It’s becoming increasingly urgent for many Florida residents to evacuate before Hurricane Irma hits. Given the images coming out of the Caribbean in countries that have already seen the devastating impact of the hurricane, this storm shouldn’t be taken lightly.As demand grows, economics dictates that prices should follow....

Flight attendant. Cabin Crew. Stewardess. When you hear these words, the image that pops into your mind is probably a nice woman or man serving you a Coke…or maybe an octogenarian barking at you to buckle your seat belt. But do you picture someone putting out a fire, delivering a baby or neutralizing a security threat? TPG Flight Attendant Insider Carrie A. Trey reminds us that before flight attendants are given their wings, they must go through extensive, rigorous training to do all of these things— and then some....

The future of Marriott is here and it can be found in Charlotte, North Carolina. Marriott International officially opened its “M Beta” property at the Charlotte Marriott City Center this Tuesday, which will serve as a lab and testing ground for the brand’s future design, tech and service initiatives.The Charlotte Marriott City Center was originally built in 1984 and had “everything that was wrong with Marriott brands,” according to Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson....

Each Saturday, we round up news stories that you may have missed from the week before, including several that already appeared on The Points Guy, and some more that we haven’t covered yet. If you’re an avid TPG reader, scroll down for the new stuff. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you may have missed this week.Norwegian Keeps Expanding With More US Routes to London and ParisNorwegian Air Shuttle seemingly can’t be stopped — the carrier recently announced that it’ll be expanding its footprint even more in the US....

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 are one of the three or four people that have been refreshing this site furiously waiting to learn a little more about our time at the Park Hyatt St. Kitts…today is your lucky day! We shared how you can put together a trip to the new Park Hyatt St....

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.South Korea’s Incheon International Airport (ICN) unveiled its new terminal Thursday, just days before the 2018 Winter Olympics begin on February 9.The 7.4 million square-foot Terminal 2 is ICN’s first large-scale expansion in 17 years, and includes a number of “smart technology” features such as 62 self-check-in machines and a facial recognition system....

The book of our lives is undeniably made of numerous chapters. Some blur together in a peaceful monotony without a clear transition from one chapter to the next, and other chapters have very finite, sometimes harsh, beginnings and ends. Sometimes you see a new chapter coming and you either rush through the remaining pages to get there or savor each sentence not wanting the current phase of the story to end....

Technology has forced both the government and airlines to take action in an effort to make the skies safer. Last week, several airlines banned passengers from bringing hoverboards on board because of safety concerns. And this week, it’s not something onboard aircraft that’s causing the concern, but instead it’s gadgets flying outside that’s spurred the attention of the FAA – drones.In a press release, the FAA announced it would be requiring all drones to be registered with the federal government – no matter how big or how small....

There are a few fun travel contests and sweepstakes going on around the web this week. Here are some of TPG’s top picks to win some great travel prizes!Win a trip to Asia.Win A Trip To Asia: Macy’s has partnered with Delta to honor Asian Heritage Month by sponsoring a prize trip to one of the following destinations: China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand or Singapore. The trip includes two round trip coach class travel certificates of up to $1,500 each, which can be redeemed for travel from a major airport in the continental United States nearest the winner’s home on Delta Air Lines or a Delta Connection carrier, and four days/three nights double-occupancy hotel accommodations in the winner’s chosen destination....

Four months after Uber suspended all of its self-driving car operations, it’s now laid-off about 100 self-driving car operators in Pittsburgh and San Francisco.The operators, who sit in the driver’s seat and monitor the self-driving vehicle’s operations, were informed in a meeting yesterday that they would be losing their jobs. Uber will replace the positions with 55 new “mission specialists” that are capable of more “advanced test-track operations” and able to provide developers with more “technical feedback,” Quartz reports....

We don’t have many big premium cabin flights on the books right now…in fact, we just have one, our big family trip to Australia and New Zealand planned for the spring of next year. That puts roughly two years between big fancy premium cabin international trips for our family, which I think is a pretty good spacing. It is certainly more frequent than would ever be possible without miles and points, but it is enough time between trips to certainly get excited again not just for the destination, but for the process of getting there....