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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Barclaycard Arrival.I recently signed up and was approved for the Barclaycard Arrival World MasterCard which comes with a sign up bonus of 40,000 miles after $3,000 in spend within the first 90 days and a complimentary subscription for TripIt Pro, worth $49 annually.Having never really used TripIt’s services before, I wanted to give it a try and log my travel plans for my trip to Brazil that I just returned from....

Have you ever arrived from a delayed international flight only to find a snaking line at customs and immigration — with just minutes to go until you’re scheduled to board a connection? Sure, Global Entry will help get you through much more quickly, but depending on the airport you’re traveling through and the airlines you’re flying, you might also need to deal with a long walk or a train ride, not to mention a visit to the TSA....

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.Royal Caribbean is rolling out the largest ever cruise ship tomorrow. Not only is it the largest cruise-liner, but it’s also actually the biggest ship in the entire world. The Symphony of the Seas will depart on its inaugural journey tomorrow with Barcelona in its sights....

Planning your summer travel? TripAdvisor recently released its travel trends report with the top tourism trends and experiences ranked by 2017 booking count totals. The travel company ranked the most popular travel attractions and sites both globally and domestically and according to the report, iconic landmarks and sites remain the most-booked by travelers globally, while cultural categories like food tours, cooking classes and historical and heritage experiences are on the rise....

This was a big week for us at The Points Guy as on Tuesday we launched our new app TPG To Go. After over a year of hard work and planning, we finally saw the app come to life and I couldn’t be prouder. The app is very easy to use, and it’s filled with robust features that will truly help you maximize your credit card spends and earn more points and miles faster!...

Once down Takeshita street, I hung a right on Harajuku street and walked 15 minutes to Shibuya, which is the Herald Square-like area with lots of shops and restaurants. At this point, I had worked up quite an appetite, so I went into the first ramen shop that seemed to be popular with locals. The one I ended up choosing had no English on the signs - even better.I walked in and watched a couple put their Yen in the vending machine and choose their entrees....

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 last time you went through airport security, do you remember seeing spare change in one of those plastic bowls that someone had abandoned after emptying their pockets? Turns out, it’s a much more common occurrence than you might think....

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.Starwood Preferred Guest sent out a targeted email to elite members who have already achieved Gold or Platinum status this year offering them a $25 certificate off anything that can be charged to their room on a future stay including things like in-room movies, spa treatments and room service....

It’s the dawn of a new era for French Polynesia’s hometown international airline, Air Tahiti Nui. The carrier currently serves four destinations from its hub in Papeete (PPT) with its small fleet of Airbus A340-300s, but those widebodies are a bit past their prime — fortunately, for customers and the airline alike, they’re about to be replaced with Boeing’s latest and greatest long-haul jet.Air Tahiti Nui just took delivery of its very first 787-9 Dreamliner at Boeing’s South Carolina facility on Tuesday, flying the brand-new bird first to Oklahoma City (OKC) and on to Los Angeles (LAX), where it’ll spend a few days before beginning the last leg of its journey to PPT....

Airbus, the producer of the world’s largest passenger aircraft, is entering a new arena: The company recently rolled out its on-demand helicopter booking platform, Voom, in Mexico City. Its goal is to alleviate traffic jams for commuters who spend hours sitting in traffic each year – the average commuter in Mexico City spent about 58 hours in traffic in 2017, according to estimations by Inrix.Voom originally launched in Sao Paulo and is extending its service to Mexico City, where the infrastructure supports some 200 helipads and has a dedicated air traffic control system in place....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Chase Sapphire ReserveWhile Oneworld passengers with American AAdvantage miles may have had some difficulty finding award seats to book, it’s been a very good year for business-class availability on Star Alliance. Turkish led this trend with wide-open business awards back in October of last year (those seats are still available!), and Austrian opened the award floodgates roughly a month ago....

Update: American Airlines has updated its policy to now allow award flights to originate in Cuba. This means that you can now book a one-way paid fare down to Cuba and a one-way award flight back.Last night, American Airlines dropped the regulations requiring round-trip flights for travel to Cuba. Previously, both award and paid fares “must be booked round-trip with a 90-day maximum stay.” This verbiage was dropped from the website yesterday afternoon, and we were able to confirm with American Airlines that this is indeed a change in policy....

Due to a still-undisclosed issue, the Atlanta airport (ATL) power shut down across the entire airport just before 1pm Sunday. It would take power crews over 11 hours to restore power to all sections of the airport. During that time, all outbound flights were cancelled, many inbound aircraft were diverted to nearby airports and some passengers were trapped on aircraft for up to seven hours waiting for stairs.The City of Atlanta opened the Georgia International Convention Center as a shelter for stranded passengers....

As I explained here, I have fully embraced that at this moment in our family’s journey, destination resorts are the best type of trip for us (in addition to trips to see family). This won’t always remain true, but with two young kids and two tired parents, somewhere with room service, on-site restaurants, on-site kid’s clubs, and enough on-site or walking distance entertainment for a long weekend is the perfect combination....

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.Potterheads, rejoice! It’s going to be a very Potter Christmas at the Universal Orlando Resort this year.At Universal Studios Florida, home to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, Hogsmeade will be decked out in holiday decorations, with special winter-themed moments inspired by the films projected onto Hogwarts Castle, thanks to the magic of map projection technology....

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 is an installment in my Istanbul: End of Year Mileage Run with Dad series. Posts include; Cheap Istanbul Flights: From $576 Total Roundtrip on Delta from JFK, Help Plan My Long Weekend in Istanbul, Flight Review: Alitalia JFK-Rome in Coach, Hotel Review: Westin Excelsior Rome, Hotel Review: Park Hyatt Istanbul Spa Room, Istanbul Eats and Excursions....

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving yesterday! For those looking for some cheap hotel rooms for tonight, the Hotel Tonight app is launching their Black Friday sale with $7 rooms tonight, starting at 7am local time today. As a reminder, Hotel Tonight is a mobile app, so to take advantage of these deals, you must download the app first and book on your phone.Hotel Tonight is offering $7 hotel rooms for tonight....

In 2018, Air France-KLM’s Flying Blue mileage program ditched standard, region-based award charts for a new flexible mileage calculator based on the origin and destination airports. And the only way of describing the resulting program is “illogical.“That said, there are some diamonds in the rough. And, when you combine cheap mileage options with Flying Blue’s monthly Promo Rewards, you can end up with some really cheap award tickets. The trouble is the offers change from month to month....

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has chastised Marriott and the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) for its August 2014 petition seeking the FCC’s permission to block guests’ use of outside WiFi networks at Marriott properties. The petition specifically mentions that Wi-Fi blocking at meetings and conventions—where WiFi is rarely offered for free by the hotel chain—would be required to protect network quality and improve security.Spurred on by opposition from Google and Microsoft and a firestorm of negative comments on both the petition and social media, the FCC is citing Section 333 of the Communications Act (which prohibits willful interference with WiFi hotspots) and officially referring to this activity as illegal....

Yes, it is awards season already, and this year I’m teaming up with Hilton Honors to create a seriously memorable GRAMMYs weekend.If any hotel company knows how to celebrate the music industry, it’s Hilton, which has a long history of partnering with The Recording Academy. The very first annual GRAMMY Awards dinner in 1959 was held inside the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, and included Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, among other luminaries....