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With all the bad news in the world these days, it’s nice to take a break and focus on the positive every once in a while. Especially when our fellow travelers are helping to make the world a better place. Mackenzie Murphy recently shared the incredible story of a female flyer who saved the day for a complete stranger on the Love What Matters Facebook page, an inspiring act of kindness that took place in the most unlikely place — on an airplane....

As in life, frequent flyers must take the good with the bad. Until, of course, they’ve had enough and opt for a HondaJet Elite to get them from Point A to Point B. For AA loyalists sticking to commercial (at least in the near-term), we’ve learned that its fleet of reconfigured Boeing 787-8 aircraft will soon fly from Chicago (ORD) and Dallas–Fort Worth (DFW) to a handful of global destinations beginning in May 2019....

“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.One of our most popular features here at The Points Guy are the daily Deal Alerts we issue when we discover great airfares on flights to cities in Europe, Asia, South America and elsewhere. But what if you don’t live in the departure city featured in a Deal Alert, as TPG reader Rob asked us in an email…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Rob”]I’ve seen all kinds of great trans-Atlantic deals lately posted on TPG, but the city I live in is about a 5 hour drive to the nearest major airport hub....

National Car Rental is running a pretty lucrative promotion: Earn one Free Rental Day with every two rentals of two or more days between August 22, 2011, and January 31, 2012. All in addition to your standard Emerald Club rewards. Registration link. My understanding of the T&C is that there is no limit to the number of free days earned - just that you can only use 3 free days per rental when it comes time to redeem....

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.Several hotel chains frequently run bonus points promotions — especially during the summer, when business travel tends to drop a bit in some key markets. Marriott and SPG are offering a bonus through July 20, Hilton’s issuing double points through August 31 and IHG has relaunched its popular Accelerate bonus....

Update 11/11/16 12:59pm: American Airlines has confirmed that service has resumed:“Earlier today, Sabre had a brief technical issue that impacted multiple carriers, including American. This technical issue has been resolved. We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience.”Update 11/11/16 12:57pm: According to aviation guru Jason Rabinowitz, the issue appears to have been at least partially resolved:We knew it was coming, and now it’s here — another major IT malfunction, this time with American Airlines....

Airline passengers who kick the seatback in front of them and inattentive parents are the top culprits for ruining a flight experience. These revelations are courtesy of the annual Expedia Airplane Etiquette Study.To determine the most aggravating behaviors aboard an airplane, Expedia partnered with independent research company GfK to poll 1,005 Americans over age 18 on which in-flight behaviors they found the most reprehensible.According to the study, these are the top offenders for bad in-flight etiquette:The Rear Seat Kicker: This was the most aggravating passenger to contend with, as nearly two-thirds of respondents identified kicking the seat as the worst behavior....

It’s shaping up to be a very big 2018 for Singapore Airlines — the carrier will continue rolling out its new and much-improved Airbus A380s, and, in the second half of the year, will re-launch nonstop service between Singapore (SIN) and both Los Angeles (LAX) and New York, with the yet-to-be-delivered A350-900ULR.While the NYC airport has yet to be announced — I’m putting my money on Newark — Executive Vice President of Commercial Swee Wah Mak confirmed today ahead of tomorrow’s new A380 delivery in Toulouse, France (TLS) that the airline is committed to offering the JFK-Frankfurt (FRA) flight going forward, which is the only SQ route to the US still operated by the A380....

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.Spring is upon us! It’s time to whip out your shorts, take your allergy medicine and buy all the flowers you can. Before packing up for your spring vacation though, make sure those pills and flowers are TSA-approved (and legal)....

Smog and pollution from a trash-filled, sewage-laden river is discoloring one of the seven Wonders of the World.The Taj Mahal’s white marble is turning a hazy shade of yellowish green due to pollution from the surrounding city of Agra, environmental lawyers recently informed India’s Supreme Court.India’s iconic white marble mausoleum is on the outskirts of the eighth-most polluted city in the world. Thick smog from the numerous factory smoke stacks in Agra is fading the monument’s pearly sheen....

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.On the heels’ of the Southwest Airlines Lucrative 50,000 Points Sign-Up Bonuses, we decided to spread some LUV this week, so for this week’s Thursday Giveaway, we are giving away a $500 Southwest Airlines Gift Card that can be used anywhere Southwest flies....

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.There’s no doubt that Global Entry is one of the best ways to get through customs when entering the borders of the US. And even though there are several credit cards that cover the fee to get Global Entry or TSA PreCheck, some frequent travelers don’t have it....

Have you ever wondered where that plane you’re sitting on has just come from? Or where it’s going after it drops you off? Here’s how you can use free software to dig up a ton of information on your metal bird.If you’ve ever had a serious delay while flying, you probably know that it’s not unusual for flight tracking apps to give you up-to-date information on the status of your flight — but not for the airline or the actual plane....

In December I wrote about the opportunity to get 50,000 United and 50,000 Delta miles by opening up Fidelity brokerage accounts. The trick is to open a United account first, fund it, and once you get the miles, then open the Delta account since the Delta promotion did not exclude existing Fidelity customers.I did just that and have successfully received both sets of 50,000 miles, so wanted to share my experience....

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.Yesterday, a handful of US airlines decided to jump in and ban the shipment of hunting trophies worldwide as freight. The New York Times has confirmed that South African Airways, Emirates, Lufthansa and British Airways started their bans earlier this year; then, following the outrage over an American dentist killing Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe, Air France, KLM, Iberia, IAG Cargo, Singapore Airlines and Qantas have declared bans this week....

Update 11/27/2017 5:44pm: Denpasar Airport (DPS) has extended its closure time to Wednesday, November 29 at 7:00am local time (6:00pm Eastern Time on Tuesday).Mt. Agung — a volcano 36 miles away from Bali’s main airport — erupted last week for the first time since a devastating eruption in 1963 that killed at least 1,100 people. Another eruption this Saturday spewed even more ash into the atmosphere, and now it’s causing significant cancellations and delays to air travel in the region....

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.Over the past six years, this site has grown beyond my wildest dreams — both in traffic and staff — and we cover significantly more travel, lifestyle and personal finance than ever before. But we’re not done growing yet....

Airlines are working to become smarter by using big data and analytics in all aspects of their business. But surprisingly, there’s not a whole lot of data about how the inside of the cabin is used.Airbus is trying to fix that with its “Connected Cabin” concept it displayed at the APEX Expo in Boston on Tuesday. Connected Cabin will link different elements of the cabin like seats, galleys and lavatories to a central data collection system, explained Ingo Wuggetzer, Airbus’ vice president of cabin marketing....

For those AAdvantage members who didn’t re-qualify for elite status for 2013, American Airlines is offering the opportunity to buy-back your elite status. This is only for those members who held AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold status in 2012, so if you were hoping to buy-back Executive Platinum status, you wouldn’t be able to.If you are currently an AAdvantage Platinum or AAdvantage Gold member, and you have flown at least two elite qualifying segments during 2012, and did not participate in this offer last year, then you are eligible to renew your status....

Before taking off for Singapore, I posted about my top 10 travel products for long-haul flights and asked TPG readers to do the same for a chance to win a set of noise-canceling Bose QC15 headphones.Tons of you commented with great ideas, so we selected a random winner: Steve. Not only is his list thorough (some might say compulsive) with things like emergency contact numbers, a GPS, two laptops and beef jerky, but it also sounds like he’s a classy guy who brings chocolates for the flight crew (suck up!...