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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.Earlier this week I announced a Twitter contest to be my guest at the Conde Nast Traveler 25th Anniversary Visionaries Gala in NYC on September 18. You had to Tweet me with your choice of which visionary you thought was the most impactful and hashtag it with #tpgguest....

The Baggage Claim Hall of Fame inducted a new hero this week — an Aussie by the name of Dean who successfully checked and then collected a solitary can of beer on a recent flight from Melbourne to Perth.It’s a tale that would only happen in the land Down Under, where the kangaroo roam and the baggage handlers, apparently, couldn’t care less. It began when the legendary Dean dared to tempt fate by sending his beloved can of Emu Export Lager — arguably a microcosm of Australia itself — alone and unprotected into the literal belly of his silver winged beast....

Earlier today, TPG and I helped Airbus celebrate one of its most significant milestones to date: the delivery of the 10,000th Airbus aircraft. Even more exciting than that, a Singapore Airlines A350 was selected for this honor — the same aircraft that SQ will use to launch nonstop service to San Francisco next weekend.It was the first delivery ceremony for TPG and me, and, given the fanfare, I’m going to share the experience through a few photos — and a short video — below....

Starwood Preferred Guest is running a promotion for its top resorts: For stays now through March 5, 2018, you can get 35% off the award cost. Unlike a promo that ran back in February, this offer doesn’t have a landing page or “book by” date. Since it could end at any time, you’re going to want to jump on this right away.I spoke with a Starwood Preferred Guest booking agent this morning....

When we planned our trip to Grand Cayman we knew with 100% certainty that we wanted to make a trip out to the sandbars to Stingray City to see and pet the infamous Grand Cayman stingrays. Rumor has it that these stingrays started hanging out on the sandbars in the North Sound of Grand Cayman because fishermen would anchor there and clean their fish instead of heading to shore where the mosquitos were more of a problem....

While the Facebook app’s latest travel-related feature, City Guides, originally launched back in December, it seems to have been rolled out to a larger number of users this week. The new tool aims to serve as a virtual tour guide, assembling information drawn from the web giant’s own data, including the places your Facebook friends have already visited as well as additional travel info that’ll help you identify popular spots to visit in each city....

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.Since back to school season is a prime time for credit card spending, I thought I’d put together a guide of the key ways to maximize your points and miles earning. This was my first guest post for another blog and also the first guest blogger for the new points....

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.Hilton offers Point Stretcher awards, which are available for 40% less than the normal points needed for a free night. This week they updated their list of properties and there are some decent options in the list, which is featured here....

TPG reader Albertina tweeted me to ask:@thepointsguy– “Is there a way to get a better seat last minute? I got stuck in the back in a middle row from Buenos Aires to Miami! Ugh!“Getting a bad seat on a long flight is no fun. Airlines typically block off a lot of window or aisle seats (especially in the front), labeling them as “premium” in order to sell them at a higher price....

Chaotic protests unfurling in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, have left hundreds of US citizens and diplomats stranded as violent demonstrations targeting hotels and public areas brought the city to a standstill.The US Embassy in Haiti issued an alert to all US diplomatic personnel in the country telling them to shelter in place. “Do not attempt to travel at this time,” the warning stated.Several US airlines, including American Airlines, Delta and JetBlue, have canceled flights to and from Port-au-Prince (PAP), which has left hundreds of Americans stranded with no option to return home on the horizon....

… Danielle is back again with this week’s Pan Am recap and review …Pan Am’s 8th episode, “Unscheduled Departures,” showcased our favorite airline taking leave of its typical flight plan - instead of landing in paradise, the crew found themselves making an emergency touchdown in conflict-ridden Haiti. The move tested the inner strength of each character, and made for an exciting hour of television!Turbulent SkiesOn the way to Caracas trouble abounds for Captain Dean as the (historically accurate) 1963 Hurricane Ginny (remember his ex-girlfriend of the same name?...

Canadian-built jets have been familiar to many passengers for some time now, but until last year, their teeny-tiny design and 2-2 seating left travelers feeling a bit squished. Last June, Bombardier began delivering its largest models ever, the CS100 and CS300, and they’re some of the most comfortable jets you’ll ever encounter.Air Baltic CS300 Chief Pilot Gerhard Ramcke introduces the CS300 in Hamburg.At the 2016 Farnborough Air Show, we took a tour of the CS100, a plane built for launch customer Swiss....

Following the lead of the United States, the British government is implementing its own ban on electronics in the cabin for flights inbound to the United Kingdom. While details are still developing, the BBC is reporting that the specifics of the UK ban will be somewhat different than the ban the United States instituted on nine carriers in the early morning hours on Tuesday.For starters, a different set of airlines will be impacted....

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.While we here at TPG try to help you make sense of award travel, sometimes there’s just too much to remember. And for that, AwardHacker.com exists to make searching for your next award flight easier.AwardHacker’s interface is simple....

Footie fans at the World Cup in Russia should be taking measures to make sure their phones aren’t hacked by the Kremlin while they’re there, the US and UK governments said this week. And that warning goes for all Americans and Britons — even regular Joes who have no reason to think they’re being targeted by a foreign government, they said.“Anyone traveling to Russia to attend the World Cup should be clear-eyed about the cyber-risks involved,” William Evanina, FBi agent and director of the US National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said on Wednesday....

There’s a big international airline up for sale, and you might be able to take it home for just a billion dollars. But you have to hurry: the deadline to present a binding offer is October 2. That airline is Alitalia, Europe’s 13th biggest by passengers carried, and a fallen, bankrupt giant that still manages to field a respectable fleet of more than 100 jets and a route network spanning five continents....

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.Gibraltar is certainly one of the more unique places in Europe. It’s a densely populated British territory that shares a border with Spain on the tip of the Iberian peninsula. Perhaps even more unique is the territory’s airport, which is known as one of the more dangerous ones in the world due to a short runway and also because cars, pedestrians and airplanes all share a section of the runway....

Passengers on a United flight from Denver (DEN) to Williston, North Dakota (ISN), Thursday were compensated by the airline after a flight attendant who passengers say was “drunk and disorderly” disturbed flyers on board.In a since-deleted tweet, passenger Erika Gorman shared pictures of the unkempt flight attendant on Flight 4689, operated by Trans States Airlines. The employee was putting her face inches away from another passenger’s, NBC News 5 Chicago reports....

One of the things I love most about being The Points Guy is getting to hear stories from readers about all the positive ways award travel has affected their lives. That being said, while I love hearing about your successes, I think there’s also a lot we can learn by sharing our mistakes, and I’m calling on readers to send in your most egregious and woeful travel failures.From time to time I’ll pick one that catches my eye and post it for everybody to enjoy (and commiserate with)....

Cathay Pacific has seven lounges at its Hong Kong (HKG) hub: two first class lounges, four business class lounges and one arrival lounge. Several of those are generally considered to be among the best in the world. Many travelers love The Wing Business Class lounge for its noodle bar and The Wing First Class lounge for its cabanas, but The Pier First Class lounge also has many attractive features.The Pier First Class lounge, open daily from 5:30am to 12:30am, feels like a comfortable living room or a posh country club....