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In late 2016, TPG sat down with new British Airways CEO Alex Cruz. In the interview, Cruz talked about how he wanted to change British Airways Executive Club system to a revenue based program. Essentially meaning that mileage earning would be based on the amount paid for the ticket, Avios would have a fixed value, and that there would be an elimination of an award chart.Now, Cruz is doubling down on that in a recent interview with The South China Morning Post....

“Reader Questions” are now answered twice a week by TPG Associate Editor Brendan Dorsey.Premium economy is becoming more widely available as an option for those who want a better experience than the main cabin but aren’t willing to shell out the dollars or miles for business class. TPG reader Ken writes in asking if he can use his United miles to book premium economy tickets…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Ken”]A number of airlines in the Star Alliance have premium economy (Lufthansa, Air Canada, etc....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here - Chase Sapphire ReserveMy husband and his shiny new Chase Sapphire Reserve Cardare now fast friends, and needless to say the card is in very frequent wallet rotation. Because he is working towards hitting the $4,000 minimum spending requirement to trigger the massive 100,000 Ultimate Reward point sign-up bonus, he is using it for almost everything right now, but many of his regular expenses end up being meals out and in travel categories anyway....

Delta Air Lines is hiring pilots. A lot of pilots.The second-largest US airline is recruiting to fill a predicted 8,000 open positions in its cockpits over the next decade, and the carrier is even encouraging its ticket agents, baggage handlers and flight attendants to consider switching to a pilot role. If they choose to pursue the position, they can even take an unpaid leave of absence for flight school with a pilot job waiting for them at the end of it....

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 a frequent traveler, chances are you’re well aware that there have been quite a few computer issues lately. Most recently, British Airways had issues at an unknown number of airports today, but earlier this summer both Southwest and Delta had outages that resulted in a significant number of delays and cancellations in all cases....

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 Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. Back in September, several Australian airlines banned the smartphone in response to reports of the phone’s battery exploding, and earlier this month a Note 7 actually caught fire on board a Southwest flight....

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 man from Israel caused New Jersey’s Newark Airport (EWR) to be temporarily shut down Tuesday morning when he allegedly brought a realistic looking fake bomb through the security checkpoint.The man, Alon Felman, told airport authorities that he was flying to Florida for a police training exercise and the fake bomb device was part of the exercise....

I don’t usually post about airline disasters, not to downplay or ignore them, but simply because I don’t have anything useful to add. While I don’t have anything useful to add about yesterday’s Germanwings incident itself, we did have the experience of being close to the event having been on a flight out of the same airport within minutes of that flight. Our loved ones, most of them not knowing our exact itinerary, had to go through the roller coaster of emotions knowing that we were leaving Barcelona that morning (I had even checked into the Barcelona airport on my own Facebook page), but not all knowing which flight we were on....

Jackson Hole is not only a destination unto itself, but it is also a gateway to many outdoor adventures including easy access to national parks such as Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park. It’s gorgeous, it’s fun, it’s very well located, the people are friendly, it has great weather, and hotels can be quite expensive. When we unexpectedly got the chance for a short visit this week we jumped at it....

On Friday, June 8, the world lost a larger-than-life figure known for his love of food (and his hatred of airplane food), adventurous spirit and penchant for understanding the world around him. Anthony Bourdain was found dead in his hotel room in Strasbourg, France, on Friday. He was 61. CNN confirmed Bourdain’s death in a statement, saying that he was in France filming an episode for his show “Parts Unknown.“Bourdain was a titan of the travel world....

Kangaroos outnumber humans in Australia about two to one, and now they’re all making their presence known.Hoards of the marsupials all over Australia’s capital, Canberra, are swarming areas of the city in hopes of finding food in the cold winter Down Under.The herbivores are low on food this winter due to cold, dry weather, so they’re leaving their more secluded habitats in search of plants to eat. They’re showing up on any grassy area they can find from athletic fields to residential greens to roadsides and crossing the usual territory of human grounds....

In case you missed it, Alaska Airlines and American Airlines are breaking up. After 18 years together, the two formerly close partners are deciding to go their separate ways. While there’s nothing that you can do to save the relationship, there are three actions points/miles enthusiasts and airline elites should consider before the changes kick in on January 1, 2018:1. Devaluation of the Alaska Airlines award chart for AA flightsThis is the big hit for us miles and points collectors....

Just a friendly reminder that today is the last day to enter this contest. Submit your video by 11:59pm Eastern time! There are only a handful of entries so far, so you might as well enter- even if its just a video of your cat with subtitles!The first ever Oneworld Mega Do in January is going to be an epic event. The three-day journey from Dallas to Seattle to Los Angeles will be chock full of interesting events, perks and people....

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.Last month, IT issues caused a nationwide ground stop at United, resulting in numerous flight delays and cancellations. Unfortunately it looks like “the system” has decided to strike yet again, although the issue isn’t nearly as severe this time around....

I like to post not only about getting great credit card sign-up bonuses, but I also like to post about what applying for those great cards does to my credit score. I have always found that sort of information very interesting, so I think it is only fair to share my experiences in return. I put the word like in quotation marks, because my credit score always seems to take a larger hit than the standard party line of “2-5 points per application”, so watching the dip in my score is never very fun....

On the heels of British Airways’ delays and cancellations caused by a computer problem, passengers — on all airlines — traveling through London City (LCY) faced significant delays and cancellations because of a protest on the airport’s runway. On Tuesday morning, nine protestors from the Black Lives Matter UK group congregated on the runway at LCY and chained themselves together to protest the environmental impact of air travel on black lives....

As of Thursday, the flag carrier of France has a new, non-French CEO – a situation French trade unions find “inconceivable.“The Air France board of directors appointed Canadian Benjamin Smith, the current COO of Air Canada, as the beleaguered airline’s latest CEO Thursday with the full support of the French State, which owns a 14.3% stake. Smith’s mission, now that he’s chosen to accept it, will be to revitalize Air France’s executive structure and leadership out of its current slump – no easy feat for the inaugural foreign head in Air France’s 85-year history....

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 morning I am introducing a new feature to my blog; Reader Email Sunday. Basically, about every week or so I will select a couple questions from my inbox and answer them online so that everyone can view my response and offer their own comments....

Alaska’s MileagePlan just launched a new double miles promotion for travel starting September 1 on a few dozen select routes. For the six months from September 1 through February 28, you’ll earn double the standard miles on Alaska flights — but only if you registered before flying. Registration ends January 31, 2018, but there’s no reason not to register now.There are around 50 routes that qualify for this promotion:Note that flights must be marketed by Alaska Airlines or Virgin America and operated by Alaska Airlines, Virgin America, Horizon Air, or SkyWest....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available.From one points procrastinator to another, I just wanted to give a friendly reminder that the lucrative signup bonuses for the Delta Skymiles SunTrust Debit Cards end June 30th. This is a no brainer in my opinion because there is no credit pull, minimal hassle. It’s only$75 for 30,000 miles which is 0.25 cents a piece and $120 for 25,000 ot 0.5 cents apiece....