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A passenger on a United Airlines flight found an unlikely hero after the man seated next to her on the aircraft body-shamed her.Savannah Phillips was left devastated when on a flight from Oklahoma to Chicago on Tuesday, she noticed the passenger sitting next to her referred to her as a “a smelly fatty” in a text message.Phillips shared her encounter in a Facebook post about the male passenger, who she said appeared to be around 60 years old....

Last week, NASA administrator Charles Bolden introduced the agency’s newest X-plane — the X-57 — at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ annual Aviation and Aeronautics Forum and Exposition in Washington, D.C.Nicknamed Maxwell (after James Clerk Maxwell, a 19th century Scottish physicist who made huge contributions to the field of electromagnetism), the experimental airplane features 14 electric motors and propellers that will be “integrated into a uniquely-designed wing,” according to a NASA press release....

Google the phrase “how to pack a suitcase” and you’ll be presented with more than 12 million articles. Clearly, packing is a problem — and one that a new start-up called unPack is hoping to solve. The basic premise is this: If you’re willing to let a stranger drive you around town via Uber or Lyft, and sleep in someone you don’t know’s guest bedroom courtesy of Airbnb, why wouldn’t you borrow someone else’s clothes?...

Rarely is it a good thing when an airline adds new zones to its award chart, but there is a very big exception via the LifeMiles award chart. I haven’t written about the LifeMiles award program in a long time because it took me a while to get over the headache(s) I suffered when trying to change a LifeMiles award last year (and who has time for award ticket induced headaches)....

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.Update: Newark’s mayor has reached a “tentative agreement” to keep Uber operating at EWR.Say what you will about Uber, but the car sharing service has certainly made it affordable to get to and from Newark Airport without the time-consuming process of taking a subway, a train and another train in each direction — especially if you’re getting 21....

Typhoon Jebi slammed Japan’s western coast on Tuesday, flooding Kansai International Airport (KIX) and killing six people with its heavy rain and wind.At least one of the two runways at KIX was completely flooded, along with its cargo facilities and other buildings, Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism said. Airport officials told the Japan Times that the basement of a terminal building had also flooded, and the power was partially out in Terminal 1....

I have to be honest, I haven’t been closely following the drama in Washington over the budget, but I did read an interesting blog post from Gary at View from the Wing about the the possibility of less taxes being collected on airline tickets. And as of today, fewer government taxes on airline tickets, which is great news to consumers.I can vouch for this firsthand, because yesterday I booked two domestic airline tickets on delta....

Although many of this week’s and last week’s Daily Getaways have been a little lackluster, today’s Marriott offers are actually pretty decent…that is, if you manage to get the full 20% discount by using an American Express card to purchase one.Just as a reminder, Marriott is offering TravelCards at a discount in the following denominations:The TravelCards come in the following packages:-$50 Marriott TravelCard for $44. 150 available-$100 Marriott TravelCard for $89....

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.Just a friendly reminder that I’m giving away a ~$2,000 package to the OneWorld Mega Do - including a spot on the charter next to me in the exit row and hotels for 3 nights.All you need to do is make a 30 second video on why you’d be a great seatmate....

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.Today is the last day to enter my contest to win a first class seat on the Star Mega Do 3. Simply follow and tweet me or “like” me and write on my Facebook wall with why you are a great seatmate to win....

Here’s a recap of the interesting points and miles news from the week:Delta SkyClub Policy Change For Alaska Board Room Members: Alaska’s Board Room member page announced that, effective May 1, 2014, Delta SkyClubs will no longer offer guest privileges to Board Room members. Instead, Board Room members may now purchase discounted $29 day passes for up to two guests at any Delta operated SkyClub locations.Lufthansa Adds Economy Seat Assignment Fee For Long-Haul Flights: Effective April 28, 2014, Lufthansa will add fees to pre-assign seats in Economy class in fare classes W, S, T, L, K on long-haul flights....

At least 17 are dead after a tourist “duck boat” capsized on a lake in Branson, Missouri, during a severe thunderstorm on Thursday night.The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area on Thursday night. A local meteorologist tweeted the storm warning was issued 28 minutes before the storm was churning in Branson/Springfield, Missouri.Jim Pattison Jr., president of the tour boat’s parent company, told CNN that the storm “came out of nowhere....

Sweden has introduced a new environmental aviation tax that hopes to mitigate the carbon output of the country’s aviation industry.Aviation is responsible for about 3%-8% of the world’s total carbon emissions, according to numbers from the US Government Accountability Office. That’s more than South Korea’s total carbon emission. The Swedish government has said that a dramatic uptick in the number of airline passengers is behind the tax.The hope is by levying a fee of roughly $3-$49 per passenger, depending on the flight’s destination, Sweden’s government can decrease the country’s number of airline passengers, which would mean a decreased carbon output....

For the past few weeks, we have been highlighting our team here at TPG and getting an insight into their home cities, what they love and what they think are the must see hotspots. We’ve heard from our Foreign Correspondent Lori Zaino and her take on Madrid, Lifestyle Editor Shayne Benowitz and her look at sunny Miami, Assistant Editor Melanie Wynne and her Los Angeles and Creative Director Adam Daniel Weiss on what makes his NYC so special....

For this week’s Thursday Giveaway, we are giving away $500 in Ticketmaster Gift Cards which can be used for tickets to any of their events including music, sports, theater, and family events since the TPG Team is headed to Austin (the home of live music) this weekend for our SXSW Reader Event! We want to bring the gift of music to our readers who can’t be with us in Austin this weekend to celebrateTo enter to win, visit our Facebook Page....

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 night, vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s Boeing 737-700 slid off the runway as it landed at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Thankfully, no one on board was injured, but the incident did temporarily suspend flights coming into LGA....

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.In this epic installment of crazy aviation videos, we see Etihad’s gigantic A380 (where The Points Guy enjoyed flying in ‘The Residence’) team up with the United Arab Emirates National Aerobatics team (known as Al Fursan) to perform its signature flyby at the 2016 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that was held last week....

In the past, if you were going on a trip and planning to visit multiple cities, there was a good chance you booked your airline tickets on a multi-city itinerary. This was usually the easiest way to book complicated itineraries — and often times, the cheapest. But now, all three of the major US airlines have unexpectedly changed their policies for these multi-city itineraries, making the same fares exponentially more expensive in many cases....

TPG reader Sarung sent me a message on Facebook to ask about earning elite-qualifying miles:“I capitalized on the recent Santiago deal Delta was running and got a ticket for $400. My routing is LGA-ATL-SCL-ATL-LGA, but I may need to break my journey on the return in ATL and forfeit the final ATL-LGA leg. If I do that, will I lose out on elite miles for the entire trip?”Delta introduced its revenue-based program at the beginning of 2015, changing how frequent flyers earn redeemable SkyMiles and eliminating the potential to earn a windfall on a long, inexpensive flight....

There’s a new contender in the fight against the dreaded “last-mile” issue facing cities. Once you park your car, exit a subway station, or alight from your Lyft, you still need to walk to your destination — and it’s often further than most want to schlep on foot.Previously, one approach to closing that gap has been bike-rental programs like New York’s Citi Bike or London’s Santander Cycles, with their ubiquitous bicycle stations and wallet-friendly rates....