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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.Monarch, a British low-cost carrier based out of Luton Airport (LTN), is going to start offering a maximum of 10 free upgrades a week to certain customers, including special perks like priority check-in and extra-legroom seats.So, how can you be one of the lucky few?...

For today’s #WineWednesday, TPG contributor Sharon McDonnell takes us to one of North America’s under-the-radar wine regions - a place with beautiful scenery, shimmering lakes and long summer days. We’re going wine-tasting in upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region.Heron Hill Winery also overlooks Keuka Lake.The scenic Finger Lakes region in central-western New York is abloom with apple blossoms in late spring, crimson and golden foliage in fall, flowers in summer, and blanketed by snow in winter....

American is in fierce competition with Delta, JetBlue and United to become the reigning lie-flat champion between New York and San Francisco/Los Angeles — so we asked TPG Contributor Kevin Song, an AAdvantage Executive Platinum elite, to take a closer look at the carrier’s Airbus A321T, the only aircraft to offer a three-class configuration on these domestic transcon routes.Earlier this year, I flew on American’s A321T from Los Angeles (LAX)-New York-JFK, bumping myself from business to first with a systemwide upgrade....

Labor union talks between Air France-KLM and striking staff resulted not only in layoffs for the first time since the 1990s, but in executives fleeing the scene in abject fear. How was your Monday?The core of the disagreement is between the company and its pilots. Air France wants them to fly 100 more hours per year for the same salary; pilots said no way. The company also wants voluntary layoffs, which is another sore point with labor unions....

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.Next week is going to be very special for Airbus, Singapore Airlines and The Points Guy. TPG and I will be traveling to Toulouse, France to join Singapore for the handoff of an especially notable A350 — Airbus has selected this plane for its 10,000th aircraft delivery, taking place at TLS next Friday....

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 Air Force’s top-secret airline recently published a job listing in search of pilots. Unofficially dubbed Janet (short for Just Another Non Existent Terminal), the carrier appears to exist for the primary purpose of shuttling passengers between Las Vegas’ McCarran Airport and top-secret military sites, like Area 51....

Barclaycard announced the launch of their first social network driven campaign, #LiketoLove, on Facebook with daily and weekly prizes as well as a grand prize of up to $25,000 now through September 8, 2013.Barclaycard announced their #LiketoLove social media campaign on Tuesday.To enter, you must be a US resident 18 years or older:Visit the #LiketoLove Sweepstakes, and like the page.Once you are a fan, take a photo of the things you love with the #LiketoLove sign (Click here to download)....

According to the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, Germany has the world’s most powerful passport. The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of travel information.Germany reclaimed the top spot in that ranking after Singapore was ranked the most powerful passport in October 2017 by a separate passport ranking index by Arton Capital. Germans enjoy visa-free access to 177 countries compared to Singapore’s 176....

For the past couple of years, United’s been running a video series called “Big Metal Bird,” offering a mix of aviation and promotional content. Some of the episodes are more interesting than others — I really liked the segments on turbulence and how to turn a plane, but the video focused on basic economy (ugh) got a big thumbs down from me (and many other YouTube viewers, it seems).United’s now fully recovered from that video promoting its dumpster-fire-of-a-fare-product, though, thanks to this week’s segment focused on one of my absolute favorite aviation topics: the Island Hopper....

Jet Airways ordered on Monday 75 Boeing 737 MAX 8s, a major expansion for India’s second-largest airline. The purchase by the Mumbai-based carrier was previously included as an unidentified firm in Boeing’s tally; the event today at the Farnborough Airshow was a signing ceremony for the $8.8B order.Jet Airways has a fleet of nearly 120 airplanes serving more than 60 destinations in 15 countries across Asia, Europe and North America, with a primary focus on India....

The days of verifying your credit card purchases with a PIN or signature could be numbered. This week, Mastercard unveiled new technology that’ll verify the cardholder’s identity with something as simple as their fingerprint.The embedded biometric technology is the first of its kind on a credit card. The tool will allow the cardholder to register and enroll their fingerprint, which is then encrypted and stored on the card. Once enrolled, the cardholder will be able to insert their chip card into a standard reader and place their thumb on the biometric reader, which will scan the fingerprint and authorize the purchase — no PIN or signature required....

One of the most fascinating innovations on display at the Aircraft Interiors Expo in 2017 was Molon Labe’s Side Slip Seat — a seat designed to provide more width to the middle seat, eliminate armrest battles and make the boarding process faster. While there’s plenty of interest in the seat, no airlines have taken the plunge to install it.Photo of the original “S3” Side Slip Seat. Photo by Paul Thompson.So, Molon Labe came back in 2018 with two new seating products....

Starting today, December 1, 2014, the Oneworld alliance is extending priority baggage handling benefits to all its top-tier Emerald and mid-tier Sapphire elites, as well as the elite equivalents of its member airlines when they fly on any Oneworld carrier in any cabin class and to any destination. Oneworld Sapphire elites will receive additional baggage allowance benefits on all of the alliance’s member airlines.Though this is certainly a positive move for Oneworld, it also seems way overdue, as most of its member airlines already extend priority checked baggage benefits to their own top-level frequent flyers, and both Star Alliance and SkyTeam have been offering similar benefits for years....

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.Qatar Airways launched a new stopover package for travelers, called +Qatar, which includes a complimentary overnight stay at a luxury hotel in Doha. Qatar Airways launched the new stopover option in partnership with the Qatar Tourism Authority (QTA) in an effort to make Qatar a more appealing destination for travelers rather than opting to travel through the country without stepping foot outside the airport....

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.I’ve had some technical difficulties in the past couple weeks, specifically with my RSS feed. The problem should now be fixed, so let me know if you are still having issues. Thanks!TPG[card card-name=‘Chase Freedom®’ card-id=‘22125634’ type=‘javascript’ bullet-id=‘1’]

Here’s a quick recap of interesting miles and points news from this week:2,500 Bonus United Miles For Shopping: Now through December 31, for every $250 you spend by shopping through United’s online shopping portal, you’ll earn 500 bonus MileagePlus miles, up to a total of 2,500 bonus miles. This is all in addition to the points you would normally earn by shopping through the portal – base or bonus – so if you were going to do a fair amount of online shopping anyway, this could be an easy way to squeeze a few extra miles out of your purchases....

If you’re flying the airline with the most international destinations in the world, Turkish Airlines, you will likely have a choice of either the Boeing 777-300ER or the Airbus A330-300. The two jets form the backbone of Turkish’s relatively large long-haul fleet, and both are found on flights to the US.I tried them both after the Dubai Air Show in November 2017, when I booked a business-class flight home to New York JFK on Turkish, which gave me an opportunity to review the 777-300ER, from Dubai to Istanbul (IST), and the A330-300 from IST to JFK....

Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader John, who had to find his way through airport security after misplacing his driver’s license. Here’s what he had to say:A few years ago I had a layover in Atlanta on my way to Florida for a long weekend. Unfortunately, my driver’s license fell out of my wallet at some point in ATL, so I had no picture ID to verify my identity when I landed....

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.Spirit Airlines has been flying two nonstop flights daily between Fort Lauderdale (FLL) and Havana (HAV) since December 1, 2016. TPG himself even flew the route after a recent trip to Cuba. But, like a few other airlines, Spirit has realized that the demand for Cuba flights isn’t as strong as airlines predicted when they originally announced their desired routes a little over a year ago....

Every week, the TSA blogs about items (mostly weapons) that agents have confiscated at airports around the country, and it posts some of the crazier ones on its Instagram page. Below are the five most ridiculous items that were confiscated this month, at least according to us at Team TPG. As always, we’re grateful that the TSA remains diligent in preventing passengers from boarding aircraft with such dangerous weapons.1. Killer Baseball BatIf you’re a fan of The Walking Dead TV show, you’ll quickly recognize this replica “Lucille” that a passenger at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) tried to bring along with them in a carry-on bag....