Posts

After United finally announced the grand opening of its Newark (EWR) Polaris Lounge, following several delays, New Yorkers and transit passengers alike quickly began filling the 27,099-square-foot space ahead of their long-haul premium-cabin flights.But unlike the airline’s other locations, in Chicago (ORD), Houston (IAH) and San Francisco (SFO), the Newark lounge isn’t easily accessible to premium passengers traveling on other Star Alliance carriers — even though they have every right to come in....

TPG Twitter follower Beatrik is interested in a new feature KrisFlyer has just released:‪"@thepointsguy‬ what are your thoughts on KrisFlyer’s cash and miles program that was recently introduced?“Recently Singapore Airlines introduced a new cash and miles feature which allows you to pay for airfare in cash while also redeeming miles to bring down the cost of the ticket. Off the bat, I don’t think this is a very good deal because you’re going to get less than 1 cent per mile in value (the conversion rate seems to be closer to 0....

Registration link. Details:“Enjoy an American Express® Gift Card valued at $100 when you fly round-trip between New York (JFK) and London-Heathrow (LHR) this summer in any paid fare class.First, register and then purchase a round-trip flight between now andSeptember 1, 2011. Then, fly between now and September 15, 2011, on Delta or KLM nonstop flights from New York (JFK) and London-Heathrow (LHR). Only new reservations made between now and September 1, 2011, are eligible for this offer....

Not every travel experience is going to be perfect; the question is what to do about it when you don’t get the service you expect. Today, TPG Senior Points & Miles Correspondent Nick Ewen looks at hotel satisfaction guarantees to see whether they’re actually helpful or just lip service.When you hit the road, you probably have certain expectations of your flights, hotels, and other travel providers. With the explosion of the Internet, it’s easier than ever to draw attention to both good and bad service (take TPG’s hotel reviews as exhibit A)....

Air France will cancel 24 percent of its flights on Friday, March 30, due to yet another employee strike. Another strike is anticipated for April 3.More than 30% of Air France’s pilots, as well as nearly 30% of cabin crew and 20% of ground crew, are expected to participate in Friday’s strike, the latest in a series of trade union protests which also took place on February 22 and March 23....

Much like its promotion from about a year ago, Points.com is offering two concurrent promotions where you can both get up to a 30% bonus on buying AAdvantage miles and buy them at a 15% discount.The 15% discount is only good from now through 12:00pm noon Central Time April 5, 2013, while the up-to-30% bonus lasts through May 17, 2013.The bonus works as follows:Buy 20,000-29,000 miles, get 5,000 bonus milesBuy 30,000-39,000 miles, get 8,250 bonus milesBuy 40,000+ miles, get 12,000 bonus milesYou can buy up to 60,000 miles per account per calendar year....

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.It’s one thing to keep yourself up-to-date in the points and miles world by reading The Points Guy or following our social media channels, but this winter you’ll have even more opportunities to learn how you can best maximize your travel....

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.Renee Rabinowitz was already in her seat on a flight from Newark (EWR) to Tel Aviv (TLV) on El Al when she got an unusual request: a flight attendant asked her to switch seats, as an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man objected to sitting next to her....

While summer is a busy leisure travel season, it’s also a slow time for many businesses, so premium traffic decreases, while coach travel increases. It’s interesting because coach fares can be sky-high and with low business class fares - the difference may only be several hundred dollars. To further entice people to buy up to Business/First, Delta is currently running a 50% discount on mileage upgrades for all travel completed by August 31, 2011....

Saturday marks the formal integration of the Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest programs. While we already know a great deal about what this entails — from the full award chart to new Platinum Elite choice benefits — there’s one question that many readers still have: How will existing certificates from Marriott’s Hotel + Air travel packages convert in the new program?Bottom line: We still don’t know. A Marriott spokesperson has told TPG that they “plan on sharing the full conversion chart on [August 18]....

For my summer trip to Spain and Mauritius, I used 120,000 Delta miles to fly business class on a mix of Air Europa, Air Mauritius and Air France. However, on my last day in Mauritius, I saw KLM open up a bunch of award space so I decided to route through Amsterdam instead, because it would allow me to try out KLM’s business class product, which I had never flown before (I did fly their Economy Comfort in April and was thoroughly impressed)....

Can’t get a room at the Plaza Hotel in New York City? Don’t worry, it’s not personal.The 20-story, five-star landmark hotel and residence is closed to the public until Saturday because it’s been taken over entirely by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and his huge entourage. The future monarch of Saudi Arabia is making the Plaza his home for the New York portion of his three-week goodwill tour of the US....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – Citi Hilton Honors Reserve CardTechnology has truly revolutionized the travel industry, whether it’s staying connected while on the road or using keyless entry to access your hotel room. Sometimes these enhancements are just plain cool, like the feature Hilton just announced for its app. When you complete your online check-in using the Hilton HHonors app on your iOS or Android device, you’ll now see Google Maps integrated into the user interface, allowing you to select your room based on its geographic location....

TPG reader Brian emailed me to ask about finding airport lounges:“I recently got a Priority Pass Select membership, and I’m excited to have lounge access since I travel quite frequently. How can I tell which airports have lounges, and whether I’ll be able to use them?“There’s no doubt that having lounge access has improved my travel experiences over the years. I’ve visited some truly luxurious lounges, but even the average domestic lounge offers at least a relatively tranquil space to get work done or wait out a long layover....

TPG’s favorite Flight Attendant Insider Carrie A. Trey is back with her sixth installment of Carrie’s Galley Gossip, where she shares some of her favorite stories about life at 35,000 feet. Sit back, relax and enjoy a good laugh!Confusing Seating ArrangementsI was once working a long-haul flight and was approached by a gentleman who was clearly upset. “Your agent at the gate gave us the wrong seats! We are separated and I selected seats together,” he almost-yelled at me, clearly exasperated....

Lufthansa’s making it much easier for travelers to upgrade to premium economy, business and first class in 2016 on the carrier’s long-haul international flights. Passengers can now pay cash to upgrade to the next class of service on select routes.The best part: Flyers in all classes, including economy, can pay a flat fee based on the route to upgrade to a better seat. The cheapest upgrades are those from economy to premium economy, which start at 249 euros (~$268) per flight....

A couple months ago a super generous TPG reader offered me a nomination to Intercontinental Hotel Group’s Royal Ambassador program. To be honest, I had always heard about this program, but always wrote it off because I never stay at Intercontinental Hotels. I can usually maintain top tier elite status on Hyatt and Starwood, so I didn’t want to bite off more than I can chew.Plus, the Priority Club/Intercontinental loyalty programs confuse the heck out of me....

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.Marriott’s “Extra Points Sundays” promotion has been going on for most of this year’s NFL season, and it’s about the easiest and quickest free points you can earn. Today’s NFL trivia question has been posted by Marriott Rewards and you can again nab 1,000 Marriott points just for answering it correctly by 8pm Eastern on Sunday, October 15....

With the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014, social media was positively atwitter (pardon the wordplay) with roundups, trend recaps and forecasts and a few fun contests, so we wanted to round up some of the more interesting news lately from some of our favorite outlets from the past week.I comb through Facebook posts, Tweets, Instagram pics and more to find the most interesting things going on during any given week, but if I miss something you’d like to discuss feel free to:-Post on my Facebook wall-Tweet me @thepointsguy-Instagram me @thepointsguyHere are some of the biggest news stories and promotions that everyone has been tweeting about this week....

Our newest family member is 9 days old today, and let’s just say that in the last 9 days my heart may have grown many sizes, but my world has shrunk significantly. In fact, I haven’t even made it the 1/2 mile down the road to the grocery store since she was born, let alone anywhere further than that. This isn’t a surprise or really even a bad thing. Since this is our second child, I have been down this road before (or not down the road, as the case may be), but it is a significant shift to our routine all the same....