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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Gold Delta SkyMiles® Credit Card from American ExpressYesterday, we alerted you to wide open business-class availability on award flights to Europe with Austrian. But if you’re looking to burn Delta miles, which can’t be used on Star Alliance, this economy and Delta One award sale to Europe gives you an opportunity to do just that.Delta’s running a sale for award tickets to Europe....

Milan Schipper, an 18-year-old from the Netherlands, wanted to do one last hurrah before starting college in the fall, planning an epic backpacking adventure around Australia, where he’d take in the summer sun, enjoy beautiful coastal landscapes and visit the country’s famous surfer beaches. Instead, Schipper found himself 10,000 miles away from Sydney, Australia, after landing in Sydney, Nova Scotia, a town of 32,000 along Canada’s eastern coastline.So, how does something like that even happen?...

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here- United MileagePlus Explorer CardAs we have been talking about all week, there is a huge 50,000 point sign-up bonus for the United MileagePlus Explorer Card which is a limited-time offer ending on September 2nd. There are many perks of this card, including a $50 Statement Credit after your first purchase, Priority Boarding, free first checked bags, 2 United Club passes per year and more....

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.Traveling to new cities can get pricey. Between the airfare, cost of the hotel and more, there’s sometimes little money leftover for a tour. One of the best ways to save money when exploring a new city is through a bike-sharing program....

The airport security screening process could soon get a lot more tedious — and intrusive. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Transportation Security Administration plans to change up the way we put our bags through the X-ray machine at security checkpoints. The new policies haven’t yet been finalized, but officials expect to make a decision on implementing the rules within a few weeks after the summer travel season and once screeners are trained....

In May, Starwood ran an interesting Twitter promotion, where they announced hints for a hotel via tweet and the first 10 people to show up would win 2 free weekend nights. Being NYC based, I knew NYC would be picked for one of the cities. Sure enough, the tweets came through something like “Alicia Keys and Jay Z Sung About this Concrete Jungle”, then something about 4 Points by Sheraton and then a clue about being south of Houston....

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’s a sad day for Avgeeks and plane spotters everywhere — it’s the last day for KLM’s 747 service from Amsterdam (AMS) to St. Maarten (SXM). The flight was iconic because the massive 747 had to land (and take off from) the tiny airport’s runway, which is just steps from Maho Beach — one of the most popular destinations for plane spotters....

Delta shocked the frequent flyer world on Tuesday when it announced that it will be increasing the Medallion Qualifying Dollars (MQD) waiver spending requirement for Diamond status tenfold to $250,000 instead of the current $25,000. We got plenty of emails from outraged Delta flyers immediately after the change was announced. However, as the dust settled, there were several readers of The Points Guy, along with industry experts, who expressed satisfaction at the change....

TPG reader Milagros sent me a message on Facebook asking:“If I buy a ticket today (in 2014) for a flight in January 2015, do those MQDs count toward 2014 or 2015?“In 2014 Delta instituted a Medallion Qualifying Dollar program, which means that you need to spend a certain amount on Delta ticketed flights in addition to accruing a certain number of Medallion Qualifying Miles (or segments) if you want to gain elite status....

Earlier this month, American Airlines announced it would be launching a new route with service to Hong Kong from Los Angeles. American then released details about the service, saying it was set to begin on September 7 and that it would be operated by its three-cabin 777-300ER aircraft with eight seats in first class, 52 seats in business, 30 seats in Main Cabin Extra and 220 seats in economy. As of this week, the new flight is available to book....

A new survey revealed that 61% of flight attendants said onboard emotional support animals (ESA) have caused some sort of in-flight disturbance. More than half described these disturbances as aggressive or threatening behavior by the animal.The Association of Flight Attendants surveyed 5,000 flight attendants across 30 airlines between July 20-August 6, 2018 and found that ESAs pose safety, health and security issues on flights. Survey responses indicated that one in four flight attendants has dealt with ESAs urinating and defecating in the cabin....

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 often complain that Delta’s website is broken since it can be darn near impossible to find partner award availability - partly because the site actually pulls availability from so few partners to begin with. However, following recent developments that have made awards on partners like Korean and Virgin Australia searchable, Delta....

American just rolled out a promo encouraging people to bank their hotel stays to AA.Link, register for MULT0 and MULT1 promos.“Between September 1, 2010, and November 15, 2010, you can earn 3,000 bonus miles after 3 stays at any hotel participating in the AAdvantage program. Plus, earn an additional 1,000 bonus miles for every subsequent hotel stay, up to 10,000 bonus miles.“This promotion is also stackable with other current promotions, like the 3,000 AA miles per stay with Hyatt that I wrote about recently (that one only lasts until October 15)....

Apart from a few exceptions such as American Airline’s heritage livery, it is not often you see AA planes with unique livery. So I was excited to see what was in store at the special livery unveiling ceremony for American’s new Stand Up To Cancer and Marvel Studios Avengers-themed plane.(AA also recently unveiled a new way to earn 10 AAdvantage miles per dollar through its partnership with Stand Up To Cancer – but more on that in a moment)....

Update 4/24/17: The Grand Hyatt Baha Mar is currently pricing at 15,000 points on Hyatt’s website (although it’s now listed as a Category 5 hotel), and according to Mommy Points the property is honoring those reservations. If you’re planning a stay be sure to book as soon as possible to lock in the lower rate!Baha Mar, an enormous 1,000-acre Bahamas development that’s been $4.2 billion and more than 10 years in the making, is finally opening its doors — well, sort of....

TPG reader Johnny tweeted this week:"@thepointsguy I’ve heard I can pay a fee to link my corporate amex to my personal MR account. Got any info or a link you can share?“There’s nothing better than getting miles and points when your company pays for them. When I worked at Morgan Stanley, I was charging at times up to $100,000 a month for different events and on travel, earning points all the while....

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.Not to be outdone by Continental/United, Delta launched some of their own attacks on United’s hub of DC.WAS - Albuquerque and San Diego are now $199To book these go to Delta.com -> Planning Tools -> Book a flight -> WAS to either SAN or ABQ -> Click the “My dates are flexible” box and choose either Flex weekend or +/-....

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.Sully, Clint Eastwood’s big-screen retelling of the “Miracle on the Hudson” – the 2009 aviation incident in which, after losing power just minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia, Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger landed US Airways Flight 1549 safely in the Hudson River – is a bona fide hit....

It seems like months ago now thanks to the whirlwind of the Star Megado, but it was just a week or so ago that I was in Seoul, and after a few great days there doing things like touring the DMZ, eating Korean barbecue all over town, and checking out the funky boutiques of Garuso-gil, it was time to head to Madrid to see my friend Lori. I had just had a great experience aboard JAL first class from Chicago to Tokyo, and TPG Managing Editor Eric had enjoyed the airline’s newest prestige business class on one of the airline’s A380s, so I was hoping that flying Korean Air first class would measure up....

The New York Times published an interesting article titled Have Elite Fliers Been Downgraded? this weekend that discusses whether airline elite status benefits and perks have been eroded to the point of being irrelevant. While I agreed with some of the points, I don’t fully think the current state of elite status is so doom and gloom and I would have liked to see at least one person disagreeing with all of the pessimists because elite status and first class can be amazing, if you know how to work the system....