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From August 2 to September 4, 2018, travelers between the US and Europe have a unique option: flying an 86-seat Boeing 737-700 between Newark (EWR) and Dusseldorf, Germany (DUS).The equipment change, which Routes Online first posted about, isn’t a typo in the critical middle digit of 7X7. Sure enough, Lufthansa will be operating a specially configured PrivatAir 737-700 between the US and Germany during this 34-day period. This EWR-DUS route is currently served by a 255-seat Lufthansa Airbus A330-300, meaning there will be a significant capacity reduction on this route during this period....

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.On Saturday, the annual pride parade converged on Washington D.C. where allies and friends partied their way through the nation’s capital, unapologetic about their pride. Our awesome 747-themed float cruised through the city with DJ Mia Moretti, who spun hit after hit....

In a tragic turn of events, the passenger whose ‘unbearable stench’ forced a Transavia Airlines flight from Las Palmas (LPA) to Amsterdam (AMS) to divert to Faro (FAO) last month after other passengers on the flight became ill has died.The passenger, 58-year-old Andrey Suchilin, smelled so badly flight attendants on the Boeing 737-800 (registration PH-HXE) had to quarantine him in one of the rear lavatories during the flight. As a last resort, pilots decided to divert the aircraft by making an emergency landing in Faro, Portugal — about one hour and 40 minutes after departing Las Palmas, according to flight-tracking website FlightRadar24....

Southwest helped an aircraft full of its passengers skip Northern Virginia’s traffic and toll roads — but not on their own volition and after a series of flight delay.On Monday, Southwest Flight 5691 took off from the airline’s home base at Dallas Love Field (DAL) en route to Washington Reagan (DCA). As the aircraft got closer to the East Coast, it was ordered to circle over West Virginia and Pennsylvania to avoid the heavy storms that the Washington area was experiencing....

If you’re a frequent business-class passenger, you’re almost certainly aware that United’s new Polaris “soft product” is launching tomorrow. While the new seats have yet to roll out, all (former) BusinessFirst passengers departing on or after December 1 will travel in Polaris business, while Global First passengers will fly in Polaris first.All Polaris flights will include new pillows, bedding and amenity kits, along with a completely redesigned food and beverage service, which I had a chance to try out last night at a United event in downtown Chicago....

Calling all Hello Kitty fans! The ultimate Hello Kitty jet just announced a new destination in the US: Los Angeles.EVA Air is bringing its popular Hello Kitty livery jet back to LAX, a destination it stopped serving in 2014. The specially painted aircraft returns to its route from LAX to Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport (TPE). EVA will dedicate three of its 21 nonstop roundtrip weekly flights to the route:EVA flight BR05 from LAX to TPE will depart at 11:55am on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday....

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.Though the TSA bans fireworks, grain alcohol and even e-cigarettes from checked bags, live lobsters apparently get a pass. That was the case at Boston’s Logan International Airport (BOS) on Monday when agents stumbled upon a massive lobster during their routine bag screenings....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Chase Sapphire ReserveEach Saturday, we round up news stories that you may have missed from the week before, including several that already appeared on The Points Guy, and some more that we haven’t covered yet. If you’re an avid TPG reader, scroll down for the new stuff. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you may have missed this week:Read our full review of the new Chase Sapphire Reserve card....

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.US Airways, Delta and American handily beat industry expectations on Wednesday by posting strong profits.US posted a $240 million profit compared with a loss of $80 million a year ago.Delta earned $363 million campared to a year-earlier loss of $161 million....

Iceland’s budget carrier WOW Air lived up to its name today by launching the WOW Travel Guide competition. Touted as “the best summer job ever,” the airline is seeking a “fun pair of individuals who are able to think big” to move to Reykjavik for the summer and travel the world for free.The landing page for the “Best Summer Job” site seeks applicants to help create a world travel guide. Source: WOW Air....

Being a travel blogger nowadays means staying on top of the latest trends and always being ahead of the curve. Here, TPG Senior Points & Miles Contributor Jason Steele shares six travel industry experiences that belong on every new travel blogger’s bucket list. (All photos are by the author.)Over the years, I’ve learned that there are some truly fantastic travel industry experiences that are reserved for the most passionate travel enthusiasts....

Update: Deal is deadDelta loaded some unbelievably low fares between Pittsburgh and San Francisco and Los Angeles from $137 total roundtrip! You can route through JFK and Atlanta to maximize your miles and originate on the west coast or in Pittsburgh. I priced out a Pittsburgh-JFK-San Francisco-Atlanta- Pittsburgh for $139 total- an amazing deal since you earn 5,751 MQMs, so 2.4 cents a mile!Los Angeles-JFK-Pittsburgh-Atlanta-Los Angeles for $139.20 total.Availability is wide open for weekends this fall- I checked and saw it available for every weekend in September and October (and probably more, but I’m about to board a flight and want to get this post out!...

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.American Airlines’ Concierge Key is the somewhat mysterious, invitation-only level of elite status that’s the carrier’s top option. And while you can’t actively seek out Concierge Key status by attaining a certain number of Elite Qualifying Miles or Elite Qualifying Dollars, the status comes with top-level perks such as meet and greet at the tarmac, free Admirals Club membership, priority boarding, top upgrade priority, exclusive event invites 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.Today’s installment of American’s 30th Anniversary promotion is an easy one - simply follow @AAdvantage on Twitter and Tweet something with the hash tag #Deal30. American will pick 30 people who will win 30,000 miles each. I used to be really skeptical of contests, but I recently won 10,000 US Airways miles, so I might as well try!...

New Year’s Eve is one of my favorite holidays. I usually like to stay in Miami and throw a party with friends, but this year I decided to branch out and explore a new destination.Choosing Papagayo for New YearsI toyed around with Mexico City or even Cartagena, Colombia, but I couldn’t get the right mix of flights/climate/hotels right. Plus, my friends really wanted somewhere that would be reliably warm, so that canceled out Mexico City....

Each Saturday, we round up news stories that you may have missed from the week before, including several that already appeared on The Points Guy, and some more that we haven’t covered yet. If you’re an avid TPG reader, scroll down for the new stuff. Here’s the top miles, points and travel news you may have missed this week:New York’s airports have some catching up to do if they want to rise in the rankings next year....

As Crazy Rich Asians heads into a third week of record-breaking numbers at the box office, The Points Guy got in touch with Nelson Coates, the production designer for the movie, to answer some AvGeek-specific questions we’ve all been wondering about.TPG: In the book version of Crazy Rich Asians, author Kevin Kwan references Singapore Airlines when describing luxurious first-class commercial flights – yet for the movie, you went the route of creating a fictional airline....

It’s been almost exactly two months since the last announcement of a new Delta A350 route. Now that the airline has five of its newest aircraft type delivered — with another 20 on order — those planes need to be put to good use.Currently, Delta is using North America’s first A350s to fly from Detroit (DTW) to Tokyo’s Narita (NRT) and Seoul (ICN). Early in 2018, Delta will launch three more routes from Detroit: Beijing (PEK), Amsterdam (AMS) and Shanghai (PVG)....

Tuesday night a Delta flight from Lagos, Nigeria (LOS) to Atlanta (ATL) experienced serious engine issues, requiring the crew to make an immediate emergency landing back at Lagos. The airport’s fire authorities scrambled to meet the plane once on the ground.The issue was determined to be serious enough that the crew initiated an emergency evacuation with the aircraft landed. While all passengers and crew were able to safely evacuate the aircraft, in a statement to TPG, Delta said it is “aware of five customers reporting non-critical injuries as a result of the evacuation....

While the holidays may be a busy travel season for many leisure travelers, in many industries its a slow time and business travel drops off drastically. This means airlines are facing packed and oversold coach cabins and emptier than normal business/first class cabins. What would the logical solution be? Try to sell more first class seats, which is why Delta is offering discounted upgrades to first class for certain flights in the contiguous 48 states and Canada between December 15, 2012 and January 5, 2013....