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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.Last year, Costco announced it was cutting ties with American Express and signing an exclusive agreement with Citi to provide co-branded Visa credit cards for customers beginning April 1, 2016. Now that roll out has been pushed back until “early summer” because the transition has taken longer than expected....

A former employee has accused drone manufacturer AeroVironment of transporting an explosives-laden drone onboard a commercial flight.Mark Anderson, a former security chief at AeroVironment, alleged that in late April 2015, at least one AeroVironment employee carried one of the company’s “Switchblade” military drones containing live explosives onboard a Delta flight from Salt Lake City (SLC) to Los Angeles (LAX). The employee had the drone in carry-on luggage, “risking the lives of approximately 230 passengers and innumerable civilians had the drone caused the plane to crash over a densely populated area....

Elon Musk truly wants to avoid traffic. With his Hyperloop plans making progress, Musk shared new details to make it easier to avoid traffic and make airport connections smoother.In an event at the Leo Baeck Temple in Bel Air, Musk talked about plans for building a tunnel between downtown Los Angeles and LAX International Airport. The tunnel would be built by Musk’s Boring Company, a venture that hopes to make tunnels beneath cities for Hyperloop pods and other new transportation technologies....

The online flower retailers usually offer some of the most lucrative points bonuses, which translates to me that they must have incredibly inflated prices. In fact, some of the Valentine’s Day deals are jaw-dropping; Continental’s Double Miles with Teleflora when using your Continental credit/debit card equals out to 50 miles per dollar spent! That’s cheaper than buying Continental miles outright at 3.2 cents each.For example: 10,000 miles purchased from Continental = $320....

In theory, elite status exists to reward an airline’s most loyal and profitable customers. Today, TPG Contributor Nick Ewen explains how that isn’t always the case, and offers his suggestions for how airlines can improve elite status requirements while improving their bottom line.Last year, the frequent flyer community was hit with the news that Delta and United were adding revenue-based requirements for earning elite status, termed Medallion Qualification Dollars (MQDs) and Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQDs), respectively....

Check-in, baggage drop and security — just a few things passengers have to deal with when flying. Now, stepping on a scale could be added to the list.Finnair has announced a program to weigh passengers before they board flights. This may sound alarming and even offensive to some, but fortunately Finnair has said participation will be voluntary.Over the course of November, Finnair will ask at least 150 travelers departing from Helsinki (HEL) airport if they can weigh themselves and their baggage....

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.For This Is Us star Mandy Moore, the number-one adventure on her travel bucket list was to climb Mount Kilimanjaro — and now she has accomplished just that. In a series of Instagram posts, the 33-year-old actress shared highlights of her climb up the highest mountain in Africa....

Update 1/11/17 4:00pm: Some AA documentation listed free confirmed same-day changes as a Platinum Pro benefit, however this no longer appears to be included.January 1 was a big day for American AAdvantage — the first of the year marked the launch of AA’s new revenue requirement for elite status, along with a new elite tier: Platinum Pro. The new status level falls right in between Platinum and Executive Platinum, requiring 75,000 elite-qualifying miles or 90 segments, plus $9,000 in elite-qualifying dollar spend....

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.All of the major North American hotel chains have announced their Q1 promos, except for Hyatt. As a Hyatt fan, this is somewhat disappointing, but I’m going to be an optimist and hope that the delay is because they are planning something really incredible....

Qatar Airways’ Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker is making headlines again for his outspoken and controversial personality. This time around, Al Baker is threatening — again — to leave the Oneworld alliance.In an interview with FlightGlobal, Al Baker said that if certain airline partners continue with blocking tactics and accusing Qatar of wrongdoing, the airline will pull out of Oneworld.“This whole shenanigan has to stop, it has gone too far,” Al Baker said....

There’s been yet another pet travel incident on an airplane — this time on an American Airlines flight.A Texas family was waiting on a new puppy for their 8-year-old son to arrive on an American Airlines flight Monday morning. The puppy, a mini Bernadoodle named Atlantic Ocean, was flying in the cargo hold from its breeder in Kansas City (MCI) to his new home in San Antonio (SAT).But, when the American flight arrived, the boy’s mother realized American had sent them the wrong dog....

Between the PeaceJam Conference in Accra and an amazing trip to South Africa (coming up later in this season of TPGtv), I had the chance to check off a major bucket list item: Trekking with mountain gorillas in Rwanda. This was no ordinary hike — I had set my sights on the Susa A family of gorillas, the biggest and most well-known group that lived so high up on the mountain it would require a four-hour trek through the Rwandan wilderness....

Thank you for flying the friendlier skies: United is now training employees to be more compassionate.Core4 is a four-hour employee training program designed to empower employees to be efficient, safety-focused in all aspects of operations — and do it all with a smile. The name comes from four qualities United is trying to exemplify: Caring, Safe, Dependable, and Efficient.“Core4 puts a value on emotional intelligence,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, which represents United’s flight attendants....

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’m not a Hilton guy, but this promo is one of the better offers I’ve seen for the no-fee Hilton American Express card.Details (application):- Receive 20,000 HHonors Bonus Points with your first purchase.-Receive up to 2,500 additional HHonors Bonus Points on your first four Hilton WorldWide portfolio of hotels stays charged to the Card during your first 18 months of Cardmembership-Receive 30,000 HHonors Bonus Points When you spend $500 in your first three months of Cardmembership6-3 points structure: Receive 6 HHonors Bonus Points for every eligible dollar you spend at Hilton Family hotels, and at grocery stores, drugstores, gas stations, wireless and home phone, internet, cable and satellite TB service providers....

When most people think of the golden age of air travel, they envision stylish passengers in tailored clothes eating exquisite meals off porcelain plates. What they often forget is that the air in those luxurious planes was usually heavy with smoke. Until 1971, most airlines allowed unrestricted smoking, both in the cabin and on the flight deck, where “Gear up, light up,” was a common refrain.In the early 1970’s, some US carriers instituted nonsmoking sections, but as the stale air circulated through the cabin, pretty much all passengers could count on getting a lungful of nicotine....

At a media event focused on the Airbus A350 on Tuesday, Delta’s Vice President of Onboard Service, Lisa Bauer, announced that the carrier will be launching a new program in its premium cabins, first on international flights and then domestic.Entree per-ordering will be available in Delta One business class on select routes beginning in early 2018, initially only on outbound flights departing from Atlanta and New York. A few months later, Delta will add the feature to all international Delta One flights, including those originating overseas....

Gilt is a great members-only online shopping site that gives members exclusive access to discounted designer brands, deals on travel through Jetsetter, home goods, food, wine, city-specific sales and activities like fitness training sessions and spa treatments, and more.Gilt has also partnered with airlines and hotels to offer members of their loyalty programs bonus points or miles when signing up for a new account and making a purchase within a certain amount of time....

Airline business frequent flyer programs can be a great way for small businesses to reap some return on their investment while sending employees on business travel rather than just footing the bill and letting their employees collect all those miles. Then businesses can use the points they earn in their business mileage account to redeem for even more travel and perks like lounge access and even elite status.Delta SkyBonus has been one of the programs to offer lucrative bonuses and promos recently including double points on certain routes from LaGuardia and on partners Air France and KLM, as well as 25,000 bonus points just for signing up....

One of the reasons Madrid is one of my favorite cities in the world is because of it’s amazing food, especially tapas. Spanish tapas are small plates of food ordered in bars to “picar” (snack on) for dinner or lunch-it’s possible to “tapear” at any point of the day or night. Who better to ask than Madrid based TPG contributor Lori Zaino to give us her picks for the top 5 best tapas spots in Madrid!...