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For my year-end South American trip, I decided to try out the two remaining legacy US carrier international first class products: United’s new 767 first class and American’s 777 Flagship Suite. As I reported here, overall, my expectations were exceeded on United with respect to the physical seat, but the food and amenities left a bit to be desired.To sum it up, my experience in American International First was mediocre at best and not nearly as good as United....

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.Britney Spears famously filmed part of the music video for “Toxic” — her 2003 pop hit — dressed as a flight attendant twirling her way through the cabin of a futuristic airplane (and definitely not obeying the seatbelt sign)....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express.Last month, Starwood Preferred Guest co-branded Amex credit card holders were given the opportunity to purchase Starpoints at a 35% discount — less than 2.3 cents apiece. However, that was only valid for SPG members who were cardholders of either the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express or the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express....

We’ve hit beach getaways and cities escapes already, but for this Destination of the Week, we settled on a place that combines the best of both: Panama City.It might seem an odd choice, but Panama City is becoming a bigger and bigger destination by the day thanks to a beautiful, warm climate, a friendly relationship with the US, secure financial markets, a place of importance in the global economy because of the Canal, a huge American expatriate community, and plenty of cosmopolitan city charms plus beautiful beaches on both the Pacific and Caribbean coasts....

“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.The new World of Hyatt program officially launched on March 1 and TPG reader Garrett wants to know how Chase point transfers will work when trying to achieve elite status…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Garrett”]If you transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Hyatt, do they count towards your future World of Hyatt status?[/pullquote]Most folks are aware that you can no longer qualify for Hyatt elite status via stays....

Ultra low-cost air carrier and airline elite status perks may sound like mutually exclusive concepts, but they actually go together like syrup and waffles when done correctly. Earlier this summer, Frontier Airlines completely overhauled its frequent flyer program to expand benefits, create new status levels, add new avenues to earn elite status and make its elite status more valuable to family travelers. If you fly enough on Frontier Airlines (or spend enough on its co-branded credit card), you can now get free advance seat assignments, waived bag fees, free Discount Den membership and more....

One of the world’s most destructive insects was found in two Washington DC-area airports this year by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).The Khapra beetle was found at both Baltimore (BWI) and Washington Dulles (IAD) international airports in 2018, according to a release from CBP."[The] Khapra beetle, is one of the world’s most destructive insect pests of stored grains, cereals and seeds, and it presents potentially crippling economic consequences to grain and cereal exporters such as the United States," CBP said in the release....

TripAdvisor, the travel site “covering the world’s largest selection of travel listings with 7.3 million accommodations, airlines, attractions, and restaurants,” just released its year-end data report and the people (570 million, according to the company) have spoken. From the Most Booked Hotel to the Portuguese bakery taking the world by storm, here’s what’s been at the top of travelers’ lists for 2017.TripAdvisor US Hot Spots: Most booked hotel: Boston Park Plaza – Boston, MassachusettsMost reviewed hotel: Caesars Palace – Las Vegas, NevadaMost booked attraction: Alcatraz Island – San Francisco, CaliforniaMost reviewed attraction: Central Park – New York City, New YorkMost reviewed eatery: Café du Monde – New Orleans, LouisianaSign up for our daily newsletterEmail addressSign upI would like to subscribe to The Points Guy newsletters and special email promotions....

Puerto Rico desperately needs our help. Airlines and individuals alike have been stepping up by offering to carry relief supplies free of charge, either on airliners or their private planes, and while aid is reportedly still struggling to make its way to smaller inland towns and villages, there’s a steady stream arriving on the island by plane and boat.Thursday, I spent the day at San Juan’s international airport, getting a feel for JetBlue’s operation — including its fantastic employee storehouse — and covering the arrival of a relief flight bringing 51,000 pounds of donations from Houston residents to Puerto Rico....

The Bombardier C Series is now officially owned by Airbus. Bombardier and Airbus each announced Friday morning the closing of the acquisition of the C Series program by Airbus. This development comes sooner than previously anticipated and likely bodes well for the Canadian plane’s sales future, in advance of the Farnborough Air Show in July. Air shows like Farnborough are a traditional venue for the announcement of large aircraft orders.The definitive agreements were executed late last night....

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 don’t want to sound like a broken record, but if you’ve been thinking about buying US Airways miles for 1.478 cents a piece, today is the last day. I was on the sidelines myself - I knew this was a good deal, but did I really want to spend $1,478 on miles....

To begin 2017, I completed 25 stays at Hyatt properties in order to enjoy the new World of Hyatt program by earning top-tier Globalist status through February 2019. The published benefits should yield a high return on my investment, especially for my traveling family of four. For my first stay as a “Globalist” at the Hyatt Regency Austin — I was speaking at South By Southwest — I booked a room at a cost of 15,000 points per night....

We’ve hit some of the highs and lows of family travel first hand, many of which has been shared here. We’ve missed flights and not known how we will get home. We’ve gotten sick in hotels. On planes. In airports. We’ve been up way before the sun quietly watching cartoons in the hotel bathroom thanks to timezone issues. We’ve missed naps and had the ensuing meltdowns. We’ve been so tired that I’ve had to flag down an airport cart when the little one couldn’t take one more step....

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.IHG is currently running a flash sale to sell points with a 100% bonus, dropping the cost to just 0.5 cents per point. Meanwhile, United is running a 50% transfer bonus for transferring IHG points to United miles....

Here at The Points Guy, we’ve managed to make it to many far-flung places around the globe. However, there are still a few places we have yet to visit. You might be surprised that some of us have never been to some of these popular travel destinations — from US cities like Los Angeles to international cities like Paris, here are all the places TPG staffers are embarrassed they’ve not made it to....

In case you missed it, Episode 1 of TPGtv launched last week on The Points Guy YouTube channel. I want to thank each and every one of you for all your support — we’re already up to more than 114,000 views on YouTube and over 846,000 views on Facebook after one week!The second episode is all about PeaceJam, an incredible organization that educates kids based on the teachings of 13 Nobel Peace Prize winners: The Dalai Lama, Betty Williams, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Oscar Arias, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Aung San Suu Kyi, Máiread Corrigan Maguire, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, José Ramos-Horta, Jody Williams, Sir Joseph Rotblat, Shirin Ebadi and Leymah Gbowee....

A United flight was diverted yesterday after smoke appeared in the cockpit, the Federal Aviation Administration said. United flight 1165 was traveling from Newark (EWR) to Los Angeles (LAX) when pilots decided to make an emergency landing at Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE).The Boeing 757-200 landed in Lehigh at 9:20 p.m. EST after taking off from Newark at 8:53 p.m.According to ABC News, United confirmed that the incident did occur but said that there were “reports of smoke in the lavatory” and not in the cockpit....

People aren’t the only ones fleeing Florida this week. As Hurricane Irma barrels down on Miami, there’s another exodus away from the destructive power of one of the fiercest storms in recorded history. It’s a stream of airplanes, from the big jets of American Airlines to the many private aircraft based in the area — all of them seeking the same thing as the people running from South Florida: to escape annihilation by a monster storm....

With less than 48 hours to go until the scheduled Marriott acquisition of Starwood, we still have far more questions than answers. That certainly makes sense, given that the companies have yet to join forces under one umbrella, but we’re still eager to understand just what this merger means for the beloved Starwood Preferred Guest program — and Marriott Rewards.Below, I’m including a list of 15 of our seemingly infinite list of SPG/Marriott Rewards-related questions, and we’d love to hear from you too....

Marriott is offering 2,000 US Airways miles per stay at JW Marriott,® Renaissance® Hotels or Marriott Hotels & Resorts. Book by October 31, 2011 and stay by December 26, 2011. 10,000 max bonus miles can be earned with this promotion, so I suggest switching back to Marriott points once you earn the maximum on this bonus.You must choose to bank your Marriott stay to US Airways, which means you forego 10x Marriott points per dollar, but in my opinion 2,000 US Airways miles are worth far more than Marriott points, unless you have a long and expensive stay....