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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.If you’re looking to book an Emirates award via Japan Airlines Mileage Bank, be prepared to fork over significantly more cash in the form of surcharges. As of November 22, 2017, JAL has begun charging what is frankly an absurd amount of added charges for Emirates awards booked through Mileage Bank....

The rail system in Los Angeles County will be the first in the country to implement full-time use of body scanners capable of detecting improvised explosive devices such as suicide vests hidden on train passengers, authorities announced Tuesday.Los Angeles’ Metropolitan Transit Authority said that later this year, the agency would deploy a handful of portable body scanners, each one about the size of a small trunk on wheels that can be moved to any of the system’s 93 subway and light-rail train stations....

On Friday, we learned that a traveler with a confirmed case of measles passed through Newark Airport (EWR) on January 2, 2018 — exposing fellow travelers to the highly contagious disease for up to 11 hours. Now, a strikingly similar case is being reported for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (ORD).On January 10, 2018, a passenger with a confirmed case of measles arrived in O’Hare’s Terminal 5 from an international flight around 6:30am....

Well, the fun just got extended for a couple more weeks. The cheap ($1,500ish total roundtrip) Delta fare sale from Boston, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville to London has been extended to March 31. Ticket by March 31, 2011 and fly between March 26 - August 31, 2011. Remember, these fares book into I class, so you get a 50% SkyMiles and MQM bonus. So for a Tampa- Atlanta- Boston- London flight, you get 13,851 SkyMiles and Medallion Qualifying Miles for each roundtrip (plus any Medallion bonus you might have)....

Las Vegas hotels are already some of the worst offenders when it comes to ridiculous resort fees — the bad news is they’ll soon be more expensive at 10 Sin City properties owned by Caesars Entertainment, which actually just raised its fees last year.After the latest hike goes into effect on March 1, Caesars Palace (and Nobu Hotel), The Cromwell, Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino will charge $39....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Alaska Airlines Visa Signature credit cardHere’s a recap of the interesting points and miles news from this week:Earn a 40% Bonus on Purchased Virgin America Elevate Points.Virgin America 40% Bonus on Purchased Points: Now through May 7, 2013, Virgin America is offering a bonus of up to 40% on purchased Elevate points. While not as generous as last October’s 50% bonus, this could still be something to consider if you’re a very few points short of a specific redemption....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – United MileagePlus Explorer CardIn case you didn’t spot it back in June, United is currently running a promotion through which you could earn up to a 100% bonus when you buy miles. If you’re looking to add even more miles to your account, enter to win 25,000 United miles in this week’s Thursday Giveaway.Use your United miles to purchase a round-trip domestic award ticket at a 20% discount....

Thursday morning, the National Hurricane Center named the 14th tropical storm of the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Tropical Storm Nate. And there’s near certainty that Nate will be yet another tropical system that makes landfall on the US this hurricane season.Currently over northeast Nicaragua, Tropical Storm Nate is expected to emerge over the Caribbean Sea late Thursday and continue to organize before striking the Yucatan Peninsula Friday night at nearly hurricane strength....

American Airlines has Concierge Key and Delta offers Delta 360, but without question the most rewarding “unpublished” loyalty tier is United’s Global Services. While Premier 1K is technically United’s top-tier status, Global Services is actually a level above. The airline doesn’t publish eligibility criteria, though, and the benefits are generally pretty hush-hush, so we depend on the chosen few to uncover the secrets of this ultra-exclusive program.Just as with all US airline status programs, the perks kick in once you achieve the required flying and spend....

TPG contributor Jason Steele takes us through the pitfalls and perils of what happens when your prepaid card account is shut down and what you can do to get back in the points game.Last month, I took you through the process of purchasing Green Dot Money Paks to meet credit card minimum spending requirements and earn additional points and miles in the following series:Introduction to Green Dot Money Paks and Reloadable CardsGreen Dot Money Paks Vs....

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.Until December 31, so register if you have a flight coming up before then (link).Available on qualifying flights. Mobile check-in is currently available for any United- or United Express-operated flight within the U.S., Puerto Rico or the U....

As a Delta Platinum and SkyMiles connoisseur, I thought I’d give some advice on how to best use your “hard earned” SkyMiles.1) Don’t let the Delta award calendar do the thinking for you. The online search engine is broken - period. Even if it shows “low” awards they often price at crazy levels. The best way is to piece together your itinerary is one leg at a time. So if you want to go from Boston to Madrid, figure out what flights are “low” level from BOS-JFK/ATL and then find out what flights are low JFK/ATL and all the way back....

One of our favorite British Airways Avios sweet spots is 12,500 Avios for nonstop flights between California and Hawaii on American Airlines or Alaska Airlines. For just a few more days, this option is especially sweet. If you utilize the 40% transfer bonus from American Express Membership Rewards to Avios ending Sunday, these flights will cost just under 9,000 Membership Rewards points.There’s quite a few routes that qualify for this sweet spot....

Well, that was fast. After a few months of running a Brussels South Charleroi Airport (CRL) to Hong Kong (HKG) route, Air Belgium is taking a winter recess on future operations for all scheduled flights.From the day Air Belgium postponed its inaugural flight a few days before takeoff, there’s been trouble. Originally, CEO Niky Terzakis estimated that 60-70% of the airline’s revenue would come from China, and about 500,000 passengers starting out....

Update: The original Alaska Airlines announcement featured a chart that excluded mileage earning for ‘P’ and ‘W’ fare classes. However, the carrier has updated its chart with the addition of the two fare classes, and this post has been updated to include the new chart.Last year, American Airlines detailed the future of its AAdvantage program. For a while, flyers knew that the program was going to be switching to a revenue-based earning system, but no one knew exactly when that change would be implemented....

On Thursday, American Airlines held its first Media and Investor Day since its merger with US Airways. A lot of news came out of it, from an admission that basic economy means higher fares to the announcement that the 737 and A321 fleets would be “harmonized,” reducing seat pitch while doing so, new bedding and pajamas and more.Among all of the announcements, the world’s largest airline had quite a few jaw-dropping stats that we just had to share:1....

The American Airlines / US Airways merger just passed another hurdle yesterday when bankruptcy judge Sean Lane approved the airlines’ recent settlement of an anti-trust lawsuit brought against them by the US Justice Department and several States Attorneys General and denied claims by a group of private plaintiffs to temporarily block the merger as well.The American US Airways news is only the latest in a string of high-profile airline mergers.In his decision, Judge Lane said that the settlement satisfies bankruptcy requirements and the merger can proceed immediately, and dismissed the private plaintiffs’ claims since they depended largely on the DOJ’s already settled suit and did not convincingly show that the merger would cause them irreparable harm....

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.This shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but if you’re single, things can get expensive. You bear all the responsibility of the bills, memberships and whatever else comes your way. And for solo travelers, this number is exacerbated — and we recently came across a study that really puts it into perspective....

Despite a 5% revenue increase, Cathay Pacific saw a $160 million loss in 2017 due to relentless competition and rising fuel costs. That deficit is nearly double the airline’s losses in 2016.“Fundamental structural changes within the airline industry continued to create a challenging operating environment for our airline businesses,” Cathay Pacific Chairman John Slosar said.Cathay’s fuel bill, which accounted for around a third of the company’s expenses, rose 11.3% in 2017, despite fuel hedging contracts designed to minimize price swings....

Pop singer Dua Lipa called out United Airlines in a tweet Wednesday because the airline did not accommodate her sister who has a severe nut allergy.Lipa says she informed a flight attendant that her sister had a severe allergy, and he replied there was nothing the cabin crew could do, encouraging her to use an EpiPen — a medical device used to slow the effects of anaphylactic shock — if she had an attack....