On Tuesday, people worldwide were talking about the wild story of an “eight hour flight from LAX to LAX” on ANA Flight 175, an experience that was live tweeted by supermodel, aviation lover and (hopefully) future TPG contributor Chrissy Teigen. After landing, the situation was investigated by the FBI, who found that two brothers used a duplicate boarding pass to get on the plane, and the airline issued a formal apology....
Despite its vast network, United has long been seen as the snakebitten, dysfunctional laggard of US network carriers. The world’s third-biggest airline by revenue has done itself no favors, either, becoming a lightning rod for controversy and critical media coverage. But more than eight years after its troubled merger with Continental and a year after the widespread opprobrium of the Dr. Dao incident, United’s narrative seems to be changing for the better....
LAN, the premier Oneworld carrier servicing South America, just announced a pretty competitive fare sale for business class flights to South America.From Miami, the airline is advertising roundtrip fares as low as $899 to Bogota, $1,399 to Lima and $2,099 to Easter Island, though the fare to Santiago is an inexplicably high $3,499.From New York, you can score roundtrip seats to Quito or Guayaquil for $949, Lima for $2,499, Buenos Aires for $2,999, and Easter Island for $3,199, and Santiago for $3,499....
Another one bites the dust. Lufthansa, Europe’s biggest airline, is jumping on the basic economy bandwagon. The German carrier will be introducing “Economy Light” fares this summer on select routes.According to a press release, the airline will start selling basic economy fares on North American routes served by Lufthansa, SWISS, Brussels Airlines and Austrian Airlines. The three latter carriers are all subsidiaries of the Lufthansa Group.Economy Light fares will work similarly to other basic economy tickets....
Lufthansa is getting a makeover, or some may say, a make-under. At an event in Frankfurt on Wenesday at the Lufthansa Flight Center, the German flag carrier unveiled its new branding.The most striking and head-turning part of the change is the airline’s new livery, which has been simplified to really include just two colors, blue and white. Gone is the classic yellow that defined the airline. Now it’s a more simple and some may say sleeker color scheme....
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’ve taken a new step to aggregate the best current points and miles deals, so you’ll notice a “Top Deals” tab at the top of the page. This is a one-stop place where you can get the rundown on the most lucrative bonuses and promotions....
Nick Valensi sure could use a vacation. When the musical shark isn’t playing guitar with The Strokes, he’s fronting his own band, CRX, which is currently touring behind its exceptional debut album, “New Skin.” Here, the stylish Valensi reveals what once happened to his favorite guitar during a trip and the strange item he can’t seem to travel without.What’s your worst travel horror story?It sucks when the airline loses your stuff....
Most everyone reading this site likes to either save money while traveling or travel for “free”. However, any time I post about Spirit Airlines, seemingly one of the least expensive airlines out there, most of the comments range from “oh heck no” to “I’d freeze in Antarctica before I would ever consider getting on a Spirit flight”. In fairness, Spirit Airlines does come with some potentially high fees for various things, so if you aren’t careful it isn’t actually an inexpensive airline to fly, but their base fares often can’t be beat....
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.We are kicking off summer this year as a family in Costa Rica. Just as we have done in previous years, the day after school ends for the summer, we hit the air ready for a quick transition from early wake-ups, packing lunch kits, and rushing to after-school activities to taking our time exploring, spending time together, playing, and relaxing....
Over the years Uber has branded itself as a company that offers a convenient, seamless experience when ordering a ride. Around the world, Uber says it completes 15 million rides every day.But a recent spate of cases is going counter to that narrative.Over the past several weeks, reader reports have flooded into our Tips email inbox describing situations where Uber drivers are seemingly forcing passengers to cancel rides and sticking them with a cancellation fee and no ride....
No matter how you feel about monarchies (perhaps you’re one of the millions obsessed with The Crown?), you have to tip your hat to Prince Harry, whose recent engagement to Suits star Meghan Markle is one of the best feel-good stories in recent months. Who doesn’t love a good love story?But their year-and-a-half-long courtship also offers lessons to traveling romantics before Valentine’s Day. Prince Harry and Meghan’s dates took them around the world and back again (good practice before their official globe-trotting duties begin)....
A so-called ’lava bomb’ hit a tour boat off the coast of Hawaii on Monday morning, injuring at least 23 people, the Hawaii County Fire Department said.Lava and rocks from Kilauea, the erupting volcano on the Big Island, shot up and landed on the boat’s roof, seeping through and injuring almost two dozen of the passengers on board, 13 of which were taken to an area hospital for further treatment. Four of the victims treated at the hospital had to be transported by ambulance....
Did you know that American Airlines operates flights within Bolivia? It seems very few people — even inside AA — know about the airline’s fascinating route between La Paz, Bolivia (LPB) and Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (VVI).Since December 3, 1991, the daily-operating flight #922 has operated a loop from Miami (MIA) to La Paz to Santa Cruz de la Sierra back to Miami. Since American Airlines doesn’t have so-called “eight freedom” rights, passengers can’t board in La Paz only for Santa Cruz....
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.The busiest airport in the world has gone off-the-grid – at least where Internet is concerned.Soon after a cyber ransomware attack shut down the City of Atlanta’s network servers on Thursday, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) proactively shut down parts of its website, as well as Wi-Fi access throughout the airport....
The 2017 Atlantic hurricane season has seen incredible destruction, and has been record-setting in so many ways. Yet again, it’s delivering another wild storm. Located in the eastern Atlantic 220 miles south of the Azores, Hurricane Ophelia just strengthened into a “major” hurricane (Category 3) with top sustained winds of 115 mph. Ophelia sets the record for the furthest east a major hurricane has ever developed or been tracked.Moving quickly to the northeast, the powerful hurricane now has Ireland in its crosshairs....
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.Thomas Jefferson’s coming home! Whether you learned more about the third POTUS in your elementary school history class or via one of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s epic Hamilton-style “Cabinet Battles,” here’s something you may not know: this Founding Father was a serious foodie....
During a premium-cabin mileage run I did recently to earn AAdvantage Executive Platinum status with American Airlines, I had some time to explore Panama City, Panama. My trip was extremely brief, but was full of delicious food, lots of photo-ops while walking around the historic quarter and, best of all, I got to witness the engineering achievement of a massive cargo ship passing through the Panama Canal.The view from Casco Viejo during the golden hour....
You may be rarin’ to get grilling as soon as you step off the plane for your Memorial Day weekend trip, but as a dedicated grillmaster and air traveler, you need to know a few things about how to get your equipment and ingredients to your destination safely. Fortunately, barbecue expert, pitmaster, author, frequent traveler and star of PBS’s “Barbecue America” Rick Browne rustled up a few juicy morsels on how to do exactly that....
Singapore Airlines, arguably the best airline in the world, has announced some pretty huge changes to its award and paid flights. Earlier this year Singapore devalued the KrisFlyer award program and earlier this month it did the same to the Star Alliance award chart — most of these new changes just add on top of that.Now, Singapore will increase award change and cancellation fees, unbundle its regular paid fares, and make it more difficult to get upgraded on cheap paid fares....
If you’ve ever dreamed of falling in love with your seat-mate on an airplane, we’ve got good news: A study conducted by HSBC (this isn’t NASA so, you know, take this with a grain of salt) found that one in 50 people said they met their soulmate while flying the friendly skies. Considering an Airbus A380 can hold up to 800 passengers, that’s a lot of love connections.HSBC interviewed more than 2,000 people from around the world to gather its data, which also revealed that half of the passengers interviewed admitted to at least engaging in conversation with those seated next to them — even strangers....
