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The race for the world’s best first-class may be getting a bit more attention — following some pretty incredible launches from Emirates and Singapore — but as those carriers focus most of their efforts on the pointy end of the plane, other airlines are investing significant sums in business class, instead.In fact, some of these products are so spacious, private and otherwise impressive that they’re easily more appealing than the seats you would have found up in first class just a few years back....

Aloha! October is Hawaii month at The Points Guy, so check back regularly for flight and hotel reviews, features and deals from Maui, Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island of Hawaii.Ask any American where they’d like to travel, and chances are you’ll hear “Hawaii” more often than not. For decades, the youngest state in the Union has attracted tourists from all over the nation with its Polynesian culture, breathtaking natural beauty, pleasant (for the most part) weather and abundance of options when it comes to outdoor activities....

American Express scored a win Monday when the US Supreme Court ruled that the credit card processor did not violate antitrust laws in its merchant contracts. In a 5-4 ruling, the conservative majority of the Court stated that the “specialized nature of credit-card transactions justified what in other circumstances might have been anti-competitive conduct.“All credit card processors charge “swipe fees,” which are a percentage of the total charge per transaction. American Express is well-known for charging a higher percentage than Visa or Mastercard, which has led some merchants to refuse Amex as a form of payment because major rivals Visa and Mastercard charge around 1% less than Amex, on average, per transaction....

TPG himself wasn’t impressed when he flew American’s 757-200 business class product back in 2011, but American recently finished retrofitting its 757-200s that fly intercontinental routes with lie-flat business class seats. I’d tried these B/E Aerospace Diamond seats domestically on the airline’s A321T, but I was excited to see how comfortable they’d be on a transatlantic flight — and I did, from Philadelphia (PHL) to Amsterdam (AMS) in American’s internationally configured 757 business class....

In my first Toddler Travel Tips post I talked about things you do in advance of a trip with a toddler in order to help ensure as smooth a trip as possible. In this post I am going talk about some things you can do while at the airport to make things as easy as possible for your family.Tip #1. Get there early, but not too early. It is going to take you longer to do absolutely everything at the airport than it did when it was just you or you and your partner....

TPG Contributor Jason Steele has learned the ropes of family travel, but one challenge he never expected was that of finally leaving the kids behind for the first time. For those of you who are busy raising the next generation of explorers, I asked him to offer his insights.My wife and I love the challenges and rewards of traveling with our children, but we were quickly surprised by how difficult it can be as new parents to travel without them....

Update: United has revised its Dreamliner schedule, and will now be flying the 787 between Newark and Los Angeles only from June 9 through July 10, 2016. A 777-200 will operate the flight beginning July 11.American and Delta have both been known to operate internationally configured aircraft on regularly scheduled domestic flights, but United might take the cake for greatest variety in the shortest amount of time. So far this year, the airline has been flying both a 747 and an international 777 on daily domestic routes, with the 747 flying between Chicago and San Francisco and the 777 traveling between Newark and Los Angeles....

Did you take advantage of that incredible JetBlue point-match offer back in June? If so, check your email, because you might have received a special offer.Yesterday, Virgin America sent out a batch of emails apparently targeting Elevate members who took advantage of this JetBlue point-matching offer. Specifically, Virgin America’s trigger seems to be travelers who transferred points from SPG to Virgin America during JetBlue’s promotion period — with a resulting total of at least 50,001 Virgin America Elevate points....

“Reader Questions” are answered three days a week — Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — by TPG Senior Writer Julian Mark Kheel.TPG reader Jeff recently tried to credit a flight to American AAdvantage, but the airline said he couldn’t, as he tells us in an email message…[pullquote source=“TPG Reader Jeff”]My fiancé and I recently took a trip to Bali. When we requested the miles to be credited to American, we were told the tickets were in an ineligible booking class....

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.Check out my guest blog post about getting a good hotel deal for traveler social networking site Gotsaga.com.Do you have any ideas that I didn’t cover?[card card-name=‘Ink Plus® Business Credit Card’ card-id=‘22129636’ type=‘javascript’ bullet-id=‘1’]

Alaska Airlines just confirmed its plans to acquire Virgin America in a post on… Instagram.According to a CNBC report, Alaska will purchase Virgin for $57 per share in a deal that’s valued at roughly $4 billion in total, including debt, beating the top offer of bidding war partner JetBlue. That’s a HUGE jump over Virgin America’s public valuation of $1.48 billion as of Friday, based on its share price of $38....

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 July 31, 2011, you can get a 50% bonus when you transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to British Airways. This is the best transfer bonus they’ve run in the short 2 year period BA has been a part of Membership Rewards....

Train buffs rejoice, as the city of Berlin has announced that it will be adding retro train cars to the Berlin subway system, according to The Local. The cars are vintage locomotives that were built after World War II and used in the 1950s in the German capital’s U-Bahn.The project cost the Berlin Transport Company (BVG) €1.9 million to revamp the old subway cars that will shuttle passengers along a 1....

Today I want to share a story from TPG reader Marco, who saved money, flew more comfortably and earned extra miles on a recent business trip. Here’s what he had to say:I work for a multinational company headquartered in Europe, and I have to cross the Atlantic on business every five or six weeks. I usually fly out on Sunday night and return on Friday, and non-stop service on American Airlines usually costs around $2,400 just in economy....

A devastating California wildfire has taken over parts of Northern California, already claiming the lives of six people. Now, fire clouds and what some are calling “firenadoes” are hovering over the fires.Pyrocumulus “fire” clouds have formed above impacted areas, creating “basically its own localized weather system,” according to CNN Weather. These clouds form similarly to how clouds we’re most familiar with do, except they occur under faster and hotter conditions. The strong heat of the fire pulls moisture from burning vegetation, which then combines with smoke particles and condenses....

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.Get your flower crowns, mirrored sunglasses and statement hats ready — it’s officially festival season! And one week from the start of the Governors Ball on Randall’s Island in New York City, Citi has announced that it’s teaming with Founders Entertainment to offer cardholders new perks....

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 guess their servers are overloaded having to reaccomodate thousands of passengers whose travel was disrupted by “Snowmageddon 2010”. However, no other airlines frequent flyer site is down, so not sure what the issue is at Delta.When I try to log-in from a number of different account, I get :“SkyMilesWe are unable to log you into your account at this time....

Since launching Delta One Suites in November 2017, Delta has been busy adding new Airbus A350 routes featuring what is likely the best business class cabin on a US airline. More recently, Delta began retrofitting its newest business class hard product on its 18 Boeing 777s, with the first retrofit 777 entering service in early July. Naturally, TPG was onboard to review the 777 version of the Delta One Suites.With an increasing number of Delta One Suite aircraft in the skies, there have been so many new route announcements and updates that it’s been hard to keep track....

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 has the potential to be a game-changer for legacy airlines in the US. As of Thursday, Delta’s iOS app supports automatic flight check-in — if your flight appears in the latest version of the Delta app, a boarding pass will automatically pop up 24 hours before departure....

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 flying through Charlotte-Douglas Airport (CLT) today, be sure to take a, erm, paws in your travels and visit the atrium, where the airport’s hosting a cuddlefest with 10 cats to soothe preflight jitters, educate folks about pet adoption and celebrate International Cat Day....