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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.Hawaiian Airlines launched the first mainland-bound flight featuring Hawaiian language spoken in cabin announcements and crew instructions on Friday.Flight HA18 to Las Vegas (LAS) was staffed with a flight crew of fluent olelo Hawaii speakers, who spoke to passengers in both English and Hawaiian....

The last time the Rolon family saw their dog Logan was at the LATAM check-in desk at New York’s JFK airport. Now, an upset family is searching for their missing animal, which was lost by the airline.On August 27, Jonathan Rolon’s parents were headed back to Paraguay after visiting him in Connecticut. Ana and Robert Rolon made their way to JFK to fly to Paraguay on a LATAM flight, which would presumably connect in a major LATAM hub like Lima (LIM) or Santiago (SCL) to Asunción airport (ASU) in Paraguay....

Marriott and Starwood are set to make a big announcement on Monday at 4:30pm Eastern in New York City potentially detailing the combination of its loyalty programs. We’ve been anxiously awaiting the announcement for more than a year, and hopefully we’ll get some (positive) clarity come Monday.Adding to the excitement of Monday’s announcement, it appears Marriott has sent a set of secret boxes to its hotels — and likely to SPG properties as well based on the markings on the boxes — with explicit instructions not to open until 4:30pm EDT on Monday:My source tells me an extremely stern warning accompanied the boxes, stating that in no way, shape, or form were they to be opened prior to Monday’s announcement....

Yeah, you read that right.A kayaker off the coast of Kaikoura, New Zealand, was slapped in the face with an octopus via fur seal. You can view the video of the incident here, below:Kyle Mulinder, the unfortunate recipient of the octo-slap, is a GoPro employee and had one of the tiny cameras attached to his boat. A friend of Mulinder’s posted the video on his Instagram, causing it to go viral....

As if Uber’s up-front pricing shenanigans and New York City transportation taxes/fees weren’t already making a ride in the Big Apple expensive enough, it’s about to get even worse.New York lawmakers just passed a new “congestion surcharge” for all for-hire rides originating south of 96th Street in Manhattan. Uber, Lyft and other ride-hailing passengers will incur a $2.75 per ride surcharge. Yellow taxi rides will also get a $2.50 per ride surcharge....

Holding several superlatives in the field of travel, John Glenn is an icon to AvGeeks worldwide. Today, the helmet he wore from his famous transcontinental “Project Bullet” flight back in 1957 is going up for auction. The starting price? A casual $100,000.Project Bullet was the nickname Glenn gave to his historic flight when he became the first pilot to make a supersonic transcontinental flight from Los Alamitos Naval Air Station in California to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York....

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.Southwest has extended its double points promotion to last through the end of June. The carrier launched the National Double Points Promotion in April, allowing members to earn double points on all flights until June 13, 2018. The expiration date for the promotion, however, has since been extended until June 30, 2018....

The crew of Southwest Flight 1380, which had one fatality after its engine exploded in April, met with President Donald Trump on Tuesday in the Oval Office.The flight’s crew, and especially its pilot Captain Tammie Jo Shults, have been lauded since the incident for keeping their composure under pressure and safely landing the aircraft during a cabin depressurization and a medical emergency on board.“Tammie did an incredible job,” Trump said from behind the Resolute desk in the Oval Office....

As the fourth Star Megado winds down to a close later today in Chicago, I thought I’d give you a quick snapshot of some of the highlights of this crazy whirlwind trip so far that’s taken me from Zurich to San Francisco to Houston and now to Chicago.I met up with the Megadoers in Zurich, Switzerland, where we all stayed at the luxe Park Hyatt on Beethovenstrasse near the fancy shops of Bahnhofstrasse and on the edge of the charming Old City....

I posted a few weeks ago that I was going to be in a travel situation where the US Airways MasterCard $99 companion certificates would likely be helpful, but I couldn’t find them. I blame the dog, or the kid, or a gust of wind, or the monster in the house that eats every other sock and helmets off of all the Star Wars toys. Thankfully, it seems that it is pretty easy to get a replacement certificate, so I posted that process here, and my new certificate has since shown up in the mail....

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.Earlier this year, American revised the earning rules and gifts you get to choose from with their Elite Rewards, American’s incentive program for elite flyers who go above and beyond their status qualification thresholds - which you can now qualify for with miles, segments or points, and where you get your choice of gifts as soon as you hit a threshold....

Virgin America has become the 6th airline to partner with the TSA and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to offer their customers TSA PreCheck. They join Delta Air Lines, Alaska, United, American, and US Airways, which allow trusted travelers to pre-screen and breeze through expedited security for domestic flights and select international flights.Virgin America guests who are enrolled in U.S. Customs & Border Protection Trusted Traveler programs will be eligible to participate in the initiative when traveling with Virgin America....

In a unique advertising stunt, Uber took to the skies — not with aircraft flying banners along a beach, but with drones hovering over stalled cars on a Mexico City roadway advertising Uber’s popular carpool service, UberPool.In case you’re not familiar with the service, UberPool lets passengers share a car with one or more additional Uber riders, essentially allowing them to split the cost and reduce the overall number of vehicles on the road....

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.United’s long-haul aircraft are typically celebrated with far more fanfare, from delivery to retirement, but the carrier’s Boeing 737s operate more daily flights than all of UA’s wide-body planes combined. Today marks a major milestone when it comes to United’s short- and medium-haul flights, with delivery of the very first 737 MAX 9 from Boeing....

One of my first bits of advice to award travel novices is to take advantage of the earning opportunities in front of you. Many people never even sign up for loyalty programs, or insist on using cash for purchases that could earn them a solid return with a credit card. A big part of maximizing your award travel is learning how to pick the low-hanging fruit; so today, TPG Senior Points and Miles Correspondent Jason Steele shakes a few branches you may not have noticed before....

Update: I actually wrote about this in February and I did get the miles (along with another commenter) so it seems reasonable enough to assume these should post in about a month or so.I recently got an email offer for 500 free United miles for signing up for MyPoints, but before I could sign up TPG reader foofiter tweeted me about a 750 point sign-up offer, which I happily jumped on....

Last week, TPG Senior Editor Kaeli Conforti was in Cuba on the first US cruise to the country in more than 50 years. Stay tuned for more fantastic Cuba content, including this go-to list of essential items to bring with you on a trip to this unique country. Be sure to keep up with her travels on Twitter and Instagram. (All photos are by the author unless otherwise noted).My mother has been a nurse for more than 35 years, so growing up I learned to always be prepared....

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.An Air Canada jet was involved in an incident which aviation experts claim could have been the “greatest aviation disaster in history” late last Friday at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).Air Canada Flight 759, with 140 people on board, was cleared to land on runway 28R at SFO after a five-hour flight from Toronto (YYZ), but instead lined up with Taxiway C, which runs parallel to the 12,000ft-long runway....

Earlier this month, American Airlines announced plans for the future of its AAdvantage program, the main takeaway being that it’s switching to a revenue-based redeemable mileage earning. For now, though, it’s fairly easy to get status quickly — especially if you work for a large corporation. This week, AA began offering a promotion in which flyers with select corporate email addresses are eligible for a free status challenge.Sign up for AA’s corporate status challenge....

ANA’s first Airbus A380 is oh so close to being complete. The super-jumbo jet took to the skies for the first time yesterday, successfully completing its maiden flight.The aircraft, registered F-WWSH, flew from Airbus’ Toulouse base to the manufacturer’s facility in Hamburg, Germany, in about 3.5 hours.ANA’s A380 made its way from Hamburg to Toulouse for its maiden voyage. Image by FlightRadar24.Right now, the jet’s exterior is still unpainted, except for its tail and engines....