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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.When’s the best time to travel during Thanksgiving break? Answer: When everyone else isn’t.With that in mind, we aggregated data from multiple sources to show you the absolute worst day and time to fly and drive in 10 major metropolitan areas....

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 past summer, Hertz’s enhanced loyalty program Gold Plus Rewards program celebrated their three year anniversary, allowing participants to earn one Hertz Gold Plus Rewards point for every qualifying US dollar spent on rentals worldwide. In addition, Hertz and Navigation Solutions released the new NeverLost 6, their next generation of their venerable GPS navigation system....

Last month in Singapore, the country’s namesake airline unveiled its biggest product refresh to date — all four A380 cabins would be getting some tweaks, with the biggest updates coming to first class and biz.While journalists from around the world flew out to Singapore for the official product launch, including TPG and assistant editor Nick Ellis, the airline had yet to take delivery of its first new A380 — attendees experienced mockups of the new product, instead....

Throughout the course of the year, we’ll be keeping up with several TPG readers as they work toward meeting various travel goals. We kicked off this series with Heather P., who’s hoping to open her first travel rewards credit card in 2018.Today, let’s meet Bryan O., who has a specific trip in mind. (Comment has been lightly edited for clarity.)My goal is to continue saving for a round-the-world trip. I’m shooting for 2 business class tickets through Singapore at 240k miles each....

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 Airlines’ management will finally see the full-time return of CEO Oscar Munoz. It’s been a turbulent few months for the airline with its former CEO Jeff Smisek stepping down amid allegations. So when United hired Oscar Munoz as his replacement, there were high hopes for the company — and Munoz was able to get some things done in his short few weeks on the job before he suffered a heart attack....

In a gesture of goodwill that is (to put it diplomatically) uncommon in the airline industry, United Airlines appears to be waiving 2014 revenue requirements for certain Premier 1K members, and allowing them to retain their elite status level despite missing the mark on Premier Qualifying Dollars (PQDs).United is letting some Premier 1K flyers hold on to elite status without meeting revenue requirements.Last year United added a revenue component to elite status qualification, compelling MileagePlus members to spend $2,500, $5,000, $7,500, and $10,000 on United fares in order to qualify for Silver, Gold, Platinum, and 1K status, respectively, in addition to the usual mileage or segment requirements....

Banks used to offer rich mileage sign-up bonuses for debit cards, but recent financial reform legislation slashed the amount of money they could make off those transactions so as a direct result we’ve seen most banks discontinue mileage-earning on debit cards. This is a shame because you don’t need good credit to get debit cards (it’s a soft inquiry on your credit) so pretty much anyone could get in on these bonuses....

True to reputation, new World of Hyatt Senior Vice President Amy Weinberg is utilizing data insights and analytics to learn more about Hyatt’s most loyal guests. In preparation for summer travel, Ms. Weinberg and World of Hyatt revealed the top five most redeemed Hyatt properties during the summer months as well as the five hotels with the highest year-over-year increase in award night redemptions from June-August 2016 vs. 2017.I had a chance to speak with Ms....

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.Technically for Chase Continental Debit/Credit card holders, but can’t hurt to try anyway!100 free miles link 1100 free miles link 2Hat tip TPG reader Brian!

I’m a big fan of using airfrance.us to look up Skyteam award inventory. Historically, it’s been a reliable indicator of Air France, KLM, Alitalia, Czech and Kenyan award availability. When you found something at the Classic level, it meant it was bookable using Delta miles. The only flaw was that Delta inventory did not show.That seems to have changed recently. Last night, I was poking around and noticed Delta inventory now accurately pulls....

Alaska Airlines is making some customer-friendly changes to its same-day change policy — but only for some of its elite members. Now, Mileage Plan members with MVP Gold or MVP Gold 75K status can change their reservation beginning at check-in.Previously, all Alaska flyers could not change their flights until six hours before the new flight, and for redeye flights (between 12:00am and 3:59am), you could only rebook on a new flight as early as 10:00pm....

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.AA just filed for bankruptcy today, which isn’t the most surprising thing since people have been speculating about it since early October when their shares tumbled 40 percent on bankruptcy fears. That being said, I don’t think many people expected it to happen so quickly....

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.During the time of of high oil prices and bankruptcies that forced many US airlines to trim budgets and amenities, economy passengers found themselves without meals, even on some of the longest transcontinental domestic flights. That’s beginning to change, however — Delta’s been serving complimentary meals to economy passengers on several transcontinental routes since March 1....

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.TPG reader Daniel emailed me to ask:“I have US Airways Dividend Miles, and I was wondering if I could use them to book a one-way award ticket on American Airlines?“Strictly speaking, the answer is yes — you can book a one-way award, but unfortunately, it will cost you the same as a round-trip award....

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 written about the Continental Chase Debit Cards before and I think they provide great value, in terms of robust sign-up bonuses and bag waivers. However, as of April 1, 2011, these cards will no longer provide a first checked bag for free (up to $50 value round trip)....

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.One of the best ways to get bonus miles without actually flying is through airline shopping portals. And with the holiday shopping season upon us, now’s a better time than ever to make sure you take advantage of the opportunity to earn bonus points and miles for purchases that you’d be making anyway....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American ExpressThrough the end of the year, Hilton Honors is offering guests the opportunity to earn double points on all stays. Between September 1 and December 31, 2017, you can register with your Hilton Honors number to earn the bonus points — similar to the Go More, Get More promotion through August 31, 2017....

Update 11/23/16: Emirates is now offering 10,000 bonus miles for a round-trip flight booked in any (paid) class when you register here, book by January 15 and fly by March 31, 2017. Additionally, passengers booked in business or first class will get an upgrade to Gold status (Special, Saver and Cash+Miles fares are excluded).Emirates will fly to a total of 11 US cities when it begins its just-announced daily service to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) on December 15, 2016....

Equifax has confirmed that thousands of consumers’ passport photos were stolen in its September 2017 breach.In a letter to the US Senate Banking Committee, lawyers representing the credit monitoring bureau acknowledged last week that hackers indeed took 3,200 passport photos from Equifax’s database — a claim it had originally denied.The number of consumers whose photos were stolen is a small fraction of the overall 148 million Americans impacted by the massive cyberattack — about 44% of US adults....

Airlines around the world launch and announce dozens of new flight routes and service changes every month. Today, I’ll share just a few of the latest flights that will take to the skies this month or in the near future. Keep in mind that exact flight details (like schedules and aircraft, among other things) may change based on your travel dates.NEW ROUTES LAUNCHED IN APRIL 2017LOT began nonstop service from Los Angeles to Warsaw, Poland....