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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – British Airways Visa Signature CardI’m excited to announce that starting today that I will be featuring guest blog posts from some of the greatest minds in the frequent flyer world. For the first post, I’m happy to introduce Joshua Pickles, also known as Mr. Pickles. In the frequent flyer community Mr. Pickles is known for his ability to analyze opportunities and push the boundaries on what is possible when it comes ways of earning miles and points....

If you’ve been following me on Twitter or Instagram…or pretty much any social media, you’ll know that I recently welcomed a new member into the TPG family: Miles (get it?), my new 3.5 month old French bulldog. My two weeks as a new “parent” have been a real blessing, though at times exhausting.I’ve always been a pet person - I grew up around dogs and volunteered at the Animal Rescue League in college....

Upon landing, plane passengers have come to expect a flight attendant warning them to open overhead bins carefully in case luggage has shifted during the journey. But what about before the flight?A man named Jeffery Reinhardt claims that during the boarding process on his recent Southwest Airlines flight from Portland (PDX) to Las Vegas (LAS), he was clubbed by an oversize, overweight bag that fell on him as a flight attendant and another passenger attempted to unsuccessfully stuff it into an overheard bin....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Platinum Card from American Express, Premier Rewards Gold Card from American ExpressJust a friendly reminder that Aeroplan increases their award chart redemption levels tomorrow. I wrote about the subject here, so you may want to book an award today if you have Star Alliance award travel in your plans. Remember, American Express Membership Rewards points transfer instantly to Aeroplan, so you have time to act....

Many families love flying on Southwest Airlines for a number of reasons such as free checked bags, the ability to change flights without a fee, free award redeposits, the super awesome Companion Pass, and the open seating policy where you don’t have to pay extra fees to get seats together since there are no assigned seats. Of course, the open seating policy can also backfire if you don’t end up with a boarding pass in one of the first groups as there often aren’t multiple seats together by the time you get to some of the B, and certainly the C boarding groups....

Below is a list of current route promotions on prominent routes in the US. If I’ve missed any (which I’m sure I have), feel free to comment below and I’ll include them in the post. Every mile counts!AmericanDouble miles (including elite) between Chicago and Los Angeles and San Francisco. Your AA account must have a California or Illinois address to be eligible. Register and fly by August 31, 2011.5/10/15,000 mile bonus for discounted economy/full-fare economy/business class NY to Budapest....

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.It’s always a joy to see just what the TSA confiscated every month. Will it be another weapon? A live animal? All of the above? Most likely, since passengers have no shame when trying to sneak things by security agents at airports....

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 holiday shopping season started with bonus miles on Apple purchases. The three US legacy carriers are each offering bonus miles per dollar spent on Apple purchases made through their respective shopping portal.For today only, you can take advantage of Apple bonuses at the following rates:American: Earn 3 miles per dollar at AppleDelta: Earn 3 miles per dollar at AppleUnited: Earn 6 miles per dollar at AppleIn order to be eligible for the one-day only elevated offer, you must make your eligible Apple purchases through the respective airline portal — AAdvantage shopping, SkyMiles shopping or MileagePlus shopping....

This week I flew out of Miami and saw something new - a Trusted Traveler security line that was completely empty and fully staffed. In my 20 minutes waiting in the “priority” security line, I didn’t see a single person use the line. Naively, I thought I might be eligible since I have Global Entry, but apparently you need to enter your Trusted Traveler number in your frequent flyer account to be eligible (I asked and was rebuffed by the snarky TSA agent who told me today wasn’t my lucky day as he pushed me off towards the full body scanner....

A woman from the US woke up from a coma on Wednesday after she and her son were attacked by a giraffe on a wildlife reserve in South Africa.Wildlife biologist Katy Williams, 35, and her 3-year-old son were rushed to the hospital on September 3 after being kicked by a giraffe on the Blyde Wildlife Estate, where Williams lives with her son, Finn, and her husband Dr. Sam Williams.“[They] went into a wooded section, went into a clearing and instantly a giraffe came at them,” Williams’ father told ABC News....

TPG reader Chris emailed me to ask:“What is the most lucrative credit card sign-up bonus offer available right now?“There are some incredibly valuable targeted offers out there right now, but to answer this question I’m going to focus only on bonuses available to everyone.I think that right now the most lucrative sign-up bonus is the US Airways Premier World MasterCard, which offers 50,000 miles after your first purchase and payment of the $89 annual fee....

Many people travel for work, but what if flying was an integral part of your job description? Flight attendants possess technical knowledge of the aircraft they’re flying on, not to mention they memorize seating charts and emergency information — all while maneuvering through cramped cabin aisles to serve the needs of passengers.But once on the ground, they have the opportunity to explore new cities and different cultures around the world. Imagine having breakfast in New York, dinner in London and dessert in Switzerland?...

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 best things in life are free…especially when they’re free points. Shoppers who head into a Bose store and sit through a demo of the brand’s Videowave II television by August 31, 2012, will earn 2,500 free American Express Membership Rewards points....

With its mix of boulder-strewn beaches, bustling markets and exotic fauna and flora — which even includes penguin colonies — Cape Town offers up the perfect blend of city and country escape. The only problem? It’s often wrongly billed as a place best enjoyed during the summer (our winter).Sure, destinations from Croatia to the Greek Islands will soon be heading into high season as (our) summer sets in, but while the masses migrate to Mediterranean beaches, destinations south of the equator are a traveler’s best-kept secret....

Newly minted airline Air Belgium is planning on adding flights to the United Sates later this year.The Brussels-based carrier filed an application for Exemption Authority and a Foreign Air Carrier Permit with the US Department of Transportation – documentation that any foreign air carrier that wishes to operate commercial flights to the US must obtain – Ch-Aviation reported on Wednesday.“Air Belgium requests expedited approval of this application so that marketing and sale of the proposed services can begin without delay,” the regulatory filing stated....

Last week, we learned that American Airlines will launch premium economy on its Boeing 777-200 routes starting December 15. Now, we know which routes will feature the premium economy class of service, according to RoutesOnline:Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) – Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE)Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) – Frankfurt (FRA)Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) – Tokyo Narita (NRT)Los Angeles (LAX) – Tokyo Haneda (HND)Los Angeles (LAX) – Tokyo Narita (NRT)Miami (MIA) – Barcelona (BCN)Miami (MIA) – Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE)Miami (MIA) – Madrid (MAD)Miami (MIA) – Paris (CDG)Miami (MIA) – Rio de Janeiro Galeao (GIG)Miami (MIA) – Santiago de Chile (SCL)Miami (MIA) – Sao Paulo Guarulhos (GRU)Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to Paris (CDG), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) to London Heathrow (LHR) and Miami (MIA) to London Heathrow (LHR) are also for sale effective April 3, 2018....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – SimplyCash Business Card from American ExpressAmerican Express just refreshed the sign-up bonus offer for the Amex SimplyCash Business Card. The current bonus, which is available until April 27, 2016, offers a statement credit of $250 after you spend $5,000 on the card in your first six months of card membership. While that overall 5% return is somewhat meager compared to other sign-up bonuses, SimplyCash offers a solid earning structure for a business card with no annual fee....

Last week I posted about unbelievably low business class fares to Istanbul- from $1,300 roundtrip from NYC. Well, it seems as it other airlines have also jumped in on discounting summer business class roundtrips to Europe. The key is that you need to stay for at least 10 nights and less than 31, but if that isn’t an issue, you can easily get business class for more than half off- and sometimes only a little bit cheaper than the lowest coach fare....

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.Recently I’ve heard a lot of negative feedback about Delta’s award booking policies and rumors about them cracking down on the number of stopovers and open-jaws you can build into awards.Every frequent flyer program has their positives and negatives and while Delta does indeed have a lot of negatives (one way awards that cost the same amount as round-trips, buggy online booking engine and three notorious award tiers that can inflate the cost awards to eye-popping levels) they also have some positives like the ability to build in a stopover and open jaw on awards, as I described in this post....

Citi is a TPG advertising partner.Editor’s note: This post has been updated with new information.If you are a frequent American Airlines flyer, you have plenty of credit card options to help you earn additional miles and make the most out of every American Airlines flight. While Barclays and Citi both have a cobranded card partnership with American Airlines, Citi is the issuer with the largest number of American Airlines card options....