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Update: You can no longer purchase Vanilla Reload cards using a credit card and Vanilla Reloads are no longer available in Office Depot.Not only did Hurricane Sandy throw everyone’s travel plans into chaos, but it also claimed dozens of lives, flooded cities and towns up and down the East Coast, left 8 million people without power and caused billions of dollars in damage.I know a lot of you are thinking of contributing to relief efforts, so I wanted to put up some information on charitable donations, especially because you can still either earn or redeem points by donating in a few ways....

We are in the final countdown for my four year old’s first trip to Europe and I am both Christmas-Eve-Style excited and First-Day-of-School nervous. We intentionally waited until she was around this age to go to Europe as heading across the ocean with a toddler or infant didn’t sound like my style of fun, especially since there were great adventures we could have with her closer to home. I know that is blasphemy to some family travelers who happily put their six week old infant in a carrier and start jet-setting the globe (and more power to you if that’s your thing!...

The real-life Tony Stark continues to redefine how the world thinks about modern travel. After making serious progress on the Hyperloop and promising to send humans to Mars by 2024 with his SpaceX rocket, Elon Musk has released a video unveiling plans for something that seems straight out of a science fiction movie.Musk shared a video entitled “BFR | Earth to Earth” in which he reveals his idea to use the same SpaceX rocket system that is used to go to space, to transport humans around the globe at mind-blowing speeds....

I’m sure you are well aware this is a travel/miles and points blog and not a foodie blog (I don’t even know enough adjectives to write a foodie blog), but for my family, eating and experiencing “local cuisine” is a part of the travel experience. We aren’t usually found at the very best restaurants, but we do try to at least do a little research and hit up some of the unique or highly recommend joints around whatever town we are visiting when possible....

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.British Airways is currently under fire — no, not for kicking passengers off flights during a heat wave, but for allegedly firing a customer service worker for having a so-called “man bun.“Sid Ouared had been working as a customer services assistant in Heathrow’s Terminal 5 for about two weeks and claims that during the final day of his training, his bosses fired him for “having a hairstyle that did not comply with their uniform policy....

This is an installment in my March 2012 Asia Trip Series which includes: A Birthday Present To Myself: Business Class on the World’s Longest Flight for $2.50, Help Me Plan My Asia Trip Starting With Singapore, Flight Review: Singapore Airlines All Business Class Flight From Newark To Singapore, Hotel Review: Intercontinental Singapore, Video Trip Report: Singapore, Hotel Review: Le Meridien Bangkok Avantec Suite, Video Trip Report: Bangkok, Hotel Review: Le Meridien Angkor, Video Trip Report: Siem Reap, Hotel Review: Intercontinental Phnom Penh, Video Trip Report: Phnom Penh and the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields, Hotel Review: W Hong Kong....

Today, I want to share a story from TPG reader Joel, who paid an unexpected penalty when his travel plans changed. Here’s what he had to say:I’m a big Foo Fighters fan, so when I saw they were playing Wrigley Field in July, I decided to take a quick weekend trip to Chicago with my wife to see the show. We used my Southwest Companion Pass to save on our award flights, and I booked two nights at the Westin Chicago River North for 12,000 points per night....

Who knew that you would need a strategy to avoid having your potty trained kid have to pee on an airplane seat, but you apparently do. If you read much mainstream media you probably already heard the story of a three year old who had to use the restroom during a delay on a recent New York - Boston JetBlue flight. The delay was reportedly around 30 minutes, and during that time the three year old told her mom she needed to “potty”, mom got up to take the kid to the restroom, was told by the flight attendant she could not at that time, and you can guess what the outcome was at that point....

I just got off the phone with a Hyatt reservationist and she confirmed that that Park Hyatt Maldives is a category 6 hotel, which means you can use 22,000 points or free nights (I have two from a promotion event and she said I’ll be able to use them for a dummy May 6-8 booking).Other key information- you can pre-arrange transfers from the international airport, which takes approximately 2 hours 10 minutes for a $450 per person charge....

As a frequent premium-cabin traveler, I’m a bit jaded when it comes to airport lounges. Now, unless I’m working on a flight review, I might skip the lounge altogether, opting instead to arrive 30 or so minutes before boarding.I had an entirely different approach at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport (IST), though — Turkish Airlines’ main international hub is home to what’s been repeatedly labeled as one of the world’s best lounges. It’s even a national icon of sorts — Turkish’s first order of business following the attempted 2016 coup was to rename this space the July 15 Heroes of Democracy Lounge, and while staff now refer to it simply as the “Turkish Lounge,” it remains an impressive fixture at an otherwise underwhelming terminal....

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’ve all been there – You’ve had a stressful day at work or just hopped off a redeye flight, and you just want to enjoy a silent ride in your Lyft. And, while the people driving these cars are much appreciated, sometimes you need your quiet time, but the driver keeps nagging you with questions....

Amex Offers are opt-in, limited-time and generally targeted deals for American Express cardholders. If you’ve ever looked through the list of Amex Offers, you know how overwhelming it can be. Digging through all of the discounts and other mediocre deals to find the ones actually worth considering is a daunting task.We’ll continue to post separately about excellent Amex Offers like $50 back when spending $250+ at Hilton, $60 back when spending $200+ at Hyatt and 20,000 Membership Rewards points for spending $1,000 with ANA....

TPG reader Doug asks:“I was able to get 3 tickets from Minneapolis to Sicily on Delta with a stopover in Paris for 60,000 miles each—something I didn’t believe was possible even after spending about a month reading mileage websites until I read your article.On the Minneapolis-Sicily itinerary, one of the segments is an Air France flight from DTW to CDG. I see only limited seating options available through the Delta website, and can’t figure out how to access my reservation through the Air France website....

Tropical islands are the destinations most dependent on money generated from tourism and travel. That’s what a new report by the World Travel and Tourism Council says.The report, released on Thursday, calculates the economic and employment impact of travel and tourism for 185 countries and showed that in 2017, tourism accounted for 10.4% of global GDP and 313 million jobs worldwide, which is about 9.9% of total global employment.The Maldives is the destination that is most reliant on tourist dollars....

I book millions of miles a month in awards for clients and I’m always trying to think about what award option works the best, since most people have multiple mileage balances and flexible credit card points. Whether its wrangling a Delta award to the “low” level or helping someone maximize an American Express transfer bonus they didn’t know about, I like to add value as much as possible.This past weekend I booked clients on a business class trip from Florida to Australia for only 100,000 Amex points a piece (see how below, #1), this made me think about some of the best award redemptions out there....

Earlier this week, the US Supreme Court announced that it reviewed President Trump’s travel ban policy, allowing it to go into partial effect. While the court isn’t going to hear arguments on the travel ban until its next term in October, as of tonight — Thursday June 29 — at 8:00pm ET, the “watered down” version of the travel ban will officially take effect.Since it’s traveled down many twists and turns and is substantially different than the original ban that was first announced, we’re breaking it down for you....

Fellow BoardingArea blogger, Delta Gold Flyer, reached out to me to see if I would be interested in doing a joint post about lap infants. He has a post up today about lap children, and since it is an issue that impacts virtually every traveling family, I told him I would do a post at the same time to share my thoughts. So, consider this BoardingArea Lap Infant Day. ?In case you weren’t following every single post on Mommy Points around Christmas time last year (and who can blame you?...

TPG reader Sean emailed me with a question this week:“My research suggests that I can make charges and pay them off multiple times during the billing cycle. If I do that, will I earn points based on the total I spent in the month, or are points awarded based on my balance when my statement closes?“Paying your credit card bill early has a lot of different benefits. One of the key things that can happen when you don’t pay your bill early is that credit card companies can report your balance....

I have a really bad habit of going somewhere for too short a period of time, but we are working toward reversing that trend slowly but surely. We recently stayed a full week in Westerly, Rhode Island, and I honestly cannot think of the last time I went anywhere for a full week and had the chance to so fully relax. While my favorite activities were just relaxing and hanging out with family, we did leave our cottages a bit to enjoy some of what the area had to offer....

When doing business with airlines, the fine print in the contract of carriage can often mean headaches (generally for you, not for them). However, there are some rules designed to work in your favor, but they’ll only do you good if you know them. Today TPG Senior Points and Miles Contributor Jason Steele discusses some of those rules, and explains how to use them to your advantage.Those who travel frequently tend to know all the rules, and can invoke them to ensure they get treated fairly....