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“Welcome aboard this last flight,” the Brussels Airlines flight attendant said on the intercom, before her safety briefing. “It’s a historical flight for this airplane, and for the airline.” We were on the ground in Geneva, Switzerland, last Saturday, and the airplane being sent to its retirement with a farewell flight to Brussels was quite a rare bird: the Avro RJ100, the only four-engined regional jet ever made. The last commercial jet produced in Great Britain, the 1980s-vintage Avro is a big magnet for aviation enthusiasts, and its last flight for Brussels Airlines turned out to be a major AvGeek event....

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 month, I wrote about how American Airlines and Cadillac had partnered to provide a tarmac-to-gate airport transfer program for elite customers with tight connections as well as how they launched a joint promotion where you could earn 7,500 AAdvantage miles for test driving a Cadillac at a participating dealership....

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.While TPG implores readers not to carry balances on their travel rewards credit cards — the interest charges surely negate any rewards you’ll earn — the reality is that tens of millions of Americans carry a credit card balance....

After months of discussion, Cathay Pacific signed an agreement to raise its retirement age from 55 to 60 on Thursday, Oct. 4. The Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendant Union considers the decision a major achievement, as they’ve been fighting for a retirement age extension for decades.“Today, is the great victory for all workers in Hong Kong, especially Cabin Crew who have been stereotyped as young and pretty girls,” the FAU said in a Facebook post....

American Airlines regional carrier PSA canceled 70 more flights out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) Sunday evening due to a technical glitch — less than a week after the carrier grounded hundreds of flights due to similar technical issues.This new round of cancellations come just three days after PSA had to cancel 275 flights Thursday night – 125 of them were out of CLT. American did not specify what the technical glitch was, telling passengers only that PSA “experienced a technical issue that has caused them to cancel their flights for the remainder of the evening,” on Thursday....

Now that Hurricane Irma has passed and left its devastating mark on Florida, parts of the southeastern US and the Caribbean, the concern for many residents is how to get home. Earlier today, we told you that JetBlue is capping its airfare to its Florida destinations, Charleston (CHS) and Savannah (SAV) at $99 for nonstop flights and at $159 for connecting flights.How are the other major US carriers stacking up? American Airlines is doing something similar, capping its fares at $99 one-way for Main Cabin travel and at $199 for premium cabin travel....

It’s an airline that does the “Southwest model” even better than Southwest — but in Europe. You’ve probably flown them, and if you haven’t, you might soon: It’s the largest low-cost carrier in Europe, and the fifth-biggest airline in the world by passengers carried.We’re talking about Ryanair: sometimes controversial, usually cheap to fly, and now in trouble. Its annual shareholders meeting takes place next week, under the cloud of pilot and crew strikes around Europe, rising fuel costs, and a precipitous drop in share price over the past year....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.British Airways is a frustrating airline for mileage collectors. The Avios mileage currency can be great to utilize for partner flights, but the cost-prohibitive carrier surcharges on the airline’s own flights usually makes booking awards on BA a terrible value.But where the airline can come through for those of us looking for a deal is by providing solid discounts on revenue flights....

TPG reader Mark emailed me about booking an award ticket to South America using American Airlines miles:“I wanted to book a trip to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires with AA miles in December, but business class awards are only available at 100,000 each way! Will I ever be able to get my whole itinerary for 100,000 round-trip? And what’s the best way to track when award availability opens up? Thanks for any advice....

Over the weekend, Egyptian archeologists unearthed a new sphinx — just the latest in a series of exciting new discoveries in a nation famous for its ancient wonders.The more than 2,000-year-old sandstone statue was found in the temple of Kom Ombo, near the city of Aswan. And though its stature is rather diminutive compared to its more famous man-headed, lion-bodied cousin, the Great Sphinx of Giza — it’s 14 inches tall, rather than 66 feet — it may be just another reason to visit Egypt now....

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.Tonight I’ll be attending the Frequent Traveler Awards at Citi Field in NYC, along with 9 TPG readers as my guests. The Frequent Traveler awards will honor the top loyalty programs in the following categories:Best Promotion for Redemption (Airline & Hotel)Best Promotion for Earning (Airline & Hotel)Best Redemption Ability (Airline & Hotel)Best Customer Service(Airline & Hotel)Best Elite Level (Airline & Hotel)Best Loyalty Credit CardProgram of the Year (Airline & Hotel)Last year Marriott swept the awards, so I’m curious if there will be any runaway winners this year....

It’s that time of the year- elite status obsessed flyers begin to panic about qualifying for 2011 elite status. Since the elite qualifying year is January 1- December 31, some flyers pack in some serious flying in December to hit the next elite status level (usually at the 25,000, 50,000, 75,000, 100,000 and 125,000 mile levels). You can also qualify for segments, which benefits short-haul flyers, but that has never been my cup of tea....

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.SPG just launched a new, snazzy updated version of their app today. I’ve long preferred the SPG app over other hotel brands because it shows points activity as well as upcoming stays. In fact, if a hotel pre-upgrades me prior to arrival, I can usually pull up the stay details and see what type of room I’ll get which is nice to know....

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 today I wrote about the (horrific) changes coming to the IHG credit card anniversary award night. There is no delicate way to dance around what happens to the IHG anniversary night beginning with those issued on May 1, 2018, and onwards…the value of the award nights is being decimated based on the letter mailed to existing cardmembers....

The process of going through customs and immigration on your way back to or through the United States isn’t always known as being the most pleasant experience. But is it really as bad as we think? According to a recent customer study, most travelers think the process is actually rather enjoyable.According to a report conducted by Elevation, LTD and Deloitte for US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), most travelers said that they had a good experience....

Seems like American Express is always coming up with excuses to cut the fees on purchasing their prepaid gift cards - and there’s no reason folks with points-earning credit cards shouldn’t benefit. Buying American Express gift cards can be a great way to meet the minimum spend requirements for huge credit card sign-up bonuses, as well as to keep earning points beyond sign-up bonuses and even meet calendar year spending threshold bonuses....

As of Tuesday, cruisegoers will no longer be able to bring their emotional support animals on board Royal Caribbean cruise ships. The cruise line is still honoring passenger reservations with emotional support animals that were booked before July 30, but future itineraries will no longer accommodate pets other than trained service animals.“We are updating the policy to differentiate emotional support animals from service animals that are trained and certified to perform a function for a person with a disability,” a spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean said....

AirHelp, a startup that advocates for air passengers’ rights, released its 2018 list of the world’s best and worst airports and airlines.The rankings are based on a combination of quality of service, on-time performance, airline claims processing and airport feedback from passengers on social media. The company evaluated 72 airlines and 141 airports around the world in 2018, utilizing internal data and a number of other resources to arrive at the custom score....

More than 11,000 passengers at UK airports were accidentally not processed by immigration check points due to “misdirection” between 2013 and 2017, a new report from UK officials shows.Officials said misdirection occurs when airport workers open the wrong doors at the arrival gate or when passengers are simply sent to the wrong place.A Freedom of Information request filed by the BBC shows the numbers of passengers that mistakenly bypassed the border patrol checks totaled 2,394, 2,665 and 2,278 in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively....

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.Ah, the age-old question: When is the best time to purchase your dream vacation ticket? You’ve saved your pennies for months, you know when you can take time off from work, you’ve arranged for babysitters and dog-sitters and plant-sitters....