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My little family of four is currently in NYC, but while we are here my dad (Grandpa Points) was willing to share one of their favorite activities from their NYC trip a couple of months ago!We were in our mid twenties in 1975 and the Vietnam War was in its final days. Monday Night Football was becoming a must see phenomenon and Johnny Carson ruled the Late Night. In fact, it was Johnny that was partly responsible for the creation of another television and pop culture needle mover when he encouraged his re-runs not be shown on Saturday nights, but rather be saved to run on weeknights in order for him to have more days off....

Maybe you didn’t see Midnight Express, but its reputation precedes it: no movie before or since ever came in like as big of a wrecking ball to an entire country’s tourism industry. The harrowing, mostly true tale of what befell American student Billy Hayes after he tried smuggling hash out of Turkey hinged on a banned drug, but it’s a cautionary tale nonetheless. That’s because there are some everyday prescription medications that, while perfectly above board in the US or Europe, could easily land you in hot water — or maybe even a prison cell — if found on your person or in your suitcase overseas....

When you travel to another country it is common to be asked when paying with a credit card if you want to be charged in the local currency or in US dollars. While it may seem counter-intuitive at first, the correct answer is virtually always to be charged in local currency as otherwise you are very, very likely to lose out on a less than favorable exchange rate. Of course you also want to be sure to pay with a credit card that does not charge a foreign transaction fee so you aren’t hit with a roughly 3% fee by your bank every time you use your card abroad to pay in local currency....

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.Been eyeing a set of AirPods or a new iPad? Good news: United is offering a one-day increased MileagePlus Shopping offer on Apple purchases. For today only, you’ll earn 6 miles per dollar spent at Apple as opposed to the standard offer of 1 mile per dollar....

Earlier this week I wrote about the ability to transfer Continental and United miles and status between your accounts, since they are getting their collective frequent flyer members comfortable with having one account.Well, what this means is that you can now transfer American Express Membership Rewards instantly to your Continental account (Until September 30, 2011) and then instantly to your United account.As I mentioned in my original post, United allows one way awards, even on Star Alliance members....

With a massive Noreaster bearing down on the East Coast, Atlanta being slammed with storms, dozens of other airports affected during the busiest travel weekend of the year and 43 million Americans expected to fly, I know that many folks’ travel plans are being affected over Thanksgiving so I wanted to put together a few tips and a handy consolidated resource of the current travel advisories and flight change and refund policies of the major airlines so that you don’t get stranded this weekend....

As fans of The Walking Dead are busy guessing at what new storylines the seventh season will bring, a travel-loving sector of the show’s devotees can’t stop talking about their recent encounter with some (not quite) real-life zombies aboard the Walker Stalker Cruise, which just completed its second voyage from Miami to the Bahamas — via the Norwegian Pearl — with executive producer Greg Nicotero and stars Norman Reedus, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chandler Riggs in tow....

Airlines are in business to make money, but it’s important that they balance their bottom line with the comfort and satisfaction of their customers. Today TPG Senior Points & Miles Correspondent Jason Steele looks at some airline policies that are tipping that balance in the wrong direction.Last week I wrote about the effect of revenue-based frequent flyer programs on leisure travelers and families (as opposed to business travelers). The outlook is mostly grim, but there are many airline policies that hit flyers in that demographic even harder....

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.Security lines at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have become unbearably long. Last week, passengers at the nation’s third busiest airport experienced wait times in excess of 2 1/2 hours, an AA spokesperson told the Daily Herald. American Airlines had to delay 30 flights on Sunday and provide cots for passengers that missed the last flights of the day....

A new air travel paradigm is coming to the Northeast. Instead of selling fares or renting out planes, emerging air service provider Beacon will begin offering subscription-based flights in the summer of 2015 between New York Westchester (HPN, about 35 miles from Midtown Manhattan) and Boston Logan (BOS), with seasonal flights also available to East Hampton and Nantucket. At launch, Beacon will operate nine flights daily in each direction on the HPN-BOS route, with hourly departures paving the way for easy last-minute bookings....

TPG reader Patrick emailed me to ask about earning Delta status:“I fly with Delta a lot and rack up a ton of Medallion Qualification Miles. I currently have over 470,000 MQMs, 280,000 of which rolled over from 2015. If I don’t earn any more elite miles from here on out, but I have a credit card to waive the spending requirements, will the MQMs I have continue to roll over year after year?...

On the fourth day of my plane spotting adventure, I made it to the promised land. Well, okay, promised beach. Because of course we are talking about the place that stirs the emotions of anybody on the planet who’s ever called themselves an AvGeek: Maho Beach, the ultra-famous spotting location on the Caribbean island of St Maarten.I arrived at the start of August, a month before Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc and destruction on both Dutch and French sides....

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.What’s the quirkiest place you’ve ever been to? Take that, multiply it by 1,000 and you’ll get Tokyo’s Robot Restaurant, a whimsical dinner theater where you can watch bikini-clad warriors save the world from invading alien robots — plus performances by Japanese singers, go-go dancers, Taiko drummers and Samurai along with a few other characters....

With news that the New York Hilton Midtown – the largest hotel in the city – will discontinue room service and instead open an all-day cafeteria-style restaurant with grab & go options beginning in August, the travel industry was abuzz with talk of whether this is the beginning of a larger trend and what travelers should expect from hotels moving forward.Will room service be a thing of the past?I have to say that personally, I use room service quite a lot....

Our new “Layover Lowdown” series features airports and destinations around the world where you’re likely to be stuck between flights, offering tips on navigating and spending time in the airport, as well as some things to do if you find yourself with time to explore the nearby city. TPG International Contributor Lane Nieset takes us through Turkey’s largest airport—one of the fastest growing in Europe, with over 50 million passengers passing through each year....

Millennials might have the stigma of being obsessed with selfies, fiends for avocado toast and sitting unemployed on Mom and Dad’s couch. But actually this generation, currently comprised of those aged 22 to 37 years old, is now the largest in the US workforce, making up 35% of all workers.And apparently, they really enjoy working at airlines. Well, two specific US airlines to be exact.In a recent study from job site Indeed, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines ranked in the top 10 of millennials’ best-rated workplaces, at No....

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.Last month, I wrote about the opportunity to take surveys about your Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott and Starwood hotel stays for cash. Many of you got in on this deal and if you filled out surveys successfully, you should be getting your money soon (around 4 weeks from the date the survey was completed)....

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.Just a friendly reminder to submit questions you’d like me to answer on my Reader Email Sundays.Simply comment on this post or shoot me an email with “READER QUESTION” in the subject line.Simple guideline - your question has to be relevant to a broad group of people....

In the past, describing any hospitality experience as “robotic” would have seemed like an insult. But as artificial intelligence continues to evolve, the travel industry is finding new and innovative ways to utilize it to better ensure a seamless experience for travelers. In June, JetBlue announced it was implementing AI technology to assist customers with planning the perfect trip. Now, hotels are taking the technology revolution one step further, by employing robots as staff members....

Snapchat took the world by storm when it allowed users to augment their world through its playful puppy filters. Now, the social media platform wants to inspire travelers looking for their next real-world destination with its new “Snap Maps” feature. Accessible by pinching out from Snapchat’s main camera, the feature lets you see where your friends are, what complete strangers are “Snapping” and provides glimpses of events happening around the world....