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As the rest of us complete our final flights with the goal of earning elite status through next year, some lucky United flyers are getting word that they’ve earned — or will get to keep — their Global Services status through 2018.Global Services is an invitation-only program, exclusively for United’s top spenders. There’s no official spending requirement, but from what I’ve found in 2017 and previous years, typically members spend at least $40,000 — though one Global Services elite I chatted with spent $200,000 on pre-tax airfare in 2017, and one can only guess how much Tom Stuker has handed over this year....

This is a guest post from my dad, Grandpa Points. He and my mom are in their late-60’s, are (mostly) retired,and are ticking off “bucket list” destinations quicker than they ever thought possible thanks to miles, points, and travel deals. They have an intense love of this country, of its National Parks and treasures, and have no problem with a clean budget hotel room and an economy airline seat on a low-cost airline as long as it gets them where they want to be....

Friday afternoon, the US Department of Transportation announced that it had fined four airlines for providing inaccurate information to passengers. The offending airlines — Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest and United — were fined between $35,000-$45,000 each for:…providing inaccurate information to passengers about how much compensation they could potentially receive for being denied boarding against their will, or “bumped” on oversold flights, and for lost, damaged, or delayed baggage.In addition to the fines, each airline has been issued a “cease and desist” order by the DOT from making similar infractions....

I firmly believe that American Airlines’ Business Extra program is the most under-appreciated element of airline loyalty in the US. The program is incredibly simple to use, and the eligibility requirements are pretty generous so it’s easy to sign up.The program is entirely separate from AAdvantage, so you can earn Business Extra points in addition to regular AA miles and elite-qualifying miles. In addition to promo offers like this one discussed here, you’ll earn 1 point per $5 spent on eligible flights operated by American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia, and for flights on Finnair, JAL and Qantas when your ticket is issued by American Airlines....

From now until October 31, 2015, you can convert your Marriott Rewards points into American Airlines AAdvantage miles and earn a 20% bonus. Is this limited-time offer worth acting on? Let’s take a look.TPG currently values Marriott Rewards points at 0.7 cents apiece, and AAdvantage miles at 1.7 cents each. The conversion table on the Marriott promotion site is as follows:To get 50,000 AA miles (worth $850, according to TPG’s valuations), you’ll need to transfer 140,000 Marriott Rewards, worth $980....

Billing itself as Antarctica’s “first and only luxury camp,” White Desert was the brainchild of husband-and-wife adventurers Patrick and Robyn Woodhead, who got the idea for what they described as a “new kind of camp” while waiting out a storm (and watching their supplies diminish) in a tiny little tent in the midst of Antarctica for four days back in 2006. Their goal was two-fold: to create a place that would allow everyday travelers the chance to see the real Antarctica, but with the comforts of home (or at least a well-stocked home away from home) and to use the continent’s abundant wind and 24 hours of sunshine to power the place....

TPG reader @PaulTurec tweeted me a question about the US Airways and American Airlines merger:@ThePointsGuy — “Will my US Airways companion certificate still be good for redemption on flights after the merger is completed?“Airline mergers don’t happen overnight; it’s already been more than two years since the merger between US Airways and American Airlines was announced. There have been several milestones along the way — most recently, in July, American Airlines combined reservations systems with US Airways....

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 many may associate Kazakhstan with a certain Sacha Baron Cohen film, the country has been on our travel bucket list for a while now. Unfortunately, the cost of the visa for US citizens hoping to visit has always been pretty steep: $160 for US passport holders plus $25 for a single-entry visa....

Imagine you have been on an 11-hour overnight flight to Paris with your three-year-old. The plane lands, you’re tired but excited to be in Paris, you gather your family and bags off the plane, head to clear customs and immigration and on the way feel your stomach drop to the floor as you realize your passports are no longer in your possession. Imagine how much worse that feeling would be if you knew that your family, including your child, would end up locked in immigration detention overnight as a result....

In September, celebrity pastry chef Dominique Ansel opened a London outpost of his eponymous bakery, which already has locations in New York and Tokyo.As the inventor of the croissant/donut hybrid that spawned a thousand imitations, Ansel is no stranger to success. “On opening day, there were more than 200 people in line before we opened our doors,” said Ansel. “Locals from the neighborhood, people from London and across the world, even some of our fans from New York came for the opening....

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 Rosemary writes:Something that has confused me for awhile now is how to make certain I am earning 100% of mileage points for one airline when actually flying on a codeshare flight and a different airline’s metal....

Seems like there’s a sense of change in the proverbial air over at Delta: in advance of the airline’s introduction on July 1, 2014 of new BusinessElite and Economy seats aboard its 757-200s for JFK-LAX routes, the airline announced today that they’ve just completed updates to the BusinessElite cabins on their A330-200/300s, Boeing 767-300ERs and 400ERs, 747-400s and 777-200ERs and LRs, and claims this makes them the only US carrier to offer full lie-flat seats with direct-aisle access in business class on all wide-body international flights....

Norwegian and WOW Air are perhaps the best-known low-cost-carriers operating between the US and Europe, but there’s a newcomer rapidly gaining ground, despite some major (and ongoing) growing pains at launch.Primera Air has five Airbus A321neos in its fleet, with a couple more long-range models on the way. But the airline also has a handful of Boeing 737s, used primarily for flights within Europe. These planes aren’t intended to fly across the Atlantic — in fact, with a range of roughly 3,500 miles, they really can’t, without seriously compromising capacity and fuel reserves....

We’ve all been there: The baggage claim area, just a while ago filled with tired travelers, has cleared out. You stand bagless, staring frustrated as the carousel comes to a halt. Losing a bag can be a nightmare, and while no airline can guarantee your baggage makes it safely 100 percent of the time, a recent study ranked the airlines most likely to lose your bags.Research conducted by LuggageHero showed that Delta and Spirit Airlines reported the fewest mishandled bags among the 12 prominent carriers in the study....

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.Egypt travelers to Giza now have a new attraction to visit: the 4,000-year-old Tomb of Mehu, a high-ranking official from the time of King Titi in the Sixth Dynasty.Mehu’s final resting place is one of the most beautiful tombs located in the Saqqara necropolis, an ancient burial ground near Giza south of Cairo, according to Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri....

Every time I think I might get my own row on a long-haul flight, I watch the seat map obsessively in the days and hours up to my flight – and then cross my fingers as each passenger heads down the aisle during boarding. And, for about a month more, if you want to have a good chance of your own row in economy – or an almost certain upgrade to business class with a systemwide upgrade – boy, do I have a route for you....

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.Travelers in the waiting area of a Philippines airport experienced some unexpected excitement Sunday. Video from bystander Leon Quintos Añover at Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban (TAC) shows travelers screaming, laughing and hopping up onto chairs to get away from a black sidewinding snake, which appears to be just as terrified of them....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available – Citi Hilton Honors Reserve CardTPG reader Irka emailed me to ask about striking a balance between earning and redeeming points:“I stay with Hilton when I travel for work, so I tend to stick with Hilton properties when I travel for pleasure. Is there a simple formula for deciding when to pay cash for my room and when to redeem points? How do I account for points earned?...

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Platinum Card from American ExpressTPG reader Simon asks:“I have been Executive Platinum for five years and will most likely make it six with five weeks of travel this fall. I just hit the second milestone in AA’s newest scheme and its unclear which reward has the best value.Do the systemwide upgrades expire like they do for Executive Platinums?...

TPG reader Mike emailed me to ask if it was possible yet to use US Airways miles on Air Tahiti Nui because of the airline’s merger with American. Here was his question:“Can we use US Airways miles on Air Tahiti Nui yet? Or do you think that will only happen when US Airway miles fully become AA miles?“As of right now, you cannot transfer miles between US Airways and American Airlines....