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Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – The Platinum Card from American ExpressMorgan Stanley is teaming up with American Express to offer their wealth management clients co-branded cards, which have pretty nice sign-up bonuses. You can’t apply online - you need to talk to your financial adviser or call 1-877-263-9607.1) The Morgan Stanley Credit Card from American Express (A glorified Amex Green Card)....

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.This video is part of our weekly YouTube series: To The Point. On this episode, News Editor Emily McNutt explains how you can bring along a friend, family member or whoever you want on a Southwest flight for free with the Southwest Airlines Companion Pass....

King bed. High floor. A room as far away from the elevator as one can possibly get. On any given day, a hotel receives a number of special requests from soon-to-be guests. Some of them, like a chilled bottle of Champagne waiting in the room, are pretty standard. Others, like a framed photo of Grandma Winslow from Family Matters, well, not so much. Here are 10 hilarious and bizarre hotel guest requests that fall squarely into the latter category — and were granted....

Last month, PeaceJam held its first conference for the year in conjunction with Points for Peace. With help and generous donations from you, our readers, we were able to fly PeaceJam staffers to Guatemala City for the conference. I was completely in awe of the experience, and each time I attend a PeaceJam conference, I become an even bigger believer in the power that it has to change the lives of children....

On June 23, 2016, Air Serbia launched nonstop service from New York (JFK) to Belgrade, Serbia (BEG) on its retrofitted Airbus A330-200. Since Air Serbia primarily operates short-haul flights, it recently leased the aircraft from Jet Airways, with help from its new partner, Etihad Airways.Although Etihad isn’t always the easiest airline to reserve award seats with, as of this writing, availability for this particular route seems to be widely available.Here’s the schedule for the 5x weekly route — the schedule changes on some days to minimize connection times:Monday, Tuesday, Thursday:JU501 New York (JFK) 2:40pm Departure ⇒ Belgrade (BEG) 5:30am (+1) ArrivalJU500 Belgrade (BEG) 7:30am Departure ⇒ New York (JFK) 12:00pm ArrivalFriday, Saturday:JU501 New York (JFK) 7:30pm Departure ⇒ Belgrade (BEG) 10:20am (+1) ArrivalJU500 Belgrade (BEG) 12:55pm Departure ⇒ New York (JFK) 5:25pm ArrivalThe airline’s two-cabin aircraft offers a 2-4-2 economy class configuration, and an all-aisle access business-class cabin....

My dad, Buddy, AKA “Grandpa Points” has a love for travel as fierce as mine, yet our travel patterns are distinctly different. He and my mom are now in their mid-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 seat as long as it gets them where they want to be....

It’s generally established — but unfortunately not formally part of the tax law — that miles and points earned from credit card sign up bonuses aren’t taxable. Even if you only had to make one purchase to get 60,000 American Airlines AAdvantage miles, the bonus is seen as a rebate of the purchases made.This isn’t the case for bank account sign-up bonuses. Since you aren’t spending any money to earn the bonus, there’s no way to call it a rebate....

Early this morning, Delta launched a new, refreshed version of their website. While any change is annoying at first, I do think the overall look is sharp and there is a huge focus on social media. While thats all great, I really wish they would have put the same time and energy into fixing their online award calendar, which unfortunately seems unchanged and still buggy. However, here’s a quick rundown of the new changes and whats coming down the pipeline....

Tourists visiting gorges off the Grand Canyon were stranded in dangerous flash floods earlier this week and had to be airlifted out of the area by rescue helicopters.A sudden rainstorm on Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning sent hikers and campers scrambling for shelter and higher ground in the canyons of Arizona’s Havasupai reservation.About 200 tourists in the nature reserve were forced to evacuate. Rescue helicopters flew people out five at a time, while locals helped evacuate tourists with ATVs and rope....

With passengers regularly complaining of two-hour wait times to make it through TSA screening lines, travelers are hungry for tips on how to speed up the process. Several airports and airlines have joined in the effort, going so far as to hire more employees to aid the TSA (which just fired its head of security) in making security lines move faster. Now the Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), the world’s busiest airport, has become the testing ground for an experimental screening process that could very well help improve, if not fix, the #IHateTheWait problem....

Love playing with drones and hate getting wet? This company has the product for you…Meet the Free Parasol, the brainchild of Japanese company Asahi Power Service. According to Gizmodo, this traveler-friendly hybrid uses a camera to follow you around town, protecting both the device and its owner from the elements above — both rain and sun.The current prototype is about 11 pounds and has a flight time of around 20 minutes....

A Bombardier Dash-8 Q400 aircraft operated by Alaska Airlines subsidiary Horizon Air was stolen from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) on Friday night with no passengers on board by a 29-year old ground services employee. (Update: The airline has confirmed the man was a ground services employee, not a mechanic as previously reported.) The plane crashed on Ketron Island in south Puget Sound after being chased by US military F-15s. No one is believed to have been injured on the ground, but the pilot appears to have died in the crash, according to the local sheriff’s office....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here – Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American ExpressIn May, my wife and I headed to Maui for an early summer vacation, spending the first half of our trip at The Grand Wailea, a Waldorf Astoria resort that’s one of the island’s most famous hotels. With more than 800 rooms and 40 acres of grounds, there’s plenty to explore, and while some features are a bit worn, the property is a great option for families or travelers of all ages....

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.Several months ago we renewed my oldest daughter’s passport as its five-year shelf life was already up, but I put off updating her Global Entry account with her new passport number until yesterday…mostly because my luck with messing with the old GOES website is abysmal....

WOW Air’s ultra-low fares to Iceland and beyond are a boon for budget-minded travelers, and while they’ve helped push Europe ticket prices down across the board, they’re also eating away at legacy carrier bottom lines — especially at home in Iceland.Icelandair first began flying passengers in 1938 and now operates service to almost 50 destinations from Reykjavik’s Keflavik International Airport (KEF). WOW Air, meanwhile, is a newcomer, having recently celebrated its five-year anniversary....

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.Citi is a TPG advertising partnerFor a few months, the Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite Mastercard has been offering an elevated sign-up bonus of 50,000 miles, but that’s about to end. The last day for this increased offer will be Tuesday, Oct. 16, so you only have a few days left to apply and snag the 50,000 miles....

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.According to a new study, millennials love to travel more than they’re willing to dedicate funds to other commitments. The new Airbnb study in conjunction with market research institute GfK looked at the priorities of millennials and found that more people in the generation said that they place a higher priority on travel than buying a home or car or paying off debt....

This Christmas, one of Singapore’s most iconic attractions will embark on its very first “branded light-up.” Orchard Road, the popular luxury shopping destination that’s treated visitors to dream-like Christmas lights festivities since 1984, is getting the full Disney treatment for its annual “Christmas on a Great Street.”From Nov. 10 to Jan. 1, shoppers and tourists alike can mingle with their favorite Disney characters under the scenic Orchard lights. Along the 1....

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.Hotel promotions have been pretty lackluster in 2013, with the occasional bonus point opportunity. Starwood just announced today that their first 2014 promotion will be an extra 2,500 bonus points for every 5 nights- up to 20 eligible nights (10,000 points)....

In 2014, Starwood became the first hotel chain to offer truly keyless technology, letting you unlock your hotel room door by using your smartphone or Apple Watch. There were definitely some kinks in the rollout, and by 2015, Starwood was encouraging more people to try out the SPG Keyless service with an incentive of 2,500 free Starpoints.Yesterday, SPG announced the release of SPG Keyless 2.0, which is set to improve the user experience and sort out any issues that travelers had mentioned in the past....